May 2011 Archives

The St. Lucy's softball team could only survive so long at the rate of less than two hits per game. The Regents managed only one in Thursday's CIF-SS Division 3 quarterfinal -- a total that was good enough for victory in its first-round game -- but it wasn't enough in a 4-0 loss to No. 1 seed Westlake Village Oaks Christian.

A three-run home run in the fifth inning, a couple of steals and a squeeze play in the second inning represented the scoring for Oaks Christian (28-5), which managed just five hits off St. Lucy's junior Danielle O'Toole (10-10). With four hits combined in its last three games, the last two of which were 1-0 wins, St. Lucy's (16-13) couldn't keep the streak alive.

"To win the last two was remarkable," Regents coach Ryan Nuveman said. "(This season) was a roller coaster that I didn't want to get off. We had to win six of our last seven games just to get in the playoffs, so to even get here was all you could ask for."

It may not be fair to say that the Etiwanda High School softball team's final-inning comeback fell a run short. A few feet short is probably a more-accurate measure.

After mustering six runs in the final inning of Wednesday's second- round playoff game against Orange El Modena, the tying run was thrown out at the plate, and the second-place team from the Century League took down the CIF-SS Division 1 No. 2 seed, 12-11.

El Modena (20-7), which finished second in league to D1 No. 1 seed Esperanza, answered Etiwanda's game-tying, three-run fifth inning with six runs in the bottom of the frame. Entering the seventh inning, Etiwanda (23-4) trailed 12-5, but it wasn't until Jenna Isbel's bases- loaded double resulted in a close play at the plate that the Eagles' furious rally was finally halted.

If only Don Lugo High School's pristine new athletic complex included an outfield fence for the softball field.

Each of the runs allowed by the Division 2 No. 1 seed in Tuesday's second-round playoff game were the result of hits that got past the outfielders and kept on rolling, including a two-run miscue in the seventh inning of Don Lugo's 3-2 loss to Long Beach Wilson.

After a home run in the first inning, Wilson (16-13) didn't score until Unique Whitehurst's single got past Don Lugo right fielder Katie Alamprese in the seventh inning, allowing both Whitehurst and Hannah Duarte to score on the play and erase the 2-1 lead Don Lugo held since the second inning.

As the postseason wears on for the track athletes who continue to qualify at each increasingly difficult meet, there is a specific group in the Inland Empire that has cleared the most hurdles. The hurdlers.

After qualifying in their respective league meets and hitting the mark in last week's CIF-SS preliminaries, the I.E. is sending 22 hurdlers to the CIF-SS Finals meet today at Cerritos College. The competitors in the girls 100-meter hurdle races today will be particularly familiar with one another as hurdlers from the Inland Empire are responsible for four of the top 10 times in the state this year.

Rancho Cucamonga's Jordie Munford braved a battle with food poisoning last week, though it was hard to tell given that she qualified second in the 100 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles at the Division I preliminaries. The sophomore posted the state's second-fastest time in the 300 hurdles when she ran the race in 41.96 seconds April 8 at the Arcadia Invitational. She has the state's third-fastest time in the 100 hurdles, a 13.96-second mark from the Inland Empire Championships April 23.

Given the delay of its first-round playoff game until Friday, the Mt. Baldy League champion Colony baseball team had to wait while the two teams that finished behind it in league opened the postseason with victories by nine and seven runs.

The Titans responded with their own offensive outburst in a 13-5 win over Summit that advanced Colony to a second round game against Freeway champion Sonora on Tuesday.
Freshman first baseman Leo Hernandez was 3 for 3 with five RBIs and a pair of runs scored, including two hits and four RBIs in a nine-run fourth inning.

"In the fourth we just got locked in," Colony coach Tom Keller said. "We kind of got right mentally and started cutting the ball in half, hitting a lot of line drives."

Ted Persell resigned as Alta Loma High School's head baseball coach after eight seasons with the Braves and 12 total years as a head coach. Persell, who will continue as a special education teacher at Alta Loma, expressed the need to take a break from the long hours but said he anticipated a return to coaching.

"Coaching is year round with the fall, summer, sixth period and the weekends," Persell said. "There's just a point in your career where you get tired. I think it's time for me to be a little selfish. Maybe I'll like this break but maybe I won't."

Persell coached for four seasons at El Monte Mountain View before taking over the Alta Loma program eight seasons ago. The Cal State Fullerton graduate, who was a member of the 1995 College World Series championship team, not only is interested in returning to coach in high school but perhaps at a higher level.

Don Lugo High School graduate Luis Zendejas, a former NFL kicker who works in the Arizona Cardinals front office, is holding a free camp on Saturday at Don Lugo for youths ages 8-18, according to Don Lugo head football coach Rick Martin. Professional kickers, holders and punters will offer instruction from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. It is the first in what Zendejas intends to be a yearly event. Campers will need to sign a waiver upon arrival to the event but it is free to participate.

The 49-year-old Zendejas left Arizona State in 1987 as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history; his record has since been broken. He kicked for the Dallas Cowboys for two years and the Philadelphia Eagles for a season and later spent four years with the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Rancho Cucamonga principal Kern Oduro stated that Cougars sixth-year baseball coach Chris Amaya has resigned. There is some confusion as to whether Amaya resigned due to fact that his contract was not going to be renewed. Following the Cougars' wild card playoff loss to Yucaipa on Tuesday, Amaya confirmed he will not be back as coach of the baseball team but couldn't comment on why he is leaving.

"He basically resigned," Oduro said. "I can't comment on it any more than that right now. It's tough for our team but we've got to move forward."

Amaya was clearly emotional following his last game as head coach, as was the rest of the Rancho Cucamonga baseball team, which shared a group hug on the field following a 3-0 loss to Yucaipa that eliminated it from the postseason on Tuesday. Rancho Cucamonga will fly the opening for a baseball coach within the Chaffey Joint Union School district.

Rancho Cucamonga's Rico Hoey shot a tournament-best 5-under par 67 at the Central Individual Regional golf tournament at Desert Willow Golf Course in Palm Desert Monday, leading a group of Inland Valley golfers that qualified for next Monday's Individual Final Championship at the Babe Zaharias Course of the Industry Hills Golf Club. The tournament begins at 8:30 a.m.

Joining Hoey this upcoming Monday will be Diamond Bar's Dean Sakata (68), Jason Chen (71), Brian Fong (76) and Keith Sakata (76). Ontario Christian's Trebor Bitanga (73) and Bradley Fox (73) also advanced as did Upland's Josh Davis (74) and Diamond Ranch's Michael Alvarez (76).

Following the individual finals on Monday is the CIF-SCGA Southern Cal Regional Championship on May 31, then the State Championship on June 5.

Rancho Cucamonga baseball coach Chris Amaya coached his final game at the school on Tuesday just four days after Alta Loma's Ted Persell resigned. Following Rancho Cucamonga's 3-0 wild-card playoff loss to Yucaipa Tuesday, Amaya confirmed he was done after six years as the Cougars head coach but couldn't comment on the nature of his departure. The Daily Bulletin has confirmed that his contract was not renewed. Persell confirmed in an email to the Daily Bulletin that he had resigned and desired a break from coaching.

Amaya and Persell represent the second and third Baseline League baseball coaches who were employed at the beginning of the season but no longer hold their positions. Los Osos Dominick Copas was fired April 22 after a profanity-laced voice mail he left for a player several months ago was discovered. Etiwanda head baseball coach Shane Moses resigned following last season, the first of four Baseline League baseball coaches out of a job in less than a year.

First-round games in Divisions 2, 4 and 6 are Thursday at 3:15 p.m. unless otherwise denoted. First-round games in Divisions 1, 3, 5, and 7 are Friday at 3:15 p.m. unless otherwise denoted. Wild Card games at Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. unless otherwise denoted.

DIVISION 1
Wild Card A at No. 1 Edison
Wild Card B at Foothill
Tesoro at Westlake
Wild Card C at Lakewood
Wild Card D at Valencia
Oxnard at Dana Hills
Wild Card E at Riverside North
Great Oak at No. 4 JSerra
Wild Card F at No. 3 Vista Murrieta
Riverside King at Long Beach Wilson
Wild Card G at Simi Valley
Wild Card H at El Toro
Newbury Park at Adolfo Camarillo
Wild Card I at Esperanza
Los Alamitos at Hart
Wild Card at No. 2 Mater Dei
Wild Card
A: Chaparral at Corona Santiago; B: Orange Lutheran at Rio Mesa; C: El Modena at West Ranch; D: Millikan at Moorpark; E: Anaheim Canyon at Marina; F: Royal at Villa Park; G: Fountain Valley at St. John Bosco; H: Oxnard Pacifica at Norco; I: Capistrano Valley at Long Beach Poly; J: Corona Centennial at Temecula Valley

First round games are Thursday at 3:15 p.m. unless otherwise denoted. Wild Card games at Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. unless otherwise denoted.
DIVISION 1
Wild Card A at No. 1 Esperanza
Yucaipa at Los Osos
Wild Card B at Orange Lutheran
Wild Card C at Saugus
Wild Card D at Simi Valley
Mater Dei at Riverside Poly
Cypress at Chaparral
Wild Card E at No. 4 Los Alamitos
Wild Card F at No. 3 Corona Santiago
Moorpark at West Ranch
Wild Card G at Redlands
Wild Card H at Garden Grove Pacifica
Valencia at Edison (Friday)
Norco at Vista Murrieta
Santa Margarita at El Modena
Wild Card I at No. 2 Etiwanda
Wild Card
A: Thousand Oaks at Kennedy; B: Corona at Great Oak; C: Fountain Valley at Anaheim Canyon; D: Hart at Upland; E: Foothill at Redlands East Valley; F: Glendora at Placentia Valencia; G: Temecula Valley at Marina; H: El Dorado at Riverside King; I: Yorba Linda at Royal

Arby Fields is still unsure where he went wrong at Northwestern but the Los Osos High School graduate is hoping everything will go right at LSU. After three semesters at Northwestern and one at Cypress Junior College, the two-sport star from Rancho Cucamonga has transferred to LSU where he will focus on baseball and potentially not set foot on a football field.

Eight months ago Fields was coming off a fantastic freshman baseball season -- the starting center fielder hit .292 with 27 RBIs -- and entered football season as the starting running back for the Wildcats.

There were a couple of fumbles and a nagging shoulder injury, but Fields is unsure to this day why he fell out of favor at Northwestern. The team's leading rusher as a freshman had just six carries over the final eight games of his sophomore season.

"To be honest, I never got a straight answer," Fields said. "I really didn't know what it was. I didn't leave on a bad note. I wasn't forced out or anything but the coaches and I weren't on the same page. I decided that if I was going to achieve my goals in life I needed to make a change."

Montclair head football coach Rick Ward resigned his position after three years at the helm, according to Montclair athletic director Bill Blades. Ward, who led the Cavaliers to their first playoff berth in eight years in his final season, stepped down April 16.

After consecutive 3-7 seasons, the Cavaliers went 5-6 last year, finishing third in the Mt. Baldy League.

"We really liked the direction the program was headed under Rick," Blades said. "It's unfortunate we have to find somebody else but we'll try to get somebody in here to keep it going the right direction."

With the resignation of Ward and Ontario's Steve Randall since the end of the season, the Mt. Baldy League will feature two new coaches next year.

Following their CIF-SS Eastern Division championship game appearance, a pair of Summit football players were offered their first scholarships Tuesday, according to Summit head coach Tony Barile. Defensive back Donte Deayon was offered by Boise State and running back Jamaal Williams by San Diego State.

Deayon, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound junior who was a member of the All-Valley team, made a school record 10 interceptions last season to go along with seven pass deflections and 33 tackles. Deayon was the SkyHawks' leading receiver with 38 receptions for 584 yards and five touchdowns, but Boise State intends for him to play in the defensive backfield.

Williams, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior, was offered as a running back after carrying 93 times for 717 yards and 11 TDs last season. Williams also made 42 tackles, two sacks and an interception playing a variety of positions on defense.

Los Osos offensive lineman Dylan La Frentz has been offered by Arizona, according to a text message from Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez. The 6-foot-3, 285-pound junior also has an offer from Florida International.

Los Osos High School is literally at the top of the mountain - within the Baseline League, that is - but the Grizzlies track team can finally claim the same.

It was an arduous road to the top of the league considering the feats of a historically dominant Rancho Cucamonga team but the Los Osos boys and girls track teams went undefeated in league this season and accordingly won the most events at the Baseline League finals on Friday.

Los Osos' 12 gold medals edged Rancho Cucamonga's 10. The Cougars may not be league champions, but they will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the CIF-Southern Section.

There was plenty of drama at Thursday's Mt. Baldy League track meet. It just so happened it was contained to one team.

Much of the time Colony was racing against itself while finishing first and second in nine of the 18 running events and sweeping all four relays. The Titans' girls team that is ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 2 claimed the top two places in seven of eight running events and the top three in three of those events.

"This is the best female team I've had, period," Colony coach Jaime Sandoval said. "That includes some of the teams I had that finished second and third in CIF. It's got such depth and they do it every week. The consistency is phenomenal."

The Diamond Bar softball team's turnaround already was substantial before the Brahmas officially became league title contenders last week.

After a winless run through the Sierra League last season, Diamond Bar (12-9, 7-2) is a game behind first-place West Covina in the new Hacienda League thanks in large part to a 4-3 win over Bonita on April 27.

Last season, Diamond Bar posted a 6-18 overall record that included an 0-10 mark in league. The Brahmas surpassed last season's win total a month into this season.

If the Colony High School baseball team had to pick one opponent to have the number of, Chino would be a prime candidate. Though Chino entered Tuesday with a 21-4 record, Colony defeated the Cowboys for the second time this season in as many meetings, the Titans' 8-3 victory pulling them into a tie for first place in the Mt. Baldy League with Chino.

Though Colony (16-6, 8-2) has played in the shadow of league foes Chino (21-5, 7-2) and Don Lugo, which defeated Colony 17-2 a month ago, the Titans now find themselves in the driver's seat to secure the league's No. 1 seed in the playoffs with two games remaining in the regular season.

"It's a big win, but like I just told my kids, we've still got work to do," Colony coach Tom Keller said. "Nobody is going to roll over for us, and the two games we have left are just as important as the one we just played."

Colony linebacker Robert Wagner has added three scholarship offers since receiving his first from Arizona on March 9. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound junior inside linebacker now has offers from Arizona State, Utah State and San Jose State as well, according to Colony head coach Matt Bechtel. Wagner had 64 tackles, two sacks and an interception last season for the Titans and also pulled in seven receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown as a tight end.

Colony CB/QB Bryan Harper received his first offer Friday from Arizona State. USC, Oregon and UCLA are also showing interest in the 6-foot, 180-pound junior transfer from Carter, according to Bechtel.