Only one Pirates team is left standing after the week’s CIF playoffs.

Boy’s tennis beat Walnut High School on the road May 15 to advance to the semifinals of the Division IV CIF playoffs. Meanwhile, boy’s volleyball fell to Arroyo Grande in the second round of competition at home May 15. And the baseball team also lost May 15 in its wildcard match up against South Torrance.

Girl’s swimming had a strong showing in Long Beach with freshman Jordan Devine breaking the school record in the 50-yard freestyle race.

Tennis

Pirates tennis will make a run for the Division IV CIF finals Tuesday when they take on No. 1-ranked Viewpoint at home at 3 p.m. after beating Walnut High School 10-8 on May 15.

“It’s going to be a very tough match,” Head Coach Walter Seemann said.

The boys advanced past Walnut with their No. 1 doubles team, Evan Ineman and Justin Redman, sweeping its three sets. All three singles players, Ryan Huebel, Chase Carhartt and Juan Ferrer, won two of three sets. And the Pirates’ No. 2 doubles team, Bryan Hemming and Justin Redmann, also won two of three sets.

“We were headed for a 9-9 tie and they came out and won it in a tie break. It was a great match,” assistant coach Larry Popkin said.

All singles players fell to Walnut’s No. 1 player who was the only other player to sweep his sets.

With the Pirates’ sites set on winning Tuesday’s semifinal match against Viewpoint School, Popkin said, “We play the No. 1 seed which will be very, very tough.”

 

Volleyball

Coming off its 14th-straight Los Padres League title, boy’s volleyball was hammered by Arroyo Grande in a three-game loss May 15.

The Pirates won their first meeting with Arroyo Grande in a five-game match earlier in the season. But Tuesday’s game was dominated by the Eagles.

“They were a good team. They were very well prepared and they had worked hard this year to get better. That was obvious,” Head Coach Mark Peterschick said.

The Pirates fell in three-straight games, losing 25-14, 25-21 and 25-21 in the hour-long match.

“We just had an off night,” Peterschick said.

Peterschick was filling in for Chip Fenega this year while he was out on medical leave and said he plans to return to coaching the junior varsity team next year upon Fenenga’s return.

 

Swimming

The young talent on the girl’s swim team performed well at the CIF finals in Long Beach May 10, breaking one school record and achieving personal bests on the season.

“I was really happy with how they did,” Coach Jake Kalkowski said. “The girls that were out there were all hard workers. We had really good attendance at practice. I think in the end it paid off for them.”

Freshman Jordan Devine set a school record in the 50-yard freestyle finals, clocking a time of 25.99 seconds for an eighth-place finish.

“As a freshman that’s such a great accomplishment for her,” Kalkowski said. “I think that we’ll have a lot of good things from her in the future.”

Devine also finished 10th in the 100-yard freestyle swim.

Sophomore Elisabeth Sweet, a transfer student from Virginia, beat her season-best time in the 100-yard breaststroke for a 14th-place finish. And the girl’s relay team moved up from a 29th ranking, shaving about six seconds off its time.

“Off the relay team, only two girls are graduating. So the future’s really bright for [next year’s] girl’s swimming,” Kalkowski said.

 

Baseball

Pirates’ baseball lost to South Torrance 0-9 in the Division IV wildcard playoff game May 15, after a May 11 loss to Lompoc where seven runners were stranded on base.

“We never did produce offensively to make it close,” Head Coach Dave Kuehn said.

Santa Ynez qualified for the wildcard round after Templeton beat Morro Bay, robbing the other Pirates of a playoff berth.

Spencer Angel started the game for the Santa Ynez Pirates, pitching three innings and one out in the fourth, when he was replaced by lefty Todd Whitmore.

“This was a bizarre inning,” Kuehn said.

Leading 0-3, South Torrance scored four runs on batters hit by pitches with the bases loaded in the fourth inning alone. Kuehn said South Torrence had 28 batters hit by pitches this season to the Pirates’ six. “That indicates something funny is going on,” Kuehn said.

But in the end, it didn’t matter how many runs South Torrance scored because the Spartans’ pitching shut out the Pirates batters and held them to only two hits.