Torrey Pines High School - Freeflight Yearbook (Del Mar, CA)

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EFEELLA TEAIW UNDER NEW COACH Ieven years ago Torrey Pines was beginning its innaugural baseball season behind head coach Frank Chambliss. lt's now 1987, and after two coaches had come and gone, Chambliss was once again at the helm, and his Cinderella baseball squad was looking to turn things around. The team's major goal at the beginning of the season was to improve on last year's disappointing 3-7 league record. We're expecting good things this season, said Chambliss. I think we'll the 'rags to riches' team of the Pal- omar League, he predicted. And according to Chambliss the key to success this season was in the team's pitching. Like Yogi Berra says '90 percent of baseball is pitching, said Chambliss. During the season pitching was up for grabs with returning Iettermen Sean Sebring, John Campana, Pete Casiano, and Scott Calkins vying for the job, as well as junior Bob Kennedy and sophomores John Finley and John Lynch. All the players had to compete against each other for starting positions, which is good, said Chambliss. Among those players fighting for starting posi- tions were returnees Jay Jones, Tommy Slipper, Scott Carson, Todd Kelley, and catchers Gordon Thompson and Todd Stanton. From the junior varsity team were Brad Downes, John Wagner, Matt Livingston, Aaron Mirandon, Bobby McGriff, and Tim Walker. Chambliss felt at the beginning ofthe season that if the team could come together and play as a unit, the players just might be able to prove something to the rest of the league this season. There are a lot of good teams in the Palomar League, and we're difinitely going to be the Cin- derella team this season, said Chambliss. We'll go just as far as the team will allow us to. - Travis Scott BASEBALL 79

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SLIPPEB LOOKS to the BIG LEAGUES sk a lot of little boys what they want to be when they grow up and they'll say, l want to be a famous football player or l want to play professional baseball. For Tommy Slipper, that was exactly the way it happened. From the time he was seven years old, he had a goal. He wanted to be just like the legendary Babe Ruth and Joe Demasio. He wanted to be a professional baseball player. i Ever since I was a little kid l wanted to play professional ball, Slipper recalled. My dad was a coach on Little League and my older brothers played a tot of baseball. l just looked up to them and wanted to do what they did. Since Slipper first began to play baseball at the early age of seven, he has played on five all-star teams, including the San Diego All-Star Team which traveled to Sydney, Australia to promote the sport down under. It was really neat being able to travel to another country. We met a lot of really nice people and experienced a whole different cui- ture. Slipper has played a variety of positions in- cluding first base, pitcher, and outfielder, but resenfes outfield as his favorite. ln high school baseball, you get a lot of aggressiveness. There are a lot of real solid hitters, so you get a lot of action in the outfield, explained Slipper. While many athletes participated in baseball as a high school activity, Slipper sees it as a life long thing. l could never give up baseball. It will always be one of my top priorities, he said. l get a lot of satisfaction our of tplaying. lt just really moti- vates me. l like the eeling you get out of not only being happy with yourself, but having your team mates be happy with you too. ln any sport, it pays to have your coaches be happy with you also, as Slipper has learned through various awards received in high school baseball. When on the junior varsity team, he was named captain, and was also named Defen- sive player of the Year, and last year he was named Most improved and given Honorable Mention in the Palomar League. The Union Tribune also awarded Slipper as Tribune Scholar Athlete of the Year for baseball. Slipper still has a goal of someday making it to the big league, and with his continued deter- mination it's very possible that some day we'll be adding his name to the list of legendary baseball players. - Lora Stowe 78 BASEBALL RUNNING AFTER THE OPPONENT Matt Livingston tries to tag him out.

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