Baseball: Notre Dame-Crespi showdown is looming

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There’s one week left before Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (20-2, 8-0) takes on Encino Crespi (18-5, 7-1) for the Mission League baseball title, but this week, both schools must avoid the upset by not looking ahead.

Notre Dame faces a dangerous Chaminade team in two games this week. Crespi faces an equally competitive Alemany team.

Notre Dame and Crespi will meet next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Birmingham in a game that should draw a big crowd because it would be a terrific pitching matchup between Crespi’s Tyler Johnson, pictured, who’s 8-0 with a 1.06 ERA, and Notre Dame’s Nik Rodarte, who’s 8-0 with a 1.81 ERA. The teams meet again next Thursday at Valley College.

It has been 15 years since the teams were so prominent in baseball. In 1993, they reached the Southern Section Division I semifinals.

Remember the stars of those teams? For Crespi, it was Jeff Suppan and Casey Snow. For Notre Dame, it was Ryan Stromsborg, Chris Leveque and Glen Carson.

-- Eric Sondheimer

-- Image by Crespibaseball.com