Coach Mike Morrow’s team started with an uneven, 2-3-1 record and needed a tie-breaking playoff win over Long Beach Poly for the Coast League championship and berth in the Southern Section playoffs.
Vance Randolph, sidelined a few games because of illness, was the Hilltoppers’ most-valuable player, with a .521 season batting average and pitched the 8-2 victory over undefeated (12-0) Santa Maria that clinched the school’s 10th Southern Section title.
Morrow’s team was 15-8-1 overall and 13-4 against high school squads.
3/1/35
An alumni team, comprised of several professional players leaving for spring training, was scheduled to meet the San Diego High varsity tomorrow in a third annual benefit contest.
Proceeds would be used to help send the Hillers to Pomona for the annual 20-30 Rotary Club Invitational and demonstrations in base running, throwing, and fungo hitting was to add to the game activity.
Among those scheduled to play for the alumni included Athos Sada, Al McNeely and brothers Chet and Swede Smith.
—The Hoover varsity had 13 base hits to 5 and defeated the “Yannigans”, 12-7, in an intrasquad game. The team name was slang for rookie or reserve players.
3/2/35
Heavy rain soaked the City Stadium field and forced cancelation of the alumni-varsity contest.
3/3/35
Julius Skinner gave up one hit and doubled in the winning runs in the ninth inning of a 3-1 victory over the Hilltoppers’ Yannigans.
3/6/35
The destroyer escort U.S.S. Dobbin team won its 48th consecutive game, 3-1 in seven innings over San Diego High. Hillers starter Vance Randolph took the loss, having given up two runs in the top of the seventh.
3/8/35
Heavy rain the night before washed out the Hoover-vs.-Alumni game at Hoover, canceling a planned “Dad’s Day” for fathers of Cardinals players.
3/12/35
Frank Galindo’s triple scored Bing Williams in the eighth inning and San Diego and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot battled to a 1-1 tie after nine innings on the Leathernecks’ diamond.
—First baseman Ted Williams had five base hits and Hoover had 17 overall in a 17-3 win over the Naval Hospital squad.
3/13/35
Ted Williams relieved starter Morris Hurst after MCRD erupted for eight runs in the first inning. Williams kept it close but the Leathernecks beat the guests, 12-11.
3/14/35
Bill Skelley and Julius Skinner limited the U.S.S. Milwaukee team to two hits as the San Diego won, 11-1, in City Stadium.
3/16/35
Ted Williams hit two home runs and a double and pitched the last three innings in relief of starter Ralph Twiss as Hoover scored a 6-2 victory over the Santa Ana Saints at Hoover.
—The Alumni defeated San Diego, 12-5, the graduates bunching seven hits and a couple Hilltoppers errors against starter Vance Randolph and relief pitcher Bill Skelley.
3/20/35
The Texas Liquor House team had 14 base hits against pitchers Morris Hurst and Ted Williams and defeated Hoover, 10-8, at Golden Hill Playground.
3/21/35
Charlie Strada allowed one hit and St. Augustine won, 4-0, at Sweetwater.
3/23/35
Winning pitcher Bill Skelley tripled in three runs in the top of the ninth inning and San Diego, outhit, 17-12, scored another run in the 10th to defeat the USC Trojans’ Freshmen, 12-11. By agreement, San Diego was visiting team in the City Stadium encounter.
—Third baseman Roy Engle doubled and tripled and Woody Helm and Morris Hurst added three hits each as Hoover took a 10-1 victory at Long Beach Wilson.
3/26/35
Hosts Ralph Twiss and Ted Williams gave up three hits and Hoover scored a 3-2 victory over the combined San Diego State Varsity and Freshmen squads.
—The Hoover junior varsity and the Grossmont varsity struggled to a 0-0 tie at Grossmont, days after the teams deadlocked, 4-4, at Hoover. San Diego High’s JV outlasted the Coronado varsity, 9-7, at Golden Hill Playground.
3/27/35
Hoover outhit host Sweetwater, 7-6, and made the hits count in a 7-2 nonleague win. The U.S. Coast Guard vessel Bonham squad struck for 18 hits in a 16-5 win at Coronado.
3/28/35
San Diego opened Coast League play with a 4-2 victory at Santa Ana. Frank Galindo homered off Saints ace Willie (Emperor) Jones, but the Hillers trailed, 2-1, before launching five hits in a three-run rally in the eighth inning, ignited by a single by Bill Skelley, who pitched the distance, allowing four hits.
—Coronado outscored St. Augustine, 11-6.
3/30/35
Dick Sawaya’s two-run home run was not enough as the visiting San Diego Hillers dropped a 4-3 decision to the USC Freshmen at Bovard Field on the Trojans’ campus.
4/1/35
Charlie Strada’s four-hit pitching was enough for St. Augustine, 2-1 winner over the Naval Hospital team at Golden Hill Playground.
—Escondido defeated the visiting San Diego High junior varsity, 8-1, behind Orville Hoffmann’s four-hit pitching.
—Ted Williams went the distance on the pitching mound and went the distance at bat, socking two home runs in the Cardinals’ 11-3 win over the Marine Corps team on the Leathernecks’ diamond.
4/4/35
Art Rinder pitched a one-hitter and St. Augustine topped Coronado, 10-1, at Golden Hill playground.
—Marshall Pierson’s Texaco Servicemen dropped an 8-3 decision at Hoover.
4/5/35
Charlie Strada stopped the San Diego Junior Varsity, 4-2, and St. Augustine improved its record to 5-1-1 at University Heights playground.
—Grossmont led Oceanside, 2-1, in the seventh inning, when the Pirates took advantage of wildness and errors and beat the visiting Foothillers, 9-2.
Battery for Grossmont was from a famous San Diego sports family. Bill Nettles started on the mound and twin brother Wayne caught.
—Sweetwater topped Coronado, 5-4, as Jack Brink hurled an 11-inning complete game.
4/6/35
Ralph Twiss allowed one hit, a sixth-inning single, and struck out 13 as visiting Hoover walloped Covina, 15-0. Ted Williams hit for the cycle with a 5-for-5 day of two singles, double, triple, and home run.
The Cardinals’ Morris Siraton also had three singles and two doubles, and Sheldon Fouts homered. The Cardinals struck for 19 base hits against two Colts pitchers.
—Seven runs in the fourth inning held up for a 14-10, Coast League victory by Long Beach Poly over San Diego in the City Stadium.
The Hillers answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning but were victimized by six errors.
—Escondido took visitor Holtville, 7-1 and 9-6, in a doubleheader as the Hoffmann cousins, Karl and Orville, doubled up on the Vikings with complete game pitching.
4/9/35
Bill Ondler hit two doubles and Hoover outscored a team from the USS Detroit, 9-7.
4/10/35
Workhorse Charlie Strada tripled in two runs in the third inning and stopped Sweetwater on three hits in St. Augustine’s 3-1 win at University Heights.
4/11/35
Les Cassie’s double was the pivotal blow as the Hoover JV beat the Oceanside varsity, 5-4.
—Vance Randolph, sidelined with illness several weeks, returned to pitch and San Diego, with Bill Skelley relieving Randolph, scored a 14-6 win with a 22-hit attack over a team known as the All-Stars in the City Stadium.
—La Jolla, outhit, 11-6, outscored Sweetwater, 11-10, in a Metropolitan League game on the Vikings’ field. Monte Soule, touched for 11 hits, struck out 12 Red Devils in the victory.
—Bill Nettles went all the way on the mound and Grossmont scored three runs in the eighth inning and three in the ninth to outscore Metro defending champion Escondido, 6-5.
—Ted Williams had four hits and struck out 16 and Hoover defeated visiting Glendale, 10-5.
4/12/35
Bill Skelley scattered 11 hits and his home run in the seventh inning put San Diego ahead, 6-4 in the eventual 7-4 ictory over Glendale in City Stadium.
—Army-Navy’s Hugh Kittle struck out 17 Coronado Islanders and gave up one hit in a 1-0, Metro League victory on the Warriors’ diamond in Pacific Beach.
—Hoover won at San Bernardino, 7-1, as Ted Williams homered and singled and Tommy Johnson had two hits and scored four runs.
POMONA 20-30 ROTARY CLUB TOURNAMENT
4/18/35
A five-run fourth inning doomed San Diego in a loss to Fullerton, 7-6, sending the Hillers into the consolation bracket in an event they were champions in 1933 and ’34.
—Hoover defeated Whittier, St. Augustine topped Puente, 12-4, and Escondido defeated Sweetwater, 11-2, in other first-round games, all played to seven innings.
4/19/35
San Diego gained the Consolation Bracket finals with victories over Brea-Olinda, 9-3, in the morning and Glendale Hoover, 6-2 in the afternoon. Escondido advanced to the semifinal game by eliminating Montebello, 6-4, and Glendale, 2-1.
The Hilltoppers and Cougars were the only San Diego County teams remaining. Long Beach Poly committed six errors but did not allow a hit and bounced St. Augustine, guilty of seven errors, 6-1. Glendale ushered out Hoover, 3-2, and Sweetwater fell to Covina, 6-3.
4/20/35
San Diego won a consolation semifinal in the morning, 6-1 over Whittier, and conked Calexico, 15-0, in the afternoon final as sophomore Bill Skelley hurled a four-hitter. Gus Angelous and R.C. Moore hit home runs in the 14-hit attack.
Escondido was eliminated in the championship semifinals, 2-1, in eight innings by Pasadena Muir Technical. Long Beach Poly then edged Muir, 2-1, for the title.
—Back home, Hoover came up short again, 7-1, to the U.S.S. Whitney at Central Playground.
4/24/35
Third baseman Roy Engle starred in the field and at the plate as Hoover won the opener of the three-game “Civil War” series, 3-1, in seven innings after a 10 a.m. start in City Stadium before San Diego High’s student assembly and assorted baseball fans.
4/25/35
San Diego High evened the series before a Hoover crowd of assembled Cardinals students, 9-5.
Ted Williams, the winning pitcher two days before, was the losing pitcher as the rivalry series evened at one game apiece. Roy Engle doubled and tripled for Hoover and Williams hit a home run.
The Cardinals’ four-run outburst overcame a 1-0 San Diego lead in the third inning, but the Hilltoppers scored three in the fourth and five in the sixth.
Del Ballenger had four singles in four at bats in Hoover’s 12-hit attack. Frank Galindo had two of the Hillers’ nine hits.
San Diego had five hits in the five-run sixth, including doubles by Bill Skelley, R.C. Moore, and Jim Harris.
4/26/35
Bill Skelley’s two-hit pitching included 12 strikeouts and Johnny Bareno contributed a single and double and San Diego coasted, 7-0, at Pasadena.
—Sweetwater stepped out of the Metropolitan League again and sent St. Augustine back to its North Park campus, 7-1, a day following the Red Devils’ 10-3 win over the Hoover JV.
—Meanwhile, Oceanside (2-0) took undisputed possession of first place in the Metro, 4-0 over visiting La Jolla (2-1) behind Johnny Ortega’s two-hitter.
—Bill Nettles gave up six hits and hurled Grossmont (2-1) to a 10-5 win at Army-Navy (1-2) and Karl Hoffmann pitched Escondido (1-1) to a 3-1 victory at Coronado.
4/30/35
Ted Williams allowed five hits and Hoover defeated San Diego, 6-2, to claim the best-of-three series for the city championship. Williams, Roy Engle, and Woody Helm each had two hits.
5/3/35
Ted Williams homered and Ralph Twiss struck out 13 as Hoover won a nonleague game at La Jolla, 13-3.
—Karl Hofmann socked two home runs and Escondido, despite 12 strikeouts by Hugh Kittle, Hoffmann’s rival pitcher, won at Army-Navy, 10-5.
—Grossmont improved to 3-1 and was in first place in the Metropolitan League with a 6-4 win over visiting Coronado.
—The longest trip for any team other than San Diego or Hoover was Sweetwater’s 88-mile roundtrip jaunt to Oceanside, where the Red Devils scored a 7-3 victory.
—San Diego wrapped the Coast League race with a 6-2 win at Alhambra, giving the Hilltoppers a first-place tie with Long Beach Poly, each with a 4-1 record.
5/4/35
Charlie Strada scattered eight hits and the visiting Saints surprised at Hoover, 6-2, aided by a first-inning grand slam home run by Francis Drummy.
5/6/35
Bing Williams’ three-run home run in the first inning was enough for San Diego, behind Bill Skelley’s pitching, to claim a 7-2 victory in a playoff for the Coast League championship at Long Beach Poly.
5/9/35
CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten, wanting to continue the interest of anything that included Hoover and San Diego, scheduled a Southern California playoff Saturday between the freelance Cardinals and Coast loop champion Hilltoppers.
5/10/35
Grossmont’s fourth straight Metropolitan League win, 4-1 over La Jolla behind Bill Nettles’ seven-hit pitching, left the Foothillers in first place.
—Karl Hoffmann went 13 innings on the mound and Escondido outlasted traveling Sweetwater, 2-1. Oceanside beat Army-Navy, 9-2, and St. Augustine, behind Charlie Strada’s three-hitter, won a nonleague game at Coronado, 3-2.
5/11/35
Union reporter Harry P. Hache declared that a crowd of more than 2,000 persons were in City Stadium and saw San Diego score seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and won the Southern Section playoff with Hoover, 14-11.
The Cardinals outhit San Diego, 18-17. R.C. Moore homered for the Hilltoppers and Ted Williams for the Hoover.
5/16/35
Jim Harris’ grand slam home run in the fifth inning and Bill Skelley’s six-hit pitching were enough for San Diego to win a quarterfinals playoff, 9-4, at Placentia Valencia.
—Grossmont claimed a tie for the Metropolitan League championship with a 6-4 victory in 10 innings at Sweetwater. Bill Nettles went the distance for the Foothillers, giving up five hits.
—Army-Navy took a bye from league action and defeated St. Augustine, 5-0, sending ace Charlie Strada to his first loss, as Hugh Kittle struck out 19 Saints.
–Oceanside and Oceanside, which were to meet later in the week, kept alive their hopes for a tie with Grossmont. The Pirates took advantage of 11 errors to score a 16-3 victory at Coronado and Escondido blanked La Jolla, 5-0, on the road.
5/24/35
Oceanside pushed over runs in the eighth and ninth innings to defeat defending champion Escondido, 2-0, and earn a tie for the Metropolitan League title with Grossmont, both with 5-1 records.
Escondido finished with a 4-2 record. La Jolla, Coronado, and Sweetwater each was 2-4 and Army-Navy, 1-5.
Monte Soule struck out 18 Coronado batters but 10 errors torpedoed Soule and the Vikings, who made one base hit against the Islanders’ Jack Brink.
6/1/35
Vance Randolph, moving from shortstop to the mound, relieving Bill Skelley in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and one out, retired the side and San Diego beat Colton, 5-2, in a Southern Section semifinal game in City Stadium.
6/8/35
Vance Randolph pitched and slugged San Diego to an 8-2 win over visiting and undefeated (12-0) Santa Maria, earning the Hilltoppers their 10th Southern Section championhship since 1917.
Randolph also tripled in two runs in the first inning, doubled in two more in the seventh and stole home in the inning.
