It’s early in the baseball season and league games haven’t been played yet, but there’s been enough action to get a feel for what might happen in the Ocean League this season.
One indication is that the last two champions, Santa Monica and Culver City, better watch out for Beverly Hills and Hawthorne.
Samohi has a 5-2 record following a 10-1 non-league victory at previously undefeated Windward on Wednesday, March 14 and a 5-4 win at Redondo three days later.
Defending champion Culver City, which suffered heavy graduation losses, is 3-5. Beverly Hills has a 4-1 record, Hawthorne is 5-3 and Inglewood is 2-1.
The early results indicate there will be strong competition in the league, with the weak teams of recent years improved.
Samohi is scheduled to play a non-league home game against Long Beach Poly on Saturday, March 24 at 11 a.m.
David Castellanos has taken over the club lead in batting average at .500. Jose Campos and Dylan Early are hitting .444.
Joe McGrew, the returning all-CIF pitcher, has won two games and compiled a 1.31 ERA in 16 innings.
Coach Kevin Brockway was relieved to see the Vikings win their last two games after losing the previous two, when passed balls were an issue.
Settling the catching situation is a priority following the transfer of Mike Schwartz and an injury to Garret Ramos.
