The San Diego Padres’ seventh annual High School All- Stars Night took place June 25 at Petco Park. The “big league” feel had an impact on the participants as La Jolla Country Day senior Jackson Norum clubbed a home run for the West team and Poway junior outfielder Parker Smith earned MVP honors with a RBI single, double, walk and two stolen bases in the East team’s 8-3 victory.
“It’s just what you can imagine it is to play at Petco Park — to be on that stage to play in front of your family,” San Diego Section commissioner Joe Heinz said. “I thank the Padres. It’s a special night of the season.”
The East team was buoyed by a large cast of seven East County picks, including four from Granite Hills: senior pitcher Luke Bailey, senior outfielder Trevor Smith, senior infielder/ pitcher Brenden Lewis and senior third baseman Tommy Entrekin. Also on board the East team were Helix senior pitcher/ infielder Antoin Simpson, Valhalla senior catcher Mace Wheeler and West Hills senior catcher Joey Monetti.
“It’s an honor,” Bailey said. “I’ve never played in Petco Park before, so this was a special experience for me. It was great to play with the best players in the county.” Bailey, who has committed to continue his baseball career at UC Santa Barbara, performed a head over heels flip after getting the final out in the Open Division final to give Granite Hills its first undefeated season at 24-0-2. The Eagles were the only team in the state to post an undefeated record through the section playoffs.
“An inning before I thought I had to do something special if I struck out the last batter. It was pretty neat.” Bailey (6-1, 170) completed the season with a 12-0 record, 1.03 earned-run average and 75 strikeouts in 68 innings. Lewis was another leader on the Eagles history-making team with a 0.373 hitting average, 40 runs scored, 26 RBI and eight home runs. On the mound he was also undefeated at 7-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 56 innings.
“Honestly, it was pretty special, especially with the company I’m playing with,” said Lewis, who has elected to continue his baseball career at Arizona State University. “I had waited all four years to win a CIF title. It was how I wanted my senior year to go out. I was blessed that it happened.”
“It was awesome,” said Entrekin, an Alpine resident, who plans to attend Cal Baptist University. “I was excited to go out on top.” Simpson became a two-time all-star selection. “It’s obviously an honor to be selected again to play in this game,” said Simpson, who will attend Grand Canyon University. “I was in the home run derby last year. It’s definitely an honor to play against the top talent in the county.”
The home run derby kicked off the event with four players from each team trying to swat baseballs out of Petco Park. Several were successful and a points system allocated balls hit to certain areas of the outfield, including balls reaching the warning track.
Three of the four hitters on the East team were from East County: Granite Hills’ Lewis and Entrekin and Valhalla’s Wheeler. La Jolla Country Day’s Norum racked up 14 points in the preliminary round, followed by Wheeler and Lewis each with 13 points. Patrick Henry junior Ian Brooke finished with six points, while Sage Creek senior Elijah Stephens and Mt. Carmel senior Bryce Miller each tallied five points, San Marcos senior Max Ferrell netted four points and Entrekin had three points. Lewis, Wheeler and Norum qualified for the finals. Lewis emerged on top of the trio with nine points, followed by Wheeler with four points and Norum with three points. Lewis was the overall leader with 22 points. Wheeler and Norum finished with 17 total points. During the season, Wheeler led Valhalla (7-19) with a 0.493 hitting average, 22 RBI and six home runs while Norum averaged 0.418 at the plate with 22 RBI and six home runs for the Torreys (18-14).
Batter up
The all-star event also included a nine-inning game. The contest was close until the East squad blew open the scoreboard with three runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Imperial senior Carter Tucker started on the mound for the East team with Wheeler behind the plate. The East team wasted no time in denting the scoreboard with two runs in the bottom of the first inning on hits by Poway’s Parker Smith and Entrekin. Each team used a different pitcher per inning. Bailey, one of the heroes of the Eagles’ climactic 3-0 shutout win over Patrick Henry in the section’s Open Division final, threw the top of the second inning for the East. He sent the West order down 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts. The East extended its lead to 3-0 with a run in the bottom of the second inning when Lewis grounded out to bring in a run. Lewis then pitched the top of the fifth inning with Monetti cutting down a runner attempting to steal to close out the frame. The teams remained separated by one run until the bottom of the fifth inning before the East finally took charge. Simpson pitched the top of the eighth inning, holding the West scoreless.
On deck
The Eagles have maintained a tradition with players annually named to the Petco Park all-star game. “We’ve had a lot of good players, a great community,” Granite Hills head coach James Davis said. Davis remains proud of his team’s 26-game undefeated streak this spring.
