La Mirada, La Serna lead area teams into CIF-SS baseball playoffs

The saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” apparently applies to the La Mirada High baseball team.
“We have worked too hard to be where we are at because of what we’ve been doing,” coach Kim Brooks said. “Let’s keep doing what we’re doing and see what the dealer deals us.”
Those words came from Brooks after the CIF-SS playoff pairings were released Monday. He said the draw doesn’t matter one way or the other, but for the record, the Suburban League-champion Matadores will play host to either Damien or Oxnard Pacifica on Friday in a Division 2 first-round game.
“Keep playing the way we’re playing,” Brooks said when asked the keys to a long post-season run. “I think we’re playing at a pretty good level right now. You always have to pick it up a bit in the playoffs, but we are playing solid defense, the pitching has been good and we have come through with the bats when we’ve needed to.”
La Mirada (19-10-1) shared the league title with Mayfair, but enters as the league’s No. 1 team because it had the advantage in the tiebreaker.
A total of nine area teams made the playoffs, with five of them to toil in Division 4. Del Rio League co-champion La Serna (16-8-2) on Friday in the first round will play host to either North Torrance or La Habra (14-13), which square off today at La Habra in a wild-card game. In other wild-card games today, El Rancho (15-10) will host Anaheim (18-11), Montebello (14-9) will be at home to Estancia (16-9) and Cal High will take on visiting Barstow.
All games begin at 3:15 p.m. unless there is an agreed upon time change.
Cal High (17-7-1) tied La Serna for the Del Rio League title, but enters as the league’s No. 2 representative because it was 0-2-1 against the Lancers. The Condors are one of seven No. 2 teams in Division 4 having to play a wild-card game. Condors coach Tony Nieto was a bit surprised his team is one of them, but he is taking the philosophical approach.
“It is what it is,” Nieto said. “We’re not going to cry over it. We’ll be ready for it. Since we’re a little hot, maybe it’ll keep us going instead of waiting until Friday to play.”
Cal High has won seven of its past eight. Nieto said he is expecting to start Jimmy Olguin (5-2) on the mound. As for Barstow, the Aztecs (10-9) are the fourth-place team from the Desert Sky League.
In Division 3, St. Paul (16-14) will play host to Rancho Alamitos (11-12) in a wild-card game today. Also today, in Division 5, Cantwell Sacred-Heart (5-16-1) will host Lompoc (11-14-1) in a wild-card game. And Whittier Christian (16-12) will be at Hemet (19-7) on Thursday in the first round.

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Santa Fe to play at top-seeded Cathedral in volleyball semifinals

Santa Fe High on Saturday swept visiting Yucaipa in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division 4 boys volleyball playoffs. Scores were 25-16, 25-18, 28-26.

The victory means the fourth-seeded Chiefs (25-6) will now play at top-seeded Cathedral on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals. The Phantoms (26-9) swept Flintridge Prep 25-10, 25-10, 25-14, in their quarterfinals match.

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Ginger Larsin earns 500th victory as La Serna softball coach

It was 26 years ago, in 1987, that Ginger Larsin took over as head coach of the La Serna High softball team. On Thursday, she earned her 500th victory at the school when the Lancers defeated Pioneer 11-1.
She’s stoked.
“We’re such a softball area and for me to be at this school and have the talent I’ve had, it was just a great feeling to be blessed with the talent I’ve had over the years,” said Larsin, a graduate of Santa Fe, another Del Rio League school.
Larsin’s record at La Serna, including this season’s 18-7 mark, is 500-185-5. Along the way she has won CIF-Southern Section championships in 1996, 2001 and 2008. Interestingly, Larsin actually has more than 500 lifetime victories as she was coach for two years at Santa Fe back in the early ’80s. She said she does not remember her record for those seasons.
As for 2013, Larsin’s Lancers shared the league championship with Cal High, both teams coming in at 9-1. They split their two games, but the Condors will be the No. 1 seed from the league when the playoff pairings are announced Monday because they beat the Lancers in the second round of league play.
Larsin is confident her team has the goods to make a good post-season run.
“Oh, absolutely,” she said. “Right now we are playing really well and the girls are really focused and the girls want this a lot.”

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