June 2010 Archives

Upland third baseman Daniel Robertson was among one of 14 players from the western part of the United States to qualify for the USA National Trials for the 16-and-under baseball team in September in Houston. Robertson, one of 31 players in the United States to qualify for the trials, will try out in Houston to make the 20-man roster for the Pan American Games to be held in Culiacan, Mexico this October.

Former NFL cornerback Chris Hayes, a San Gorgonio graduate who played for the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and New England Patriots from 1996-2002, will be back in the area on July 10, as he's hosting a football camp at Citrus Valley High School.

The camp will be run by NFL players, with New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and former USC and NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson being possible counselors. Snoop Dogg may also attend. The camp is open to campers ages 6-18 and will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with registration at 8 a.m. at the school. The entry fee is $35 before July 10 and $45 on the 10th. More information on the camp can be found at this link.

In a reaction to his arrest along with two other players for suspicion of felony theft by UCLA police last week, the school dismissed former Kaiser linebacker Josh Shirley from the football team today. Shirley, a two-time first-team all-Sun player, was arrested along with Gardena Serra wide receiver Paul Richardson and Los Alamitos defensive back Shaquille Richardson.

Jon Gold's UCLA blog detailing the dismissal can be accessed here. Apparently there is a possibility for Shirley to return in January according to the blog.

According to a blog by the Daily News' UCLA beat writer Jon Gold, former Kaiser linebacker Josh Shirley was among three incoming freshman UCLA football players arrested for felony theft on campus. Gold's blog detailing the situation can be read here .

The other two Bruins involved, Gardena Serra wide receiver Paul Richardson and Los Alamitos cornerback Shaquille Richardson, were released on $20,000 bail while Shirley was released without bail according to this blog by KTLA.

With World Cup fever at a fever pitch, Ontario High School soccer player Aldo Magana is making his presence felt at the Junior National level. Magana, an incoming junior for the Jaguars, made the United States' Under-17 team and scored a goal in a 2-0 win in Argentina earlier this week in Argentina. The site showcasing Magana's goal is here. The site is written in Spanish, but an English link to the Under-17 American roster is here.

It's no surprise that Ayala and Upland received some superlative honors from winning their respective CIF titles. Upland coach Bubba DeJournett earned the Division 2 Coach of the Year award while Ayala pitcher Jessica Hall and coach John Ameluxen swept the Player and Coach of the Year awards in D3.

DIVISION 2
Player of the Year - Taylor Edwards, Vista Murrieta (12) Catcher
Coach of the Year - Bob "Bubba" DeJournett, Upland
FIRST TEAM
Ashley Beza, California, 12, Pitcher
Sierra Curley, Canyon Springs, 12, Pitcher
Whitney Jones, Upland, 12, Pitcher
Brooke White, Temecula Valley, 12, Pitcher
Ashley Holmes, La Serna, 12, Catcher
Jessica Garcia, Redlands, 12, Catcher
Eliza Crawford, Lakewood, 12, Infield
Kylee Lahners, Laguna Hills, 11, Infield
Mahriseh Medina, Mayfair, 12, Infield
Ane Pahulu, Ramona, 9, Infield
Shelby Pickett, Chaparral, 11, Infield
Pauline Monreal, La Mirada, 12, Outfield
Tatum Edwards, Vista Murrieta, 12, Utility

SECOND TEAM
Arianna Erceg, Palos Verdes, 12, Pitcher
Katherine Macias, Arlington, 11, Pitcher
Katie Saunders, Mira Costa, 10, Catcher
Jasmine Watson, Beckman, 12, Catcher
Sarah Carrosco, Lakewood, 12, Infield
Alanna Haskell, Chaparral, 12, Infield
Krista Mele, California, 12, Infield
Amy Nece, Redlands East Valley, 12, Infield
Jessica O'Donnell, Long Beach Wilson, 12, Infield
Michelle Solomon, Redlands, 11, Infield
Maria Sio, Laguna Hills, 11, Infield
Katrina Weber, Bellflower, 11, Infield

At long last, the all-CIF baseball teams were released today. San Gorgonio shortstop/pitcher Adam Quintana added to his long list of honors by winning co-MVP honors in Division 3 along with Ocean View's Blake Walker.

Division 2
Player of the Year: Adam Plutko, Glendora
Coach of the Year: Dan Henley, Glendora
First Team
Zack Belanger, Junior, Cypress
Thomas Bernal, Senior, Paso Robles
Jacob Cage, Senior, Glendora
Garrett Donohoe, Senior, El Toro
Julio Espinoza, Senior, Rialto
Jim Grob, Senior, Arlington
Tim Helton, Senior, Upland
Mike Hubbard, Senior, Crespi
T.J. Kendzora, Senior, El Toro
Nick Mandry, Senior, La Mirada
Kenny Mathews, Junior, Diamond Bar
Griffin Murphy, Senior, Redlands East Valley
Wyatt Padgett, Senior, Yucaipa
Brando Tessar, Senior, Chaminade
Garrett Tuck, Senior, Arcadia
Taijuan Walker, Senior, Yucaipa
Lucas Whitehill, Senior, Mira Costa
Kevin Williams, Senior, Crespi
Austin Wilson, Senior, Harvard Westlake
Joseph Winterburn, Senior, Glendora

Second Team
Tyler Alamo, Freshman, Cypress
Trey Barrett, Senior, Santa Barbara
Aaron Beckley, Senior, Redlands East Valley
Devyn Bolasky, Junior, Vista del Lago
Brad Burcroff, Senior, Redlands East Valley
Trent Chatterton, Sophomore, Pacifica Garden Grove
Pedro Cota, Senior, Yucaipa
Dylan Delaney, Junior, Chaminade
Tommy Gurrera, Senior, Foothill
Jake Hernandez, Senior. Los Osos
Lonnie Kauppila, Senior, Burbank
Jonathan Larson, Senior, Arcadia
Chris Manning, Senior, El Toro
Josh Mason, Senior, Crespi
Robert Parucha, Senior, Mira Costa
Kyle Raubinger, Junior, Arroyo Grande
Austin Reed, Senior, Rancho Cucamonga
Elliott Surrey, Sophomore, Crescenta Valley
Peter Van Gansen, Sophomore, Alemany
Zach Weiss, Senior, Northwood

The Chino High School football program will be bringing its NFL alumni back next Friday and Saturday for the Chino Football Camp. The camp, which will be held at the high school and is open to children ages 6-14, costs $65 and will feature former USC and current New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, Chicago Bears defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert and Carolina Panthers cornerback R.J. Stanford. Other counselors at the camp - which will run from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-noon Saturday - are Chris McFoy, Ryan McFoy, Marvin Walker and possibly Greg Salas.

Barstow pitcher Aaron Sanchez, the 34th pick of last week's Major League Baseball draft, has signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and will head off to their rookie ball team in Dunedin, Florida this upcoming weekend.

Sanchez, the first player in the county to be selected, chose not to go into details on the terms of his contract, but Jim Callis of Baseball America indicated that Sanchez is receiving a $775,000 bonus in this tweet. Either way, Sanchez is excited about embarking on his professional career.

"It's awesome," said Sanchez, who had signed with the University of Oregon. "It's made better by the fact that I'm still in school. It's kind of cool being the only kid in high school that's a professional baseball player."

Sanchez graduates from Barstow this upcoming Thursday and will head to Florida three days later. Florida may seem like a different world from the High Desert, but Sanchez is ready for the challenge.

"The humidity will be something to get used to, but its hot up here and its hot down there," Sanchez said. "I can't wait to get going."

San Gorgonio junior outfielder Andy Crowley was selected to be part of the Southern California All-Star Team for the North-South All-Star Showcase this upcoming weekend in Santa Clara according to San G coach Bill Eatinger. Crowley, an All-San Andreas League and all-CIF selection, was selected from a deep pool of candidates from around the state.

"Each school gets to submit a couple underclassmen and of those, only 24 are picked," Eatinger said. "It's quite an honor."

Ayala didn't waste much time replacing the retired Mel Sims, as it promoted newly-hired assistant coach Amy Campbell to take the head job last week.

Campbell, 29, has been a jack of all trades in the Chino Valley Unified School District, serving as the head coach for the Chino High girls basketball team, an assistant coach for Ayala's CIF-championship winning softball team and a teacher at Magnolia Junior High School. She's happy that she only has to wear one hat this upcoming year.

"I just got hired as a social studies teacher, so I'll be able to stay on this campus," Campbell said. "I've been willing to teach or coach anywhere where I'm needed, but it will be great to just wear red and black."

Campbell was hired initially to be the coach-in-waiting to Sims, 69, who has constructed Ayala into one of the elite programs in Southern California, taking over after a year or two under Sims' tutelage. But Sims' retirement accelerated the timetable, though he will consult with Campbell on the side while she gets her feet wet.

"We were going to have Amy gradually take over the program from Mel, but Mel's daughter is going to be a senior next year and plays soccer," Ayala athletic director Steve Martin said. "Basketball and soccer season run at the same time, so Mel decided to step down. Once he did, Amy was our No. 1 target."

Campbell was offered the job after the Bulldogs defeated Bonita in the CIF-SS Division 3 softball semifinals. Martin came up to her after the game while she was in celebration mode and she eagerly accepted.

More than a week later, the eagerness hasn't faded.

"I'm ready to go," Campbell said. "We start Monday and I can't wait to get this thing started. I'm hoping to continue the great things Mel brought here and add a few wrinkles of my own."

Redlands East Valley pitcher Griffin Murphy, the 61st pick in this week's Major League Baseball draft, has agreed in principle to a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. The second-round pick said that he agreed to a signing bonus worth $800,000, which is the value that he was looking for prior to the draft.

"I'm really excited right now," said Murphy, who will forgo a scholarship to the University of San Diego to sign. "This is a dream come true and I can't believe that I'm about to play professional baseball. They came up from the number that the pick was slotted to get and met the number we wanted."

Murphy indicated that the bonus number slotted for the 61st pick was $600,000. There is plenty to be done before he joins the Blue Jays' organization though. The paperwork for signing the contract will be delayed some due to exchange rate and other issues that come from the Blue Jays' location in Canada.

"I probably won't start with the organization until early July," Murphy said. "I just can't wait to go and play ball."

This didn't make it into my MLB draft day 2 story. Thanks to colleague T.J. Berka for the info and quotes.

Miller High pitcher Cesar Aguilar was drafted in the 14th round by St. Louis.

"It feels good to be drafted. I've been looking forward to this for a long time," he said.
"I didn't really know when I'd be drafted, so I wasn't that worried about it. I figured I would be drafted, but I wasn't sure when."

"I've been dreaming of this since I was a little kid. Every time I went to a major league game or a minor league game, I imagined playing on the field."

He plans on signing Thursday and will leave Friday. He received a $60,000 signing bonus.

"It's not bad for an 18-year old kid in high school. I'll just save it, There's really nothing I need to buy right now," he said.

Other top county players to go in Day 2: REV LHP Griffin Murphy (Toronto, 2nd), Upland RHP Scott Frazier (Philadelphia, 5th), ex-REV RHP Tyler Shreve (Toronto, 10th), Rancho Cucamonga Austin Reed RHP (Chicago Cubs, 12th).

The first football recruiting rankings that Rivals.com will make for the 2011 recruiting class have been gradually released this past week, with two county players vaulting into the site's Top 250 with four-star ratings.

Summit wide receiver Devon Blackmon was ranked No. 41 by the site. Blackmon, who plays a variety of positions for the SkyHawks and finished eighth in the state in the 110-meter hurdles at the state track and field meet this past weekend, has been offered by a who's who of college football. Some of Blackmon's 20-plus offers include USC, UCLA, Oregon, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina.

Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, a defensive back/wide receiver for Chino Hills, was ranked No. 146. The two-time all-Sun first-team DB has been offered by Oregon, Stanford, Arizona State, Washington State, Utah, San Diego State and Idaho thus far.

Congratulations to Jessica Garcia from Redlands, who won MVP honors and is the Terriers' all-time hits leader.

MVP: Jessica Garcia, Sr., C, Redlands

First Team
Marshean August, Eisenhower
Sara Pineda, Eisenhower
Christina Castro, Fontana
Nicole Soltis, Fontana
Diauna Nelson, Miller
Narissa Garcia, Redlands
Marlee Rettig, Redlands
Michelle Solomon, Redlands
Amanda Weis, Redlands
Jenna Jaquish, REV
Savannah Jaquish, REV
Amy Nece, REV
Cassidy Bingham, Yucaipa
Courtney Brown, Yucaipa
Ashley Huff, Yucaipa
Mackenzie Maxwell, Yucaipa
Leann Lopez, REV

Here we go. Congratulations to softball co-MVPs Sabrina Gamboa of Ontario and Abrinna Lockett of Colony and baseball MVP Vincent Velasquez of Garey.

SOFTBALL

NAME SCHOOL GRADE

BELINDA REEN DON LUGO 10
JESSICA GUILLEN DON LUGO 11
JORDON SAUCEDA COLONY
NICOLE PIERES COLONY 11
SABRINA CAVANAUGH COLONY 12
CHRISTIANA COOK COLONY 12
BIANA GARCIA GAREY 11
STACEE CUTHBERT CHAFFEY 12
JAYNA LOY CHAFFEY 12
CELINA FELIX MONTCLAIR 10
PRICSILLA ANDA ONTARIO 12
VIVAN YOUNG ONTARIO 12
NITA VASQUEZ ONTARIO 12
KELANI TSUHA ONTARIO 12
MVP SABRINA GAMBOA ONTARIO 10
MVP ABRINNA LOCKETT COLONY 11

BASEBALL

NAME SCHOOL GRADE

KEVIN LARA DON LUGO 12
ALEX MANCILLAS DON LUGO 12
JEFF MILLER DON LUGO 12
SCOTT MAKORAN DON LUGO 12
DANNY MATURINO GAREY 12
JOSH ORTEGA GAREY 12
THOMAS MICHEL GAREY 11
OSCAR GOMEZ MONTCLAIR 12
EDDIE RAMIREZ MONTCLAIR 12
ANDREW JACQUEZ ONTARIO 11
JOEY PUZIN COLONY 12
KYLE ZOSKY COLONY 10
ANDREW MACKENZIE COLONY 12
AARON BERNAL COLONY 10
MVP VINCENT VELASQUEZ GAREY 12

San Gorgonio pitcher/shortstop Adam Quintana won MVP to the shock of no one.

MVP ADAM QUINTANA 12 SAN GORGONIO

FIRST TEAM
1 LOU VILLARREAL (P) 12 COLTON
2 TYLER RAHIER © 11 CAJON
3 JOSH MORENO (IF) 12 ARROYO VALLEY
4 JEFF RICKER (IF) 12 CAJON
5 JOSEPH AVILA (IF) 11 COLTON
6 ANDY CROWLEY (OF) 11 SAN GORGONIO
7 JAMES RODRIGUEZ (OF) 12 CAJON
8 DANIEL GOMEZ (OF) 11 ARROYO VALLEY
9 TANNER CLARK (UT) 12 CAJON

SECOND TEAM
1 BRET SANDATE (P) 12 SAN GORGONIO
2 AARON RODRIGUEZ © 12 COLTON
3 AARON CISNEROS (IF) 10 SAN BERNARDINO
4 JUAN ROCHA (IF) 11 SAN GORGONIO
5 JOSEPH ROMERO (IF) 11 COLTON
6 ANDREW CONTRERAS (OF) 9 COLTON
7 JEFF MELLEN (OF) 12 CAJON
8 CALEB CACHO (OF) 12 SAN GORGONIO
9 JARROD CANNON (UT) 12 CAJON

HONORABLE MENTION
HON EDGARDO FONSECA 12 ARROYO VALLEY
HON RUBEN RIOS 11 CAJON
HON ZACH FYFE 12 COLTON
HON JOHNNY BROWN 12 PACIFIC
HON MARIO GARCIA 10 SAN BERNARDINO
HON RICKY ELIAS 11 SAN GORGONIO