Campbell Hall Set For Friday Baseball Showdown

If Campbell Hall High wanted confidence heading into today’s key Alpha League baseball showdown against Montclair Prep, the Vikings have it.

They’re 7-1 including a four-game winning streak that has seen Campbell Hall score 10 runs or more in every game. Overall, Campbell Hall has outscored opponents 97-34, and the Vikings have a team batting average of .417 and a team ERA of 3.56.

“We want to win a CIF championship. That’s our goal,” standout catcher Adam Ehrlich said.

Of course, nothing is going to come easy today against Montclair Prep and ace pitcher Max Fried, who is scheduled to start today at Montclair Prep’s home field at Franklin Field in Encino.

Fried, a junior, already has committed to UCLA, and he is considered one of California’s top young left-handers.

“He’s a really tough pitcher. He’s hard to face. He beat us last year,” Ehrlich said.

Ehrlich, who has signed with Loyola Marymount, is red hot. He is batting .680 with five home runs, a 1.440 slugging percentage and 22 RBIs in 25 at-bats. Teammate Brett Lake is hitting .667 with two home runs and a 1.375 slugging percentage, and Cory Bloom (.444, one home run) and Jack Bensigner (.450, one home run) are also hitting the ball well.

Everyone is talking about how the new restrictions on aluminum bats have given pitchers and edge this year, but Campbell Hall is killing the ball.

“We practice hitting a lot, and we’re pretty confident,” Ehrlich said.

Campbell Hall won back-to-back Southern Section Division VI championships in 2005-2006 but have yet to return to title game since moving up to Division V. The Vikings and Montclair Prep both lost in the semifinals last year.

“It’s a big game today,” Campbell Hall coach Juan Velazquez said. “We should be competing for the league title.”

VALLEY TORAH COMPETES IN NATIONAL HOOPS TOURNEY

Valley Torah High’s basketball team is competing this week in the 20th annual Red Sarachek tournament, a national Jewish tournament at Yeshiva University in New York. The Wolfpack, led by 6-foot-9 Aaron Liberman, are seeded No. 1 in the Top Tier, and competition began late Thursday and concludes this coming Monday.

“We’re really looking forward to going out there,” Liberman said.

There are a total of 20 teams competing.

Also, Liberman and Harvard-Westlake’s Damiene Cain are among the winners of the annual John R. Wooden Player of the Year awards, based on performance, sportsmanship and academic achievement, and he will be honored April 8 at the Wooden Award Gala at the L.A. Athletic Club. Liberman won in Division VI, and Cain won in Division III.

“It was a goal I set for myself, a good goal to set,” Liberman said. “I think it’s pretty cool.

The award goes to the top player in the LA City Section and each of the Southern Section's six divisions.

It is the first time a player from a Jewish high school has won the award since the committee began honoring the region's top high school players in 1994.

Liberman, a 6-foot-9 senior center, helped lead the Wolfpack to a 24-5 record, the 6AA sectional championship and the quarterfinals of the SoCal Division 5 regionals, the furthest a Jewish high school has ever gotten in the California playoffs. He averaged 17 points, 13 rebounds and 8 blocks per game.

The 6-7 Cain averaged 13.3 points and 9.4 rebounds for Harvard-Westlake, who won the CIF Southern Section Division 3A Championship.  

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY

Three times Harvard-Westlake’s heavily anticipated baseball showdown against Alemany of Mission Hills has been postponed because of rain, first Monday, then Wednesday, then again on Thursday. The teams are scheduled to meet again today at 3:30 p.m. at Franklin Field in Encino.

“We need to do a better job controlling the weather,” Harvard-Westlake coach Matt Lacour said.