Area Athletes Gear Up for Watts Games

Although the competition should be spirited among the more than 12,000 high school athletes expected to participate in the L.A. Watts Summer Games that begin Saturday, the emphasis will be on having fun.

West Torrance will play host to part of the baseball competition. West Coach Harry Jenkins, whose team plays Fremont at 9 a.m. Saturday, expects the Warriors to be relaxed.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Jenkins, whose team features junior second baseman Derek Nicholson, The Times’ South Bay Player of the Year. “It’s not going to be a blood-and-guts type of competition.”

Torrance, Carson, Peninsula, Serra, Westchester and Inglewood are among the area schools participating in the Summer Games, which feature only returning high school students. Preliminary competition will take place Saturday and Sunday, with later rounds June 19-20. Finals in most sports will be June 20, the last day of competition.

The 26th annual Summer Games, organized by the L.A. Junior Chamber of Commerce, features competition in 11 sports: baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

The Torrance girls’ volleyball team will begin defense of its tournament title Saturday morning at Hamilton. The Tartars won the Southern Section Division III title last fall, but they will be without several of that team’s top players, including Loyola Marymount recruits Kim Blankinship and Suzanne Radcliffe.

Local sites for other competitions include Harbor College (baseball), Inglewood (boys’ basketball), Morningside (girls’ basketball), North Torrance (soccer), Peninsula (softball) and Westchester (boys’ volleyball).

The boys’ basketball field features 110 teams. In first-round games Saturday, sixth-seeded Westchester plays Chaminade at 4 p.m. at Inglewood, and ninth-seeded Inglewood plays host to Canoga Park at 9 a.m.

The football competition features a seven-on-seven passing games played without pads. Carson, Westchester, South Torrance, Torrance, Hawthorne and Morningside are area teams participating in the football competition.