Prep Sports Section
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Bauer tames Wildcats Trevor Bauer made a bet at the beginning of the baseball season that he would get 100 strikeouts . Bauer surpassed that number by one on Friday when Hart clinched sole possession of the Foothill League title in its defeat against West Ranch 4-0 on Bud Murray field. "It felt great," Bauer said. " I felt really good before the game and I had my good stuff at the mound." Bauer pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 11 and allowing only two hits. He finishes the season 11-0 with 101 strikeouts. Hart clinches it's first league title since 2001, ... |
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Taking the first step For a volleyball team whose goal is to win the CIF championship, falling behind 3-0 in the first game of their first round match isn't the best way to start the journey. However, having your co-captain step to the serving line and deliver 12 straight crushing serves is an easy way to fix most mistakes. The Valencia Viking boys volleyball team fell behind quick, but Jamey Ker rattled off 11 straight points mixing in aces with solid serves to help the Vikings (31-2) recover quickly and power Valencia to a first round victory. Now, the Vikings are one step closer ... |
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Eight isn't enough The only suspense for the Valencia softball team Thursday afternoon was the coin toss. After a 14-0, five inning win at West Ranch to finish in a tie for first place in the Foothill League, every Vikings player took a coin and flipped. The majority had tails. Today at 7:30 a.m. when the real coin is flipped to determine whether Hart or Valencia get the No. 1 seed from the league, the Vikings (24-5, 9-1) will go with tails. The result of Thursday's game was determined about as fast as the toss. Valencia's first two batters tripled, and the third ... |
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Area swimmers don't miss a beat It was a strong showing from the Foothill League top competitors at the preliminaries held at Belmont Plaza. The leagues top swimmers competed to qualify for the CIF Southern Section-Toyota Division II finals Saturday. The top eight fastest qualifying times will move on to Saturday's finals while swimmers who finished 9-16 will enter in to consolation finals. Saturday's finals will determine the sectional finals and who moves on to the all division finals Tuesday. Hart's girls are favored in Saturday's finals after Thursday's results. Junior Jordan Danny had the first fastest qualifying time in the 100-yard breast-stroke (1:03.86) and the ... |
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Vikings make playoffs With the regular season Foothill League baseball coming to an end Valencia and Saugus are shifting their focus to the postseason. "We achieved our goal this season of making it to CIF," said Valencia head coach Jared Snyder. "We want to make a run in the playoffs, and you never know what can happen." The Vikings (20-6,12-2) had a playoff mentality on Wednesday when they defeated Saugus on the Centurions home field 5-1. " We have to keep doing what we're doing ," said Vikings starting pitcher Josh Corralles. "As long as we keep working hard and keep progressing we ... |
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Hart of champions The current attitude of Hart baseball can be summarized in two words: Not satisfied. With a 6-0 win at West Ranch on Wednesday afternoon, Hart assured itself at least a share of the Foothill League title, a feat it hasn't accomplished since 2001. But the Indians are looking toward the future; Friday when they can win the title outright and next week when the CIF playoffs begin. "We don't want to tie, none of this tying stuff," said starting pitcher Michael Montgomery. The senior southpaw was dominant in his 10th start of the season, winning his seventh while striking out ... |
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Grizzly shutout Destiny Rodino had reason to be concerned in the second inning of Hart's Foothill League softball matchup against the Lady Grizzlies at Golden Valley High School on Tuesday afternoon. Despite having a 2-0 lead and retiring the first four batters she faced, Rodino (22-4) gave up a one-out single to Kristen Uthe, followed by consecutive walks to Vickey Luey and Monique Rodriguez with two outs to load the bases. Yet Golden Valley's (11-14, 1-9) scoring threat lasted only one more pitch, as Amber Jensen March hit a come-backer to Rodino on the first pitch. Rodino calmly caught the ball off ... |
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Keeping the pace If the ritual that Madison Shipman and Jessica Spigner perform at the start of each inning brings them luck, its working. The duo, dubbed "9-11" - not only for their jersey numbers - but also because they are often known for their emergency services when the Valencia softball team is in a tight spot. Valencia called upon the duo when they found themselves down early in the game versus Saugus, but ultimately it was team effort that got them over on Tuesday on the Centurions field. The Vikings won, 14-3. "Our ritual relaxes us," Shipman said. "Its helps us ... |
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Hart catcher making name for herself Jessica Shults is self-admittedly loud. Like your typical teenager, she likes to talk, a lot. On the softball field, that enthusiasm has made the Hart junior a special player. Shults has an innate ability to mix fun with work. "She's such a happy kid that some people think she's not serious but she is serious and her teammates know that," Hart coach Steve Calendo said. Perhaps the position she chose, catcher, fits her personality to a T. She is the patrolwoman of the defense, so to speak. She has no problem barking out the defensive signals and putting her teammates ... |
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Hart wins Thousand Oaks tournament Add a tournament win to the Hart softball team's list of accomplishments this season. The Indians (22-5, 8-1) beat Thousand Oaks 3-1 in the championship game of the Thousand Oaks Tournament after shutting out Riverside Poly 12-0 in the semifinals. Pitcher Destiny Rodino went 4-0 and junior catcher Jessica Shults went 8-10 with four home runs and 11 RBIs on her way to winning the tournament MVP. Heather Zimmerman hit a two-run home run in the championship game and was named to the all-tournament team along with Rodino. Last week, Hart beat Oxnard 3-0 and Westlake 6-2 to advance to ... |
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Local roundup Varsity baseball Saugus 16 Golden Valley 0 |
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Hart inches closer to league crown Playing long toss with his pitching coach before the game Friday, Hart pitcher Trevor Bauer surprised even himself. He outthrew Ruben Escobar, a former Master's College star and draftee of the Cleveland Indians. That's when he knew he would have his stuff. Bauer struck out 13 in six innings and gave up just two hits, as Hart (19-6, 12-1) dominated Canyon 13-0 on the road, inching a little bit closer to clinching the Foothill League title. "He always says, 'oh yeah, I'd outthrow you," said Bauer, who earned his 10th win. "We always go back and forth about it." That ... |
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Vikings heading on strong note into playoffs The playoff-bound Valencia Vikings baseball team is making its presence known to every team it faces from now until the first round. The Vikings (19-6, 11-2), who clinched a spot in the CIF-Southern Section Division I playoffs with their win over West Ranch on Wednesday, gave yet another strong performance against the Wildcats on Friday at Curtis Sand and Gravel field defeating West Ranch 9-6. Valencia's offense was led by freshman Christian Lopes who blasted a grand slam over the center field wall in the second inning. "I was just trying to get on base," Lopes said. "I wanted to ... |
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Canyon freshman takes league title from No. 1 senior The Foothill League boys tennis finals were the perfect setting for the ascent of Canyon's Jason Ferlianto from unassuming freshman to one of the league's top players. Ferlianto took the top spot Thursday by upsetting West Ranch's Jordan Hovis in the championship match at the Paseo Club, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. The freshman has been a surprise to most this season including his coach. "Overall, Jason has grown so much," said Canyon head coach Edgar Perfecto. "He's been proving everyone wrong all season and I think that gave him a boost in his mentality." Ferlianto entered into the finals tournament as ... |
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Vikings earn late payback Finally, the ball rolled Valencia's way. |
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The Hart of local swim The only thing slow about the Hart swimming team is its bus. |
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Valencia's instant impact For whichever high school Christian Lopes was going to, he was supposed to make an instant impact. The 2006 National Youth Baseball Player of the Year has done just that for Valencia. He drove the first pitch of the Vikings game against West Ranch Wednesday over the West Ranch High fence for a leadoff home run. Valencia ended up defeating the Wildcats 9-5 and clinched a spot in the CIF-Southern Section Division I playoffs. The Vikings (18-6, 10-2) trailed 4-1 going into the top of the fifth inning, but a six-run explosion in the frame gave Valencia enough to withstand ... |
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Hart maintains its Foothill League Hart High's baseball team defeated Canyon at Bud Murray field 10-2 on Wednesday. |
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Familiarity awaits at the final For the most part, the Foothill League Boys Tennis Preliminaries held serve. |
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Swimmers set table He may only be a freshman but Valencia swimmer Bob Hwang has some lofty aspirations. |
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Track and field athletes prepare for finals The Foothill League prelims for track and field were held at the College of the Canyons on Tuesday. The event consisted of each school in the league's top four athletes from each event competing for the league finals, which will take place on Friday at COC. Tuesday's events included the junior varsity girls and freshman/sophomore boys field events along with each of the running events for the varsity and junior varsity athletes. Varsity field events and relays will be held on Friday. The winners of each heat from Tuesday's events along with the following five best times will advance to ... |
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Now the rematch Under the lights of the William S. Hart Softball Complex , the Hart varsity softball team defeated Saugus 6-0 on Tuesday. Hart, which is currently undefeated in the Foothill League, will face the No. 2 Valencia Vikings on Thursday in what is essentially the local softball game of the year. In their last meeting, the Indians defeated the Vikings 1-0 thanks to a seventh-inning solo home run by Heather Stiglich. "We're very confident," said Hart senior Christie Lincoln about the game against Valencia. "It's always a good game whenever we play them." Should Hart get the win against the Vikings, ... |
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Hard work pays off at Canyon A couple of years ago, a trio of kids with ties to Canyon basketball all worked together so that one day they could play their sport at the next level. There was Jeremy Haggerty - the Canyon High graduate who served as the trainer. Then there were the students, then-current Canyon players Ryan Kuhn and Mark Lewis. Haggerty remembers the three giving up their summers of fun for summers of work - getting to the gym at 6 a.m. every morning. Over the last year, the dominos fell one by one. Haggerty secured a scholarship to The Master's College. Then ... |
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Wirthlin: 'It's a miracle I'm alive' Canyon High student/athlete Stephen Wirthlin said he's lucky to be alive after a car accident on Saturday morning in Gorman. The 17-year-old was on a Boy Scouts retreat when the car he was a passenger in landed awkwardly on a dip, then flipped a couple of times, taking out a fence and a couple of trees. Withlin suffered a broken neck. "I'm going to be fine, no worries," he said. The three-sport athlete - football, soccer and track and field - intended on continuing his athletic career at Brigham Young University next year, where he planned on playing football. He ... |
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Winning's not the only thing Hart baseball's biggest accomplishment in 2008 thus far is the team being in first place in the ultra-competitive Foothill League - to some. But two other giant, more long-lasting accomplishments might mean a heck of a lot more. The Indians have added three more names to its long list of future college baseball players - pitcher Casey McCarthy, right fielder Jason Rehhaut and outfielder/pitcher Tyler Eyrich. And if that's not a big enough accomplishment, the Indians - currently ranked seventh in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division I poll - will be honored today at Angel Stadium. Prior to the Angels-Oakland ... |
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Livingstone: In the swim Inspiration came early for Kearsten Livingstone, the Canyon High sophomore who has already accomplished so much in her young swimming career. Livingstone's earliest memories began when she was 18 months old and participated with her mother in "Mommy and me" classes. "I enrolled in formal swimming lessons when I was 2 years old," she says. "I've had a love for it ever since." Livingstone, nicknamed K.T. for her middle name Taylor, swiftly moved through the competitive levels for her age and by the time she was 7 years old, she was advised to join the local swim team. "The next ... |
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The fight is still in the Wildcats The West Ranch varsity baseball team defeated Canyon on Friday 7-0 on the Wildcats home field. Wildcats senior Charlie Gillies pitched a complete game shutout for the second game in a row. Gillies only allowed the Cowboys two hits and struck out four Canyon batters. "We wanted to come out and get the win," Gillies said. "I didn't have many strikeouts, but I was able to rely on my defense to back me up." Gillies has not allowed an earned run since April 4 against Saugus. In his last three starts he is 3-0 allowing no earned runs in 19 ... |
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Just enough stuff Trevor Bauer isn't your typical No. 2 high school starter. |
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Ho, hum: another foothill league title Saugus was merely delaying the inevitable. |
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Cowboys gain net profits The first time Canyon tennis coach Edgar Perfecto saw Jason Ferlianto play tennis, he knew he was seeing something special. Perfecto just didn't know how old this baby-faced kid was or if he'd be attending Canyon. He did know that Ferlianto, who was hitting with his dad on the Canyon tennis courts, had a lot of talent. When baby J, as he's called by his teammates, showed up at Canyon for tryouts, Perfecto was elated. And so began Canyon's reincarnation from doormat to playoff team. "I was so happy," said Perfecto, who's just a baby himself - a 20 year ... |
