Laguna Beach players swarm Steven Harrison after he hit walk-off homerun in bottom of the 7th inning to defeat Victor Valley in the first round of CIF-SS baseball playoff game at Laguna Beach. (Don Leach)

It took one swing Tuesday to keep the postseason hopes alive for the Laguna Beach High baseball team.

Sophomore Steven Harrison provided the dramatics for Laguna when he delivered a home run to center field in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Breakers to a 5-4 victory over visiting Victor Valley in a CIF Southern Section Division 4 wild-card game.

Harrison’s walk-off blast, which came with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh, sent Laguna to a first-round game Thursday in Pasadena against La Salle. The score wasn’t available at press time. The Lancers (18-7-1) won the Del Rey League title and are the division’s No. 2-seed, behind top-ranked Palmdale.

The winner moves on to face either St. Bonaventure or San Dimas in a second-round game at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Tuesday’s playoff win was the fifth straight victory for Laguna, which won for the 11th time in its last 13 outings.

“Steven loves those moments and the entire team believed he was going to come up clutch for us,” Laguna Coach Mike Bair said of his catcher, who was an All-Orange Coast League player as a freshman. “As soon as the ball cleared the fence, we went crazy in the dugout. It was a great moment.”

–Mike Sciacca, @MikeSciacca, Coastline Pilot

…Continue reading “Laguna Beach wins CIF wild-card game on walk-off home run”

Conlogue, 19, a Santa Ana native who went to Sage Hill School in Newport Coast, is in fourth place in the Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Tour standings through five events, with two to go.

She trails Australian powerhouses Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons, as well as last year’s World Tour champion, Hawaiian Carissa Moore. But Conlogue jumped into the fray when she won the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic in Australia last month, and more recently placed fifth in the Billabong Rio Pro last week in Brazil.

And though there are just two events left, Conlogue will have home surf advantage in the final event of the season during the first week in August at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington, a contest she won three years ago as a 16-year-old.

Conlogue, though, isn’t sneaking up on anybody. Right now she’s doing the best among the California girls on the tour, ranked ahead of Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson and Ventura’s Sage Erickson. And she was featured recently in Surfing Magazine in which she shared some out-of-the-water details about her life.

–Joe Haakenson, Special to the Huntington Beach Independent

…Continue reading “Conlogue among elite on ASP World Tour”

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

…Continue reading “April Ross qualifies for London Olympics in beach volleyball”

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

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

…Continue reading “OCC baseball advances to state tourney”

“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

…Continue reading “Edison falls short of league title in softball”

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

…Continue reading “CdM track quartet wants more”

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

…Continue reading “CdM boys’ lacrosse captures first Orange County crown”

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

…Continue reading “Thursday a big day for baseball in H.B.”

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

…Continue reading “Seahawks, Oilers move on in boys’ volleyball”