The Palisades Pony Baseball Association season ended two weeks ago but there are still plenty of games for many young ballplayers. The All-Star tournaments have begun throughout the Southland and local squads are already asserting themselves. The Pinto (8-year-olds) All-Stars got a huge boost from their smallest player, Brandon Kao, who came in to pitch with the bases loaded and struck out the side to preserve a 12-6 victory over La Canada in the Silver Division championship game at the Father’s Day Classic last Sunday in West Covina. Palisades opened the tournament with a 10-6 victory over Cheviot Hills and bounced back from Saturday’s tough loss to Toluca Lake with a 9-1 victory over La Quinta in the semifinals. Making the Pintos’ accomplishment that much more impressive is the fact that the team didn’t face live pitching during the PPBA season. Earlier in the week Bryant Reese tossed three shutout innings and hit a triple in the bottom of the sixth while shortstop Shane Skelly and catcher Harrison Listen each had RBI hits in Palisades’ 3-2 victory over Santa Monica in the first game of a doubleheader at the Field of Dreams. The next Pinto tournament is the regional playoffs beginning after the Fourth of July holiday. Bronco The first weekend of the “Battle at the Beach” tournament was a success for Palisades’ 12-year-old All-Star squad, which split its games in the A Division. Pitcher Jonathan Sington kept Palisades in the game early in Saturday’s opener against host East Long Beach, which capitalized on fielding mistakes to break open a 3-2 game with a big fourth inning on its way to a 12-2 victory. Palisades rebounded the next day with a 14-4 mercy-rule rout of Mira Costa, with Cade Hulse striking out four batters in four innings and Daniel Hackman pitching the last inning. Hulse, Matt and Jack McGeagh, Tyler McMorrow and Bryant Falconello each had multiple hits and Nicky Rivera smacked a triple. Palisades plays Torrance American on Saturday, then advances to the playoffs on Sunday. The team has a 6-3 record, playing Santa Monica twice, Cheviot Hills and reaching the semifinals at the Mid-Valley Memorial Day Classic. Mustang Palisades’ 10-year-old All-Star team beat Santa Fe Springs, 11-4, in its first game and lost to Mira Costa in its second game of the “Battle by the Beach” in Long Beach. Matt Ursin-Smith hammered two doubles and a triple, William Winkenhower had a double and Jason Starrels hit a two-RBI single. Starrels pitched three strong innings and Ursin-Smith pitched the last three. Emmett Collins went two for two at the plate. Palisades (6-3 overall) went 2-2 at the Mid-Valley Tournament and 2-0 in a doubleheader against Metro and Cheviot Hills. Coach Joe Collins’ squad is hosting the eight-team Pony District Tournament and will play Bellflower at 4:30 p.m. on July 8 and either Santa Monica or Santa Fe Springs July 10. Palisades’ Mustang B All-Stars, a combined 9-and 10-year-old squad coached by John McNamee, won the Father’s Day Classic in West Covina last weekend.

The 107th annual Southern California Sectionals are being held this week in Los Caballeros and 1,440 players throughout Southern California are entered, including a large contingent from the Palisades Tennis Center. As is usually the case, local players are giving a good account of themselves. Besides the 10-and-unders, all age groups have a qualifying draw and a main draw. The top 16 players are held out while the rest have to qualify. In the Boys 10s PTC players Roscoe Bellamy and RJ Sands have moved into the third round. Sands beat Jericho Parker of Calabasas, 6-0, 6-1, and Miles Webb Glendale, 6-0, 6-3. Bellamy avenged a lost two months ago to Chris Kontaxis of Rancho Mirage by turning the tables, 6-2, 6-3. In the Boys 12s, Eduardo Nava qualified for the main draw by knocking out Pacific Palisades’ own Jackson Kogan, 6-0, 6-0, and Tim Sah of San Diego, 7-5, 6-2. In the Girls 12s, Mary Profit qualified, losing one game along the way. After a first-round bye, she ousted Jennifer Kerr of Carlsbad, 6-0, 6-1. In the same division fellow PTC player Chloe Wight beat Arin Schwimmer, 6-3, 6-1, before outlasting San Diego’s Yemisi Ayeni, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Ilana Oleynik also made it through with a bye followed by a 6-3, 6-3 win over Mekeila Ersparmer of Huntington beach and a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Hope Hairrell of Los Alamitos. No PTC players qualified in the Boys 14s because none had to. Seven of the 16 kids held out into the main draw train at the PTC. They are Alex Giannini, TJ Pura, Alexander Solonin, Deiton Baughman, Robbie Bellamy, Abe Hewko and Garrett Auproux. Blake Anthony, who has committed to Loyola High, made it to the last round of qualifying. Oliver Thornton, Brett Allchorn and Seth Stolar are all through to the main draw of the Boys 16s. Thornton and Stolar each won three matches in straight sets while Allchorn got straight in. Thornton blanked Connor Daly, 6-0, 6-0, beat Gera Concha of Bonita, 6-2, 6-1, and beat Brendan Josephson of Moorpark, 5-3, 7-5. Stolar beat Hikaru Minami of Smimi Valley, 6-2, 6-1, Tracy Bebile of Costa Mesa, 6-2, 6-2, and Robert Henry of Burbank, 6-3, 6-0. Finally, in the Boys 18s, Palisadian Walker Kehrer, who led Brentwood to a CIF title in May and is headed to Stanford in the fall, won three matches in straight sets and is in the main draw. After a bye, Kehrer rolled over Charles Quay of Ojai (6-1, 6-1), Ryan Peyton of Newport Beach (6-2, 6-1) and Romar Hernandez of San Diego (6-2, 6-2).

Pre-registration is underway for the 32nd annual Palisades-Will Rogers 5/10K on Saturday, July 4. The race will begin at 8:15 a.m. sharp at the Alma Real-Toyopa intersection at the entrance to the Palisades Recreation Center. Pre-registration is $35 and is available through next Monday, June 29. Pre-registration packet pick-up will be July 2-3 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bentons The Sport Shop (1038 Swarthmore Avenue). Race day registration is $45 and will be from 6:30 to 8 a.m. at the Rec Center. Once again, William E. Simon & Sons will be the corporate sponsor and Pacific Palisades Bank will be the title sponsor. The race is presented by the Palisades-Will Rogers Ridge Runners and The Palisades Optimist Club. The deadline for online registration is also next Monday. Checks should be made payable to Brian Shea, P.O. Box 601. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. The 14th annual Kids’ Fun Run (a half-mile race through Huntington Palisades) will follow at 9:15 a .m. sharp. Pre-registration is $25 and race day registration will be $30. To download an entry form or register online, visit the Web site at www.palisades10k.com. For more information, e-mail palisades10k@Verizon.net.

Pre-registration is underway for the 32nd annual Palisades-Will Rogers 5/10K on Saturday, July 4. The race will begin at 8:15 a.m. sharp at the Alma Real-Toyopa intersection at the entrance to the Palisades Recreation Center. Pre-registration is $35 and is available through next Monday, June 29. Pre-registration packet pick-up will be July 2-3 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bentons The Sport Shop (1038 Swarthmore Avenue). Race day registration is $45 and will be from 6:30 to 8 a.m. at the Rec Center. Once again, William E. Simon & Sons will be the corporate sponsor and Pacific Palisades Bank will be the title sponsor. The race is presented by the Palisades-Will Rogers Ridge Runners and The Palisades Optimist Club. The deadline for online registration is also next Monday. Checks should be made payable to Brian Shea, P.O. Box 601. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. The 14th annual Kids’ Fun Run (a half-mile race through Huntington Palisades) will follow at 9:15 a .m. sharp. Pre-registration is $25 and race day registration will be $30. To download an entry form or register online, visit the Web site at www.palisades10k.com. For more information, e-mail palisades10k@Verizon.net.

Moscot & Goldsmith Win Post Cup as Outstanding Senior Athletes at PaliHi

They may play different sports, but Jon Moscot and Laura Goldsmith know what it is like to perform under pressure. They have been doing it ever since they donned Palisades High jerseys and their ability to perform at their best when the stakes are highest is what earned them this year’s Palisadian-Post Cup Awards as outstanding senior athletes at Palisades High. Moscot was the ace pitcher and one of the leading hitters on the Dolphins’ baseball team, which went 18-0 en route to the Western League championship this spring. He was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and made first-team All-City for the second straight year. In a game full of individual statistics, though, Moscot places greater importance on team goals–namely victories. “Years from now, what I’ll remember most is going 18-0,” he said. “I won’t remember a certain pitch or hit but I’ll remember all the hours of sweat we put into becoming undefeated league champs.” Teammates voted Moscot a captain this season along with fellow seniors David Skolnik and Brett Whalen. Moscot had longed for that opportunity ever since he was a freshman and took the title seriously–so much so that he went from being among the slowest players on varsity to one of the fastest, with a 40-yard time of 4.6 seconds and a 60 sprint in 6.9. “In baseball, if you fail 70 percent of the time you are a successful player so there are a lot of ups and downs,” said Moscot, who has spent countless hours refining his swing at the batting cage in the backyard of his house by Will Rogers State Park. “Being a leader is being able to pick yourself and teammates up in these rough situations.” If Moscot was the “go-to” guy on the mound, Goldsmith was the “go-to” gal for the volleyball team, leading the Dolphins in kills and hitting percentage. She, too, was plunged into the role of captain after five players graduated, making the goal of repeating as City champions that much harder to reach. Goldsmith, an outside hitter, made a conscious effort to coach the younger players on the court. At season’s end Palisades was back on top–and Goldsmith was named City Player of the Year. “The best part was watching a team that got killed in a few tournaments at the beginning of the year gel at the right time, overcome some big injuries and win it again,” she said. “I’m not the loudest or most verbal leader, I just lead by example. I’ve also found that specific advice always works better than ‘Come on, play harder!'” Goldsmith, who lives in the Alphabet Streets, also played defense on Palisades’ soccer team, which won the Western League and advanced to the quarterfinals of the City playoffs. “I’d say volleyball is a little more mental and soccer more physical,” she said. “Hitting the decisive kill is amazing but you are getting them 20 times a game so for me scoring the winning goal is more satisfying because they don’t come as often.” Moscot led the Dolphins’ pitching staff in wins and strikeouts. The flame-throwing right-hander allowed four hits with eight strikeouts in a tough 1-0 loss to Banning in the first round of the City’s Division I playoffs. One memory that stands out in his mind happened in a league game at Hamilton: “I turned to my friend Ryan Holman right before my at-bat and I was like ‘Dude, I’m so tired I don’t even want to bat, maybe I should just hit a homer and come sit down on the bench.’ Sure enough, I got up and hit a home run on the first pitch. When I got back to the dugout he looked at me and said, jokingly, ‘I hate you.’ That was really funny.” Goldsmith attributed her team’s late-season success to a certain pre-match meal: “We started a ritual of going to Taco Bell before each playoff game. Tait Johnson would pick me up in her van, we would order a fresca taco each, then pick up [teammate] Chelsea Scharf on the way to the gym. It seemed to work so we even made sure to bring our tacos on the bus to the City championships.” Asked to name their favorite classes, Moscot picked AP history with Mr. Burr “because I love the subject and we used to always talk about baseball” while Goldsmith chose physics with Mr. Schalek “because I enjoy learning about how the universe works and how things interact to create the world we live in.” Both expressed gratitude upon being awarded the Post Cup–a tradition that began the school’s very first year (1961-62). Their names join a long and distinguished list of winners on a plaque in the main office. “It’s very exciting,” Moscot said upon receiving his award at a senior banquet last Friday night at Mercer Hall. “All my years of hard work have rewarded me with this great honor.” Goldsmith was thrilled to hear her name announced: “It’s a great culmination of my high school athletic experience. I’m proud to be recognized in my community as an outstanding athlete.” When not denting the gym floor with her thunderous spikes Goldsmith is likely at the beach or in the mountains snowboarding. Moscot, too, enjoys the outdoors. In fact, he is in the Boy Scouts and will soon be receiving his Eagle Scout certificate. Goldsmith was considering Dartmouth but ultimately found the coaches and the environment at Colorado College more to her liking. She will continue to play volleyball, of course, but can’t wait to “go skiing every weekend.” The next step on Moscot’s life journey will be Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, where he will have an opportunity to play immediately, get stronger and decide on whether or not to go Division I or possibly get drafted. After tonight’s graduation Moscot plans to spend his summer teaching baseball at the Palisades Recreation Center and in West L.A. while Goldsmith will be teaching a volleyball camp in July for Paul Revere Middle School’s Sports Mania program. “The most important thing Coach [Mike] Voelkel taught me is to go 100 percent at whatever I do, whether it’s in practice or in a game,” Moscot said. Through volleyball and soccer Goldsmith has learned the same lessons–how to win and lose with grace, how to overcome adversity and, most of all, how to lead: “You gain confidence when you know someone wants you to succeed. Giving everyone individual support makes the whole team better.”

Palisades High’s athletic program has churned out more section titles than any school in the City and one reason is the multitude of talented and dedicated athletes the Dolphins have on campus. It should come as no surprise that many of them were honored for their achievements at last Friday night’s Senior Awards Program in Mercer Hall. The James A. Mercer Scholar-Athlete Award went to pole vaulter Camille Liberatore, who cleared 10 feet to win the City Section championship last month at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa. Booster Club Exceptional Scholar Awards went to girls’ soccer player Erin Newman and boys’ volleyball player Taylor Savage. Newman suffered a season-ending injury to her leg moments after scoring a goal against Taft early in the season. Savage, this year’s valedictorian, was a defensive stalwart on a varsity team that, if not for key injuries late in the season, might have repeated as City champion. Swimmer Elizabeth Ebert won the Rose Gilbert Woman ‘Scholar Athlete Award’ for her courage in the pool while lacrosse player Kyle Garcia received the Travis DeZarn Memorial Scholarship Award for his hustle and determination in games and in practice. Kling Family Scholar Athlete Awards went to tennis player Audrey Ashraf, who played singles her senior year despite being one of the best doubles players in the City as a junior, and David Skolnik, the second baseman on a baseball team that went 18-0 in league. Receiving Coaches’ Awards for outstanding athletic achievement were boys’ volleyball captain Matt Hanley, who was the Western League Player of the Year and runner-up in the All-City Player of the Year voting; All-City Individual doubles tennis champion Che Borja; Jeremy Shore, who was the top-seed in that tournament and helped the Dolphins to the team title last month; Spencer Lewin, who finished third in doubles at Individuals; Jimmy DeMayo, who played a hand in the boys’ swim team moving from eighth to fifth at the City finals meet; softball captain and center fielder Noel Joy, who led the Dolphins into the City Invitational playoffs; and swimmer Louisa Lau, who paced Palisades to second place in the City finals.

Palisades Elementary students had quite a surprise in store for them last Thursday morning at the school’s annual Olympics Day ceremony. Former United States Olympic fencer Carl Borack was the guest speaker at the event, telling his attentive young audience what it takes to succeed in his sport. Borack knows what the Olympics are all about, having marched in five Olympic and five Pan American Games opening ceremonies. “I love the Olympics,” he said. “Since 1972 I’ve attended every Summer Games except for Moscow in 1980 [which the U.S. boycotted]. It’s the most unique event in the world.” Borack was a captain of the U.S. Olympic fencing team in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000, served as a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Public Relations Committee and was president of the International Fencing Commission from 2004-08. After earning a gold medal with the 1971 foil team in the Pan American Games, Borack made the 1972 Olympic team in foil. “It was a terrible Olympics because I had two friends killed on the Israel team,” Borack recalled. (Arab commandos killed two Israeli athletes and seized nine others from the Olympic Village. The next day the remaining nine were killed in a shootout between terrorists and West German police, causing the Games to be suspended for 24 hours. “I didn’t like the politics,” Borack said. “In my opinion it was treated as a political incident, rather than a terrorist attack.” Borack moved with his family from New York to Los Angeles when he was in fourth grade and his parents instantly signed him up for an after-school program at the Westside Jewish Community Center. On Mondays he played basketball, on Tuesdays he played football, on Wednesdays he went swimming, on Thursdays he danced and on Fridays he fenced. “I fell in love with the sport [fencing],” Borack said, but after that first year he wouldn’t pick up a foil for another five years. After living in the Carthay Circle for a year he and his family moved to Beverly Hills. “As a freshman, I played football, but was a mediocre player,’ Borack said. “I was also running track. The smartest kid in my class Bob Post said, ‘Let’s go back to fencing.'” Borack continued to play school sports, making the basketball team as a junior. That same year he went to the 1965 Junior World Championships in fencing. “I saw international fencing and beautiful women,” Borack said, who thereafter realized fencing was his passion. “From my senior year on I knew I wanted to make the Olympic team.” Although he attended Cal State Northridge, Borack’s fencing coach was from UCLA, so Borack competed outside of college and, in 1967, represented the U.S. in the Pan American games as one of four members on the gold medal-winning epee team. The next year he served as an alternate for the Olympic team. In 1968, he was the U.S. National Champion in foil and the following year at the Maccabiah Games in Israel he took gold in the sabre. Borack, who lives in Santa Monica, is one of few fencers equally adept with each of the three types of swords: foil, sabre and epee. “Most fencers don’t compete in all three events,” he said. “It would be like competing in racquetball, squash and tennis.” In order to be a good fencer, Barack explained, it takes brains, strong legs, good reflexes, hours of coaching and desire: “This game is like physical chess. You have to want it.” Borack worked hard to make sabre fencing a woman’s event and in the 2000 Games in Athens, Greece, his efforts paid off as American women took first and third. “Our women’s sabre fencers are among the best in the world,” he said. “Even though we haven’t reached the Italians or French, we have become a powerhouse in the men’s division as well.” Borack is also a film producer, having produced “The Big Fix” (starring his childhood friend Richard Dreyfuss) as well as family movies, including “Shiloh,” “Shiloh Season” and “Saving Shiloh.” His film “The Final Season” premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. “My last five films have been family movies with impeccable values,” he said. Opening Ceremonies were at 8:30 a.m. on the blacktop, during which kids of various ages and grade levels (K through 5) participated in a “Parade of Nations” and recited the Olympian creed. After a $1,000 check was donated to the Special Olympics, Borack gave his speech and it was time for the Games to begin. Students flooded to the playground to participate in a variety of events, including art, team building, the 4 x 100 relay, GaGa (a form of dodgeball), Hippity Hop, handball, kickball, shot put and the dreaded ‘obstacle course.’

Palisadian Katherine Ebert helped her 4 x 100 relay team win the gold medal last Saturday at the Southern California Special Olympics Summer Games. Hundreds of athletes participated in the two-day event at Long Beach State. Along with teammates Caitlin Eberle, Debbie Bedil and Veronica Jordan, Ebert has trained with the Westside Special Olympics team since February under Head Coach Rick Carberry and Palisadian volunteer coach Mark Samara. Ebert also won a silver medal in the 100-yard dash and bronze medals in the softball throw and long jump. She graduated from Venice High in 2006, then studied at the Center for Advanced Transition Skills program at West Los Angeles College. She attends Santa Monica College and volunteers at Sunrise Assisted Living.

One of the fastest-rising players on the junior tennis circuit, Robbie Bellamy won the Boys 16s singles championship at the 65th annual Ventura Junior Open last weekend, one of the oldest and most prestigious events in Southern California. Among the state’s top-ranked players in the 14s age group, the Palisades High-bound Bellamy was barely challenged in the first three rounds, knocking out Jacob Cavanah of Thousand Oaks, 6-0, 6-3, Sam Catanzaro of Los Angeles, 6-3, 6-0 and Justin Anderson of Camarillo 6-3, 6-3. In the semifinals Bellamy played Dylan Brown, who lives and trains year-round at the USTA National Training Academy in Miami and was coming off an impressive win at the Designated Championships in Santa Barbara. Bellamy lost the first set in a tiebreaker but rebounded to take the last two, 6-2, 6-1. The finals pitted Bellamy against top-seeded Miles Seeman of Solvang and an upset was in the air from the moment the first ball was struck. Sure enough, Bellamy prevailed, 6-2, 6-3.