PREP NOTES : Morningside Coach Plans to Quit

Carl Franklin, one of the South Bay’s winningest and most experienced basketball coaches, said it is doubtful that he will return for his 15th season at Morningside High School.

Although he has not officially resigned, Franklin said he has informed Morningside’s players of his plans to quit coaching.

“I’m not burned out from coaching, but I’m at the crossroads of my career,” said the 43-year-old administrator. “If I’m offered the dean’s position on a full-time basis, I would take that over coaching.”

Franklin, Morningside’s acting dean of students, hopes to assume the post on a permanent basis next school year, in addition to his duties as athletic director.

Franklin said the negative response from players and parents to his plans caught him by surprise.

“Some of the players want me to come back,” he said. “And the parents want to know if there is anything they can do to encourage me to stay. I’ll give it a lot of thought.”

Franklin has coached Morningside to 12 playoff appearances in 14 seasons and six league titles in the last seven years. The Monarchs, the top-ranked Division III team in the state most of season, were upset by Lompoc, 83-80, Feb. 20 in the Southern Section 3-AA quarterfinals to finish 24-4.

Franklin said Ron Randle, who has served as co-coach since 1986, is the logical candidate to continue heading the program.

Bob Grant, the 1975 L.A. City Section Player of the Year at Westchester High and a former pro player in the New York Mets organization, is the new baseball coach at South Torrance High.

Grant, a catcher during his playing days, said he learned about the job opening in The Times and contacted South. He was named coach two weeks ago, which didn’t leave much time to prepare for the season.

South plays its first game at 3 p.m. Friday at Rolling Hills in the El Segundo Tournament.

“We’re a little behind everybody else, but it seems like a pretty good group of kids,” Grant said. “I don’t know if they’re ballplayers yet, but we’ll see.

South’s program has been on a decline since 1984, when it won the Southern Section 4-A championship. The Spartans were 7-17 last season and took seventh in the eight-team Ocean League.

Grant, South’s fourth coach in six years, previously coached pro baseball in Italy and as a walk-on at UC Santa Barbara.

Hawthorne baseball Coach Lester Sakurai calls his starting outfield of juniors Armando Fernandez, Alex Figueroa and Anthony Mosby the “St. Louis outfield” because of their outstanding speed.

Fernandez batted .413 and stole 19 bases last season on his way to earning All-South Bay honors as a sophomore. Sakurai also has high hopes for Figueroa, a transfer from Puerto Rico who will play center field for the Cougars.

“He’s a good-sized kid with a lot of power,” Sakurai said. “He’s almost as good as (Fernandez) in terms of his swing. And he’s cat quick.”

When top-seeded Morningside (27-3) plays second-seeded Lynwood (25-1) for the Southern Section 5-AA girls basketball championship Friday night at UC Irvine, it will be a rematch of the 1988 4-A final won by Morningside, 60-55.

Lynwood is the first Southern Section school since Long Beach Poly in 1980 to have both its boys and girls teams play for the major division title.

Lynwood’s boys team (30-1) meets Long Beach Poly (25-2) for the 5-AA crown Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

So far, St. Bernard senior Terry Sullivan has limited his sports activities to football and basketball in high school.

He was an All-Camino Real League defensive back and, as the starting point guard, helped the basketball team to the second round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs this season.

Now he’s trying his hand at baseball.

St. Bernard Coach Bob Yarnall says Sullivan will be one of his top pitchers this season, even though he has no previous high school experience.

“I’ve watched him through youth leagues, and I finally coaxed him to come out for the team,” Yarnall said. “He’s throwing really well.”

Sullivan, a right-hander, was impressive during a two-inning stint against University of West L.A. in a scrimmage Saturday.

“They didn’t get anything off him,” Yarnall said. “He’s got a good fastball and a very good curve.”

You’d think John Stevenson wouldn’t have a care in the world.

The El Segundo baseball coach has a deep and talented team returning from last season, when the Eagles captured the Southern Section 2-A title.

But Stevenson says replacing center fielder Erik Evans has proved to be a worrisome chore.

“Evans looks to be impossible to replace,” he said. “We really don’t have a center fielder. We have pitchers and infielders, and a left fielder and a right fielder, but center field is a sore spot.

“We’re just throwing people out there. We really don’t have anybody who is gifted and capable of playing the position. I’m talking about speed and arm and instinct.”

Stevenson said the leading candidate to replace Evans, the Eagles’ leader in runs batted in and stolen bases last season, is 6-foot-5, 230-pound Kenny Talanoa, not exactly your prototype center fielder.

“Every outfielder is a candidate,” Stevenson said. “Talanoa might be the leading candidate just because of his exceptional arm. He’s a very determined competitor.”

Bishop Montgomery relief pitcher Brian Papia, who the led the area with seven saves last season--the fourth-highest mark in Southern Section history--is appropriately nicknamed “Ice Man.”

PREP NOTES: Doug Kay’s goal three minutes into sudden-death overtime lifted second-seeded Palos Verdes past host Edison of Huntington Beach, 1-0, Tuesday in the semifinals of the Southern Section 4-A soccer playoffs. The defending champion Sea Kings (28-2-2) will meet top-seeded Simi Valley (28-1) for the 4-A title at 8 p.m. Friday at Gahr High in Cerritos. . . . South Torrance girls soccer team had its season ended Tuesday in a 2-1 loss to host El Toro in the 4-A semifinals. The Spartans finished 18-6-1. . . . Former Palos Verdes gymnast Danielle Leone, the 1988 CIF Individual champion, made the women’s team at Stanford as a walk-on and has consistently ranked among the Cardinal’s top five performers, said Palos Verdes Coach Jim Mitchell.