Santa Monica High School plans to begin its baseball season Friday, despite the theft of $17,000 worth of equipment last week.
“Equipment was taken from our school, Culver City, University High, Venice, Beverly Hills and at least eight schools in Orange County,’’ said Samohi baseball coach Kevin Brockway.
“Most schools lost pitching machines but we were hit harder –baseballs, bats, gloves, too. If this happened the day before the season opener, we wouldn’t be able to play, but we had a week and a lot of people have helped.’’
Brockway said Kramer Sporting Goods donated 80 baseballs and the school is working on an insurance claim for the losses.
Asked what a thief would do with pitching machines, Brockway said baseball equipment is sometimes listed for sale on the Internet.Samohi is entered in the Southern California Invitational Tournament. The first opponent is Hueneme High Friday at 3 p.m. at Samohi. On Saturday at 11 a.m. in the same tournament Samohi will host Oxnard.