Another beautiful day in the neighborhood

The blog took off on Tuesday, we had more hits than Scott Wolff’s USC blog, and were within a few hundred of Brian Dohn’s newspaper-group leading UCLA blog, and those are pretty-much national blogs with a huge Southern California presence. We do it right and we do it proud in the San Gabriel Valley, so thanks to all of you for making me look good. I was tweeting as many games as I could, getting updates from Northview-St. Paul, Bishop Amat-La Habra, Bonita-Alhambra, San Dimas-La Canada softball, as well as the game I was at, Glendora-Knight softball. It was compelling, Bonita, Bishop Amat and Northview all trailing early, then hearing about Bonita’s grand slam, Amat’s huge rally in the seventh, then finally learning that defending champion Northview is no more, losing to St. Paul. It was an incredible day, and with so many teams left, seven in baseball and yes, eight in softball, we have got a lot more tweeting to do. You want surprises, how about three Miramonte league baseball teams in the quarterfinals, thanks to Los Altos’ magical playoff run. You want matchups? How about South Hills and Bonita on Friday. You want momentum, how about Damien’s 20-3 win over Dos Pueblos. You want predictions, I’m standing by mine that San Dimas will keep going and win the Division IV title. You want tough, how about Los Altos and Glendora softball moving to the quarters along with, um, West Covina, Bishop Amat and Arroyo. I’m telling you, we’re just getting started.

Coaches comments …
“Hey, sometimes you have to battle and sometimes you have to tip your cap and that’s what we had to do with La Habra. They played a great game and we had to make a great push at the end to win. We’ll play any team anywhere, whatever the challenge. Look at our schedule, we’re not afraid to play anyone.” — Bishop Amat coach Andy Nieto.

“There is no shame in losing to St. Paul. The shame is for a group that has accomplished so much (over the past four seasons) and has been more successful than any class in Northview history, this is the last day they played. This is not indicative of what kind of team this. And that’s the shame – that we played so poorly.” — Northview coach Darren Murphy.

“We have had big hits from everybody in the lineup all year. Our offense and defense has carried us.” — Damien coach Al Leyva

“We were very concerned. We were getting the feeling that it was getting away. We were doing everything right and just not getting it. I was concerned about getting a bit panicked. I think we showed our composure. Jason (Plowman) gets that grand slam. He’s a gamer.” — Bonita coach John Knott

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Baseball: South Hills will host Bonita; Damien, Charter Oak, Los Altos, BAmat all home

CIF-SS Playoffs
Baseball
Friday’s quarterfinals
Division II

San Luis Obispo (23-5) at Redlands East Valley (22-6)
Crespi (18-11) at Damien (21-8)
Foothill (21-7) at Chino Hills (18-10)
Yucaipa (27-2) at Huntington Beach (17-12)

Division III
Beckman (24-4) at Charter Oak (17-9)
Downey (23-6) at Lancaster (20-7)
Corona del Mar (17-10) at Los Altos (14-11)
Bonita (21-5) at South Hills (19-8)

Division IV
La Quinta (21-7) vs. Bishop Amat (25-5) at Rio Hondo College
San Dimas (21-5) at El Segundo (23-8)
Fullerton (21-7) at Torrance (23-7)
St. Paul (18-12) at Kaiser (20-8)

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Softball Update: Bishop Amat, Arroyo, South El Monte and Northview all at home in quarters

CIF-Southern Section playoffs
Thursday’s Quarterfinals
Softball
Division III

Chino (19-13) at Tesoro (24-4)
Los Altos (22-6) at Ayala (23-9)
Chino Hills (22-10-1) at Crescenta Valley (26-1)
Glendora (20-4) at Oaks Christian (26-4-1)

Division IV
Torrance (22-11) at La Quinta (20-4)
North Torrance (19-13) at Hesperia (17-6)
Santa Monica (24-6) at Paloma Valley (21-7)
El Segundo (27-3) at Bishop Amat (18-12)

Division V
San Dimas (23-4) at Barstow (15-9)
Village Christian (25-5) at San Jacinto (18-5)
Whittier Christian (21-6) at Northview (17-8)
West Covina (16-10) at Heritage (18-10)

Division VI
La Salle (23-5) at Arroyo (15-9)
Ramona Convent (15-2) at South El Monte (20-6)
Grace Brethren (13-6) at Marymount (22-4)
Oxford Academy (19-6) at Maranatha (21-6)

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Baseball thread: The Shocker, St. Paul knocks off defending champion Northview; Bishop Amat rallies in the 7th, Bonita, San Dimas, Los Altos, South Hills all win

Northview loses: It happened, the Vikings, trailing 6-2 early, kept chipping away, making it 6-3, then 6-4, then it was over. St. Paul pulls off the big upset, knocking off No. 2 and defending champion Northview, 6-4.
Bishop Amat wins: The Lancers trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the 7th and scored eight runs to take a 9-2 lead over La Habra, then hung on for a 9-5 victory.
Bonita wins: Trailing 2-0 early, the Bearcats cruise, beat Alhambra 9-2 to get South Hills next.
South Hills wins: Don’t know anything except they beat Hemet, 7-5
Los Altos wins: The Conquerors did it again, shocks Santa Monica, 3-1.
San Dimas wins: Saints beat Sonora 4-0, Josh Leyland hit two run homer and Salcido goes the distance to get shutout.

CIF-SS Baseball game predictions
Tuesday’s second round, 3:15 p.m.
Baseball
Division II

Damien 20, Dos Pueblos 3
Chino Hills 3, Notre Dame 1
Division III
Charter Oak 6, Palmdale 1
Los Altos 3, Santa Monica 1
South Hills 7, Hemet 5
Bonita 9, Alhambra 2
Division IV
Bishop Amat 9, La Habra 5
San Dimas 4, Sonora 0
St. Paul 6, Northview 4
Division V
Sultana 10, Sierra Vista 5

RESULTS: Coaches, parents, please call in results to 626-962-8811, Ext. 2233 or 2242 or email to scores@sgvn.com. Also post a quick score on the blog as soon as you get it, the more that do this, the quicker we all the results.

Baseball Standings and Schedules
Del Rey League
Miramonte League
Mission Valley League
Montview League
San Antonio League
Sierra League
Valle Vista League

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Softball thread: Glendora rallies to win in the 7th, San Dimas beats La Canada; Bishop Amat, Los Altos, Northview, Arroyo, WCovina all win

Glendora update: Trailing 1-0 and getting one-hit going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Tartans rally past Knight for a 2-1 victory when the coaches daughter, Lindsay Mitchell, hits a one-out bases-loaded single to right to drive in the tying and winning runs.
San Dimas update: They trailed 1-0 going into the sixth, scored twice to beat La Canada, 2-1.

Softball advance preview
Tuesday’s softball game results
Second Round
Division III

Los Altos 1, Oak Park 0
Ayala 4, Aliso Niguel 1
Chino Hills 2, Alemany 1 (9)
Glendora 2, Knight 1
Division IV
Bishop Amat 5, Lakeside 0
Division V
San Dimas 2, La Canada 1
San Jacinto 8, Azusa 0
Village Christian 4, South Hills 2
Northview 4, Woodcrest Christian 3
Whittier Christian 2, Rowland 0
West Covina 10, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 3
Division VI
Arroyo 2, Big Bear 1
South El Monte 18, Desert Mirage 1, 5 innings
La Salle 12, Campbell Hall 0

RESULTS: Coaches, parents, please call in results to 626-962-8811, Ext. 2233 or 2242 or email to scores@sgvn.com. Also post a quick score on the blog as soon as you get it, the more that do this, the quicker we all the results.

Softball Standings and Schedules
Del Rey League
Miramonte League
Mission Valley League
Montview League
San Antonio League
Sierra League
Valle Vista League

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