Author Archives: Clay Fowler

About Clay Fowler

Clay Fowler is a Dallas native, graduated from the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas for two years before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.

CIF-SS first-round playoff scores: Defending champ Bonita baseball upset

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Apparently the Division 3 No. 1 seed and defending CIF champion didn’t suffer the biggest upset of the day. The Bonita baseball team’s 3-1 first-round loss to Los Angeles Cathedral, the third-place team from the Del Rey League, qualifies as the most glaring shocker in the Inland Valley. But Mater Dei, MaxPreps.com’s No. 1 team in the country, went down in the first round too. In fact, three of the four No. 1 seeds in the baseball playoffs that played Thursday made early exits from the postseason.

BASEBALL
DIVISION 1
Lakewood 5, El Modena 0
El Dorado 1, Long Beach Poly 0
Thousand Oaks 9, Anaheim Canyon 4
Los Alamitos 6, West Ranch 5
DIVISION 3
Cathedral 3, Bonita 1
Peninsula 9, Carter 0
La Quinta 4, San Gorgonio 0
Lakewood 5, El Modena 0
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A national recruit, Diamond Ranch’s Delp will soon have offers to match

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Diamond Ranch two-way lineman Kammy Delp picked up his ninth scholarship offer Monday, but schools like San Jose State better get in a word while they can. The 6-foot-5, 318-pound junior is a national recruit, he just doesn’t have the offers to match. Yet.

Delp already has five Pac-12 offers – UCLA, USC and Oregon have visited but not offered – and has received visits at spring practice from Alabama, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. The list just keep growing and the offers are likely soon to follow, according to Diamond Ranch head coach Roddy Layton.

“He could end up with 20 or 30 offers,” Layton said. “Every school that comes out has the same reaction, ‘Oh, he’s bigger than I thought he was.’”

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2014 Releaguing: Chino Hills, Ayala move to form super Baseline League

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Ayala athletic director Warren Reed made one last plea with five proposals remaining at Monday’s Mt. SAC area releaguing meeting, only one of which included his school in the Baseline League. Apparently it fell on deaf ears.

Ayala and Chino Hills joined Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland in perhaps the closest thing we’ve seen to a super-league in the Inland Valley in the last 10 years. There is no doubt in my mind Ayala ended up in the absolute worst situation of any school in the Inland Valley, joining a league where the other five schools have an enrollment of at least 3,000 to Ayala’s 2,500. Those other five school’s however, will be fascinating to watch as Chino Hills brings strong football, basketball, baseball, softball and soccer programs.

Alta Loma was the big winner, moving to a Mt. Baldy League that is now weaker sans Chino, a two-time football league champion in the last three years. Bonita knew it was leaving the Hacienda League, but was thrilled to land in the Sierra as opposed to the Baseline, where two of the last five remaining proposals placed the Bearcats.

Here is a look at all the new leagues in the Mt. SAC area beginning in the fall of 2014:

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Bonita, Glendora, Diamond Bar candidates to join Sierra League

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Bonita knows it isn’t welcome back in the Hacienda League. Not after its baseball and two basketball teams lost two league games combined in three years.

Thus, the Bearcats are proactive in their pursuit of the Sierra League. It’s certainly a better destination than the Baseline. Just ask Glendora.

Of the 20 proposals that will be voted on in Monday’s releaguing meeting, 11 land the Bonita in the Sierra League versus six in the Baseline. The proposal that is chosen will take effect in the fall of 2014.

“We’ve been winning most of the league championships,” Bonita athletic director Eric Podley said of Bonita’s three years in the Hacienda League. “We realize that it’s understood our league doesn’t want us to return and we’re sensitive to that. I think we feel like the Sierra League is a good fit.”

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Chino Hills has a 50/50 chance of ending up in the Baseline League

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There is a 50 percent chance at Monday’s releaguing meeting that the Baseline League will get even more competitive. Yes, you read that correctly.

The league that has produced two semifinalists for two years running in arguably the toughest football playoff division in California could be deeper beginning in the fall of 2014. Of the 20 releaguing proposals for the Mt. SAC area that will be voted on Monday, 10 of them include Chino Hills in the Baseline League.

Aside from the obvious geographic and economic reasons, Chino Hills was not shy about its preference to remain in the Sierra League, where it has won three football league championships in the last five years.

“Football is the money sport that I think people generally judge a school by,” Chino Hills athletic director Derek Bub said. “Unfortunately that’s what might get us moved. But we haven’t dominated the Sierra League in all sports. We’ve been in the middle of the pack.”

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Baseball, softball rankings: Bonita, Chino wire-to-wire No. 1 teams

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BASEBALL
1. Bonita (24-3) Locked up Hacienda League title by beating Diamond Bar
2. Kaiser (22-3) Allowed an average of 1.2 runs the last nine games
3. Los Osos (19-5) Clinched Baseline title with no-hitter against Glendora
4. San Dimas (22-6) Two clutch wins over Northview won Valle Vista title
5. Carter (18-6) San Andreas League champs have won 10 of their last 11
6. Diamond Bar (19-5) Brahmas fell short against Bonita in bid for league title
7. Chino (16-9) Won last eight league games to share Mt. Baldy title
8. Montclair (18-6) Outright bid for Mt. Baldy title derailed by Chino
9. Don Lugo (20-6) Caught late breaks to finish with share of Mt. Baldy title
10. Claremont (12-11) Wolfpack holding on to second in wild Sierra race

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Bonita, Los Osos clinch league titles, avoid high-stakes rematches

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The Bonita and Los Osos baseball teams can sleep soundly after league championship-clinching wins on Wednesday. Had either of them lost, they would be facing the prospect of losing a wire-to-wire lead in their respective leagues on the final day of the regular season.

Los Osos’ Chris Kohler may be the exception who can’t doze off immediately tonight. The senior is likely still winding down from throwing his first career no-hitter, not to mention breaking the school’s single-season strikeout record. The Grizzlies’ 9-0 win over second-place Glendora gives Los Osos its first Baseline League championship in six years and makes Friday’s matchup between the two teams meaningless. Second baseman Chris Riley has to be mentioned as much for his 3-for-3, two-RBI, two-run performance at the plate as his no-hitter-saving play in the field with one out in the final inning.

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CIF-SS track preliminaries full of local contenders after league finals

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On Thursday, it was Ayala freshman Sydney Tullai dropping jaws at the Sierra League finals track meet by winning the 800 meters, 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters. (Check out the photo gallery) It’s a combination of events so taxing – “insane,” was the term of preference for Chino Hills coach Richard Morales – that Tullai won’t be able to run all three at CIF-SS Preliminaries on May 11. She’s leaning toward the 3,200, but her decision will be jut one of many interesting story lines heading into the posteason.

On Friday at Baseline League finals (photo gallery) Upland’s Myles Valentine tied the top wind-aided 100 meter time in the state this season with a 10.36-second effort. The runner he tied was defending state champion Khalfani Muhammad, who defeated Valentine two weeks earlier at the Mt. SAC Relays, prompting this statement: “I knew at that point,” Valentine said, “I wasn’t going to finish second again.” He hasn’t.

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Summit WR recruits from past and present will be a package deal

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Summit receiver Erik Brown doesn’t yet know which college he will choose, but one thing recently became a certainty. Wherever he goes it will be with his cousin Devon Blackmon, a four-star receiver from the Summit class of 2011 who went to Oregon before transferring to Riverside City College in January.

Brown (pictured, right) has collected nine scholarship offers since the end of Summit’s season in November. Blackmon has pulled in several offers with the intention of transferring to a Division I school after his first season at Riverside City. Two offers the duo has in common are Boise State and Washington, which are high on the a short list that includes USC, a school that has expressed interest in both players but is yet to offer.

“It’s always been in the back of our minds (to go to the same school),” Blackmon said. “I would like to show (Brown) the ropes in college and steer him away from some of the mistakes I made.”

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