Division 3
Friday’s first round
Redondo 9, Wilson 1
La Salle 8, Rancho Alamitos 3
La Quinta(LQ) 6, Covina 5 (8 innings)
San Dimas 3, Arroyo Grande 2
Walnut 3, La Quinta(W) 1
Bishop Amat 9, Palos Verdes 0

Division 5
Friday’s first round
Woodcrest Christian 8, Whittier Christian 0
Sierra Vista 5, Aquinas 1
Tahquitz 4, Maranatha 3
Monrovia 5, Campbell Hall 0
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 4, Ontario Christian 1
Garey 4, San Marino 2 (10 innings)
Capistrano Valley Christian 1, Temple City 0
Cabrillo(L) 6, Baldwin Park 1

SIERRA VISTA, AQUINAS BASEBALL PHOTO GALLERY

By Fred J. Robledo
Baldwin Park — For a team that allowed just 30 runs, and 16 earned all season, Sierra Vista’s baseball team and its pitching staff that boasts an eye-popping team ERA of 0.83, wondered how it would hold up in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs.
For a game at least, senior Adrian Cardenas answered that, throwing a three-hitter to lead Sierra Vista to a 5-1 victory over visiting Aquinas to advance to Tuesday’s second round on the road at Tahquitz, a 4-3 winner over Maranatha.
“It was a great win,” Cardenas said. “My defense had my back the whole game, they made the major plays when they had to.”
The Dons’ (21-2) offense did their job too.
Austin Morales singled home Jamyz Celiz for a 1-0 lead in the second and Matthew Aguayo singled in Cardenas for a 2-0 lead in the third. That should have been it, but an Aquinas (16-10) error led to two more runs and a 4-0 lead.
Aquinas had a huge opportunity to claw back in the fourth inning after Nick Ojinaga and Julian Holendor led off with back-to-back singles. Andrew Aguilera’s slow roller to third was mishandled and leaked into left field, allowing Ojinaga to score to make it 4-1 with two runners on and no outs.
But Cardenas, who improved to 8-1, showed why he’s so good by striking out the next three batters to get out of it. He finished with seven strikeouts.
For Falcons coach Robert De La Torre, that was the turning point.
“We had a run in and guys on base and no outs against a team that gave up 30-something runs all year and we couldn’t do it,” De La Torre said. “That was our chance to do something. He’s (Cardenas) been a bulldog all year long and after he struck out the side to get out of it, their was no touching him after that.”
Sierra Vista’s Daniel Lona scored from second on a failed pickoff attempt in the fourth, and that’s typically how the Dons score runs, being aggressive on the bases, and chipping away inning after inning.
“We take a lot of pride in our running and pressuring people,” Stevens said. “If you can keep it up and keep the pressure on for seven innings, a high school baseball team usually breaks. We forced them into a couple of errors and that’s how we play.”

Bishop Amat’s win sets up second rounder at Walnut: The only thing standing in the middle of an all-San Gabriel Valley CIF Southern Section Division 3 second-round matchup between Walnut and Bishop Amat, was Palos Verdes.
Isaac Esqueda pitched a complete game, scattering four hits while striking out five as Bishop Amat (18-12) punched its ticket to Tuesday’s matchup with a 5-0 win over visiting Palos Verdes (20-11-1).
“That was one of the best third-ranked teams in the whole draw,” said Bishop Amat coach Joe Hoggatt of Palos Verdes. “We scored three in the first, which was big for us.”

San Dimas squeezes out 3-2 win: San Dimas used solid defense and got an outstanding pitching performance from junior Alonzo Llorens in knocking off Arroyo Grande 3-2 in a CIF Southern Section Division 3 first-round game on Friday.
The Saints (15-12), who won their eighth consecutive game, will play at Irvine Woodbridge on Tuesday at 3:15 in a second-round matchup.
“This was, by far, our best game of the season,” Saints co-head coach Mike Regan said. “Zo hasn’t gone deep into games this year but he stepped up with his best outing. That was just tremendous.”

CIF-Southern Section Playoff Schedule
Friday’s first-round results
Baseball
Division 3
Charter Oak 5, Paloma Valley 3
La Quinta 6, Covina 5
San Dimas 3, Arroyo Grande 2
Bishop Amat 5, Palos Verdes 0
Division 5
Sierra Vista 5, Aquinas 1
Ganesha 4, Bishop Montgomery 3
Lompoc Cabrillo 6, Baldwin Park 1
Saddleback Valley Christian at South El Monte, Saturday, 11 a.m.

Tuesday’s Second Round
Baseball
Division 2
South Hills at Paramount, 3:15 p.m.
Damien at Oxnard, 3:15 p.m.
Division 3
Bishop Amat at Walnut, 3:15 p.m.
San Dimas at Woodbridge, 3:15 p.m.
Beckman at Charter Oak, 3:15 p.m.
Division 5
Sierra Vista at Tahquitz, 3:15 p.m.
Monrovia at Ganesha, 3:15 p.m.

Softball
Division 2
South Hills at Dana Hills, 3:15 p.m.
Division 3
Bishop Amat at Chaffey, 3:15 p.m.
Division 5
San Dimas at Edgewood, 3:15 p.m.
Fillmore at Nogales, 3:15 p.m.

By Fred Robledo
LA PUENTE — Bishop Amat waited longer than it wanted to break the game open against visiting Paramount in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 softball playoffs, but when the second-seed Lancers broke through, they kept their foot on the gas.
Bishop Amat catcher Julia Valenzuela belted two doubles, scored and drove in two runs. Alyssa Barrera had a pair of doubles and an RBI and pitcher Samaria Diaz threw a complete game two-hit shutout, and doubled home three runs in an 8-0 rout over Paramount to advance to Tuesday’s second round on the road against Chaffey, a 5-4 upset winner over California.
“We wanted to come out with a bang and put a lot of runs on the board,” Barrera said. “We got to get the bats going, so that’s great to see the bats coming together in the first round.”
After wasting the lead runners in the first three innings, Valenzuela doubled to lead off the fourth. Two outs later, Barrera doubled her home for a 1-0 lead.
With runners on second and third and two outs in the fifth, Valenzuela came through again, doubling home Diaz and Karissa Dunn for a 3-0 lead. Aja Martinez singled home Valenzuela to make it 4-0, which was more than enough for Diaz.
“I’m really trying to go up there and get on base and get my team started because I have a great lineup all around me,” Valenzuela said.
Diaz helped herself with a bases-loaded double in the sixth that cleared the bases for a 7-0 lead and she was her dominating self in the circle, allowing just a hit in the first and seventh, retiring 15 straight at one point. She also had six strikeouts.
“It’s a good (start),” Diaz said. “We gotta lot of games to go and we want to win them all. We’ve got to stay efocused.”

South Hills softball routs Pacifica: It was deja vu all over again.
On Thursday, South Hills met Oxnard Pacifica in a first round game of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 softball playoffs for the second consecutive season.
For the second consecutive season, South Hills won the game by the 10-run mercy rule.The Huskies (21-7) sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs in the fourth inning on their way to a 10-0 win over the Tritons.

Bonita loses, coach John Knott tenure over: Villa Park’s Alex Sosnowski went 3 for 4, with a go ahead two-run home run as the visiting Spartans knocked off No. 3 seed Bonita 8-1 in Thursday’s CIF Southern Section Division 2 baseball playoff game.
Cole Wiens pitched six shutout innings for Villa Park allowing six hits.
“We knew, this team (Bonita) was a fantastic team,” Villa Park coach Chris Van Champ said. “We had to be perfect defensively, and come up with some timely hits.”

Brandon Dieter leads South Hills baseball to victory: Pitching has been a big part of the South Hills High School baseball team’s success this season and in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs the Huskies’ Brandon Dieter shut down Mayfair, 4-0, allowing three hits in five innings in a Division 2 game Thursday afternoon.
Top seed South Hills (22-7) will travel to Paramount (20-11), a 3-0 winner over Moorpark, in the second round on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. Mayfair finished 15-12.

CIF-Southern Section Playoff Results
Thursday’s first-round games
Baseball
Division 2
South Hills 4, Mayfair 0
Damien 4, Royal 1
Villa Park 8, Bonita 0
Division 3
Walnut 3, La Quinta 1
Softball
Division 1
Valencia 3, Diamond Ranch 0
Santa Margarita 10, St. Lucy’s 0
Orange Lutheran 11, Los Altos 1
Division 2
South Hills 10, Oxnard Pacifica 0
Riverside Poly 1, Glendora 0
Division 3
Bishop Amat 8, Paramount 0
Division 4
Heritage Christian 6, El Monte 3
La Quinta 11, Arroyo 0
Jurupa Hills 14, South El Monte 4
Division 5
San Dimas 9, Azusa 0
Edgewood 8, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 6
Lompoc 6, Northview 2
Nogales 11, Pomona 2
Lompoc Cabrillo 10, Duarte 4

If you have any scores or stats from any local high school sporting events call them into the desk at 626-544-0992 or 0991 or scores@SGVN

Softball
Edgewood 8, Calvary Chapel 6 — Kennedy Cuevas struck out 11 and was the winning pitcher, and Ciara Granado went 3 for 3 with a homer to lead the Lions (20-1) to the CIF-SS Division 5 first-round win.
Nogales 11, Pomona 2 — Peiu Tafisi was the winning pitcher and had two homers and five RBIs for the Nobles (14-10) in a CIF-SS Division 5 first-round victory. Mia Escobar went 2 for 4 for Nogales.
Chino 5, Rosary Academy 1 — Courtney Springmen was the winning pitcher, Alyssa Gonzalez had a three-run homer and Pearl Barroso had a home run for the Cowgirls (15-10) in a CIF-SS Division 1 first-round win.

DAMIEN ADVANCES TO CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOR SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON: The Damien boys volleyball team knew it had to play better in the CIF Division 5 semifinals on Wednesday than it did four days ago, when it needed five sets to win a quarterfinal.
It did.
The Spartans polished off visiting North Hollywood-Oakwood 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-16) at Travers Cronin Athletic Center to earn a spot in Saturday’s championship match against Laguna Blanca at Cerritos College.
The Spartans (31-7) won their first CIF title a year ago but graduated a setter and their middle hitters. So the chance to be back on center stage again has been rewarding.
“At first we were trying to be last year’s team instead of playing to our strengths this year,” said senior Chris Mercado, one of three returning starters. “We’re a little bit different. Once we started figuring that out, things came together.”

Baldwin Park advances in Division 5 wild card: Proving that baseball is a game of inches, cleanup hitter Freddy Quintana’s two-out single drove in Francisco Ruiz with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Baldwin park baseball team a 3-2 win over Twentynine Palms in Wednesday’s CIF-SS Division 5 Wild card game.
The Braves, who won their first playoff game since 2009, will travel to Cabrillo High School in Lompoc for a first round game on Friday.
With two out and two men on base, Quintana hit a fly ball down the right field line. Hunter Tygart, the Wildcats right fielder, was going at full speed when he dove and got the ball in his glove, but the ball popped out when he hit the ground and the Braves started celebrating.
Wilson 4, Palmdale 3 — Matthew Rodriguez pitched a complete game, striking out eight, and had an RBI for the Wildcats (13-7) in a CIF-SS Division 3 wild-card victory. Devin Ramirez went 2 for 2 and Mark Cazares and Matt Orozco both had a hit for Wilson.
Vista del Lago 19, Bassett 7 — Frank Villanueva pitched four innings, striking out five, Matthew Robles went 2 for 2 with a double and an RBI and Ricky Mejia went 2 for 4 with a double for the Olympians (11-11) in a CIF Division 5 wild-card loss.

CIF-Southern Section Playoffs
Wednesday’s Baseball Wild Card
Division 3
Wilson 4, Palmdale 2
Segerstrom 2, Los Altos 1
Division 5
Vista del Lago 22, Bassett 4
Campbell Hall 15, Rosemead 5
Lompoc 7, Azusa 2
Rancho Mirage 10, Mountain View 2
Ontario Christian 11, El Monte 9
Baldwin Park 3, Twentynine Palms 2

Division 1
Monday’s quarterfinals
San Marino 15, Beckman 3
Wednesday’s semifinals
San Marino 11, Corona del Mar 7
Peninsula 11, University 7
Friday’s finals
At Claremont Club
No. 1 San Marino (21-1) vs. No. 3 Peninsula (22-2), 11:30 a.m.

Division 2
Monday’s quarterfinals
Arcadia 17, Walnut 1
Wednesday’s semifinals
Arcadia 14, West Ranch 4
Crean Lutheran 13, No 4. San Clemente 5
Friday’s finals
At Claremont Club
No. 2 Arcadia (21-0) vs. Crean Lutheran (13-6), 11 a.m.

Division 4
Monday’s quarterfinals
Rowland 10, Rancho Cucamonga 8
Keppel 13, Webb 5
Wednesday’s semifinals
Redlands 15, Rowland 3
Laguna Beach 10, Keppel 8

Division 5
Monday’s quarterfinals
Heritage 12, Arroyo 6
Beaumont 13, Rosemead 5