It was a soggy week in Venice, which postponed league play for the Venice High baseball and softball team, while indoor sports met with mixed results. Here is the week in review for Venice's high school athletes:
Venice High
Baseball was supposed to finally start league play this week, but Mother Nature would not allow it. Venice was scheduled to have a double header on Monday and Thursday against University, but both games were rained out. The games have yet to be rescheduled. Coach Walter Fujita and the team have been working on their pitching in practice this week.
“One of our biggest problems so far is digging ourselves into holes early on by giving up early runs. So this week we are working on simulations in practice and trying to get our pitchers to lower their pitch count early on. Hopefully, it works,” Fujita said.
The Venice softball team was eager to take the field this week following a 15-4 win over LACES last week, but, like the baseball team, they weren’t able to play any games this week. The Gondo girls will have to wait until Monday to play Palisades.
The boys volleyball team split two league games this week following a disappointing 1-2-1 outing at the Venice invitational last week.
“We didn’t play great at the invitational. I think that we let the tie and one of the losses get away from us. We are getting better in some areas, but we still need to improve a lot in others," coach Allen Hunt said.
The Gondos lost to University on Monday 3-2 before travelling to LACES and getting a much need 3-0 win. The win couldn’t come at a better time, as the Gondos must now prepare for a huge home matchup on Monday with league leading Palisades.
“We needed this win to get some confidence. We have to be playing out best by Monday or else we will be in trouble," Hunt said.
The boys tennis team is coming off of a tough match against Westchester where they had the lead in multiple matches that they ended up losing.
“We lost to Westchester 4-3. It was tough because we were up one set in three different matches and lost all three of them. If we had won just one of them we would have won the match,” said coach Randy Chew.
Venice and University were supposed to face off on Monday, but the game was rained out. The match has yet to be rescheduled.
Coach Sophie Sabbah and the boys and girls swimming and diving teams are off to a great start this season, and have a big tournament coming up. The girls are undefeated so far this year sporting a 3-0 record, while the boys are 2-1. The teams have a league meet against Hamilton on Monday before they take part in the Beverly Hills Invitational, a tournament where some of the top teams in the city will be.
“It will be a great test because I expect us to be top 5 in the CIF. We still need to improve on our speed, but so far I like where we are at. The Beverly Hills Invitational will be a great test for us,” said Sabbah.
Animo Venice Charter
The Pirates baseball team was able to avoid the rain this week, playing just one game on Wednesday. They won the game 9-2 over Harbor Teacher Prep. Ever since they lost their first game last Thursday to Port of Los Angeles, the Pirates have won two games by a combined score of 20-3.
The softball team had a game rained out on Monday against Community Harvest. The game has yet to be rescheduled. In their only action of the week, the Pirate softball team lost 11-1 to Harbor Teacher Prep.
