File photo by Chris Burt

By Steve Ramirez, SGVN
BAKERSFIELD – There will be a time when the Rio Hondo College baseball team will look back at arguably the best season in school history and feel good about what it accomplished.
But not today.
Josh Silver had an RBI single and Phillip Roa an RBI double in the 12th inning and Cosumnes River College won its first California Community College Athletic Association state title Sunday with an 8-6 victory over Rio Hondo at Bakersfield College.
The Hawks finished 28-16 and secured the north’s third consecutive CCCAA title. It the first three-peat for the north since Fresno City won consecutive championships in 1961, ’62 and ’63.
The Roadrunners, getting five hits and an RBI from Andrew Stein and three hits and an RBI from former South Hills High standout Cody Doyle, finished 40-5. Rio Hondo’s accolades this season include winning 33 consecutive games from February to this weekend and going 24-0 in winning the Foothill Conference for the third time in three years.
This was the Roadrunners’ second trip to the CCCAA Final Four in three seasons and their first time in the championship game.
“This is disappointing for the next day or so,” Rio Hondo coach Mike Salazar said. “But it’s one game, and in the whole season we won 40.
“Yes, only one team can be happy when the season’s over, so disappointing right now. But as you look back on the whole (season) entirely our (guys) did a great job.”
Cosumnes River was just a bit better Sunday and responded like good teams do by escaping a bases-loaded situation in the 11th and winning it in the 12th.
Continue reading “Cosumnes rallies to deny SGV-led Rio Hondo for CCCAA baseball championship” »

CIF-Southern Section Division 1, 2, 3 & 4 Finals Results from Mt. SAC

Keith Birmingham’s CIF Track Finals Photo Gallery

By Fred J. Robledo, SGVN
twitter@sgvn.com
WALNUT — You probably heard of Bonita High School’s Nikki Wheatley, the sophomore who earned the area player of the year award in girls basketball.

She’s not too shabby in track either.

Wheatley won the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 girls long jump and triple jump titles at Saturday’s finals at Mt. San Antonio College, and even finished seventh in the high jump (5-feet, 3 inches) — not bad considering she’s only 5 foot, 4 inches tall.

Wheatley won the long jump with a leap of 18-3 and the triple jump in 39-8.

“I started in track to stay in shape for basketball and thanks to my coaches, I’ve been getting better and better,” Wheatley said. “I don’t know what this means for the future, but I’m really getting into it and looking forward to what I can do each time I compete.”

It was a celebratory day for some, and disappointing for others as all four divisions were contested at Mt. SAC. (To continue click thread).

Continue reading “CIF Track Finals: Bonita’s Nikki Wheatley captures two titles, Damien’s Jarrett Gonzales runs a state-best in the 300 hurdles and Rowland’s Nick Rivera is the 1600 meter champion” »

Bonita cruises to easy victory with pitcher Justin Garza getting plenty of rest for next week

True to the playoff mantra, there was drama Friday on the Bonita High School baseball field.

Bonita pitcher Justin Garza, who has signed with Cal State Fullerton and is sure to be selected in the Major League Baseball draft in June after leading the Bearcats (27-2) through a dominant regular season, walked eight batters in 65 regular-season innings. He walked the first batter of Friday’s game.

Amat breezes to victory, Monrovia next: First-round playoff games can often cause coaches anxiety, but Bishop Amat High School baseball coach Andy Nieto had it as easy as possible on Friday afternoon. Even if he was reluctant to admit it after the game.

Amat rode pitcher Daniel Zamora and the hot bats of Luis Moya and Andrew Medina to a 11-0 win over visiting Burroughs of Ridgecrest in the opening round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 playoffs.

La Puente loses heartbreaker in extras: The three-hour bus trip back home was a lot easier for Santa Ynez after the Pirates knocked off La Puente, 8-6, in 10 innings in a first-round CIF-Southern Section Division 5 baseball playoff game Friday.

Friday’s first-round playoff results
Division 3
Bonita 18, San Gorgonio 1
Los Altos 5, Lakeside 2
Division 4
Bishop Amat 11, Ridgecrest Burroughs 0
Division 5
Santa Ynez 8, La Puente 6 (10)
Hemet 8, Mountain View 0
Sierra Vista 8, Riverside Notre Dame 5

Division 1 prelim results
Division 2 prelim results
Division 3 prelim results
Division 4 prelim results

By Fred J. Robledo, SGVN, twitter@sgvtribpreps
Several area standouts expect to contend for titles at the CIF-Southern Section track and field finals at Mt. San Antonio College Saturday, which begins with field events at 11 a.m.,
and running events at 1 p.m.

Bonita High senior Toure McCully leads all qualifiers in the Division 3 boys 110-meter hurdles, boasting a 14.23 clocking at last weeks prelims, just a tad better than Damien senior Jarrett Gonzalez (14.37), who qualified second.

It could be a big day for Gonzalez, who is hoping to double after posting the top qualifying mark in the 300 hurdles (37.43) with Diamond Ranch’s Andrew Fischer third in 37.91, though many consider Fischer the favorite. Wilson senior Joshua Nelson is hoping to medal
in the 300 hurdles after qualifying sixth in 39.98.

Bonita sophomore Nikki Wheatley, the area girls basketball player of the year, was the story of the Division 3 meet at last week’s prelims at Estancia High School, posting the best qualifying mark in the long and triple jump, and tying for first with several others in the high
jump.

Wheatley’s 18 foot, four-inch leap in the long jump was three inches better than the next competitor and her 38-3 leap in the triple jump was more than a foot better than the second-best qualifying mark.

In the high jump, Wheatley and nine others (which includes St. Lucy’s sophomore Kelsey Remige) all qualified with the same mark of 5-01,though Alemany’s Savannah Forry is the favorite with a season-best 5-6 in the books. (To continue click thread).

Continue reading “Bonita’s Toure McCully, Nikki Wheatley and Rowland’s Nick Rivera could be headliners at Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section track finals at Mt. San Antonio College” »

Is there a better all-purpose player than Ty France? Senior comes through again … Area strong in first-round of D-2 playoffs, winning three of five

By Aram Tolegian, SGVN, twitter.com/ChemicalAT
Playing in the final postseason of his stellar career, South Hills High School baseball standout Ty France left nothing to chance in Thursday’s first round of the Division 2 playoffs against Upland.

France got the start and spent the entire afternoon baffling the Scots for a 4-0 win. France went the distance and struck out 11.

“I guess it was a good day,” said France, who also had two hits and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. “I knew we had to win, so I gave it all I’ve got.

“It’s a little scary. I have to give it everything I’ve got because if I lose our high school baseball career is over.”

The Huskies improved to 18-7. Upland finished 18-10. (To continue click thread)

Nogales gives Romano win No. 595: The Valle Vista League champion Nobles (22-6) beat St. Paul 3-0 on Thursday and will face the winner of the Savannah-Estancia game on Tuesday in a Division 4 second-round matchup at a site to be determined.

Northview loses nailbiter: Porter had a key two-run single in the fourth inning and Staumont struck out two in the seventh to lead the host Highlanders to a 3-2 victory over Northview in a CIF-Southern Section Division 4 first-round game.

Baseball First-Round Results
Division 2
Damien 6, Redlands East Valley 5
South Hills 4, Upland 0
Glendora 11, Arlington 5
Aliso Niguel 3, Chino Hills 1
Cypress 2, Claremont 0

Division 4
Nogales 3, St. Paul 0
La Habra 3, Northview 2
St. Bonaventure 5, San Dimas 3

Continue reading “Baseball playoffs: Ty France with 11 Ks in South Hills 4-0 win; Damien keeps dream alive with 6-5 thriller over Redlands East Valley; Nogales shuts out St. Paul, 3-0, Glendora clobbers Arlington 11-5; Northview, San Dimas lose” »

Keith Birmingham’s Bishop Amat-Ayala photo gallery

You be the judge: This was the controversial sixth inning call. With Ayala and Amat tied 4-4, Mandy Larios’ two-out single scored Amat freshman Natalia Bocanegra to go up 5-4, and the Lancers tacked on three more runs after that. Our photographer, Keith Birmingham, one of the best in the business, caught the play at the plate, in which Bocanegra was ruled safe. It was definitely close. Amat won 8-4.

Chino Hills takes care of busines: For the Chino Hills softball team, a CIF-SS Division 3 semifinalist each of the past two seasons, that journey began anew on Thursday with a 4-1 victory over Nordhoff in a first-round game at Big League Dreams Sports Park.

Bishop Amat avoids disaster that led to semifinal blowout loss to South Hills last year by answering back after first-inning miscues

By Fred J. Robledo, SGVN, twitter@sgvn.com
The Bishop Amat softball team kept its cool and overcame early jitters and a four-run deficit to pull out an 8-4 victory over Ayala in the first-round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 playoffs on Thursday.

The fourth-seed Lancers (22-6) will face either Chaminade or Torrance in the second round on Tuesday while Ayala finishes the season 15-12.

An error and fielders choice mishap allowed Ayala to get going with two runners on in the first. Danielle Velez made the Lancers pay, belting a single to drive in two runs, followed by Stevie Knapp’s run-scoring triple and Natalie Martinez’s RBI single to stake Ayala to a quick 4-0 lead.

For Amat, it immediate brought back memories of last year’s semifinal meltdown to South Hills, in which they fell behind 5-0 in the first inning and never recovered in a 16-1 blowout loss in the semifinals.

“As soon as we got in the dugout a lot of the girls were saying they didn’t want a repeat of last year,” Bishop Amat junior catcher Alexis Gonzalez said. “That’s been our motivation all year, to not let what happened last year happen again.

Guess who got Amat going? (To continue click thread)

Thursday’s Softball First-Round Results

Division 2
Los Altos 10, Carter 6
Canyon Springs 4, Bonita 1
Camarillo 8, Diamond Bar 0
Mission Viejo 18, West Covina 1

Division 3
St. Lucy’s 4, Lakewood St. Joseph 2
Bishop Amat 8, Ayala 4
Chino Hills 4, Nordhoff 1
Harvard-Westlake 2, Charter Oak 1

Division 4
San Dimas 8, Loara 2
Ocean View 7, Northview 0
La Quinta 18, Wilson 4

Division 5
Marymount 5, Duarte 2
Nipomo 4, Arroyo 0
South El Monte 8, San Jacinto 7
Godinez 11, Azusa 5

Continue reading “Softball: Bishop Amat’s four-run, two-out rally in sixth leads to 8-4 win over Ayala; O’Toole throws five-hitter in St. Lucy’s 4-2 win; Top-seed Chino Hills and Los Altos win” »

Don’t miss the third annual Baldwin Park High School Alumni Football Game on Friday at 7 p.m. Registration begins at 6 p.m., and the entry fee is $25 dollars. The two teams
will be coached by legendary coaches Ty Pagone and Tony Zane. The game feature’s several of Baldwin Park’s standout players over the last 30 years, including Ron Brown, Gary and Doug Allen, Mike Santiago and his brothers, and many more legendary players. Former players, alumni and fans are encouraged to attend. The proceeds will go the Baldwin Park High School football program. For more information contact Jim Dexter at 626-485-1117.