FANTASTIC FOUR: From left, former South Hills standouts Dominic Martinez, Christian Ibarra, Cody Doyle and Andrew Morales have had quite an impact on the Rio Hondo College baseball team.
(Keith Durflinger / Staff Photographer)

Here’s my story on four former South Hills High School baseball players who have Rio Hondo College on the brink of a state championship:

By Steve Ramirez, SGVN
twitter.com/DailyNewsSports
WHITTIER — Rio Hondo College has been arguably the most consistent baseball program in the California Community College Athletic Association in recent years.
The Roadrunners, who face Cosumnes River College of Sacramento on Friday at 6 p.m. at Bakersfield College, are in the CCCAA Final Four for the second time in three seasons and have won the Foothill Conference title three out of the past four.
One of the keys to the Roadrunners’ success has been a connection that can be traced back to South Hills High School.
Rio Hondo’s recent standouts came from the West Covina school, and it’s no different this season, in which the Roadrunners have been led by former Huskies Christian Ibarra, Cody Doyle, Dominic Martinez and Andrew Morales.
All four were key players on South Hills’ CIF-Southern Section Division3 championship team in 2009 and now have the Roadrunners on the brink of a CCCAA title.
“It’s odd because, on average, maybe one or two players will play college baseball from a high school team,” said Rio Hondo coach Mike Salazar, who is in his 12th season with the Roadrunners. “To have four from the same high school who are playing on a college team is very special. It shows what a good job they did, what their coaches did at their high school.
“It’s been good to have them here. We’ve had a lot of good South Hills players. Every South Hills player who has come here has (received) a scholarship (to a four-year school). When they hear (what those players have accomplished), they trust us.”

CCCAA FINAL FOUR AT BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE
Friday
Consumnes River (25-16) vs. Rio Hondo (38-3)
Note: All games in the double-elimination tournament will be available via live webcast at coasports.org
Continue reading “Area Colleges: South Hills’ foursome spices up Rio Hondo, lead Roadrunners at CCCAA Final Four” »

Wow, check out the Kurt Scoby workout video.

This is a random comment from Aram on a football thread in his In the Huddle blog. As you probably know we don’t always agree, but when it comes to the future success of Amat and Damien football, he hit a home run with this … Football, three weeks and counting!!

Here’s the question posed to Aram….
Other than DJ Daniels, why does Amat not get more Pasadena guys? How does Alemany get all of their kids? Steven Mitchell (Top 100 Rivals), Devin Ross (5-6 D-1 offers), the freshmen Desean Holmes (offers from Utah and Washington), and the two Oregon State kids Marable and Gonzales, that awesome QB they had Adams and all of the other filler kids. How is a school in the SFV snatching them all up and a school in the SGV isn’t? Even Crespi has a Pasadena stud in Foreman (8 D-1 offers). The SGV has talent, mostly in the WSGV, so why can’t Amat capitalize?

Aram’s response:
Let me just be plain old blunt with you about this. In order to do things like that you need to hustle. The Amat coaches aren’t about to be up in Pasadena planting the Amat flag. And those types of guys aren’t just gonna end up on Amat’s doorstep. And despite what people say about Gano and Damien, they’re actually doing a poor job of hustling, too. It certainly hasn’t gone down like many people thought it would when Gano was hired.

Some of you may call this wrong. And you’ve certainly got a point. But you either do it or 6-4 is your ceiling.

BASEBALL: Damien 5, La Mirada 2: The Spartans, despite what some parent-bloggers think, take care of business to earn first-round berth. How’s that for team unity?

BASEBALL, La Serna 6, Diamond Bar 2: Diamond Bar’s end-of-season free-fall continues in loss to La Serna

SOFTBALL, Charter Oak 12, St. Paul 8: Chargers overcome early deficit to beat Swordsmen

SOFTBALL, Diamond Bar 8, Rialto 6: Gritty Brahmas rally in last at-bat to get the victory.

Northview baseball playoff photo gallery

Grijalva and Chico lead the way for Vikings
By Fred J. Robledo, SGVN, twitter@sgvtribpreps
Northview avoided a second-straight loss in a CIF-Southern Section wild-card with a 5-1 victory over visiting Nordhoff to open the Division 4 baseball playoffs.

Northview junior Jake Grijalva doubled to lead off the game and later scored in the first inning on a sacrifice fly.

Grijalva, who was 2-for-3, scored again in the third inning to spur a three-run rally and starting pitcher Nick Chico was steady, scattering four hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to get the victory.

“We didn’t want to lose again in the wild-card,” Chico said. “Not after last year.”

Northview (16-8-1) advances to Thursday’s first-round against Freeway League champion La Habra (16-10). (To conintue click thread)

TUESDAY’S BASEBALL WILD CARD RESULTS
Division 2
Chino Hills 9, Righetti 0
Claremont 6, Burbank 1
Damien 5, La Mirada 2
Division 3
La Serna 6, Diamond Bar 2
Warren 7, West Covina 5
Division 4
Northview 5, Nordhoff 1
Indio 7, Covina 5
San Dimas 3, Troy 2
Division 5
Linfield Christian 7, South El Monte 0
Sultana 10, Gladstone 5
Rim of the World 9, Duarte 4

TUESDAY’S SOFTBALL WILD CARD RESULTS
Division 2
West Covina 14, Arroyo Valley 3
Diamond Bar 8, Rialto 6
Division 3
Ayala 6, Lancaster 1
Charter Oak 12, St. Paul 8
Division 4
San Marcos 4, Covina 2, 8 innings
Wilson 19, Hawthorne 4
Division 5
Lompoc 21, Gladstone 1
West Valley 20, Sierra Vista 1
Magnolia 10, La Puente 9

For those who never heard of Chico and the Man, here you go….Am I really that old?

Continue reading “WILD CARD: Nothview’s Chico is the Man in Vikings’ 5-1 win; Damien, Claremont, San Dimas win; Charter Oak softball beats St. Paul” »

The Rosters and coaches are set for the 2012 San Gabriel Valley Senior All-Star Softball game at Mt. San Antonio College on Sunday, June 3 at 6:30 p.m., a day after the CIF-Southern Section softball finals. Admission is $5 and Parking is $3. Bonita’s Ken Carlson will coach the North and South Hills Scott Fisch will coach the South.

Above: South Hills’ UCLA-bound catcher Britany Rodriguez

NORTH TEAM
HEAD COACH: Ken Carlson, Bonita
Players
Taylor Langdon, Glendora, P
Brandi Wilson, Glendora, OF
Suzette Ortega, Northview, 1B
Emily Lewison, Northview, C
Danielle O’Toole, St. Lucy’s, P
Brandi Harkness, St. Lucy’s, 3B
Danielle Mavridis, St. Lucy’s, 2B
Laura Swan, St. Lucy’s, SS
Danielle Smith, Bonita, OF
Kayla Papez, Charter Oak, INF
Monique Villasenor, Charter Oak, C
Jasmine Navarette, Baldwin Park, INF
Audrey Serna, Arroyo, 3B
Denise Gonzales, Alhambra, P/SS
Sami Jakeway, Temple City, C
Lauren Alvarado, Gabrielino, OF
Marissa Chavez, Azusa, P
Candice Orozco, Covina, OF
Julia Lupercio, San Dimas, 3B
Kaysie Gatlin, Duarte, P
Mikayla Tickey, Duarte, INF

SOUTH TEAM
HEAD COACH: Scott Fisch-South Hills
Players
Britney Rodriguez, South Hills, C
Kristen Stewart, South Hills, SS
Liz Mendoza, El Monte, SS
Cassie Padilla, Bishop Amat, SS
Alashanee Medina, Keppel, P
Elaine Brown, Walnut, OF
Alana Orona, Diamond Ranch, 1B
Liz Ruvalcaba, Diamond Bar, C
Tillie Ramirez, Wilson, C/3B
Ania Levanos, Wilson, P/1B
Jessica River, Schurr, CF
Valerie Aguilar, Montebello, C
Lauren Cox, La Canada, P
Catherine Homer, La Canada, C
Jennipher Solis, Los Altos, P
Mariah Midyette, Los Altos, OF
Alyssa Villalpando, Los Altos, C
Summer Knight, West Covina, SS
Alex Blaco, West Covina, OF
Taylor Castro, West Covina, 3B
Amida Ordorica, Nogales, P
Marissa Recillas, Nogales, C
Demi Nguyen, South El Monte, INF

Above: Bonita’s new coach Adrian Medrano

By Aram Tolegian, SGVN twitter.com/ChemicalAT
After an offseason of nonstop coaching changes, spring practice will hold special meaning for several of the area’s high school football.

Monday marked the official first spring workouts for new head coaches across the Valley, but at Bonita and Rosemead the transition looks likely to go easier than expected.

At Bonita, Adrian Medrano goes from assistant coach to head coach after spending several years under former head coach Eric Podley, who will be on Medrano’s staff. Longtime defensive coordinator Ray Medina also remains on staff.

At Rosemead, Marc Paramo goes from defensive coordinator under program stalwart Matt Koffler to head coach. Paramo already has gotten a jump on the situation by holding Wednesday night practices for the past nine weeks.

Both coaches could hardly contain their enthusiasm about the start of their respective tenures. Monday was the first official first day to show it on the field. (To continue click thread)

Below: Mr. Podley’s not the head guy in charge, but at least he’s still part of it on the sidelines.

Continue reading “Spring Football: New Sheriff’s in Town, Bonita’s Adrian Medrano and Rosemead’s Marc Paramo take over top spots” »

Because Bishop Amat baseball and softball both have home games in Thursday’s first-round, the baseball game was moved to Friday at Bishop Amat at 3:15 p.m., against Ridgecrest Burroughs. Also, the second annual Bishop Amat Sandlot Games for kids returns to Bishop Amat High on Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., for kids ages 5-10 years old. The games are free for the kids and instruction and coaching is provided by the Bishop Amat staff and players.

By Fred J. Robledo, SGVN, twitter@sgvtribpreps
After advancing to the CIF-Southern section Division 3 semifinals a year ago, Bonita is hoping to take it a step further after earning the top seed following the release of the high school baseball playoff pairings on Monday.

All wild-card games are today with Division 2 and 4 first-round games on Thursday and Division 3 and 5 first-round games Friday. All games are scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m.

Bonita went undefeated in the Hacienda League and finished one of its best regular seasons in school history, going 26-2 with its only losses to South Hills in the championship of the Dicks Sporting Goods tournament, and a loss to Division 1 power J.W. North.

Bonita will host the winner of today’s wild-card between Heritage and San Gorgonio in Friday’s first-round.

“We (beat) San Gorgonio (in the playoffs) the last two years and they’re a good team,” Bonita coach John Knott said. “I don’t know anything about Heritage, but what you have to remember about the playoffs is you have to take it one game at a time. Everyone is 0-0 and if you lose your season is over. You can’t get caught up in what you’ve done, every game is a win or go home scenario.” (to continue click thread)

CIF Southern Section Baseball Pairings

Division 2
Tuesday’s wild card games
Righetti at Chino Hills — winner at Aliso Niguel
Burbank at Claremont — winner at Alemany
Damien at La Mirada – winner at Redlands East Valley
Thursday’s first-round
Upland-Norwalk winner at South Hills
MIra Costa-Arlington winner at Glendora

Division 3
Tuesday’s wild card games
Diamond Bar at La Serna — winner at Westminster
Warren at West Covina — winner at Rancho Alamitos
Friday’s first-round
Heritage-San Gorgonio winner at No. 1 Bonita
Lakeside at Los Altos

Division 4
Tuesday’s wild card games
Nordoff at Northview — winner at La Habra
Covina at Indio — winner at Santa Ana Calvary Chapel
Troy at San Dimas — winner at St. Bonaventure
Thursday’s first round
St. Paul-Sunny Hills winner at Nogales
Ridgecrest Burroughs at Bishop Amat

Division 5
Tuesday’s wild card games
Linfield Christian at South El Monte — winner at Paraclete
Sultana at Gladstone — winner at Lompoc
Duarte at Rim of the World — winner at Woodcrest Christian
Friday’s first-round
Santa Ynez at La Puente
Mountain View at Hemet
Riverside Notre Dame at Sierra Vista

Continue reading “Baseball Pairings: As expected, Bonita No. 1 seed in D-3; South Hills, Glendora first-round home games in D-2; Bishop Amat seeded fourth in D-4” »