Baseball: Dlugos’ grand slam helps South Hills to a 7-3 victory over Charter Oak; Covina’s hot streak continues, beats Baldwin Park 8-4

Hot Colts:The Covina High School baseball team got its second consecutive complete game from a senior pitcher to take a commanding 3 1/2-game lead in the Valle Vista League race. Jason Martinez improved his record to 4-0 and the Colts defense turned four double plays behind him Thursday as Covina knocked off Baldwin Park, 8-4.

South Hills, Charter Oak game story …
By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
After dropping a pair of fly balls the previous inning — one on a difficult play on the dead run, the other slipping off his glove fighting the sun, South Hills left-fielder Michael Dlugos returned to the dugout and heard a mouthful from Huskies coach Kevin Smith.
Or were they words of encouragement?
“I guess you can say that,” Dlugos smirked. “In his own kind of way, I’d say.”
Whatever was said, Dlugos responded with a grand slam on his next at bat, a towering shot to left in the fifth inning that proved the difference in South Hills’ 7-3 victory over host Charter Oak on Thursday.

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For the millionth time, should public and private have separate playoff divisions in basketball? CIF shares interesting data from last ten years

L.A. Times prep legend Eric Sondheimer pointed out in a recent article that 17 of 20 teams that participated in last week’s state basketball finals in Sacramento were private schools. It raises the age-old argument of whether public and private schools should have separate playoff divisions. I always have maintained that the CIF-Southern Section playoffs should separate public vs. private, simply because public and private schools have a far different set of rules in terms of acquiring students. Public schools must take players from within certain geographic boundaries, whereas private school boundaries are limitless. Because of this, enrollment figures don’t mean anything. I’m sure Cal Poly Pomona has more students than Duke, but that doesn’t give them an advantage. Maybe a bad example, but you get the point. There are several other differences, some of which cancel each other out in a debate, but the bottom line is the playing field isn’t level. The only time public and private should meet in the postseason is during the state playoffs, because as a fan, at this point I do want to watch the best-of-the best go at it to crown a true state champion. But in the CIF-SS playoffs, public schools deserve to face public schools in divisions where enrollment and school boundaries should mean something. Plus it might help heal the animosity some public school coaches have with private school powerhouses. The system is what’s at fault here, not the powerhouses. In this week’s CIF press release, the Southern Section sent out statistical data of how private schools have done in CIF-SS championships over the past ten years …

From CIF
CIF-SS private school basketball championship results over the past ten years.

Boys
– 60 titles won out of a possible of 106 (57%)
– 31 different private schools have won titles over that time (15% of all private schools)
– 15 of those schools have won multiple titles (48% of the 31 and 7% of all private schools)
– 7 of those schools have won more than 3 titles during that time (23% of the 31 and 3% of the private school membership)
– 47 of the 60 private school titles have come in Division 3A or below (78%).
– In 2011, 128 schools of the 208 total schools in those divisions were private (61%).

Girls
– 57 titles won out of a possible of 106 (57%)
– 33 different private schools have won titles over that ti me (16% of all private schools)
– 17 of those schools have won multiple titles (51% of the 31 and 8% of all private schools)
– 4 of those schools have won more than 3 titles during that time (12% of the 31 and 2% of the private
school membership)
– 45 of the 57 private school titles have come in Division 3A or below (79%).
– In 2011, 113 schools of the 192 total schools in those divisions were private (59%).

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South Hills coach Kevin Smith wins No. 400 in what is his most challenging season ever

By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
South Hills high school baseball coach Kevin Smith knew he was chasing a milestone on Tuesday, but it was hard to feel sentimental knowing this was a make-or-break week in the competitive Sierra League.
The Huskies didn’t let him down, Adrian De Horta pitching a complete game shutout in a 6-0 victory over Claremont to give Smith his 400th career win.
Afterward, Huskies players autographed the game ball for Smith, who has an impressive 400-162 overall record, which includes 11 league titles and a CIF championship in just the past 12 years. Smith has coached high school baseball for more than two decades.

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Softball: Bonita takes care of streaking Los Altos 7-0 behind freshman pitcher Sanchez

By John Honell, Correspondent
Taking advantage of a fielding error in the first inning and getting another strong pitching performance from freshman Anissa Sanchez was enough for Bonita High School to stop the five-game winning streak of Hacienda League rival Los Altos on Wednesday. The Bearcats (13-2, 1-0) scored four unearned runs in the first inning and went on to beat the Conquerors 7-0.

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It’s Time to Play Ball! Another season of baseball begins for the Boys of Summer – The Dodgers

There’s very few days like baseball’s Opening Day, where everyone’s a pennant winner, and that includes the Dodgers, who like me, will be at Dodger Stadium when they open up the season against, as our pal Vic “The Brick” Jacobs calls them, the Hated Ones, the Giants.
The Dodgers begin the season, arguably, as the third-best team in the NL West. But they don’t play the season on paper.
Play Ball!

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Basketball, All Mission Valley League, Arroyo’s Roche and Rosemead’s Gauthier MVPs

All Mission Valley League Basketball
MVP
: Mark Roche, Arroyo
First Team
Erick Martinez, Mountain View
Jeremy Acosta, Mountain View
Tyler Shimamoto, Gabrielino
Ryan Lam, Gabrielino
Anthony Villacis, South El Monte
Danny Villalobos, Rosemead

Girls Basketball
MVP
: Melody Gauthier, Rosemead
First Team
Joann Chac, Gabrielino
Amanda Duenas, El Monte
Aileen Giang, El Monte
Sydney Hua, Rosemead
Arlene Reyes, Arroyo
Michelle Trieu, Arroyo

For second and honorable mention, click thread.
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Basketball: All Montview League, La Puente’s Pompa and Workman’s Herrera MVPs

All Montview League Basketball
Boys Basketball
MVP:
German Pompa, La Puente
First Team
Marco Ponce, La Puente
Bernardo Pagovich, Sierra Vista
Anthony Whiteside, Ganesha
Fernando Hernandez, Sierra Vista
Samuel Mejia, Bassett
Junior Pena, Duarte
Brandon Rios, La Puente

Girls Basketball
MVP:
Evelyn Herrera, Workman
First Team
Alexis Arnold, Azusa
Imari Brown, Duarte
Danielle Simmons, Azusa
Estrella Rivera, Sierra Vista
Alex Cano, Gladstone
Jessica Rivera, Sierra Vista
Yasmine Wilson, Duarte

For second team, click thread

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