Ninety minutes before the first pitch was thrown last Thursday, Santa Monica High School baseball players and coaches were on the field, getting it ready following the previous night’s rainfall.
They weren’t in uniform yet, but they used rakes and other equipment to make the field playable.
Coach Kevin Brockway drove a cart attached to a device that dragged the infield. Assistant coach Damon Farmar worked a machine that applied the first and third base lines.
There is more to high school baseball than playing the games.
The umpires arrived and the start was delayed 15 minutes, but then Samohi did what it has been doing a lot lately — winning.
Santa Monica defeated Beverly Hills, 6-0, and coupled with a 2-0 win over the same team two days earlier at Beverly Hills, the surging Santa Monica High team had nine wins in its last 10 games and a 6-0 record in the Ocean League.
Culver City is 5-1 and Hawthorne 4-1. Samohi must play both teams twice.
Chris Fiala pitched the shutout, matching the effort of fellow lefthander Mike Walsh in Tuesday’s game.
Samohi scored two quick runs when the first three batters walked and sophomore Mike Schwartz drove in a pair with a single. Samohi then scored three more times in the second as Dylan Early drove in one with a double, Schwartz hit a sacrifice fly and another run came in on a balk.
Justin Cooper, who had lost his third base job midway through the season, started and hit a double off the left field fence. Senior catcher Cody Decker walked twice and had a single and double.The top three Ocean League teams have separated themselves from the others. The second division is made up of Beverly Hills, Morningside and Inglewood.
