April Ross qualifies for London Olympics in beach volleyball

There will be two former Newport Harbor High volleyball standouts in the London Olympics.

April Ross, who starred at Newport Harbor, and Jennifer Kessy have qualified for their first Olympics. They will join Misty May-Treanor, also of Newport Harbor, and Kerri Walsh, the two-time gold medalists, in the Olympic beach volleyball tournament.

Ross and Kessy were the No. 3 team at the Beijing Olympics, but the duo clinched the second of two American women’s berths after finishing fifth in the Beijing Grand Slam this past weekend.

Beach volleyball teams qualify for the Olympics by compiling points on the international pro tour. A country can have a maximum of two men’s teams and two women’s teams.

Matt Fuerbringer, an Estancia alumnus, is in contention to qualify for the Olympics for the men. Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena are tied in the standings with Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb for the second men’s spot.

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, the defending men’s gold medalists, have already locked up the other U.S. men’s berth.

–Daily Pilot staff reports

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Sources: Torribio named new Harbor basketball coach

Bob Torribio, the right-hand man of former Newport Harbor High Coach Larry Hirst, has been named the new boys’ basketball coach of the Sailors, said sources familiar with the situation.

Torribio, a 1995 Newport Harbor graduate, filled in for Hirst last season, marking the third time he has done that when Hirst took a leave of absence in the past four seasons.

The Sailors have now turned to Torribio to lead the program after Hirst stepped down for good in March because of criminal threats made against him and his wife.

Torribio, who has been coaching at his alma mater for the past 11 seasons, was one of three finalists for the Newport Harbor job.

Sources said the other two candidates were Jason Carey, a junior varsity coach at Newport Harbor, and Darryl Hilliard, the junior varsity coach at Back Bay rival Corona del Mar.

–David Carrillo Penaloza, @DCPenaloza, Daily Pilot

OCC baseball advances to state tourney

The Orange Coast College baseball team celebrates with a dog pile after beating Glendale, 16-1, and clinching a spot in the four-team state tournament. (Courtesy of OCC Athletics)

COSTA MESA — An Orange Coast College baseball team that had been larger than life most of the season, benefited from a healthy dose of mortality on Sunday to win the second championship game of the double-elimination Southern California Super Regional.

The 16-1 triumph over Glendale, which topped the Pirates, 6-3, in the first game Sunday, propels OCC (36-5-1), ranked No. 1 in one national poll, into the four-team California Community College Athletic Assn. State Championship, held Friday through Sunday at Bakersfield College.

OCC will meet Sierra College (25-15-1) in the first round on Friday at noon. Consumnes River (25-16) and Rio Hondo (38-3) round out the field in the double-elimination state tournament.

Sophomore pitcher Eric Salcido allowed two hits in five shutout innings to earn the win and freshman right fielder Bijan Rademacher drove in five runs, including a grand slam that put the Pirates up, 8-0, in the fifth inning to key the clinching victory.

–Barry Faulkner, @BarryFaulkner5, Daily Pilot

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Edison falls short of league title in softball

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Kendra Wood took pause afterward, searching for that little something extra to say. The Edison assistant softball coach was attempting to describe a key sequence that occurred – or rather, never materialized, for the Chargers, during the middle stages of their Thursday showdown against Los Alamitos.

“That fourth inning, not being able to get it done…” Wood said, before tailing off and going silent.

“We just needed that extra hit, that sacrifice fly,” she continued, still trying to sum up a crucial turning point in the game that came in the fourth inning. ”Something. Anything.”

In a game that determined the 2012 Sunset League champion, it was Los Alamitos which emerged with the crown. The Griffins led the entire way but had to fend off two big threats by the Chargers late, to come away with a 3-2 victory at Edison.

The outcome put the Griffins at 9-1 in league and 22-6 overall. Edison ended league play in second place at 8-2 and went to 23-4 on the year.

–Mike Sciacca, @MikeSciacca, HB Independent

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CdM track quartet wants more

From left, the Corona del Mar High boys' 4x400-meter relay team of John Swigert, Troy Hardy, Kyle Iverson and Ryan Rodrigues broke a school record that had stood for 29 years. (SCOTT SMELTZER)

Troy Hardy, Ryan Rodrigues, John Swigert and Kyle Iverson laughed at the notion of being compared to a boy band, just before practice Wednesday at Corona del Mar High.

The boys’ 4×400-meter relay quartet may run in One Direction and must be ‘NSync (pardon the spellings), but they’re not ones to be trendy or plastic as a group.

The Pacific Coast League champions just run fast, the fastest ever in school history and they are wanting to take it up a notch for the CIF Southern Section Division 3 preliminaries Saturday at Jim Scott Stadium.

Now, mostly every boy band has a formula. The CdM quartet has a different recipe for success.

It has led to the PCL title in their event, as well as helping the CdM boys’ track and field team to its first league title since 2003. And of course, their formula has led to a new school record.

When they won at the Orange County Championships April 21, they finished in 3 minutes, 20.2 seconds, breaking a school record that had stood for 29 years.

–Steve Virgen, @SteveVirgen, Daily Pilot

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CdM boys’ lacrosse captures first Orange County crown

Corona del Mar High's Taylor Epp, right, embraces a teammate after the Sea Kings defeated San Clemente in the boys' U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division championship game held at Dana Hills High Wednesday. (KEVIN CHANG)

DANA POINT — The Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse team stayed perfect and it pulled off the feat in a game it failed to win the last two times.

The contest is the biggest one in Orange County every year.

In their third trip to the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division finale in four years, the Sea Kings can call themselves champions.

Top-seeded CdM grabbed the lead first and never trailed. The Sea Kings finished their opponent this time, beating third-seeded San Clemente, 9-6, at Dana Hills High on Wednesday night.

No team this season has touched CdM, which improved to 23-0. There is one more game left for the Sea Kings, the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section title game. The South Division champ faces the North Division champ from Los Angeles County.

The Sea Kings’ debut in the contest will come against Palos Verdes, which defeated Pacific Palisades, 13-4, in the North Division finale.

The main event features two of the top-ranked programs in the state by laxpower.com with the same nickname. No. 5 CdM goes up against No. 6 Palos Verdes (20-2) on Saturday at Mission Viejo High at 1 p.m.

–David Carrillo Penaloza, @DCPenaloza, Daily Pilot

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Thursday a big day for baseball in H.B.

Marina's Jack Westermeyer delivers a pitch against Edison during a game at Marina High School. (SCOTT SMELTZER)

It’s only fitting that the Sunset League baseball race— wild and wacky one all throughout — would come down to the final day of the regular season. All that’s riding on the outcome of Thursday games is a league championship, playoff berths and league seedings for the upcoming postseason.

On Tuesday, Marina stayed in contention for the Sunset title by edging visiting Huntington Beach, 5-4, Fountain Valley took a 6-1 decision from Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos kept its one-game lead and first-place standing by downing Edison, 8-2.

Thursday’s schedule has Edison at Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley at Newport Harbor, and Marina at Huntington, all at 3:15 p.m.

The title in the Golden West League also is up for grabs on the final day of the regular season Thursday, and Ocean View is in line for that top spot.

–Mike Sciacca, @MikeSciacca, HB Independent

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Seahawks, Oilers move on in boys’ volleyball

Ocean View players celebrate after defeating Valencia of Placentia, 3-1, in a first-round CIF Southern Section boys' volleyball match Tuesday. (KEVIN CHANG)

Opening night of the CIF Southern Section boys’ volleyball playoffs saw both Ocean View and Huntington Beach face early challenges Tuesday, but came on strong down the stretch to advance in postseason play.

Ocean View improved to 16-4 by downing visiting Valencia of Placentia, 25-23, 21-25, 27-25, 25-14, in a Division 3 match. Huntington Beach scored a 24-26, 25-15, 25-19, 25-14 win over visiting Harvard-Westlake in a Division 1 opener.

Adam Wills had 39 kills and 31 digs for Golden West League-champion Ocean View. Also making big contributions were Elijah Nolasco with 45 digs, Ralph Cabiltes with five digs and 51 assists, and August Oda with nine kills.

Valencia was the No. 3 team from the Empire League.

“We played a well-rounded match and I am proud of our performance tonight,” Seahawks Coach Seth Cutrell said. “Valencia was a tough first-round opponent and they played a solid match. I knew that if would be loud and stayed positive, we could jump on Valencia and get an early lead. Even in game three, when Valencia made a late push and forced us to take a timeout (at 24-24), I knew we were still going to come out on top. Winning game three gave us the push we needed to finish them in game four.”

–Mike Sciacca, @MikeSciacca, HB Independent

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Sailors volleyball team advances to second round

NEWPORT BEACH — Coach Steve Astor said there is one boys’ volleyball team Newport Harbor High has wanted to play all season.

The Sailors earned a shot to face that team.

Newport Harbor gets to see Dana Hills after the host Sailors swept Ventura, 27-25, 25-14, 25-16, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs on Tuesday.

While Astor said the site of Thursday’s second-round matchup between the Sailors (22-8) and Dolphins (29-4) would be decided by a coin flip on Wednesday morning, he doesn’t care where the match is played.

Astor is that confident in his Sailors, who went unranked in the final Division 1 coaches’ poll, against the sixth-ranked Dolphins.

“I’m not too worried about where it is, home or away,” Astor said. “I’m just worried about us being ready to play. I know they will. I think these guys have always wanted to play [the Dolphins]. We’ve seen them from afar and have a lot of respect for them.”

–By David Carrillo Peñaloza, @DCPenaloza, Daily Pilot

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Edison baseball program volunteers to coach Challenger Division kids

Edison High Coach Steve Lambright wanted the players of his baseball program to experience what is really important in life Saturday morning at Westminster Park.

Along the way to finding that importance the players also discovered little smiles, pure joy and genuine love for the game.

The Edison Chargers helped produce that, as players from the freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams volunteered to coach and play with kids from the Challenger Division of the Huntington Beach Little League.

“Before we got here, I told them they are going to work with kids who have special needs,” Lambright said. “I try to teach them baseball through life lessons. Now they are out here and working with these kids. They are helping and providing encouragement. That’s what it’s all about.”

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