CIF State Boys Volleyball
SoCal Regional playoffs
What does the La Serna High School boys volleyball team do for an encore?
The Lancers, fresh off winning the school’s first CIF Southern Section boys volleyball title by defeating Cerritos in four games for the Division 5 crown on Saturday at Cerritos College, now goes for a CIF State Southern California Regional crown when they host Hoover of San Diego in a Division III first-round game on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“(The CIF-SS title) is the sweet dessert,” La Serna coach Monique Gayton said. “The state playoffs are the cherry on top. We’ll go out and see how good we are to compete in state.”
The Lancers (29-3), the No. 3 seed, are led by seniors Brian Marquez and Geoffrey Mike, who had 18 and 11 kills, respectively in a 25-21, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23 victory over the Dons on Saturday.
Hoover (24-7), which won the San Diego Section Division III title and is the No. 6 seed, is led by Michael Cozy, who averages 11 kills a match.
The winner faces the winner of No. 2 Sage Creek (28-11) of Carlsbad and No. 7 Kennedy (8-23) of Granada Hills in the semifinals on Thursday. The finals are scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Edison High in Huntington Beach.

CIF-SS BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Division 2
La Mirada (24-5) at Palm Desert (20-7) >> The Matadores, who advanced to the quarterfinals last season, have a tough task against traditional power Palm Desert.
La Mirada, which beat Temescal Canyon (6-3) in the first round, is led by pitcher Eddie Salcido (10-2), shortstop Kevin Kendall (.411 batting average, 11 RBIs) and outfielder RJ Lan (.419, 22 RBIs).
Palm Desert beat Kaiser 3-2 in 14 innings in the first round.
Division 3
Don Lugo (24-4-1) at Santa Fe (19-12) >> The Chiefs survived a first-round road trip to Torrance and get the No. 3 Conquistadores as their reward.
Santa Fe, which has won 14 out of its last 16 games, is led by seniors Isaiah Gonzalez (.397, 19 RBIs) and Alonso Guzman (.354, 15 RBIs).
Don Lugo routed Cajon 13-1 in the first round.
Division 4
Victor Valley (16-10-2) at Sonora (19-11) >> The Raiders, who won six of their last nine regular-season games to take second in the Freeway League, are led by Isaac Ramirez (.357, 22 RBIs) and Dylan Villalobos (.322, 13 RBIs). Sonora edged Sierra Vista 2-1 in the first round.
Victor Valley advanced with a 7-3 win over Shadow Hills.

CIF-SS SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
SECOND ROUND
Division 1
La Habra (20-7) at Corona Santiago (23-6) >> The Highlanders, who were ranked in the state Top 10 by CalHiSports earlier in the season, have recaptured their old swagger recently, routing Sunny Hills to end the regular season and scoring an easy 9-3 win over Yorba Linda in the first round.
They are led first baseman/pitcher Janelle Rodriguez, outfielder Kira Cauley and pitcher Hannah Johnson.
The Sharks won at Yucaipa in the first round.
Division 3
La Mirada (22-8-1) at Patriot (24-4) >> The Matadores are coming off a 14-1 win over Irvine in the first round.
They feature one of the division’s better hitting teams, led by junior third baseman Madison Bogdanovich, who had a three-run home run in the first round and Djhane Valido, who had three hits against Irvine.
Patriot defeated Summit 4-3 in the first round.
Division 4
Whittier (16-8-1) at Beaumont (19-8) >> The Cardinals are in the playoffs for just the second time since 2009 when they also advanced to the second round.
Whittier, which won at Mira Costa (10-6) in the first round, is led by junior Amy Bretado (.351, 13 RBIs).
Beaumont advanced with a wild-card win over Palm Springs (10-2) and at No. 3 Aquinas (12-4).
Division 6
St. Anthony (20-7) at Whittier Christian (13-14) >> The Heralds, who won at Nuview Bridge (12-3) in the first round, are led by sophomore Hailey Gallegos (.562, 22 RBIs) and freshman Jaden Hernandez (.294, 23 RBIs).
St. Anthony is the No. 3 seed.
Garden Grove Santiago (23-2) at Schurr (20-3-1) >> The host Spartans have won six consecutive games, including playoff wins over Crean Lutheran (9-1) and Chadwick (11-0).

By Stephen Ramirez
LA MIRADA >> La Mirada High School, after losing its final two regular-season games last week, didn’t come into the CIF Southern Section softball playoffs on a positive note. But success in the postseason usually comes from flushing both the bad and the good and moving forward.
La Mirada definitely showed it could do that Thursday.
Madison Bogdanovich hit a three-run home run and Djhane Valido had three hits to lead a 13-hit barrage as the Matadores opened the Division 3 playoffs with a 14-1 victory over visiting Irvine in a first-round game that was halted in the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule.
La Mirada (21-8-1) will travel to Patriot (24-4), a 4-3 winner over Summit, for the second round on Tuesday.

“I just think as a team we were ready to fight,” Bogdanovich said. “Today, we just played for our seniors. We talked about it before the game and said we didn’t want it to be our last game.
“Last week we didn’t play well. Today, we came together as a team and fought hard until the end.”
Irvine (13-13) took a 1-0 lead in the second on a home run by Michelle Matsuo. But it was all La Mirada after that.
The Matadores scored all 14 runs in the final three innings, including an eight-run fourth.
La Mirada took a 2-1 lead in the second on singles by Valido and Jessica Martinez and consecutive fielder’s choice bunts for the advantage.
The Matadores pushed it to 6-1 in the third on RBIs by Martinez, Alyssa Hana and Kayla Gutierrez.
“Sometimes those weeks (like last week) are good; sometimes you’re scared going into the playoffs,” La Mirada coach Brent Tuttle said. “We had a good couple of practices. We need to hit, and last week we didn’t hit.
“Today, we told them to be aggressive, and if you see something (good), drive it. We had some big hits today.”
Bogdanovich highlighted the eight-run fourth with a three-run home run to center field for a 9-1 lead.
“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit,” Bogdanovich said. “The first pitch was right there and I swung. That’s it.”
Faith Hickman, who gave up five hits and struck out five, retired the Vaqueros in order in the fifth to secure the victory.
OTHER SCORES
SOFTBALL
DIVISION 1
La Habra 9, Yorba Linda 3
DIVISION 2
Santa Monica 7, St. Paul 2
Brea Olinda 6, La Serna 3
DIVISION 3
Paraclete 8, Cal 7
DIVISION 4
Whittier 10, Mira Costa 6
San Marcos 9, Montebello 3
DIVISION 6
Whittier Christian 12, Nuview Bridge 3
Schurr 11, Chadwick 0
TUESDAY’S SECOND ROUND
Division 1
La Habra at Corona Santiago
Division 3
La Mirada at Patriot
Division 4
Whittier at Beaumont
Division 6
No. 3 St. Anthony at Whittier Chr.
Garden Grove Santiago at Schurr
BASEBALL
Division 3
Paso Robles 7, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 1
No. 4 Walnut 5, California 0
Santa Fe 2, Torrance 1
FRIDAY’S FIRST ROUND
Division 2
Temescal Canyon at La Mirada
Division 4
Schurr at Serra
La Serna at Nogales
Sierra Vista at Sonora
TUESDAY’S SECOND ROUND
Division 3
No. 3 Don Lugo at Santa Fe

Here is the area schedule for the CIF-SS softball playoffs:
SOFTBALL
DIVISION 1
Thursday
Yorba Linda at La Habra
DIVISION 2
St. Paul at Santa Monica
DIVISION 3
Irvine at La Mirada
Cal at Paraclete
DIVISION 4
Whittier at Mira Costa
San Marcos at Montebello
DIVISION 6
Wild-Card Round
Tuesday
Crean Lutheran at Schurr
(Winner at Chadwick, Thursday)
Whittier Chr. at Nordhoff
(Winner at Nuview Bridge, Thursday)