Keith Birmingham’s photo gallery on St. Lucy’s win.

Bishop Amat will host top-seed Chino Hills on Tuesday; St. Lucy’s on the road at South Torrance.

St. Lucy’s 5, North Torrance 3: St. Lucy’s Brandi Harkness, Laura Swan, Danielle Mavridis and Katie Lange knew they probably wouldn’t have another opportunity in the seventh to extend their season, so the seniors took care of business in the sixth to lead the Regents to a come-from-behind, 5-3 victory over North Torrance in the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinals at Mt. San Antonio College on Thursday with four consecutive hits and back-to-back run-producing doubles to seal the deal.

Chino Hills 5, Mira Costa 0: Innamorato, Chino Hills softball team shut down Mira Costa

Bishop Amat 10, Burbank 4: The Lancers used their bats on Thursday afternoon to get a big lead on host Burbank, then staved off any thoughts of a rally by the Bulldogs and posted a 10-4 win in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.

Buena 10, San Dimas 1: After beating Aquinas, the top-seeded team in Division 4, one would think it would get easier the rest of the way. This wasn’t the case for the San Dimas softball team (22-8, 11-1) as it lost to Buena, 10-1, in the quarterfinal round of the CIF-SS playoffs.

Barstow 20, South El Monte 1: Barstow eliminated South El Monte with a 20-1 win Thursday to advance to the semifinals. It was the third consecutive lopsided victory for the Aztecs, who have outscored their playoff opponents 66-12. Barstow defeated Magnolia in the first round, 32-8, before beating No. 5 seed Schurr on Tuesday, 14-3.

Thursday’s Quarterfinal Results
Division 3
Chino Hills 5, Mira Costa 0
Bishop Amat 10, Burbank 4
St. Lucy’s 5, North Torrance 3
South Torrance 6, Warren 2
Division 4
Buena 10, San Dimas 1
Division 5
Barstow 20, South El Monte 1

While almost every Tartans sport has struggled in the Baseline and CIF playoffs, Glendora’s baseball team is chasing another CIF championship after back-to-back league titles.

Above: Standouts (left to right) Martin Gallegos, Wyatt Wood and Donovan Holmes have kept the winning tradition going at Glendora (photo/Keith Birmingham)

By Aram Tolegian, SGVN, twitter.com/ChemicalAT
When Glendora High School was moved into the Baseline League two years ago, it was much to the chagrin of school officials and coaches.

For the most part, Tartan athletic programs have struggled in the new league and it makes sense because there’s not too much Glendora has in common with the rest of the Baseline schools. The exception, however, has been the school’s baseball team.

Glendora won the Baseline League for a second consecutive season and has racked up 18 wins.

And in case you hadn’t noticed, the Tartans are one of a handful of area baseball teams still alive in the postseason. The Tartans visit Trabuco Hills in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs on Friday at 3:15 p.m.

“We’re out in a different league and it is what it is,” Glendora coach Dan Henley said. “We know where we’re at. There’s a comfort in the program that there’s only certain things you can control. I’ve always said that polls don’t mean anything, it’s the idea of getting better.”

Another casualty of Glendora’s move to the Baseline is that because the rest of the league isn’t local to area fans, the Tartans somewhat drop off the radar as far as Valley sports fans are concerned.

While Los Altos battles Bonita or South Hills takes on Charter Oak in league games, Glendora might be playing Los Osos or Etiwanda and it just doesn’t have the same effect on the public conscious.

When last seen by the entire Valley, Glendora was on the losing end of a 7-2 game against Bonita in the championship of the Arcadia Elks Tournament. Since then, the Tartans have gotten better and better. (To continue click thread)

Continue reading “(Inland Empire Power) Glendora still thriving in baseball because good is good no matter where you play; Tartans on road in quarters” »

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Monrovia knocks out the defending champion with clutch strikeouts from Joe Mata in the bottom of the seventh

Monrovia 4, Bishop Amat 3 The Monrovia High School baseball team could feel it slipping away in the bottom of the seventh inning against defending champion Bishop Amat in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 playoffs Tuesday.

That’s exactly what he did.

Los Altos 4, Downey 3: It wasn’t just how Los Altos High School started Tuesday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 3 second-round playoff game, it was also the way it finished that lifted the Conquerors to a 4-3 victory over visiting Downey.

Mission Viejo 9, Damien 1: The Diablos (19-13), who beat the Spartans in the quarterfinals last season on their way to the CIF-SS championship, knocked the Spartans out of the playoffs, this time in the second round, 9-1, on Tuesday afternoon.

TUESDAY’S SECOND ROUND RESULTS
Division 2
Glendora 5, Cypress 2
South Hills 8, Canyon Springs 1
Mission Viejo 9, Damien 1
Division 3
Bonita 5, Garden Grove 3
Los Altos 4, Downey 3
Division 4
Savanna 4, Nogales 3, 9 innings
Monrovia 4, Bishop Amat 3
Division 5
Cathedral 4, Sierra Vista 1

Glendora 5, Cypress 2
Glendora heard since last week how tough Cypress, the No. 4 seed, was and how they had no chance. The Tartans, the Baseline League Co-Champion, would have none of that as they posted a 5-2 win over the visiting Centurions in a CIF Division 2 game. Early on it didn’t look promising as Cypress got a two-out 2-run home run from Stephen Lohr in the top of the first inning off Wyatt Wood. Wood, however, hit his own two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to tie it. Wood worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning as he induced an inning-ending pop-up to shortstop. The Tartans used that momentum to score two runs in the bottom half of the inning as DJ Peters’ 2-run double gave Glendora the 4-2 lead.
Wood was dominant shut down Cypress in the fourth and fifth innings to set the stage for Glendora’s decisive rally. Donovan Holmes led off the fifth with a high-hop grounder to second base and Martin Gallegos reached base when he was hit by a pitch. Wood then singled to right field to score Holmes for a 5-2 lead. Wood, who had no complete games all season, threw his first career complete game. After giving up a lead-off walk in the sixth inning, he got two outs and a strikeout to set up the seventh inning. Wood got a groundout for the first out. Cypress then got a single, prompting Glendora coach Dan Henley to go to his bullpen, but Woods closed it out. He got a fielder’s choice for the second out and ended the game with a grounder to third base to move the Tartans on to the quarterfinals. Wood finished 2 for 3 and 3 RBIs, freshman Nick Kaye was 2 for 3 and sophomore DJ Peters was 1 for 3 with a pair of RBIs.

South Hills 8, Canyon Springs 1

The Huskies (19-7) got a solid pitching performance from Kevin McKeldey, who improved to 6-1 by scattering four hits and allowing one earned run. South Hills got 11 hits and was led by Matt Caro, who had a double.

Bonita 5, Garden Grove 3
Thomas Castro led the way for Bonita by going 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs as the Bearcats improved to 28-2. Tyler Heslop chipped in with a home run and two RBIs. Parker Merrit improved to 7-1 despite recording only one strikeout. Justin Garza entered the game in the fifth inning and struck out three en route to earning his second save. “It was a good game,” Bonita coach John Knott said. “Castro and Garza had a great game.” DIVISION 4

Savanna 4, Nogales 3 (9 innings)
Nogales (22-7) battled with a solid pitching effort from Caleb Rodusky, Erik Gonzalez and Albert Lemus, who scattered six hits, but fell short to the Rebels in nine innings. Lemus went 2 for 3 for the Nobles.

Cathedral 4, Sierra Vista 1
Julian Perez turned in a strong performance, scattering four hits, and earned the win for the Phantoms. Cathedral improved to 23-5. The Dons’ Giovanni Rivera (9-3) went a strong six innings allowing four hits and striking out three but got little run support. Jesus Terraazas pitched an inning of relief. Sierra Vista (17-7) got its lone run in the seventh inning when Christian Quinones singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nicholas Herrejon.

Upset Special, San Dimas marches on ….

The top-seeded Aquinas softball team had a chance to perhaps not slam the door shut on visiting San Dimas in the early innings but at least close it.

“It was a great win for us,” San Dimas coach Don Pollard said. “To come in here and beat the No. 1 seed, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Bishop Amat 4, Torrance 1: The heat didn’t affect the bats of Bishop Amat, which beat Torrance 4-1 in Tuesday’s CIF-SS Division 3 softball playoffs. Torrance (26-8, 7-3) scored in the first on a sacrifice fly, but Bishop Amat responded three innings later.

South El Monte 1, San Marino 0: The South El Monte High School softball team could not figure out how to score when it had runners on the corners in the sixth inning. But with a runner on first base, the Eagles were able to knock off No. 3 seed San Marino, 1-0, in the eighth inning in a CIF-Southern Section Division 5 second-round game on Tuesday afternoon.

La Mirada 8, Los Altos 0: Mercedes Gasparovic had a home run and three RBIs and freshman pitcher Valerie Alvarado was solid in the circle to lead La Mirada to an 8-0 victory over visiting Los Altos on Tuesday in a Division 3 second-round game

Chino Hills 8, La Serno 0: The visiting Huskies, behind a 15-hit attack, shut out La Serna 8-0 in a Division 3 second-round game Tuesday. Chino Hills (29-3), which won a CIF-SS title in 2004, won its 23rd consecutive game of the season, which is tops in the division.

TUESDAY’S SECOND ROUND RESULTS
Division 2
La Mirada 8, Los Altos 0
Division 3
Chino Hills 8. La Serna 0
Bishop Amat 4, Torrance 1
St. Lucy’s 2, Alemany 0
Division 4
San Dimas 7, Aquinas 4
Division 5
South El Monte 1, San Marino 0

Just Tribbin Thoughts: With so many great games to choose from, where should we go? We might be able to cover five or six, it’s just too bad softball and baseball play on the same day. In the past when you reached the second week, softball played Tuesday-Thursday and Baseball Wednesday-Friday. Oh well, that’s just me being selfish because I want to cover more games. I don’t feel like reading anything on the Lakers today, so my second-round predictions are in CAPS next to the game.

CIF-SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS
BASEBALL SECOND ROUND GAMES AND PREDICTIONS
Tuesday’s Games
Division 2
Cypress at Glendora, 3:15 p.m. — GLENDORA
South Hills at Canyon Springs, 3:15 p.m. — SOUTH HILLS
Mission Viejo at Damien, 3:15 p.m. — MISSION VIEJO
Division 3
Bonita at Garden Grove — BONITA
Downey at Los Altos — DOWNEY
Division 4
Savanna at Nogales, 3:15 p.m. — SAVANNA
Monrovia at Bishop Amat, 3:15 p.m. — BISHOP AMAT
Division 5
Cathedral at Sierra Vista, 3:15 p.m. — CATHEDRAL

SOFTBALL SECOND ROUND GAMES AND PREDICTIONS
Tuesday’s Games
Division 2
Los Altos at La Mirada, 3:15 p.m. — LA MIRADA
Division 3
Chino Hills at La Serna, 3:15 p.m. — LA SERNA
Torrance vs. Bishop Amat at Citrus, 3:15 p.m. — BISHOP AMAT
St. Lucy’s at Alemany, 3:15 p.m. — ST. LUCY’S
Division 4
San Dimas at Aquinas, 3:15 p.m. — AQUINAS
Division 5
San Marino at South El Monte, 3:15 p.m. — SAN MARINO