Photos by Steve Galluzzo
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. Losing streaks happen, the only question is how much a team learns from it. Palisades High coach Mike Voelkel showed confidence in his group after last Friday’s 5-2 defeat at Kennedy in the Poly Classic—the Dolphins’ fourth loss in a row.
“We took steps forward, we were squaring up at the plate… I felt a better vibe today,” said Voelkel, who guided Palisades all the way to the City Section Open Division final last spring—the program’s first trip to Dodger Stadium since it won the lower Invitational title in 2003. “This is one of the better teams in the City and you’re not going to get many opportunities so when they come you have to take advantage.”
Palisades took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on an RBI triple to center by Nate Akiba and an RBI double to left by Vincent Langdon. Jake Moore pitched into the sixth inning.
“Hitting starts with one guy, it could be anyone, and everyone feeds off that,” outfielder/pitcher Cord Vanley said. “We’ve got big games coming up with Granada Hills and San Pedro so if we can pull one of those out it’ll be big.”
The Dolphins returned home Monday to take on Verdugo Hills and took a 6-0 lead before weathering a late Dons rally to win 6-4.
Jacob Herrera and Vanley each had three hits and pitcher Nick Akiba struck out seven batters in five innings.
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