Culver City Observer -

The Ortega Highway begins in San Juan Capistrano and slowly winds up and through the scenic Cleveland National Forest heading northeastward. This former Indian footpath emerges at the park’s eastern crest overlooking the panoramic Elsinore Valley below, harboring a once-sleepy desert community surrounding a once-dry lakebed. Its lifeline is now the San Jacinto River, fresh-water flowing westward from the San Bernardino National Forest. The surrounding hills are usually dry, the winds frequently blow hot or cold or not at all and the air is always dusty. This was the final resting place for the 2013 Culver City High baseball team.

A coin toss determined that the Elsinore High Tigers would host the Centaurs in the CIF Southern Section baseball playoffs on Tuesday, May 16th. And Elsinore determined a 3-0 victory by stealing an early run, added two more in their last at-bat while keeping the Culver offense silent. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Blue and White. A few days before the game Centaur Coach Rick Prieto stated he would rather have played the first round game at home than host a possible second round game against a potentially stronger opponent if the team were to advance.

“Basically, I don’t know about Elsinore High but on any given day in the playoffs… The record indicates that they’re a very good team. It’s a great opportunity for two second place teams to get ready to play the second round.”

Jay Sterner started for the Centaurs and once again put in a worthy performance. With the game scoreless after 2 ½ innings the Tigers put runners on first and third. Next came a delayed double steal with the runner just beating the throw home for a 1-0 lead. Meanwhile, the Culver bats couldn’t find an opening. Balls hit right at the Elsinore fielders, nice defensive plays on deep shots or infield snares were the main contributors to their futility.

The momentum appeared to switch when Elsinore loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning. The Centaurs buckled down. The next Tiger batter hit a hard shot towards second baseman Michael Netzel. A quick sharp grab and a gunned throw home to catcher Daniel Hennessy forced the first out. Coach Prieto had a hunch and called for his infield to play back. Voila! A smacked grounder to Netzel, a toss to shortstop Darian Sylvester coming across the bag at second and a one-motion fling to Junior Rodenbusch at first fashioned a tailor-made double play to preserve a tight game.

But the tide was not in Culver’s favor. Though not dominating, the Elsinore pitchers had Prieto’s respect, “They look like they’re ready to play some baseball. In fact they have two pitchers that have thrown 60+ innings. Their low E.R.A. tells me that they throw strikes and keep the ball in play.”

Culver City mounted one last threat in the top of the sixth with a leadoff double by Sylvester and a walk by Sterner. Unfortunately, a high pop foul down the first base line was converted into a double play by an alert Tiger defense. The sky’s pre-twilight colors were now marking time.

Sterner, pitching with the resolve he’d displayed the entire season, retired the first batter in the sixth but missed opportunities for outs combined with more scattered hits enabled Elsinore to push two more runs across the plate. These were the proverbial final two nails in the coffin for the game and season for Culver City.

Despite the sudden end to the Centaurs’ championship quest, 2013 will be a year to remember. According to most experts, this was to be nothing but a rebuilding year. Coach Prieto recalled back in February, “I've lost twelve seniors last year to graduation, all very good quality young men, student-athletes. We only have three returning varsity players this year and two with varsity experience that were in the lineup today from last year. So we only have five young men that have played varsity baseball.”

In response, the coaches and players decidedly forged their own identity and kept raising the bar all season long. Remarkably, after a successful 5-2 start, they upped the ante a few notches more and won 13 of their next 15 games including the first eight Ocean League contests. It was a commendable year for Coach Prieto, Coach Sterling Roux, Coach Ron Ozaki and the players who graced the team’s final 2013 roster: Nate Matthews, Jon Im, Juan Alcala, Tim Stewart, Darian Sylvester, Jake Wells, Junior Rodenbusch, Daniel Hennessy, Moises Amador, Welvin Martinez, David Ko, Louie Ortega, Max Akita, Jay Sterner, Thomas Graham, Eli Bowie, Michael Netzel, Kelvin Murillo and Jacob Weiner.