baseball

A look at The Times’ top 25 high school baseball rankings for the Southland after the final week of the regular season:

Rk. School (Rec.); Comment; ranking last week

1. NORCO (24-3); vs. Maranatha in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 1

2. HARVARD-WESTLAKE (23-5); vs. La Mirada in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 2

3. ST. JOHN BOSCO (22-5); vs. Cypress in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 3

4. ORANGE LUTHERAN (23-4); vs. Corona Santiago in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 4

5. HUNTINGTON BEACH (21-6-1); at Temecula Valley in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 5

6. CORONA (21-6); vs. Etiwanda in D1 playoffs, Tuesday 6

7. SIERRA CANYON (23-5); vs. Oaks Christian in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 7

8. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (20-8); vs. Ayala in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 8

9. AYALA (23-3); at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 9

10. CYPRESS (21-7); at St. John Bosco in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 10

11. LA MIRADA (22-6); at Harvard-Westlake in D1 playoffs, Tuesday;11

12. OAKS CHRISTIAN (22-6); at Sierra Canyon in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 12

13 GAHR (17-10-1); vs. El Segundo in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 13

14. NEWPORT HARBOR (19-9); vs. Trabuco Hills in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 14

15. CORONA SANTIAGO (18-10); at Orange Lutheran in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 15

16. TEMECULA VALLEY (24-4); vs. Huntington Beach in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; 18

17. VILLA PARK (19-8-1); vs. Elsinore in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 22

18. ETIWANDA (20-7); at Corona in Division 1 playoffs, Tuesday; 23

19. ROYAL (23-3-1); vs. El Modeina in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 16

20. AQUINAS (19-9); vs. Dana Hills in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 17

21. SANTA MARGARITA (15-13); at Rancho Christian in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 19

22. BISHOP ALEMANY (17-11); vs. Mission Viejo in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 20

23. MARANATHA (23-5); at Norco in D1 playoffs, Tuesday; NR

24. WESTLAKE (18-8); vs. Alta Loma in D2 playoffs, Thursday 24

25. GANESHA (21-3-1); at Linfield Christian in D2 playoffs, Thursday; 25

Ranked No. 1 in preseason, St. John Bosco’s baseball team suffered some surprising losses during the National High School Invitational and Boras Classic, losing three straight at one point.

“The little bump in the road was our last opportunities to get guys in there for non-Trinity League games to see what they could do,” coach Andy Rojo said.

The computer rankings didn’t appreciate St. John Bosco’s experimentation. The Braves closed the regular season with 11 straight wins and a Trinity League title, but were punished when the Southern Section Division 1 playoff pairings came out Friday. Orange Lutheran, second place to the Braves, was given a No. 4 seed ahead of No. 6 St. John Bosco.

The disrespect will only add to the motivation for the defending Division 1 champions. St. John Bosco finished the regular season 22-5 and 14-1 in the Trinity League.

It’s another lesson in this new era of relying on computer algorithms for playoff pairings. The people running the computers won’t release their secrets about how teams are really ranked. It’s locked up like the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Two things are certain for all computer rankings: Head-to-head matchups are really not important and league finish doesn’t matter. Those are two criteria that used to be among the most important in the days when humans put together pairings, so you can understand why old-timers are having a hard time adjusting.

“We feel good,” Rojo said.

And he should. For Southern Section Division 1 baseball, it really doesn’t matter where you are ranked. The 16 teams are so good that everyone is set to go through a gauntlet and may the best team rise to the top.

Orange Lutheran is seeded No. 4 in the Division 1 baseball playoffs.

(Nick Koza)

St. John Bosco opens the playoffs on Tuesday in pool C facing probably the best opening opponent in Crestview League champion Cypress. St. John Bosco has ace Julian Garcia ready to go, but Cypress has multiple pitchers ready to compete. Sierra Canyon is the highest seed in pool C and opens at home against Oaks Christian.

Big VIII League champion Norco received the No. 1 seed for the first 16-team pool play tournament in Division 1. There are four four-team pools with the chance to lose one game and not go home. The first- and second-place finishers in each pool will advance to the single elimination eight-team quarterfinals.

“I love the double elimination,” Rojo said. “If you have a bad day, you get to redeem yourself.”

The other eight divisions remain 32 teams and single elimination.

The Braves effectively managed pitches for Garcia all season in his return from arm surgery that forced him to miss all of 2025. He was even taken out with a no-hitter in the sixth inning against Mater Dei while sticking with 85 pitches to preserve him for the playoffs. He’s had a pitcher-of-the-year season with a 7-1 record, 0.72 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 48⅓ innings.

The big change for the 2026 playoffs for St. John Bosco from 2025 is that closer Jack Champlin will be the No. 2 starter. Sophomore Brayden Krakowski has shown he can be an effective closer. A major decision by Rojo was to shake up his batting order after the three-game losing streak. He switched Jaden Jackson and James Clark, with Jackson becoming the leadoff man and Clark batting second.

“They’re both thriving,” Rojo said.

And so is St. John Bosco, whether computer believes it or not.

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

AMIT 20, Valley Oaks CES 2

Bell 7, South East 0

Bravo 4, Lincoln 2

Hollywood 1, Mendez 0

Mendez 10, Hollywood 6

Smidt Tech 17, Camino Nuevo 1

Taft 3, Verdugo Hills 2

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Angelou 15, Jefferson 7

Animo Venice 16, Discovery 0

Birmingham 6, El Camino Real 2

Bravo 12, Franklin 2

Cleveland 17, Taft 7

Downtown Magnets d. Annenberg (forfeit)

Eagle Rock 10, Lincoln 4

Granada Hills 2, Chatsworth 1

Granada Hills Kennedy 8, Chavez 3

LA Hamilton 7, LACES 6

LA University 18, Westchester 7

Maywood CES 26, Sotomayor 7

North Hollywood 20, Van Nuys 9

Orthopaedic 6, USC-MAE 5

Santee 23, Los Angeles 12

Sylmar 6, Reseda 5

Torres d. Elizabeth, forfeit

Venice 20, Fairfax 0

Verdugo Hills 8, San Fernando 7

SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

(Game at 3:15 p.m. unless noted)

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 1

Pool A

Maranatha at Norco

Ayala at Sherman Oak Notre Dame

Pool D

Etiwanda at Corona

Corona Santiago at Orange Lutheran

Pool C

Oaks Christian at Sierra Canyon

Cypress at St. John Bosco

Pool B

Huntington Beach at Temecula Valley

La Mirada at Harvard-Westlake

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 2

Elsinore at Villa Park

Santa Margarita at Rancho Christian

Ganesha at Linfield Christian

San Clemente at South Hills

Trabuco Hills at Newport Harbor

Valley View at Great Oak

Dana Hills at Aquinas

El Segundo at Gahr

Costa Mesa at Servite

Vista Murrieta at Santa Ana Foothill

El Modena at Royal

Yucaipa at Paraclete

Newbury Park at Chaminade

Yorba Linda at Loyola

Mission View at Alemany

Alta Loma at Westlake

DIVISION 4

San Marino, bye

Walnut at Saugus

Hesperia at Rio Mesa

Claremont at La Salle

St. Anthony at Glendora

Sonora at Katella

Riverside Poly at Upland

Valencia at Anaheim Canyon

Santa Monica at Marina

Northview at La Quinta

Oxnard Pacifica at Palm Desert

Grand Terrace at San Marcos

Highland at Laguna Beach

Chino at Woodbridge

Monrovia at Castaic

La Serna at Moorpark

DIVISION 6

Ontario at California

Brentwood at Windward

Bloomington at Foothill Tech

Ramona at Canyon Springs

Granite Hills at Troy

Trinity Classical Academy at Orange

Northwood at Shadow Hills

Estancia at El Rancho

Western at Cantwell-Sacred Heart

Don Lugo at Savanna

Tustin at Covina

Alhambra at Mary Star of the Sea

Hueneme at Santa Ana Calvary Chapel

Hillcrest at Muir

Lakewood at Leuzinger

Lancaster at Crossroads

DIVISION 8

Rancho Alamitos at Los Amigos

Colton at Edgewood

Pasadena Marshall at Santa Rosa Academy

Vasquez at Chadwick

Beacon Hill at Rio Hondo Prep

Wildomar Cornerstone Christian at Compton

Indio at Rosemead

Lancaster Desert Christian at Oxford Academy

Buckley at Duarte

Santa Clarita Christian at Academy of Academic Excellence

Nuview Bridge at Burbank Providence

Bishop Diego at Nordhoff

Magnolia at Indian Springs

Banning at Artesia

Salesian at Anaheim

Hesperia Christian at Schurr

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

SECOND ROUND

DIVISION 1

Pool A Round 1 Winner vs. Pool A Round 1 Winner

Pool A Round 1 Loser vs. Pool A Round 1 Loser

Pool D Round 1 Winner vs. Pool D Round 1 Winner

Pool D Round 1 Loser vs. Pool D Round 1 Loser

Pool C Round 1 Winner vs. Pool C Round 1 Winner

Pool C Round 1 Loser vs. Pool C Round 1 Loser

Pool D Round 1 Winner vs. Pool D Round 1 Winner

Pool D Round 1 Loser vs. Pool D Round 1 Loser

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 3

Arlington at Mira Costa

Redondo Union at Ridgecrest Burroughs

Dos Pueblos at Burbank Burroughs

Edison at Damien

Orange County Pacifica Christian at Palos Verdes

Warren at West Ranch

San Dimas at Cajon

Crescenta Valley at St. Francis

Oakwood at Agoura

Garden Grove Pacifica at Chino Hills

Bishop Amat at Corona del Mar

Fullerton at San Juan Hills

Charter Oak at Beckman

South Torrance at Millikan

Summit at La Canada

Simi Valley at Arcadia

DIVISION 5

Paloma Valley at Citrus Valley

Moreno Valley at Irvine

Cathedral at Calvary Baptist

Sunny Hills at Long Beach Poly

Tahquitz at Quartz Hill

Kaiser at Oak Hills

Heritage Christian at Paramount

Loara at Santra Barbara

Montebello at Long Beach Wilson

Jurupa Hills at Santa Fe

Temescal Canyon at Arrowhead Christian

Capistrano Valley Christian at Riverside Prep

Culver City at Cerritos Valley Christian

Mayfair at St. Bonaventure

Bishop Montgomery at Cerritos

Rancho Verde at St. Bernard

DIVISION 7

Palmdale at New Roads

Carpinteria at Flintridge Prep

North Torrance at Baldwin Park

Beverly Hills at Grace

Pasadena Poly at Santa Paula

Milken at Fontana

Patriot at Viewpoint

Placentia Valencia at Victor Valley

Riverside Notre Dame at Hemet

South El Monte at Buena Park

University Prep at Golden Valley

Jurupa Valley at Campbell Hall

Arroyo at Miller

Carter at Adelanto

Nogales at Garden Grove

San Jacinto Valley at Norwalk

DIVISION 9

Redlands Adventist Academy at Dunn

Santa Monica Pacifica Christian at Lennox Academy

Downey Calvary Chapel at Crossroads Christian

Coastal Christian at St. Monica Academy

Mesa Grande at San Bernardino

San Luis Obispo Classical at Ojai Valley

Loma Linda Academy at Webb

Santa Maria Valley Christian at Yucca Valley

Lucerne Valley at Rolling Hills Prep

United Christian Academy at Ambassador Christian

Riverside Bethel Christian at Desert Hot Springs

Anza Hamilton at Westminster

Pomona at Temecula Prep

Cobalt at Environmental Charter

Garden Grove Santiago at Gorman Charter

Animo Leadership at St. Pius X-St, Matthias Academy

Note: Second Round in Divisions 2-9 May 19; Third Round in Division 1 May 19; Quarterfinals in all divisions May 22; Semifinals in all divisions May 26; Finals in all divisions May 29-30.

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL & SOFTBALL

Thursday’s Results

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

Angelou 14, Manual Arts 0

Birmingham 1, Cleveland 0

CALS Early College 12, Esperanza College Prep 2

Chatsworth 13, Taft 3

Collins Family 21, Central City Value 1

Diego Rivera 21, West Adams 0

Franklin 8, Hacienda Heights Wilson 7

Fremont 12, Dorsey 1

Garfield 7, South Gate 6

Granada Hills 6, El Camino Real 5

Harbor Teacher 17, King/Drew 3

Lakeview Charter 18, Valley Oaks CES 4

Marshall 12, Eagle Rock 0

Roosevelt 3, Legacy 0

University 5, Fairfax 1

Port of Los Angeles 14, Locke 1

RFK Community 11, Mendez 1

San Fernando 1, Sun Valley Poly 0

San Pedro 10, Narbonne 8

Sherman Oaks CES 9, Fulton 8

Sun Valley Magnet 10, Bert Corona 0

Sylmar 11, North Hollywood 1

Triumph Charter 17, Community Charter 6

Valor Academy 19, Discovery 8

Venice 4, Palisades 3

Verdugo Hills 7, Granada Hills Kennedy 2

Banning 10, Gardena 0

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Camino Nuevo 19, Alliance Ouchi 1

Carson 20, Rancho Dominguez 0

Dorsey 21, King/Drew

Hollywood 19, Roybal 4

Legacy 13, LA Roosevelt 0

Mendez 26, RFK Community 4

Northridge Academy 12, VAAS 1

Port of Los Angeles 21, Harbor Teacher 1

San Pedro 14, Narbonne 0

Triumph Charter 10, Community Charter 7

Vaughn 21, Grant 12

Wilmington Banning 22, Gardena 0

I walked around a street fair in Irvine over the weekend, checking out the crowd while waiting for my daughter’s dance team to perform. We were a few short miles from Angel Stadium, but you wouldn’t have known it: lots of people wearing Dodgers caps, someone wearing a Shohei Ohtani cap, someone else wearing an Ohtani jersey, someone else wearing a Clayton Kershaw jersey, a dog wearing a Dodgers bandana, and people repping the Padres, Giants, Athletics and Yankees.

After 25 minutes, someone walked by in an Angels cap.

If the passion wanes, apathy can set in. I wondered if that is where the Angels might find themselves now, with a slice of their fan base finding a more enjoyable way to spend its summers than watching one losing season after another, and with the shadow of baseball’s best team extending ever more securely into Orange County.

Something else happened over the weekend that made me wonder. On the heels of a winless road trip, and on the day before the Angels would claim the worst record in the major leagues, Angels general manager Perry Minasian said this to reporters: “Our best baseball is in front of us. There’s no doubt about that.”

No doubt?

Angels general manager Perry Minasian declined to predict in the team would make the playoffs this season.

(Elsa Garrison / Getty Images)

On the Angels’ broadcast the previous night, reporter Erica Weston presented play-by-play announcer Wayne Randazzo with a birthday gift: a figurine of Grogu, a character in the Star Wars family. Randazzo said he would keep Grogu in the broadcast booth, as a good luck charm for the Angels.

“We certainly could use one,” Randazzo said.

Minasian, the sixth-year general manager, has yet to deliver a team that finished better than 17 games out of first place. On Wednesday, I asked him to explain why he was so confident in saying he had “no doubt” the team’s best days were ahead.

“We’ve been very competitive,” Minasian said. “Our wins and losses aren’t where we want them to be, but we have lost a lot of one-run games, a lot of tough games.”

The Angels have lost six one-run games. So have the Yankees, the team with the best record in the American League.

The Angels’ run differential is minus-14. They are four games behind in the AL West, where the first-place Athletics have a .500 record and a minus-21 run differential. You never know.

So far, however, the Angels’ offense is all about the three true outcomes: They strike out the most of any major league team and rank among the top six in walks and home runs, but they do not rank among the top 10 in runs. Only five teams have given up more runs.

“Going to the bullpen has been a harbinger of danger for the Angels,” Randazzo told viewers. The Angels’ bullpen entered Wednesday with a 5.35 earned-run average, the highest in the AL.

Owner Arte Moreno cut payroll this year, amid the implosion of the FanDuel regional sports networks. Edwin Díaz was not walking through the bullpen door.

Angels owner Arte Moreno.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

But the Dodgers find solid bullpen arms in ways beyond buying them: Evan Phillips was cast off by the Baltimore Orioles during a 110-loss season; Alex Vesia was acquired from the Miami Marlins after putting up an 18.69 ERA in his first five major league games.

“We’ve had guys like that,” Minasian said.

He cited Brock Burke, a waiver claim who gave the Angels two solid seasons in middle relief. Minasian traded him last winter for outfielder Josh Lowe, and any general manager would trade a middle reliever for a middle-of-the-order bat. To this point, Lowe has a .198 on-base percentage and a .287 slugging percentage.

Lowe is but a data point in illustrating this primary point: Minasian’s margin for error is smaller than it otherwise would have been if Moreno had not withdrawn from the market for top-tier free agents or had approved trading Ohtani for elite prospects that would have accelerated rebuilding. Smaller, but other teams do more with less.

“We’ve got to be able to develop our own players,” Minasian said.

On the day Minasian said he had “no doubt” better days were ahead for his team, the Angels, their triple-A affiliate and their double-A affiliate all were in last place.

Analysts perennially rank the Angels’ farm system among baseball’s worst. Minasian said he’ll put his faith in four homegrown starters: José Soriano, Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz and Walbert Ureña. Their combined ERA so far: 2.99.

“When you look at good teams and sustainable winners, they build rotations, whether that’s through trades or free agency or your own,” Minasian said. “We’re doing it with our own. You can’t microwave that overnight.”

You can’t make fans wait forever for October either. Angels fans have heard enough about building a competitive team and needing patience.

They have not seen their team in a playoff game in 12 years. When are they going to see that?

Angels pitcher Walbert Ureña delivers against the New York Mets at Angel Stadium on May 1.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

“I’m not in the prediction business,” said Minasian, whose contract expires after this season. “They’re going to see a team that plays hard every day. They’re going to see young, talented players day in and day out.”

That’s fine, but when are they going to see a winning team?

“The proof will be in the pudding,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what I say. I could say all these things. At the end of the day, we’re going to go play 162 games. We’ll see where we end up and who’s done what, and we’ll go from there.”

On Wednesday, the Angels won a series for the first time since April 12. They’re 3-2 with Grogu in the broadcast booth.

The schedule gets more challenging: a trip to Toronto and Cleveland, then back to the Big A to play the Dodgers. The same distant Angel Stadium seat available on the resale market for Wednesday’s game for $5 (fees included) is available for $103 for the opener of the Dodgers series.

Orange County loves a winner. There was a long line at that Irvine street fair to collect souvenirs from one booth — the one for the Anaheim Ducks.

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

AMIT 13, East Valley 5

CALS Early College 8, Sun Valley Magnet 7

Canoga Park 5, Reseda 4

Chavez 9, Vaughn 8

Hollywood 6, RFK Community 5

Jefferson 11, Manual Arts 1

LACES 6, Westchester 1

LA Jordan 11, Maywood Academy 10

LA Roosevelt 3, Legacy 1

Marquez 9, Sotomayor 7

Northridge Academy 17, Panorama 0

South Gate 3, Garfield 2

Van Nuys 10, South East 0

Washington Prep 26, Dymally 2

WISH Academy 10, Stella 4

SOUTHERN SECTION

Adelanto 5, Barstow 2

Arroyo 3, Mountain View 2

Banning 7, Desert Mirage 5

Beverly Hills 16, Hawthorne 7

Bishop Montgomery 9, Long Beach Wilson 8

Campbell Hall 7, Village Christian 2

Canyon Springs 5, Rancho Verde 4

Century 6, Garden Grove 3

Claremont 5, Irvine University 4

Colony 5, Oak Hills 3

Corona 18, Mater Dei 3

Crean Lutheran 9, Garden Grove Pacifica 6

Crescenta Valley 13, Glendora 6

Crossroads 12, Shalhevet 2

Cypress 6, Maranatha 5

Desert Hot Springs 14, Cathedral City 3

Don Lugo 9, Tahquitz 5

El Dorado 5, Santa Ana Foothill 2

El Modena 10, Anaheim Canyon 3

El Segundo 18, South Torrance 5

Estancia 10, Rancho Alamitos 3

Etiwanda 10, Upland 2

Firebaugh 10, Rio Hondo Prep 8

Gahr 6, Aquinas 5

Ganesha 3, Riverside Prep 0

Grace 13, Nordhoff 7

Granite Hills 10, Silverado 2

Harvard-Westlake 16, Crespi 1

Hemet 10, Cornerstone Christian 0

Highland 11, Desert Christian 0

Hillcrest 15, Westminster La Quinta 8

Jurupa Valley 14, Rubidoux 0

La Canada 10, Monrovia 4

La Mirada 9, La Serna 1

Lancaster 9, Glendale 1

La Salle 14, Covina 0

Los Alamitos 5, Ocean View 0

Los Altos 12, Baldwin Park 5

Los Osos 12, Damien 9

Mayfair 8, Cerritos 7

Miller 9, Pacific 2

Milken 13, Buckley 0

Mira Costa 5, Fullerton 3

Mission Viejo 10, Dana Hills 9

Montebello 7, Flintridge Prep 3

Moorpark 4, Camarillo 2

Muir 10, Los Amigos 0

Murrieta Valley 8, Paloma Valley 7

Nogales 2, South El Monte 1

Norwalk 2, St. Paul 0

NSLA 13, Packinghouse Christian 11

Ojai Valley 8, Hillcrest Christian 6

Orange County Pacifica Christian 4, Temescal Canyon 0

Pasadena 6, South Pasadena 3

Pasadena Poly 13, Hoover 5

Patriot 4, Norte Vista 2

Ramona 9, La Sierra 4

Rancho Cucamonga 5, Chino Hills 3

Redlands East Valley 2, Arrowhead Christian 1

Rosemead 10, Pasadena Marshall 9

Royal 15, Oak Park 1

San Bernardino 15, Entrepreneur 0

San Marino 10, Temple City 5

Santa Barbara 6, San Luis Obispo 3

Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 8, de Toledo 7

Savanna 4, Sage Hill 1

Schurr 9, Diamond Bar 8

Shadow Hills 8, Palm Springs 0

Sonora 6, Esperanza 2

St. Monica Academy 10, PACS 2

Temecula Valley 4, Linfield Christian 0

Torrance 10, Arcadia 1

Trabuco Hills 11, Segerstrom 3

Viewpoint 15, Xavier Prep 0

Villa Park 11, La Habra 4

Warren 3, Fountain Valley 0

Webb 16, Southlands Christian 5

Windward 8, Rolling Hills Prep 0

Woodbridge 4, Beckman 3

Woodcrest Christian 13, Loma Linda Academy 1

Yorba Linda 4, Sunny Hills 0

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Animo Bunche 14, Downtown Magnets 9

Animo Venice 18, AHSA 0

Bell 6, South East 2

Bravo 9, LA Marshall 2

Central City Value 22, Orthopaedic 5

Chatsworth 13, Cleveland 2

Discovery 37, Valley Oaks CES 35

Dymally 12, Washington Prep 7

Eagle Rock 14, LA Wilson 0

El Camino Real 15, Taft 0

Garfield 12, South Gate 2

Granada Hills 4, Birmingham 2

Granada Hills Kennedy 7, Arleta 3

LA Jordan 15, Hawkins 4

LA University 9, LACES 5

Lincoln 10, Franklin 0

Marquez 25, Maywood CES 1

Middle College 19, Animo Watts 3

Palisades 18, Fairfax 5

Reseda 28, Canoga Park 7

San Fernando 7, Chavez 2

Santee 11, Angelou 10

Sylmar 10, North Hollywood 7

Torres 21, Sotomayor 7

Van Nuys 23, Monroe 1

Venice 15, LA Hamilton 1

Verdugo Hills 11, Sun valley Poly 7

SOUTHERN SECTION

ACE 5, Hesperia Christian 4

Adelanto 11, Barstow 6

Anza Hamilton 21, California Lutheran 2

Apple valley 12, University Prep 2

Aquinas 2, Oak Hills 2

Arroyo 14, Mountain View 7

Bethel Christian 8, Calvary Baptist 4

Brentwood 12, Crossroads 2

California 11, Whittier 1

Cathedral City 11, Windward 0

Century 10, Glenn 7

Chino Hills 4, Rancho Cucamonga 0

Downey Calvary Chapel 14, Samueli Academy 4

El Monte 9, Gabrielino 2

Etiwanda 13, Upland 4

Garden Grove Santiago 12, Santa Ana Valley 0

Granite Hills 15, Silverado 2

Hart 8, Burbank Burroughs 6

Irvine 6, Rosary 5

Jurupa Valley 14, Rubidoux 0

La Habra 3, St. Paul 1

Lawndale 39, Animo City of Champions 21

Los Alamitos 3, Riverside Prep 0

Maranatha 17, Heritage Christian 6

Miller 21, Pacific 4

Millikan 4, Fullerton 3

Monrovia 11, La Canada 10

Orange Vista 12, Liberty 6

Patriot 11, Norte Vista 0

Placentia Valencia 8, Anaheim 6

Riverside Poly 9, Ayala 4

Rosemead 22, Pasadena Marshall 2

San Bernardino 1

Santa Ana Foothill 9, Capistrano Valley 0

Santa Fe 14, El Rancho 4

Santa Rosa Academy 24, San Jacinto Valley Academy 2

Saugus 11, Valencia 1

Schurr 6, Long Beach Wilson 1

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Chaminade 2

South Pasadena 21, Blair 0

Temple City 17, San Marino 13

Villa Park 6, Garden Grove 3

West Ranch 6, Vasquez 0

INTERSECTIONAL

SOCES 10, Golden Valley 3

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL, SOFTBALL SCORES
Tuesday’s Results

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION
El Camino Real 1, Granada Hills 0
Rise Kohyang 16, CNDLC 15
San Fernando 6, Granada Hills Kennedy 2
Santee 10, LA Jordan 4
University Prep Value 5, Smidt Tech 4

SOUTHERN SECTION
AAE 4, University Prep 3
Anaheim 7, Placentia Valencia 6
Arlington 3, Bishop Amat 2
Artesia 8, Garden Grove Santiago 1
Ayala 8, Mira Costa 3
Bethel Christian 18, Packinghouse Christian 1
Bishop Montgomery 3, Redondo Union 2
Bloomington 10, Arroyo Valley 0
Brentwood 10, Shalhevet 0
Buena Park 3, Segerstrom 2
California 7, Whittier Christian 6
Calvary Baptist 27, Crossroads Christian 0
Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary 6, Alhambra 4
Carter 5, Eisenhower 4
Chaminade 1, St. Francis 0
Charter Oak 8, West Covina 7
Chino 6, Montclair 5
Chino Hills 5, Rancho Cucamonga 2
Citrus Valley 2, Arrowhead Christian 1
Coastal Christian 5, Valley Christian Academy 3
Compton 14, Dominguez 3
Compton Centennial 5, St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 3
Covina 7, Hacienda Heights Wilson 0
Don Lugo 12, Diamond Ranch 1
Eastvale Roosevelt 7, Apple Valley 2
Elsinore 8, San Jacinto 0
El Modena 4, Anaheim Canyon 1
Estancia 15, Bolsa Grande 4
Etiwanda 3, Upland 1
Fontana 10, Rim of the World 3
Garden Grove 6, Santa Ana 0
Glenn 11, San Gabriel 0
Grand Terrace 4, Kaiser 0
Hesperia Christian 15, Excelsior Charter 14
Huntington Beach 3, Gahr 2
Indio 6, Coachella Valley 5
Katella 4, Fullerton 1
Laguna Hills 8, Ocean View 6
Lakeside 9, Indian Springs 5
La Serna 3, Laguna Beach 2
Lennox Academy 10, HMSA 9
Loara 5, Heritage Christian 4
Long Beach Cabrillo 5, Long Beach Jordan 1
Long Beach Wilson 6, Long Beach Poly 3
Los Osos 5, Damien 0
Maranatha 9, Valencia 3
Mary Star of the Sea 10, Glendale 4
Millikan 8, Lakewood 0
Mission Viejo 4, Aliso Niguel 1
Newbury Park 6, Oxnard 4
Ontario 4, Chaffey 1
Orange 2, Irvine 1
Orange County Pacifica Christian 3, Costa Mesa 1
Orange Lutheran 6, Mater Dei 5
Oxnard Pacifica 6, Channel Islands 1
Rowland 8, Northview 5
Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 2, Tustin 0
Santa Fe 9, La Salle 3
Santa Monica 6, St. Monica 4
Servite 1, Cypress 0
Shadow Hills 2, Xavier Prep 1
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 7, Loyola 1
Sierra Canyon 6, Alemany 5
Silver Valley 3, Lucerne Valley 2
Southlands Christian 9, Avalon 2
St. Anthony 6, Paramount 1
Summit 7, Hesperia 0
Tahquitz 10, Colton 1
Temescal Canyon 3, West Valley 2
Thacher 13, Dunn 7
Trabuco Hills 6, Capistrano Valley Christian 2
Trinity Classical Academy 3, Desert Christian 0
Troy 4, South Pasadena 3
United Christian Academy 14, Anza Hamilton 8
Vasquez 12, Faith Baptist 0
Webb 9, Fairmont Prep 3
Western 8, Whitney 3
Westminster 8, Godinez 2
Whittier 8, Los Amigos 1
Woodcrest Christian 16, Los Altos 1
Yucaipa 10, La Quinta 2

INTERSECTIONAL
Cathedral 14, Sotomayor 3
CIMSA 10, Public Safety Academy 0
SLOCA 19, Shandon 2

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION
Animo Robinson d. AHSA, forfeit
Smidt Tech 17, Alliance Bloomfield 7

SOUTHERN SECTION
Alhambra 26, San Gabriel 5
Alta Loma 5, South Hills 4
Anaheim Canyon 4, Cypress 0
Arlington 7, Orange Vista 4
Arroyo 23, Garey 3
Beaumont 2, Redlands East Valley 0
Bell Gardens 7, Mark Keppel 4
Brea Olinda 7, Sonora 5
Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary 5
Carter 12, Grand Terrace 3
Castaic 14, Canyon Country Canyon 8
Cerritos 9, Artesia 0
Chaffey 16, Ontario 3
Charter Oak 10, West Covina 0
Chino 11, Montclair 4
Citrus Valley 8, Cajon 7
Colton 11, Summit 7
Compton 13, Long Beach Jordan 11
Compton Early College 21, Compton Centennial 6
Costa Mesa 23, Godinez 11
Covina 10, Hacienda Heights Wilson 3
Crean Lutheran 17, Esperanza 7
Don Lugo 11, Diamond Ranch 1
Elsinore 13, West Valley 0
El Toro 11, Beckman 0
Firebaugh 17, Bellflower 16
Fontana 15, Rim of the World 5
Foothill Tech 15, Carpinteria 0
Fountain Valley 19, Corona del Mar 6
Fullerton 9, Segerstrom 1
Garden Grove Pacifica 12, El Modena 7
Gahr 9, La Mirada 7
Gardena Serra 14, St. Bernard 6
Hart 16, West Ranch 0
HMSA 13, Environmental Charter 3
Huntington Beach 20, Newport Harbor 0
Indio 25, Coachella Valley 0
Lakewood 8, Long Beach Wilson 6
La Salle 12, St. Monica 1
Los Alamitos 2, Marina 1
Los Altos 7, Colony 3
Lynwood 24, Dominguez 10
Mater Dei 9, JSerra 5
Millikan 22, Long Beach Cabrillo 0
Mission Viejo 8, Capistrano Valley 2
Moorpark 3, Simi Valley 1
Murrieta Valley 7, Great Oak 6
Northview 10, Rowland 0
Oak Park 10, Grace 3
Oaks Christian 20, Calabasas 0
Orange Lutheran 3, Santa Margarita 0
Paraclete 16, Lakewood St. Joseph 15
Paramount 12, Norwalk 4
Pasadena Poly 30, Westridge 17
Ramona Convent 12, Mary Star of the Sea 2
Rancho Mirage 19, Palm Desert 18
Rialto 9, Jurupa Hills 3
Riverside King 9, Ramona 1
Riverside Notre Dame 4, Bloomington 3
Royal 13, Camarillo 12
San Clemente 14, Tesoro 2
San Gorgonio 15, Arroyo Valley 10
San Jacinto 17, Tahquitz 6
Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 8, Ocean View 5
Schurr 19, Montebello 2
Silver Valley 20, Lucerne Valley 9
St. Anthony 7, Bishop Conaty-Loretto 1
St. Paul 12, Bishop Amat 8
Sunny Hills 19, Troy 1
Thousand Oaks 4, Agoura 3
Torrance 2, South Torrance 0
Tustin 3, Laguna Hills 2
United Christian Academy 13, La Sierra Academy 0
University Prep 15, Victor Valley 5
Valencia 19, Golden Valley 0
Valley Christian 13, Maranatha 0
Vasquez 11, Santa Clarita Christian 1
Ventura 13, Santa Clara 2
Viewpoint 5, Burbank Providence 1
Warren 2, Downey 1
Westlake 9, Newbury Park 3
Whittier Christian 10, Heritage Christian 0
Yorba Linda 3, Villa Park 1
Yucaipa 23, Redlands 0

Chris Clarke had gone the traditional route, pitching for three years at USC after starring at Newbury Park High, then toiling for six more seasons in the Chicago Cubs’ minor league system after being a fourth-round draft pick in 2019.

But his big-league dream abruptly became a wake-up call last August when the Cubs released him a week before his wife gave birth to their first child. No more paychecks. No more health insurance.

So imagine how jarring it was for Clarke to take the mound in front of a record 102,000 fans in the Texas A&M football stadium Saturday, which had been converted to accommodate (sorry Dodgers) the most popular team in baseball: the Savannah Bananas.

“It was surreal,” Clarke said. “In fact, it was so incredible, I didn’t feel anything. My body went numb. There was a moment in the third inning when everybody was screaming. I couldn’t hear myself talk.”

It was the most people ever crammed into Kyle Field, the nation’s fourth-largest college stadium, trailing only Michigan (107,601), Oregon (106,572) and Ohio State (102,780).

Clarke pitched for the opposing team, the Texas Tailgaters, one of five squads created by Bananas founders Jesse and Emily Cole that serve as touring partners to face the yellow-clad star attraction. All six teams practice at a complex in Savannah, Ga.

The game in College Station attracted the largest crowd in the Bananas’ six-year history, and Clarke shined, striking out five in four innings. He also entertained, as all players in the Banana Ball Championship League are cheerfully required to do.

“The amount of joy it brings to fans and even people online, it’s really something,” Clarke said. “There definitely is a winner and a loser — which holds some weight — but for the most part, fans are there because it’s a really good show.”

Clarke, a 6-foot-7 right-hander, was the third overall pick in the inaugural Banana Ball draft held in November. Tailgater coaches contacted him beforehand to gauge his interest and he told them, “Pick me.”

March 2019 photo of former USC pitcher Chris Clarke during the 2019 Dodger Stadium Classic.

(John McGillen/USC Athletics)

That level of bold fits right in. Banana Ball is fast-paced, hilarious and maximizes fan engagement. It features innovative rules: Fouls caught by fans count as outs, for example, and batters who walk get to run the bases until all nine defensive players have touched the ball. Choreographed dances, acrobatic tricks, a pitcher on stilts and other antics keep the entertainment flowing.

“I like to think of every game as a stepping stone to the next show,” Clarke said. “Whether it goes well or is terrible, we will make it better for next time. Banana Ball is a relaxed culture, so when it comes to the entertainment stuff, there is no fear of failure. We are seeing what works and what doesn’t.”

Guest stars are frequent and on Saturday, the Bananas sent Texas-grown YouTube sensation Tyler Toney, a member of the sports comedy troupe Dude Perfect, to the plate as a pinch-hitter. Clarke struck him out on four pitches: a called strike, a swinging strike, a ball Clarke purposely launched high into the stands for laughs, then strike three swinging on a cut fastball.

It was a rare humbling moment for Toney, who, with fellow Dude Perfect members Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert, and twins Cory and Coby Cotton, generates more than $20 million annually from YouTube, merchandise and tours.

Clarke had watched Dude Perfect videos religiously when he was at USC and was starstruck to meet them in person.

“Dude Perfect is the reason I failed econ twice,” he said. “I watched every single Dude Perfect video. To meet them and shake their hands was fun. It was the only moment in my life where I was a fanboy.”

He’s also a breadwinner again for his family. The burgeoning popularity of Banana Ball has made the gig more lucrative than playing in the minor leagues.

“I’m making five times as much and playing half the time,” Clarke said. “My contract is also for 12 months of the year. In affiliated baseball, it’s only six months. So, there’s that. I’ve never met anyone in baseball who has had the luxury to spend time with a newborn child. To come to Banana Ball and actually feel like there is respect, a culture and guidelines, that was something I hadn’t experienced.”

It is also giving him notoriety. Twenty-five Banana Ball games this year are being streamed on the ESPN app and Disney+, with select games airing across ESPN networks and ABC. The first Bananas broadcast on ABC will take place at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., June 27 and 28. The games have been sold out since October.

Highlights from Saturday’s game flooded social media and traditional outlets alike. Family friends and former teammates reached out to Clarke. What was it like pitching in front of 100,000 people? Are you improving your dance moves?

“The entertainment side of it takes pressure off performance,” he said. “Performing well is still very much there, but there is a level of relaxation that makes it easier.”

Clarke admits he thinks back to USC and the 2019 season, when he posted a stellar earned-run average of 1.03. He also occasionally misses the heightened competition and quest to make the major leagues of affiliated baseball.

He pitched two seasons in triple A and is only 27. Would he leave Banana Ball next year if an MLB team offered him an invite to spring training?

“I’m not in a situation to close any doors,” he said. “That’s the mindset that got me here. I wanted to investigate Banana Ball and I told them I’d give them a full year for us both to evaluate it. Either way, I think it’s a win. Just comes down to what’s best for my family.”

Meanwhile, more games in packed stadiums await. In addition to a handful in football stadiums against the Bananas, the Tailgaters will play three games a week against other Banana Ball League teams throughout the summer, mostly in minor league baseball stadiums from Tulsa, Okla., to El Paso, Texas, to Nashville, Tenn., to Charlotte, N.C.

Exponentially larger crowds than those venues are accustomed to are a given.

The ninth in an occasional series of profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.

When the Dodgers drafted David Lesch in January 1980, they had visions of his fastball lighting up radar guns at Dodger Stadium.

He never made it that far.

Lesch never climbed above the lowest rung on the minor league ladder, where he pitched just 10 innings and gave up more runs, hits and walks than he got outs. Less than 18 months after he was drafted, Lesch, wracked by a rotator cuff injury, was released, his major league dream over before he was old enough to legally buy a beer.

“I went to Disney World after that,” he said.

But that wasn’t the only decision the Dodgers made that changed Lesch’s life. When he was drafted, the team gave him just a small bonus, but sweetened the deal by offering to pay for college if he ever went back to school. For the team, it seemed a safe bet.

“They probably have this algorithm saying ‘this is the No. 1 draft pick. If he doesn’t make it, he’s not going back to college. He’ll be assistant baseball coach of his high school or something,’” Lesch said.

Oops.

Lesch not only went back to college, but he also wound up getting three degrees, including a master’s and a PhD from Harvard. It was arguably the most important investment in humanity the Dodgers made since signing Jackie Robinson, because Lesch went on to become one of the world’s top experts on the Middle East, writing 18 books and more than 140 other publications while advising four presidents and a cadre of United Nations diplomats.

David Lesch interacts with students in his history class at Trinity University in San Antonio.

(Lucero Salinas / Trinity University)

“That was the best deal,” Lesch, 65, said by phone from San Antonio, where he is the Ewing Halsell Distinguished Professor of History at Trinity University.

“Without that I probably could not have said yes to Harvard because of the price. The Dodgers committed to paying.”

And by doing so, the Dodgers may have altered history just a bit.

Lesch’s regular meetings with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, which ended with Lesch facilitating an important if temporary breakthrough in U.S.-Syrian relations? The diplomatic and conflict-resolution work in Syria and the wider U.N. initiatives on regional issues throughout the Middle East? The thousands of students Lesch inspired to go on to perform important diplomatic and public-service roles of their own?

None of that happens if Lesch’s shoulder had held on or if the Dodgers had reneged on their deal.

“It was very fortunate that he hurt his rotator cuff. Baseball’s loss is academia’s gain,” said Robert Freedman, a scholar and expert on Russian and Middle Eastern politics who taught Lesch at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

“I’ve been teaching for, I guess, 60 years now and I can tell when a student can see a complex problem and can penetrate right to the heart of the problem very quickly. He was one of those students.”

Still, it took a slightly offhand comment from Freedman, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins, to launch Lesch on his post-baseball career.

“We were having lunch and he was looking for a project and I mentioned to him ‘you know, there hasn’t been a good American scholar doing work on Syria for many, many years,’” he said.

“That struck his interest.”

Playing a child’s game and managing life-and-death Middle East politics share very little in common. But Lesch made the transition seamlessly.

“It is like he’s several different people, or has been,” said journalist and author Catherine Nixon Cooke, whose book “Dodgers to Damascus: David Lesch’s Journey from Baseball to the Middle East” traces those parallel lives.

“I’m wondering if, in a sense, it all worked out the way it was supposed to,” Cooke continued. “Even though his dream was to be a major leaguer, David certainly has reinvented himself to this really remarkable man following a completely different path.

“It was the Dodgers who paid for him to go to Harvard and so it’s kind of a weird thing. Baseball took away his dream because he got hurt, but baseball also gave him his backup plan.”

Lesch was still a teenager when, 20 minutes into his first spring training camp in Vero Beach, Fla., Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda plucked him off a minor league practice field to pitch batting practice in the main stadium.

Waiting for him were Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Reggie Smith, the heart of a lineup that would win a World Series a season later.

It was the first time — and nearly the last — that Lesch faced big-league hitters. And it didn’t start well.

Batting practice pitchers throw from behind an L-shaped screen that protects them from comebackers and Lesch had never used one. That, combined with his understandable nervousness, caused him to short-arm his first fastball, which sailed at Cey’s head, sending him sprawling into the dirt.

“He got up and gave me this mean look,” Lesch said. “I remember it so vividly right now. I really thought I was going to be released that day.”

Instead, he gathered himself and finished the session, earning pats on the back from both Garvey and Lasorda. The incident, he said, has colored the rest of his life.

“I’ve met with presidents, prime ministers, been in war zones, all sorts of things,” Lesch said. “Anytime I say ‘well, you know, this should make me nervous,’ I think about that episode and the fact that I made it through and did OK.”

In high school, Lesch had focused on basketball and baseball. Academics? Not so much. So after spending his freshman year of college at Western Maryland College, he transferred to Central Arizona, a junior college, so he would be eligible for the January 1980 draft, allowing him to trade his books in for a baseball.

The so-called secondary draft, which was discontinued six years later, was specifically targeted toward winter high school graduates, junior college players, college dropouts and amateurs who had been previously drafted but did not sign. As a result, the bonuses teams offered winter draft picks were just a fraction of what players taken in the June draft received.

Lesch’s was so low, he can’t even remember what it was.

“I want to say $10,000 to $15,000,” he said. “No more than $20,000.”

When it became clear the Dodgers weren’t going to budge on the money, Lesch’s father, Warren, a family physician in suburban Baltimore, pulled out the Harford County phone book and looked up the number for Baltimore Orioles coach Cal Ripken Sr. Lesch played high school ball against Ripken’s son Cal Jr., who had been a second-round draft pick of the Orioles two years earlier. So his father thought the Ripkens might have some advice on what to ask of the Dodgers.

David Lesch, a former Dodgers draft pick, stands on the baseball diamond at Trinity University in San Antonio.

(Lucero Salinas / Trinity University)

“Ripken goes ‘does your son like school and is he smart?’” Lesch’s older brother Bob remembers. “So Ripken suggested if they offer you XYZ bonus money, take less and say ‘I’ll take this amount, but you have to cover education if he doesn’t make it.’”

Neither side thought that clause would ever be triggered; Lesch, a big, intimidating right-hander who threw bullets from behind Coke-bottle eyeglasses, wasn’t headed to a classroom, he was going to Dodger Stadium.

Until he wasn’t.

Lesch missed a couple of weeks with a back injury. By overcompensating for the sore back, he developed paralysis in the ulnar nerve in his right arm, limiting him to five appearances in his first minor league season.

He arrived healthy for his second spring in Vero Beach and threw three no-hit innings in his first outing against double-A and triple-A players, creating such a buzz that Ron Perranoski, the Dodgers’ major league pitching coach, showed up to watch his second game. By then the shoulder and back stiffness that shortened his first season had returned, and Lesch was rocked. Perranoski left early and unimpressed.

Lesch’s delivery had one major flaw: He threw directly overhand, as opposed to three-quarters or even sidearm, which can increase velocity but also places additional strain on the shoulder and elbow. As a result, his fastball could top out in the mid-90s one day, but when the stiffness and pain returned, it left him throwing in the low 80s.

The inconsistency continued to plague Lesch, and eventually the Dodgers decided they’d seen enough and released him. When he got back to Maryland, Lesch’s father sent him to see an orthopedic surgeon, who found the problem wasn’t in his back or elbow but rather the rotator cuff.

“We didn’t live in the era of pitch counts. So he just pitched,” said David Souter, a high school and college teammate who went on to develop big-league pitchers.

“He had the ability if he was developed and stayed healthy. I think he probably overthrew and tore his rotator cuff and nobody knew it.”

If Lesch had come along 10 years later, when rotator cuff surgeries were common, he might have returned to the mound. But in 1981, a rotator cuff injury was a death sentence for a pitcher.

“It’s just a crapshoot based on physiology,” Lesch said. “I probably was destined. Something would have happened.”

If he could do it over again, Lesch said he would change one thing.

“I’d throw sidearm,” he said. “It’s much less stress.”

He threw to big league hitters just one more time. Following the strike that interrupted the 1981 season, Ripken Sr. phoned Lesch back and asked him to throw batting practice at Memorial Stadium to help the Orioles prepare for the resumption of play. As a reward, the Orioles let Lesch hit — he never had batted in the minors — and he drove a pitch over the left-field wall, then dropped the bat and walked away.

He never stepped on a major league field again.

The Dodgers’ investment in Lesch’s education appeared manageable when he enrolled at a satellite campus of the University of Maryland, in part because his brother Bob was the school’s sports information director.

But it was 1981 and the Middle East was at the forefront of geopolitics. Lesch became convinced the Middle East would be central to world affairs for decades to come. Inspired and encouraged by Freedman and another professor, Lou Cantori, he applied to graduate school at Harvard, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and the University of Chicago, knowing he couldn’t afford any of those schools on his own.

“I probably could not have said yes to Harvard when they accepted me because of the price,” Lesch said. “The Dodgers had committed to paying and whatever it was, it was a lot more collectively — my undergraduate MA and PhD — than I had gotten in the bonus.”

That wasn’t the only time his baseball background worked in his favor. Years after starting at Harvard, Lesch stumbled upon written evaluations of his application and learned that his grade-point average and other factors were similar to those of other applicants, but it was his athletic career that had swung enough votes in his favor to get him accepted.

“Failure is at the core of sports. And so you have to have this resiliency,” Lesch said. “What a lot of the top colleges have found is that these young kids out of high school who somehow get a 4.6 GPA, they come in — and I’ve seen this as a professor — they get their first C and they’re distraught.

“Athletes stick with it. They say ‘how can I turn this around? How can I get better?’ Admissions departments across the board have looked at athletes much differently.”

The struggles Lesch experienced on the diamond did not follow him into academia. Yet becoming an expert on the Middle East definitely was a backup plan.

“His first passion was clearly baseball and basketball,” said Souter, the former teammate. “Every kid dreamed … that.”

If the shoulder injury wasn’t a strong enough sign that that dream was over, the fire that destroyed Lesch’s childhood home a few years later was. The flames, which severely burned both his parents, also erased his baseball career, consuming all the photos and memorabilia he had collected, save for the championship ring from his one minor league season, which he found buried in the embers. It was the only thing to survive the blaze intact.

David Lesch’s championship ring from his one minor league season, the only surviving keepsake of his professional career after a his family’s home was destroyed in a fire.

(Courtesy of David Lesch)

A post-graduate trip to Syria, the first of more than 30 visits he has made to the country, sealed the deal a few years later. The love he once had for baseball he now felt for a strange and mysterious place that was as old as history itself yet as secretive as the classical ciphers.

Soon Lesch was helping arrange high-level meetings between Syrian president Hafez al-Assad and President George H.W. Bush, a baseball fan who seemed as interested in Lesch’s Dodgers days as his Middle Eastern expertise. But his big break came during the first presidential term of Bush’s son George W. Bush, when Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father as Syria’s president, welcomed Lesch for the first of many interviews that informed his book, “The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Assad and Modern Syria.”

“His forte is listening,” Cooke, the biographer, said of Lesch, whose polite, unassuming manner reflects an adult life spent mostly in San Antonio. “When he goes in to try to mediate something, he is a big listener. There is a side of David that doesn’t talk much. But he’s listening.”

The book humanized al-Assad and opened, for a time, the possibility of normalized relations between Syria and the West, with Lesch serving as an unofficial liaison between Damascus and Washington, as well as other Western capitals.

“He’s absolutely a critical player in what we would call two-track diplomacy,” Freedman said. “If the government wants to reach out but doesn’t want to take the political consequences, they send somebody to sound out the situation.

“It’s absolutely critical that we have people like that who can speak the language and understand the overall context, which sadly is lacking in the current administration.”

David Lesch teaches students in his history class at Trinity University in San Antonio.

(Lucero Salinas / Trinity University)

But that opening closed as quickly as it opened. Lesch’s close contacts with al-Assad raised suspicions among some in Syria, and Lesch was poisoned twice. His relationship with al-Assad was severed completely shortly afterward when he criticized al-Assad for failing to implement promised reforms and becoming a “bloodthirsty tyrant.” The Syrian civil war took nearly 700,000 lives and displace another 6.7 million people before al-Assad and his family fled into exile in Russia in 2024.

“Many governments think that they can reduce war to a calculation,” Lesch said. “What we cannot measure accurately or fully appreciate is the human element. We cannot assess a people’s sense of grievance, passion, revenge, ideological commitment and historical circumstances that shaped the nature of their response and staying power.

“This is where academics can make a contribution to policy, giving it the depth and insight gleaned from years of study and learning the culture and the people.”

Baseball’s loss wasn’t just academia’s gain. It may prove to be humanity’s as well.

“I don’t really have any regrets,” Lesch said. “My career turned out great. I could not think of doing anything else at this point and, in fact, in a way I’m glad [baseball] didn’t work out.”

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

AMIT 11, Reseda 1

Carson 10, Rancho Dominguez 0

Crenshaw 4, Dymally 16

Diego Rivera 15, West Adams 2

Downtown Magnets 23, Central City Value 3

LACES 19, Westchester 0

LA Marshall 11, Eagle Rock 1

LA University 8, Fairfax 7

LA Wilson 11, Franklin 7

Lincoln 8, Bravo 5

Marquez 19, Maywood Academy 2

Maywood CES 7, Sotomayor 6

Narbonne 5, San Pedro 1

Palisades 4, Venice 2

Port of LA 4, Fremont 1

San Fernando 2, Sun Valley Poly 0

Stella 20, Animo Venice 10

Sun Valley Magnet 16, Discovery 2

Sylmar 12, North Hollywood 0

Taft 3, Chatsworth 1

Torres 12, Elizabeth 2

Triumph Charter 13, Valley Oaks CES 3

Van Nuys 14, Grant 4

Vaughn 6, Chavez 2

Verdugo Hills 15, Granada Hills Kennedy 8

Wilmington Banning 6, Gardena 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Arroyo 8, Rosemead 5

Banning 12, Desert Mirage 8

Beverly Hills 13, Hawthorne Math & Science 2

Calabasas 9, Highland 4

California 3, Norwalk 2

California Lutheran 8, Norton Science 5

Calvary Baptist 21, United Christian Academy 0

Canyon Springs 8, Vista del Lago 0

Cate 9, Ojai Valley 8

Chadwick 7, Pasadena Poly 6

Chaminade 1, St. Francis 0

Chino Hills 5, Rancho Cucamonga 0

Cobalt Institute 10, Hesperia Christian 9

Costa Mesa 16, Irvine University 3

Crean Lutheran 5, Garden Grove Pacifica 0

Crossroads 1, Santa Monica 0

Damien 4, Los Osos 3

Desert Hot Springs 25, Cathedral City 7

Edgewood 12, La Puente 2

Flintridge Prep 11, Rio Hondo Prep 2

Ganesha 18, Pomona 0

Garden Grove 4, Xavier Prep 3

Grace 17, Canoga Park 2

Hawthorne 4, Lawndale 3

Hoover 12, Santa Clarita Christian 6

Jurupa Valley 11, Rubidoux 0

La Canada 9, Monrovia 2

Mark Keppel 12, Glendale 2

Miller 14, Pacific 4

Milken Community 6, Buckley 0

Moorpark 5, Camarillo 2

Moreno Valley 8, Liberty 2

Orange Lutheran 3, Mater Dei 0

Oxnard 22, Santa Paula 4

Palm Springs 7, Indian Springs 5

Paloma Valley 2, Arlington 1

Paraclete 13, Saugus 6

Patriot 14, Norte Vista 2

Riverside North 8, Hemet 7

Riverside Poly 12, Heritage 7

San Bernardino 11, Entrepreneur 1

San Marino 13, Temple City 6

Santa Ana Foothill 3, El Dorado 2

Santa Barbara 3, Santa Ynez 2

Shalhevet 2, Environmental Charter 1

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6, Loyola 4

Sonora 11, Esperanza 2

South El Monte 11, El Monte 0

South Hills 4, Crescenta Valley 3

Temecula Prep 13, California Military 0

Trinity Classical 14, Desert Christian 4

Troy 3, Western Christian 2

Valley View 9, Lakeside 0

Vasquez 10, Faith Baptist 0

Villa Park 7, La Habra 3

Warren 2, Paramount 0

Western 6, Saddleback 2

Whitney 7, San Gabriel 4

Woodbridge 9, Capistrano Valley Christian 8

Workman 8, Bassett 7

Yorba Linda 7, Sunny Hills 2

Yucca Valley 7, Twentynine Palms 5

INTERSECTIONAL

Grace 18, Canoga Park 2

Inglewood 20, Alliance Ouchi 5

Viewpoint 7, Fulton 0

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Harbor Teacher 15, Fremont 4

SOUTHERN SECTION

Adelanto 8, Barstow 7

Alemany 16, Marymount 3

Anaheim 21, Los Amigos 6

Aquinas 5, Riverside Prep 4

Arroyo 16, Rosemead 1

Arroyo Grande 10, Coastal Christian 0

Beckman 14, Placentia Valencia 0

Big Bear 16, CIMSA 4

Bishop Montgomery 17, Alliance Bloomfield 0

Bolsa Grande 22, Saddleback 10

California 12, Whittier 4

Canyon Springs 4, Rancho Verde 2

Chaminade 9, Birmingham 2

Charter Oak 10, Covina 0

Corona Santiago 11, Corona Centennial 5

Culver City 23, Lawndale 3

Duarte 18, Azusa 5

Edgewood 16, La Puente 1

El Segundo 6, Cerritos Valley Christian 5

Faith Baptist 19, PACS 0

Fillmore 8, Vasquez 6

Flintridge Prep 9, Mayfield 2

Flintridge Sacred Heart 25, Immaculate Heart 0

Gabrielino 18, Pasadena Marshall 8

Ganesha 30, Pomona 1

Garey 11, Nogales 0

Glendale 17, Oakwood 5

Great Oak 4, Murrieta Valley 1

Hawthorne 20, Beverly Hills 0

Heritage 23, Vista del Lago 13

Hillcrest 11, Moreno Valley 1

Jurupa Valley 13, Rubidoux 1

Lakeside 20, Perris 6

La Serna 11, Cerritos 0

Lennox Academy 25, Inglewood 12

Liberty 14, Valley View 4

Linfield Christian 16, Arrowhead Christian 3

Loma Linda Academy 16, Calvary Baptist 14

Los Altos 3, South Hills 1

Miller 26, Pacific 7

Monrovia 8, San Marino 4

Norco 12, Corona 1

North Torrance 3, West Torrance 1

Northview 11, Hacienda Heights Wilson 5

Orange 12, Century 2

Oxnard 2, Ventura 1

Paloma Valley 4, Hemet 0

Palos Verdes 18, Peninsula 0

Patriot 21, Norte Vista 0

Providence 16, Pasadena 2

Quartz Hill 4, Highland 1

Rancho Christian 9, Citrus Hill 8

Rancho Cucamonga 9, Etiwanda 8

Redondo Union 11, Mira Costa 4

Rio Mesa 10, Dos Pueblos 2

Riverside King 12, Eastvale Roosevelt 1

Riverside Poly 8, Riverside North 1

Samueli Academy 18, Webb 4

San Bernardino 15, Entrepreneur 0

Santa Ana Foothill 7, Crean Lutheran 0

Santa Fe 8, El Rancho 5

Savanna 14, Rancho Alamitos 8

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 9, Harvard-Westlake 5

Sierra Canyon 8, Louisville 0

Silverado 11, Granite Hils 4

South El Monte 5, El Monte 1

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 20, Animo City of Champions 0

Temecula Prep 12, Xavier Prep 3

Temple City 3, South Pasadena 1

Upland 13, Los Osos 0

USC-MAE 22, St. Mary’s Academy 13

Western Christian 18, Hesperia Christian 4

Westminster La Quinta 25, Magnolia 5

Wiseburn-Da Vinci 5. St. Monica 4

Woodbridge 3, Rosary 1

Yucca Valley 16, Twentynine Palms 4

INTERSECTIONAL

Granada Hills Kennedy 9, Valencia 8

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. One week to go in the high school baseball regular season. Birmingham made a big move in the City Section.

Birmingham rises

Sophomore catcher Jordan Lindsay is all smiles for Birmingham after RBI double in the fourth inning.

(Craig Weston)

Two sophomores, pitcher Carlos Acuna and catcher Jordan Lindsay, rose up last week to push Birmingham to within one win of clinching the West Valley League baseball championship and earning a rare No. 1 seed for the City Section Open Division playoffs.

Birmingham was able to sweep El Camino Real. In the first game, the hitters started going to right field and knocked off the Royals 10-2. In the second game, the hitters came through again in a 9-1 victory.

Acuna is set to start on the mound Monday against Cleveland, and that would wrap up the first league title for coach Matt Mowry since he took over the program in 2007. He’s won five City titles.

The big series this week in the City Section involves South Gate and Garfield. They are tied for first place in the Eastern League. Along with Bell, the league could have a record three teams chosen for the Open Division playoffs if South Gate comes through.

In the Southern Section, the final week is all about trying to lock up an automatic playoff berth so as not to have to rely on computer rankings for an at-large berth when playoff pairings are announced on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Norco (Big VIII), St. John Bosco (Trinity), Ayala (Palomares), Huntington Beach (Sunset), Cypress (Crestview) have clinched high seeds in the Division 1 playoffs. Harvard-Westlake (Mission) is closing in on the Mission League title. Orange Lutheran is No. 2 in the Trinity, but who gets No. 3? Mater Dei needs a win over Orange Lutheran in a three-game series this week to help its chances.

According to last week’s Southern Section power rankings, these are the 16 teams that would make up the Division 1 playoffs with one week to go: 1. Norco, 2. Harvard-Westlake, 3. Orange Lutheran, 4. Corona, 5. Ayala, 6. Sierra Canyon, 7. St. John Bosco, 8. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 9. Temecula Valley, 10. Cypress, 11. Huntington Beach, 12. Oaks Christian, 13. Etiwanda, 14. La Mirada, 15. Corona Santaigo, 16. Maranatha.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Baseball

Norco won two of three games from Corona in a terrific three-game series to win the Big VIII League title. Both teams should be in the 16-team Division 1 field.

Here’s a story on Huntington Beach winning the Sunset League title behind Jared Grindlinger.

Servite pulled off a 1-0 win over Orange Lutheran even though the Lancers’ Gary Morse threw a no-hitter.

Brentwood 6-foot-5 junior pitcher Jack Kaplan has been having a terrific season, including a perfect game. He has 77 strikeouts in 44 innings. His pitching coach is former UCLA and MLB pitcher Tim Leary.

Blake Bowen of JSerra ended his high school career this week with nine home runs this season, including one in each victory of a three-game series with Santa Margarita. Here’s the report.

Trevor Brown won a share of the Foothill League title in his first year coach West Ranch.

Castaic shared the title with West Ranch in the final season for coach Darrell Davis. Sophomore Orion Gonzalez is hitting .390 with 30 hits.

Mattias DiMaggio of Dos Puebos is a freshman baseball player hitting above .500.

(Dos Pueblos)

Few are having a better season than Dos Pueblos freshman Mattias Di Maggio. And yes, he’s a distant relative to Joe DiMaggio. Here’s the report.

Softball

The Trinity League softball race has gotten tight, with Orange Lutheran and JSerra both entering this week tied for first place at 5-3. Pitcher Liliana Escobar of JSerra has been leading the Lions’ surge. Orange Lutheran closes league play with a game at Santa Margarita on Tuesday. JSerra is at Mater Dei, with Escobar ready to deliver.

Granada Hills and Carson are looking like the top two teams in City Section softball. Granada Hills has a two-game lead in the West Valley League with three games to play. Carson has clinched at least a share of the Marine League title.

Norco (24-2) and Murrieta Mesa (23-1) continue on a collision course for the Southern Section playoffs. Pairings will be announced next Monday.

Here’s last week’s power rankings.

Track

Loyola’s Ejam Johannes offers the “shoosh” sign after anchoring the winning 4×100 relay team. He also won the Mission League 400 and 200 titles.

(Craig Weston)

The Southern Section track and field prelims are set for Saturday. It’s all about qualifying and advancing and making sure batons are not dropped and violations don’t occur during relays.

The sites: Trabuco Hills (Division 1), Ontario (Division 2), Yorba Linda (Division 3) and Carpinteria (Division 4).

The Mission League finals last week featured two top Loyola athletes, Ejam Johannes and Zion Phelps. Here’s the report.

There’s lots of speed in the 100 meters. The Southern Section championships will take place in two weeks at Moorpark High.

The City Section will hold league finals this week.

Volleyball

Mira Costa’s Ruby Cochrane (facing) tries to block a tip attempt by JSerra’s Emma Champagne in the Southern Section Division 1 girls’ beach volleyball final. Cochrane and partner Olga Nikolaeva won, 21-19, 17-21, 15-13.

Mira Costa swept JSerra to win the Southern Section girls beach volleyball championship. Here’s the report.

Venice won the City Section team title.

Granada Hills is seeded No. 1 in the City Section boys volleyball playoffs. Here’s the pairings.

Grant Chang of Chatsworth delivers a kill against Granada Hills. He learned he was accepted to MIT.

(Craig Weston)

Grant Chang from Chatsworth has become the fourth volleyball player this year to be accepted to MIT. Here’s the story of a teenager who has gotten all A’s on his report card.

Lacrosse

Birmingham ended Palisades’ reign as City Section boys lacrosse champions. Here’s the report.

NFL star offers lessons

Indianapolis Colts safety Camryn Bynum (0) gestures toward the stands. He played at Corona Centennial.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

There are so many lessons to be learned from former Corona Centennial defensive back Camryn Bynum, who is returning this month to hold a camp at his alma mater.

He was once fifth string on Centennial’s JV team as a sophomore. He decided to work harder and look where his path has taken him.

Here’s his suggestions for young athletes dreaming of playing in the NFL.

Notes . . .

David Schuster is moving from Mission College Prep to head football coach at Ontario Christian….

JV coach Miguel Mayorga has been promoted to varsity basketball coach at Golden Valley….

Former Chatsworth star Alijah Arenas announced he is returning to USC next season….

Caleb Martin, a former assistant basketball coach at Oaks Christian, Harvard-Westlake and Vanguard, is the new head coach at St. Margaret’s….

Former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame basketball player Tyran Stokes has committed to Kansas….

Muir has received a $2-million donation from Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation to build a synthetic softball diamond. The field will be named, “Kobe and Gianna Bryant Field.” …

Matt LemMon has resigned as football coach at Garden Grove….

Former St. John Bosco and Notre Dame linebacker DJ Morgan is the new football coach at Leuzinger. He was the defensive coordinator….

Anaheim Canyon and Fullerton are changing their mascots next season because of a new state law requiring public schools to remove Native American team names that could be considered derogatory. Canyon will go from being the Comanches to the Cobras this fall. Fullerton will change from Indians to RedHawks….

Senior pitcher Alex Martinez of Sylmar has committed to the University of Redlands. His uncle was the late Glenn Martinez, a former assistant commissioner with the Southern Section and longtime baseball coach….

Alex Koers is the new girls basketball coach at Brea Olinda….

Harvard-Westlake has announced the appointment of Asha Prithviraj as its inaugural girls’ football coach. She previously worked at Mater Dei. 2026 will be the first season for flag football at Harvard-Westlake….

Pasadena Marshall Fundamental has dropped 11-man football for the 2026 season….

CJ Cooper is the new boys basketball coach at Capistrano Valley Christian….

Receiver Braylen Ross of Crean Lutheran has committed to Arizona…

Defensive back JuJu Johnson from Long Beach Poly has committed to UCLA….

Defensive lineman Alifeleti “Tolo” Tuihalamaka of Oaks Christian has committed to USC….

Uriel Villa is the new boys water polo coach at Orange Lutheran….

Palisades won its 17th consecutive City boys tennis title. Here’s the report.

From the archives: Isaiah Magdaleno

Isaiah Magdaleno from Crespi High has become one of the top pitchers for Hawaii and a pro prospect.

(Crespi)

Former Crespi pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno thrilled Hawaii baseball fans Friday night by striking out 16 and throwing a one-hitter in a win over UC Riverside.

He was primarily a relief pitcher starting out at Hawaii but has now become a pro prospect with his starting pitching. He’s 5-4 this season with a 2.75 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 72 innings.

He was the pitcher of the year in the Mission League in 2022.

He helped Crespi win the Southern Section Division 2 title in 2023. He also played catcher.

Recommendations

From West Virginia, a story on adding flexibility to transfer rule.

From The562.org, a story on a $100,000 donation for Long Beach sports teams.

From The Athletic, a story on former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame basketball player Tyran Stokes.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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ST. LOUIS — Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan first met MLB.com researcher extraordinaire Sarah Langs during the World Series last year. But he’d known of her before that.

Langs, who turned 33 on Saturday, made her mark on the industry early in her career. Even as a young writer, her talent for digging up interesting stats, along with her contagious positivity and love for the game, set her apart in a crowded media landscape.

Langs was aware of Sheehan too, not only for his blossoming major league career, but also the message stitched into his glove: “K ALS.”

Langs was diagnosed in 2021 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, also known as Lou Geherig’s disease after the Hall of Fame New York Yankees first baseman. Langs advocates for ALS research, partnering with Project ALS, and frequently highlights others who are raising awareness and funds for the cause.

“Just getting the chance to meet her was awesome,” Sheehan said in a conversation with The Times. “She’s a great advocate and a really smart mind in the world of baseball. So it’s awesome to have her.”

When Sheehan pitches, Langs posts pictures of the message on his glove. For his start Friday, Langs’ post included the caption: “May is ALS Awareness Month. Fitting that Emmet Sheehan is on the mound tonight. His gloves all say ‘K ALS.’ How lucky are we to have that sentiment represented on an MLB mound?!”

The next day, MLB posted a video of Sheehan wishing Langs a happy birthday and letting her know he was gifting her a glove as a token of his appreciation.

“I’m happy I get to be a part of the league where [ALS research and awareness] is kind of a main focus,” Sheehan said Saturday, also highlighting Chicago Cubs broadcaster Jon “Boog” Sciambi’s work through Project Main Street. “It’s been really cool.”

Sheehan has displayed “K ALS” on his gloves since college, when he joined a Boston College program that embraced the cause.

Pete Frates, who popularized the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014, was a former B.C. baseball standout. And he returned to serve as the director of baseball operations in 2012, the year he was diagnosed with ALS.

During Sheehan’s first year at Boston College, he got to spend time with Frates and his family before Frates died in December 2019.

“We talked about it a ton,” Sheehan said. “It was a huge part of our program. So it was a good opportunity to learn about it and just how terrible the disease is and how it can affect people.”

The lesson stuck with him. And now, as a major league player, he’s passing it on.

A look at The Times’ top 25 high school baseball rankings for the Southland after the 11th week of the season:

Rk. School (Rec.); Comment; ranking last week

1. NORCO (23-3); Cougars are Big VIII League champions; 1

2. HARVARD-WESTLAKE (21-5); James Tronstein has reached eight home runs; 2

3. ST. JOHN BOSCO (22-5); Trinity League champions are starting to peak; 3

4. ORANGE LUTHERAN (20-4); Gary Morse, Cooper Sides are good one-two pitching duo; 4

5. HUNTINGTON BEACH (20-6-1); Complete game from Jared Grindlinger shows he’s playoff ready; 5

6. CORONA (19-6); Second-place finish in Big VIII League; 6

7. SIERRA CANYON (21-5); Sophomore Theo Swafford has come on strong as a hitter; 7

8. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (18-8); Knights clinched Mission League playoff spot; 8

9. AYALA (22-2); Palomares League champions; 9

10. CYPRESS (20-6); Crestview League champions; 10

11. LA MIRADA (21-6); Gateway League champions;11

12. OAKS CHRISTIAN (21-6); Co-Marmonte League champions; 13

13 GAHR (16-9-1); Bryce Morrison hitting .453; 15

14. NEWPORT HARBOR (19-9); Got a win vs. Huntington Beach; 17

15. CORONA SANTIAGO (18-10); Swept Corona Centennial to finish third in Big VIII League; 18

16. ROYAL (21-3-1); One-game lead in Coastal Canyon League; 12

17. AQUINAS (19-8); Ambassador League champions; 19

18. TEMECULA VALLEY (23-4); UCLA commit Taden Krogsgaard is coming through; 23

19. SANTA MARGARITA (15-13); Lost three games to JSerra; 14

20. BISHOP ALEMANY (17-9); Finish with two-game series vs. Sierra Canyon; 16

21. MATER DEI (13-11); Monarchs have three-game series vs. Orange Lutheran; 20

22. VILLA PARK (17-8-1); Second place in Crestview League; 21

23. ETIWANDA (17-7); Baseline League champions; NR

24. WESTLAKE (18-8); Shared Marmonte League title with Oaks Christian; 24

25. GANESHA (19-2-1); Have three games this week; 25

For Blake Bowen and his JSerra High baseball teammates, their final week of the high school baseball season could not have gone any better.

The 6-foot-4 senior hit three home runs during a three-game sweep of Santa Margarita. But the Lions finished their season on Friday with an 11-17 record, which means there will be no postseason.

“Too little, too late,” coach Brett Kay said.

Bowen came on strong, finishing with nine home runs and a .360 batting average. His ability to hit the ball hard and far should make him a high draft pick this summer.

“It’s the best power I’ve ever seen for a high school player,” Kay said.

Bowen is a former football player who began focusing only on baseball after transferring to JSerra from Riverside King. He plays baseball like he did in football — with an aggressiveness.

“Once he comes into his own, he’s going to be special,” Kay said.

The Lions had a young team that was hurt by injuries. One of the impressive young players was freshman Joey Koenig, who showed he can hit and will get a chance to pitch in the future.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL & SOFTBALL

Saturday’s Results

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

Mendez 13, CALS Early College 0

Palisades 4, San Pedro 3

Port of Los Angeles d. Dorsey, forfeit

Sun Valley Poly 8, LA Marshall 2

Venice 10, San Fernando 2

Verdugo Hills 8, Chatsworth 4

SOUTHERN SECTION

Big Bear 9, San Bernardino 2

Bishop Amat 12, Covina 1

Bishop Montgomery 10, South Torrance 3

Buena Park 5, LA Roosevelt 3

Camarillo 5, Valencia 1

Cantwell-Sacred Heart 11, Bell Gardens 2

Crean Lutheran 4, Trabuco Hills 3

Dominguez 10, Compton Centennial 9

Estancia 11, Bosco Tech 5

Grace 3, Dunn 2

La Canada 11, Pasadena 8

Los Alamitos 5, Millikan 3

Maranatha 17, Oxford Academy 6

Monrovia 6, Flintridge Prep 2

Orange Lutheran 14, Mater Dei 4

Palm Desert 3, Kaiser 1

Palos Verdes 7, Ganesha 5

Rancho Verde 4, Bloomington 0

Rio Mesa 6, Righetti 5

Santa Barbara 25, Nordhoff 2

Santa Monica 6, El Segundo 3

Santa Paula 2, Castaic 1

Saugus 7, Quartz Hill 0

Savanna 4, Adelanto 3

South Hills 2, La Quinta 1

St. Genevieve 15, Verbum Dei 13

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy

Torrance 5, Warren 3

Wiseburn-Da Vinci 7, Lennox Academy 0

INTERSECTIONAL

Buena Park 5, LA Roosevelt 3

St. Paul 7, South East 2

SOFTBALL

SOUTHERN SECTION

Big Bear 4, San Bernardino 2

Hawthorne 19, Lennox Academy 4

INTERSECTIONAL

Atascadero 13, Coastal Christian 3

Norco 5, Chula Vista Mater Dei 1

Was it more fun to watch the Dodger offense return to form or to watch spoiled kid Pete Crow-Armstrong strike out four times on Saturday?

Certainly in the long run, Dodger success is much more important to this engaged fan than the serial failure of a young player still playing like a rookie after two years. Can you just imagine the screaming and cursing those Cubs fans watching on TV over PCA’s performance? I hope Pete appreciates that attention.

David Gene Echt
Torrance

Please explain to Dave Roberts that you don’t try a sacrifice bunt when you know the Marlins then automatically walk Shohei Ohtani. Nonsensical.

Fred Wallin
Westlake Village

Ah, yes, it’s that time of the baseball season, when the L.A. faithful panic over early losses, while other fanbases talk trash and pile on — despite knowing they’ll once again be playing late into October. Call it the Dodger Blue-print.

Steve Ross
Carmel

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

AMIT 14, Panorama 1

Arleta 10, Grant 3

Bell 11, Legacy 1

Birmingham 9, El Camino Real 1

Bravo 4, Eagle Rock 3

Chatsworth 1, Cleveland 0

Downtown Magnets 14, Collins Family 4

Fulton 10, Reseda 0

Garfield 12, South East 1

Hollywood 21, Contreras 10

Jefferson 15, Angelou 2

LACES 12, LA University 1

LA Marshall 2, Franklin 1

LA Wilson 5, Lincoln 3

Northridge Academy 12, Canoga Park 2

Palisades 11, Fairfax 1

RFK Community 8, Mendez 1

San Pedro 21, Gardena 3

SOCES 21, East Valley 1

South Gate 9, Huntington Park 0

University Prep Value 17, Camino Nuevo 5

Van Nuys 12, Vaughn 11

Venice 8, LA Hamilton 1

Wilmington Banning 8, Rancho Dominguez 4

SOUTHERN SECTION

AAE 9, Silver Valley 3

Alhambra 12, Montebello 5

Alta Loma 7, Los Altos 5

Anaheim Canyon 6, Brea Olinda 2

Apple Valley 6, Oak Hills 1

Aquinas 8, Woodcrest Christian 2

Arlington 5, Moreno Valley 1

Ayala 11, Claremont 1

Baldwin Park 13, Azusa 7

Banning 21, Cathedral City 0

Beckman 10, San Juan Hills 6

Beverly Hills 11, YULA 3

Buena Park 9, Tustin 4

California 8, Whittier 3

Capistrano Valley Christian 4, Western Christian 3

Carpinteria 7, Channel Islands 6

Castaic 14, Canyon Country Canyon 2

Cerritos 10, Whitney 0

Chaparral 4, Murrieta Mesa 1

Charter Oak 16, Covina 1

CIMSA 11, ACE 4

Corona del Mar 6, Edison 5

Corona Santiago 7, Corona Centennial 6

Costa Mesa 7, Laguna Hills 2

Damien 11, Chino Hills 1

Dana Hills 8, Aliso Niguel 0

Desert Mirage 10, Desert Hot Springs 6

Dos Pueblos 10, Oxnard 5

Edgewood 8, Pomona 0

Esperanza 7, Troy 1

Fillmore 15, Malibu 11

Flintridge Prep 17, Chadwick 2

Fountain Valley 11, Marina 1

Gahr 1, Downey 0

Garden Gove Santiago 7, Santa Ana Valley 0

Glendora 7, Bonita 3

Glenn 9, Pioneer 6

Hemet 19, Vista del Lago 0

Hesperia 9, Serrano 5

Hoover 17, Glendale 7

Huntington Beach 8, Newport Harbor 1

JSerra 9, Santa Margarita 6

Jurupa Valley 4, Norte Vista 3

La Habra 6, Santa Ana Foothill 2

Lakewood 2, Long Beach Jordan 1

La Mirada 9, Bellflower 0

Lancaster 3, Highland 1

La Palma Kennedy 9, Segerstrom 6

La Puente 6, Workman 5

La Sierra 12, Rubidoux 2

Long Beach Poly 11, Compton 8

Maranatha 7, Cerritos Valley Christian 2

Mary Star of the Sea 29, Verbum Dei 1

Mayfair 15, Dominguez 0

Millikan 16, Long Beach Cabrillo 1

Mission Viejo 7, Capistrano Valley 5

Monrovia 7, San Marino 6

Moorpark 8, Oak Park 4

Muir 10, Pasadena 2

Murrieta Valley 8, Great Oak 3

Norco 7, Corona 2

Northview 10, Hacienda Heights Wilson 0

Oaks Christian 8, Calabasas 7

Ocean View 7, Fullerton 4

Orange County Pacifica Christian 15, Webb 0

Orange Lutheran 3, Servite 1

Orange Vista 6, Citrus Hill 2

Oxnard Pacifica 2, Buena 0

Pacific 13, Entrepreneur 3

PACS 10, Valley Torah 5

Palmdale 15, Eastside 1

Paloma Valley 11, Heritage 5

Paraclete 5, Bishop Montgomery 2

Placentia Valencia 10, Santa Ana 5

Portola 1, Irvine University 0

Quartz Hill 15, Antelope Valley 0

Ramona 10, Patriot 5

Rancho Christian 31, Lakeside 1

Rancho Verde 6, Canyon Springs 4

Redlands East Valley 7, Beaumont 0

Redondo Union 10, Mira Costa 4

Ridgecrest Burroughs 2, Sultana 1

Rio Mesa 7, Ventura 4

Riverside King 5, Eastvale Roosevelt 2

Riverside North 2, Perris 1

Riverside Poly 9, Liberty 1

Riverside Prep 15, University Prep 3

Rolling Hills Prep 18, Lennox Academy 4

Rosemead 3, Mountain View 2

San Marcos 10, Santa Barbara 5

San Jacinto Valley Academy 11. San Jacinto Leadership 1

Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 12, Animo Leadership 6

Schurr 2, Bell Gardens 1

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2, Alemany 0

Sierra Canyon 10, Loyola 0

Sierra Vista 8, Nogales 4

Simi Valley 6, Camarillo 1

South El Monte 12, Pasadena Marshall 7

St. Anthony 5, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 3

St. John Bosco 6, Mater Dei 3

St. Monica 9, Bosco Tech 6

Temecula Valley 3, Vista Murrieta 2

Tesoro 4, Trabuco Hills 0

Thousand Oaks 5, Agoura 4

Twentynine Palms 4, Coachella Valley 3

Upland 5, Los Osos 3

Valencia 14, Golden Valley 1

Valley Christian Academy 19, Coast Union 0

Valley View 17, Hillcrest 1

Villa Park 2, Cypress 0

West Covina 4, Rowland 2

Westlake 15, Newbury Park 4

West Ranch 10, Hart 2

Whittier Christian 6, Heritage Christian 1

Woodbridge 18, Sage Hill 2

Yorba Linda 4, Sonora 1

Yucca Valley 8, Indio 1

INTERSECTIONAL

SLOCA 12, Del Oro 3

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Animo Venice 8, Middle College 3

Birmingham 2, Chatsworth 0

Bravo 10, LA Wilson 0

Chavez 5, Sun Valley Poly 1

Eagle Rock 12, Franklin 5

El Camino Real 11, Cleveland 0

Fairfax 32, Canoga Park 15

Granada Hills 16, Taft 2

Granada Hills Kennedy 4, San Fernando 1

Jefferson 27, Los Angeles 4

LA Hamilton 6, Westchester 2

LA University 9, Palisades 7

Lincoln 9, LA MArshall 1

Marquez 20, Maywood CES 5

North Hollywood 16, Reseda 6

Santee 21, West Adams 6

South Gate 20, South East 10

Sylmar 19, Monroe 2

Venice 20, LACES 0

Verdugo Hills 8, Arleta 6

SOUTHERN SECTION

Anaheim 13, Santa Ana Valley 2

Aquinas 4, Ontario Christian 1

Archer 16, Oakwood 2

Baldwin Park 11, Azusa 9

Bolsa Grande 25, Westminster La Quinta 10

Buena 7, Oxnard Pacifica 3

Buena Park 7, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 2

Cathedral City 16, Banning 14

Cerritos 13, Bishop Montgomery 3

CIMSA 17, ACE 2

Citrus Hill 22, Perris 2

Covina 9, Rowland 0

Cypress 5, La Palma Kennedy 2

Dos Pueblos 1, Oxnard 0

Downey 7, Lakewood 6

Edgewood 12, Pomona 0

El Segundo 5, South Torrance 2

Fullerton 26, Placentia Valencia 0

Ganesha 26, Bassett 0

Garden Grove 7, Segerstrom 3

Glendora 5, Bonita 2

Hemet 27, Moreno Valley 0

Heritage 22, Lakeside 3

Hesperia 8, Serrano 7

Hillcrest 10, Rancho Verde 0

Indio 19, Yucca Valley 4

JSerra 3, Orange Lutheran 1

La Canada 11, San Marino 4

La Sierra 6, Rubidoux 4

Long Beach Poly 3, Santa Ana Foothill 2

Mayfield 14, Westridge 1

Miller 12, Indian Springs 4

Mission Viejo 4, San Juan Hills 3

Monrovia 16, South Pasadena 6

Newport Harbor 19, Capistrano Valley Christian 2

Northview 15, West Covina 1

Oak Hills 15, Apple Valley 5

Oaks Christian 15, Newbury Park 1

Orange 7, Rancho Alamitos 2

Pacific 21, Entrepreneur 16

Paloma Valley 8, Canyon Springs 0

Palos Verdes 10, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 0

Rancho Christian 23, Vista del Lago 0

Redondo Union 8, Peninsula 3

Rio Mesa 4, Ventura 1

Riverside North 11, Liberty 10

Riverside Poly 12, Arlington 1

Riverside Prep 4, University Prep 1

San Jacinto Valley Academy 16, San Jacinto Leadership 2

San Marcos 12, Foothill Tech 3

Santa Ana 13, Costa Mesa 5

Santa Monica 15, Culver City 5

Sierra Vista 10, Nogales 1

Simi Valley 11, Royal 1

South El Monte 16, Pasadena Marshall 2

Sultana 15, Ridgecrest Burroughs 5

Temple City 27, Blair 4

Torrance 7, West Torrance 0

Tustin 15, Godinez 0

Valley View 18, Orange Vista 10

Walnut 10, Diamond Bar 5

West Ranch 13, Canyon Country Canyon 12

INTERSECTIONAL

Legacy 5, Mayfair 0

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

Bert Corona 15, Discovery 7

Fremont 13, Locke 0

King/Drew 12, Dorsey 6

LA Jordan 15, Dymally 4

Maywood Academy 19, Elizabeth 0

Maywood CES 4, Marquez 0

North Hollywood 2, San Fernando 0

Port of Los Angeles 13, Harbor Teacher 12

Sun Valley Magnet d. Community Charter, forfeit

Sun Valley Poly 7, Verdugo Hills 2

Sylmar 10, Granada Hills Kennedy 0

Torres 14, Sotomayor 1

Triumph Charter 15, Lakeview Charter 4

Valley Oaks CES d. Valor Academy, forfeit

Vaughn 9, Van Nuys 8

SOUTHERN SECTION

Anza Hamilton 15, California Lutheran 0

Arrowhead Christian 8, Ontario Christian 5

Bishop Amat 3, La Serna 2

Bishop Diego 9, Villanova Prep 1

Bloomington 5, Colton 3

Brentwood 9, Viewpoint 3

Cajon 9, Citrus Valley 0

Calvary Baptist 19, Hesperia Christian 0

Carter 19, Arroyo Valley 1

Chaparral 14, Murrieta Mesa 7

Chino 15, Montclair 5

Cornerstone Christian 6, Bethel Christian 3

Crossroads Christian 24, NSLA 2

Don Lugo 10, Diamond Ranch 5

Dunn 18, Santa Clara 7

El Modena 2, Garden Grove Pacifica 0

Elsinore 17, West Valley 1

Estancia 11, Westminster La Quinta 3

Fontana 12, San Gorgonio 5

Grand Terrace 12, Eisenhower 9

Granite Hills 5, Barstow 3

Great Oak 11, Murrieta Valley 7

Inglewood 8, Compton Centennial 5

Kaiser 10, Jurupa Hills 0

La Quinta 1, Shadow Hills 0

Lawndale 9, Hawthorne 1

Loara 11, Magnolia 1

Lucerne Valley 25, Victor Valley Christian 2

Maranatha 13, Cerritos Valley Christian 1

Milken 11, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 3

Nuview Bridge 6, Temecula Prep 1

Oaks Christian 17, Calabasas 8

Oakwood 10, Buckley 5

Ontario 7, Chaffey 5

Palm Desert 24, Xavier Prep 0

Paraclete 14, Desert Christian 0

Rancho Mirage 13, Palm Springs 3

Rialto 5, Summit 4

Royal 7, Ventura 1

San Dimas 10, Colony 6

Santa Clarita Christian 9, St. Monica Academy 0

Santa Rosa Academy 9, Desert Christian Academy 3

Southlands Christian 17, Fairmont Prep 13

South Torrance 8, North Torrance 0

St. Monica 1, Crossroads 0

St. Paul 2, La Salle 1

Temescal Canyon 13, Tahquitz 6

Temecula Valley 3, Vista Murrieta 1

Torrance 8, West Torrance 1

United Christian Academy 18, Sherman Indian 1

Victor Valley 2, Silverado 0

Village Christian 5, Canyon Country Canyon 4

Westlake 10, Newbury Park 3

Whittier Christian 6, Heritage Christian 4

Windward 1, Campbell Hall 0

Yucaipa 14, Redlands 4

INTERSECTIONAL

Cathedral 13, East College Prep 0

Palos Verdes 4, South East 3

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Alliance Bloomfield 16, East College Prep 1

Carson 10, Narbonne 0

Fremont 16, King/Drew 5

Garfield 22, South East 1

Grant 27, Panorama 26

Harbor Teacher 20, Locke 1

LA Jordan 23, Dymally 8

Legacy 15, Bell 2

Mendez 9, Hollywood 8

Northridge Academy 13, East Valley 5

Port of Los Angeles 15, Dorsey 0

San Pedro 17, Gardena 0

Smidt Tech 19, AHSA 15

SOCES 17, Vaughn 0

Triumph Charter 23, Valley Oaks CES 10

University prep Value 25, CNDLC 20

USC-MAE 35, Downtown Magnets 13

Wilmington Banning 18, Rancho Domingue 3

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agoura 10, Newbury Park 1

Alemany 21, Immaculate Heart 0

Alhambra 8, Bell Gardens 3

Aliso Niguel 7, San Clemente 1

Anza Hamilton 20, Borrego Springs 3

Artesia 16, Oxford Academy 2

Beaumont 9, Citrus Valley 4

Bellflower 15, Lynwood 5

Bethel Christian 9, Cornerstone Christian 5

Bishop Amat 3, St. Paul 0

Bloomington 17, Fontana 6

Brea Olinda 12, Yorba Linda 10

Brentwood 8, Archer 7

Burbank 13, Pasadena 0

Cajon 10, Redlands 3

California 5, Santa Fe 3

Canyon Country Canyon 19, Valencia 11

Carter 2, Colton 0

Chino 17, Montclair 0

Chino Hills 12, Etiwanda 5

Compton Early College 19, Compton Centennial 9

Crean Lutheran 14, Troy 3

Crescenta Valley 5, Arcadia 3

CSDR 21, La Sierra Academy 2

Desert Christian Academy 16, Santa Rosa Academy 15

Don Lugo 10, Diamond Ranch 2

Eastside 8, Littlreock 6

Edison 13, Fountain Valley 9

Elsinore 19, Tahquitz 0

Faith Baptist 8, Vasquez 7

Fillmore 18, Carpinteria 1

Garden Grove 11, La Palma Kennedy 10

Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Cypress 1

Gahr 8, Mayfair 3

Glendale 19, Hoover 4

Grace 16, Bishop Diego 0

Grand Terrace 13, Summit 12

Granite Hills 13, Barstow 2

Hart 13, Castaic 1

Harvard-Westlake 14, Chaminade 11

HMSA 20, Inglewood 0

Huntington. Beach 2, Marina 1

Irvine 15, Portola 5

Irvine University 11, Woodbridge 1

Jurupa Hills 22, San Gorgonio 0

La Quinta 10, Shadow Hills 0

Knight 12, Antelope Valley 2

La Habra 9, Anaheim Canyon 2

La Mirada 6, Warren 0

La Salle 12, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 0

La Serna 15, Whittier 6

Leuzinger 16, Environmental Charter 1

Linfield Christian 18, Woodcrest Christian 2

Long Beach Wilson 18, Compton 0

Los Alamitos 10, Corona del Mar 0

Maranatha 7, Village Christian 5

Mary Star of the Sea 14, Bishop Conaty-Loretto 4

Millikan 11, Logn Beach Jordan 0

Mission Viejo 18, Tesoro 17

Montebello 12, San Gabriel 2

Moorpark 13, Oak Park 2

Muir 8, Burbank Burroughs 6

Murrieta Valley 16, Temecula Valley 5

Newport Harbor 12, Ocean View 10

Norwalk 16, Firebaugh 4

Paraclete 9, Lakewood St, Joseph 1

Paramount 13, Dominguez 0

Rancho Cucamonga 1, Los Osos 0

Rancho Mirage 17, Palm Springs 1

Ramona Convent 23, St. Anthony 1

Rialto 17, Arroyo Valley 7

Riverside Notre Dame 10, Rim of the World 0

Rosary 5, Northwood 4

Rosemead 17, Mountain View 12

Samueli Academy 14, Webb 1

San Dimas 16, South Hills 6

San Juan Hills 12, Beckman 4

Santa Ana Foothill 6, Sunny Hills 2

Santa Paula 11, Hueneme 1

Saugus 14, Golden valley 0

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 16, Louisville 0

Silverado 16, Victor Valley 5

Sonora 4, El Dorado 2

St. Monica 10, Hawthorne 6

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 12, Pomona Catholic 5

Temecula Prep 33, Nuview Bridge 4

Temescal Canyon 18, West Valley 2

Thousand Oaks 3, Oaks Christian 2

Trabuco Hills 6, Dana Hills 4

United Christian Academy 24, California Lutheran 1

Victory Christian A academy 33, High Tech CV 11

Viewpoint 20, Oakwood 0

Villa Park 13, Esperanza 3

Western Christian 14, Downey Calvary Chapel 0

Westlake 19, Calabasas 3

Whittier Christian 15, Cerritos Valley Christian 9

Windward 8, Crossroads 0

Yucaipa 5, Redlands East Valley 4

INTERSECTIONAL

West Ranch 8, Birmingham 7

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL & SOFTBALL

Wednesday’s Results

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION
Angelou 10, Jefferson 8
Arleta 5, Grant 3
Bell 6, Legacy 1
Birmingham 10, El Camino Real 2
Chatsworth 16, Cleveland 1
Collins Family 14, Central City Value 3
Eagle Rock 3, Bravo 2
East Valley 14, Canoga Park 1
Fulton 7, AMIT 6
Garfield 10, South East 3
Hollywood 14, Contreras 4
LACES 10, LA University 0
LA Marshall 7, Franklin 1
LA Wilson 12, Lincoln 6
Los Angeles 14, Manual Arts 1
Northridge Academy 11, Reseda 1
Palisades 20, Fairfax 4
RFK Community 9, Mendez 8
San Pedro 12, Gardena 2
SOCES 15, Panorama 0
South Gate 27, Huntington Park 3
Venice 21, LA Hamilton 8
Wilmington Banning 3, Rancho Dominguez 0

SOUTHERN SECTION
Agoura 16, Thousand Oaks 6
Anaheim 6, Westminster 3
Anaheim Canyon 6, Brea Olinda 5
Aquinas 11, Woodcrest Christian 2
Arlington 13, Heritage 3
Arroyo 9, Pasadena Marshall 0
Ayala 8, Claremont 0
Beckman 10, San Juan Hills 2
Bonita 8, Glendora 5
California 8, Whittier 0
Canyon Springs 12, Perris 2
Carpinteria 6, Channel Islands 5
Castaic 3, Canyon Country Canyon 0
Citrus Hill 2, Lakeside 0
Corona Santiago 13, Corona Centennial 4
Covina 9, Charter Oak 4
Crean Lutheran 5, El Dorado 1
Cypress 3, Villa Park 0
Damien 3, Chino Hills 2
Dana Hills 12, Aliso Niguel 2
Eastvale Roosevelt 11, Riverside King 4
Edgewood 21, Bassett 0
Edison 4, Corona del Mar 0
El Rancho 11, Santa Fe 9
El Toro 3, San Clemente 2
Etiwanda 14, Rancho Cucamonga 2
Fillmore 10, Malibu 0
Gahr 4, Downey 3
Ganesha 19, Workman 0
Grove School 23, Packinghouse Christian 22
Harvard-Westlake 7, Chaminade 0
Hesperia 4, Serrano 0
Hesperia Christian 11, Excelsior Charter 4
Highland 6, Lancaster 3
Hillcrest 9, Orange Vista 4
Huntington Beach 2, Newport Harbor 1
Irvine 6, Laguna Beach 0
JSerra 13, Santa Margarita 3
Jurupa Valley 4, Norte Vista 0
La Mirada 13, Bellflower 3
La Sierra 11, Rubidoux 4
Liberty 7, Paloma Valley 3
Littlerock 5, Knight 1
Long Beach Jordan 11, Compton 6
Long Beach Wilson 5, Lakewood 4
Los Alamitos 6, Cerritos 3
Los Osos 10, Upland 9
Marina 3, Fountain Valley 2
Miller 13, Indian Springs 3
Millikan 3, Long Beach Poly 1
Mission Viejo 5, Capistrano Valley 4
Moorpark 12, Oak Park 1
Moreno Valley 8, Riverside Poly 7
New Roads 16, HMSA 1
Nogales 8, Sierra Vista 0
Norco 1, Corona 0
Nordhoff 4, Hueneme 3
Northview 12, Hacienda Heights Wilson 2
Northwood 25, St, Margaret’s 5
Oak Hills 22, Apple Valley 4
Oaks Christian 5, Grace 3
Ontario Christian 8, Arrowhead Christian 5
Pacific 28, Entrepreneur 0
PACS 13, Valley Torah 1
Palmdale 15, Eastside 3
Pomona 21, La Puente 13
Portola 11, Irvine University 6
Quartz Hill 21, Antelope Valley 0
Ramona 9, Patriot 8
Rancho Verde 11, Hemet 4
Redondo Union 6, Mira Costa 3
Ridgecrest Burroughs 11, Sultana 1
Rio Mesa 7, Santa Paula 1
Riverside North 9, Vista del Lago 3
Riverside Prep 15, University Prep 4
Rosemead 8, South El Monte 5
Royal 4, La Canada 1
Salesian 5, St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 4
Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 12, Bosco Tech 1
Santa Ana Foothill 3, La Habra 2
Saugus 10, Adelanto 1
Servite 1, Orange Lutheran 0
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 8, Alemany 3
Sierra Canyon 3, Loyola 2
Simi Valley 4, Camarillo 2
Sonora 2, Yorba Linda 1
St. Anthony 5, Mayfair 0
St. Francis 1, Crespi 0
St. John Bosco 7, Mater Dei 1
Torrance 4, West Torrance 3
Trabuco Hills 1, Tesoro 0
Trinity Classical Academy 14, Vasquez 9
Troy 19, Esperanza 6
Valencia 16, Golden Valley 0
Valley View 2, Rancho Christian 0
Walnut 2, Diamond Bar 0
West Covina 6, Rowland 4
West Ranch 6, Hart 5
Woodbridge 6, Sage Hill 0
YULA 4, de Toledo 2

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION
Birmingham 23, Cleveland 2
Burbank Providence 14, Narbonne 1
Chatsworth 10, Taft 0
Chavez 8, Arleta 5
Eagle Rock 6, LA Marshall 2
Granada Hills 10, El Camino Real 2
Granada Hills Kennedy 4, Verdugo Hills 3
Jefferson 17, Diego Rivera 14
LACES 20, Fairfax 7
LA Hamilton 16, Palisades 1
LA Wilson 19, Franklin 9
Lincoln 5, Bravo 1
Marquez 11, Torres 1
Maywood CES 11, Maywood Academy 1
Middle College 15, Stella 5
North Hollywood 23, Fulton 2
San Fernando 11, Sun Valley Poly 8
Santee 27, Manual Arts 4
Sylmar 22, Van Nuys 4
USC-MAE 25, Downtown Magnets 0
Venice 19, Westchester 0
Washington Prep 15, Crenshaw 12
West Adams 22, Los Angeles 10

SOUTHERN SECTION
Alta Loma 8, Colony 2
Apple Valley 19, Sultana 4
Arroyo 14, Pasadena Marshall 1
Ayala 25, Diamond Bar 1
Bolsa Grande 14, Magnolia 4
Bonita 11, Walnut 3
Buena Park 8, Katella 7
Burbank Providence 14, Narbonne 1
Canyon Springs 14, Moreno Valley 1
Chaparral 8, Linfield Christian 7
Charter Oak 10, Northview 0
Citrus Hill 16, Vista del Lago 4
Corona 9, Corona Centennial 4
Covina 10, West Covina 0
Duarte 20, Nogales 4
Edgewood 16, Bassett 2
El Modena 4, Anaheim Canyon 1
El Rancho 14, Paramount 13
El Segundo 10, Torrance 9
Fullerton 10, La Palma Kennedy 0
Ganesha 30, Workman 0
Garden Grove Santiago 13, Santa Ana Valley 1
Garey 12, Baldwin Park 1
Glendora 12, Claremont 1
Hemet 12, Hillcrest 0
Hesperia Christian 11, Excelsior Charter 0
HMSA 15, Gardena Serra 14
Irvine University 14, Portola 0
Jurupa Valley 17, Norte Vista 0
Laguna Hills 23, Godinez 1
La Sierra 14, Rubidoux 4
Lennox Academy 13, Animo City of Champions 3
Long Beach Poly 16, Gahr 9
Los Amigos 12, Loara 2
Miller 14, Indian Springs 4
Oak Hills 15, Hesperia 2
Orange 7, Savanna 5
Orange Vista 6, Riverside North 1
Pacific 28, Entrepreneur 13
Paloma Valley 12, Rancho Verde 0
Palos Verdes 12, Mira Costa 2
Pasadena 20, Gabrielino 19
Pasadena Poly 7, Flintridge Sacred Heart 6
Ramona 13, Patriot 7
Rancho Christian 12, Lakeside 1
Rancho Mirage 8, Palm Desert 4
Rio Mesa 2, Ventura 0
Riverside King 7, Corona Santiago 4
Riverside Poly 13, Liberty 7
Riverside Prep 17, University Prep 5
Rowland 12, Hacienda Heights Wilson 6
Segerstrom 9, Placentia Valencia 7
Serrano 13, Ridgecrest Burroughs 1
Sierra Vista 10, Azusa 9
South El Monte 16, Rosemead 0
South Torrance 4, North Torrance 3
Sunny Hills 11, Crean Lutheran 1
Tustin 1, Santa Ana 0
Valencia 20, Vasquez 3
Valley View 11, Arlington 4
Westminster 13, Ocean View 7
Westminster La Quinta 15, Estancia 5
Wiseburn-Da Vinci 6, Peninsula 3

INTERSECTIONAL
Legacy 11, Norwalk 3

Birmingham coach Matt Mowry works with his players on going with pitches to right field. The Patriots came through with perfection on Wednesday.

Four times in the decisive fourth inning, Birmingham hitters hit outside pitches to right field for base hits, igniting a four-run inning and leading to a 10-2 victory, pulling the Patriots into a first-place tie with El Camino Real in the West Valley League going a Friday game at Birmingham.

Sophomore Carlos Acuna threw a complete game for Birmingham in 10-2 win over El Camino Real.

(Craig Weston)

Sophomore catcher Jordan Lindsay had the biggest hitting of the fourth, an RBI double down the right-field line to tie the score, 1-1. Ethan Dalumpines followed with RBI single to right field. JuJu Monroe-Truitt and Larkin Fleming also contribued RBI singles to right off Jackson Sellz.

“He’s on us at practice to go to the right side,” Lindsay said of Mowry.

The Patriots blew the game open with a six-run fifth, including an RBI single from Lindsay and one walk and one hit batter with the bases loaded to push across runs. Carlos Acuna threw a complete game. Both teams are seeking a win Friday because the league champion figures to be the No. 1 seed for the City Section Open Division playoffs.

RJ De La Rosa had an RBI single and double for ECR.

Harvard-Westlake 8, Chaminade 0: James Tronstein continued his impressive power display by hitting two home runs, a double and driving in three runs. He has eight home runs on the season. Evan Alexander struck out 10 in five innings.

Norco 1, Corona 0: It took nine innings to settle this Big VIII League showdown with Jayden Serna delivering the walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jordan Ayala threw seven scoreless innings for Norco. Mason Sims gave up one hit in eight innings for Corona.

Sierra Canyon 3, Loyola 2: The Trailblazers won despite home runs from Loyola’s Bobby Rapp and Jack Murray.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 8, Bishop Alemany 3: Benett Pace went four for four and Jacob Madrid homered for the Knights.

Carson 6, Narbonne 5: Nate Ruan and Fernando Barajas each had two hits for Carson.

Edison 4, Corona del Mar 0: Noah Hunter struck out 10 and gave up two hits in six innings for Edison.

Ayala 8, Claremont 0: Easton Sarmiento struck out eight in four innings. Caleb Trugman had three hits.

Huntington Beach 2, Newport Harbor 1: Jared Grindlinger thew his first complete game of the season, striking out seven and walking none. Ely Mason had a home run.

JSerra 13, Santa Margarita 3: The Lions hit four home runs, including another from Blake Bowen, in the Trinity League win. Aidan Rae had three RBIs.

Garfield 10, South East 3: Michael Santillan had four hits for Garfield.

Bell 6, Legacy 1: Jayden Rojas had two hits and four RBIs.

Chatsworth 16, Cleveland 1: Nihaan Kothari had three hits and Damian Ayala had three RBIs for Chatsworth.

Granada Hills 12, Taft 0: Landon Tuch had four hits and Luke Chau struck out nine with no walks in five innings for Granada Hills.

West Ranch 6, Hart 5: Josh Price went three for three with three RBIs.

Etiwanda 14, Rancho Cucamonga 2: The Eagles celebrated a Baseline League championship. Adam Ornelas had four hits.

Corona Santiago 13, Corona Centennial 4: Jonathan Thornton had four hits and six RBIs, including a grand slam, for Santiago.

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

Chavez 15, Grant 1

Discovery 20, Central City Value 19

Fremont 10, Harbor Teacher 0

LA Jordan 15, Washington Prep 0

Lakeview Charter 17, Valor Academy 3

Maywood Academy 18, Elizabeth 1

Maywood CES 7, Marquez 1

Port of Los Angeles 14, King/Drew 8

Roybal 9, Hollywood 1

San Fernando 3, North Hollywood 2

Sun Valley Magnet 11, Valley Oaks CES

Sun Valley Poly 5, Verdugo Hills 2

Sylmar 11, Granada Hills Kennedy 3

Torres 6, Sotomayor 4

Triumph Charter 18, Bert Corona 3

Troy 15, Fulton 0

Van Nuys 14, Arleta 4

Vaughn 13, VAAS 2

SOUTHERN SECTION

AAE 11, Silver Valley 1

Alta Loma 5, Los Altos 3

Animo Leadership 6, HMSA 2

Arrowhead Christian 8, Ontario Christian 4

Bishop Diego 10, Villanova Prep 2

Buena 5, Saugus 4

Cajon 2, Citrus Valley 1

California 18, Schurr 2

Canyon Country Canyon 11, Burbank Providence 2

Corona 6, Norco 4

Corona Santiago 7, Corona Centennial 0

Damien 6, Chino Hills 3

Dunn 6, Santa Clara 0

Eastvale Roosevelt 10, Riverside King 7

Etiwanda 3, Rancho Cucamonga 1

Faith Baptist 9, Valley Torah 3

Gabrielino 3, Arroyo 1

Liberty 5, Cornerstone Christian 4

Mary Star of the Sea 6, South El Monte 5

Mountain View 15, El Monte 4

Nuview Bridge 10, SJDLCS 1

Oak Park 12, Fillmore 11

Pacific 13, Entrepreneur 0

Palm Desert 19, Xavier Prep 1

Rancho Mirage 9, Palm Springs 1

Redlands East Valley 6, Beaumont 3

San Dimas 5, Colony 1

San Gorgonio 8, Rim of the World 7

San Jacinto Valley Academy 13, San Jacinto Leadership 0

St. Bonaventure 2, Foothill Tech 1

Troy 15, Fulton 0

Upland 4, Los Osos 3

Western Christian 4, Jurupa Valley 3

Whittier 5, Hoover 3

Yucaipa 9, Redlands 1

YULA 10, de Toledo 6

INTERSECTIONAL

Cathedral 17, Stella Charter 1

Loma Linda Academy 17, Public Safety Academy 4

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Animo Venice 15, Stella 2

Animo Watts 21, AHSA 6

Carson 24, Gardena 0

Discovery 27, Valor Academy 16

Dorsey 9, Fremont 5

East Valley 18, Grant 8

Garfield 6, South East 1

LA Jordan 12, Washington Prep 9

Legacy 15, Bell 0

Mendez 19, Belmont 2

Middle College 20, LAAAE 6

Narbonne 7, Rancho Dominguez 4

Panorama 24, Vaughn 24

San Pedro 8, Wilmington Banning 2

SOCES 20, VAAS 0

Triumph Charter 15, Lakeview Charter 5

USC-MAE 21, Animo Bunche 4

West Adams 16, Manual Arts 2

SOUTHERN SECTION

Arroyo 13, Gabrielino 0

Bishop Amat 8, Lakewood St. Joseph 6

Bloomington 16, Rim of the World 6

Castaic 15, Golden Valley 5

Duarte 12, Nogales 2

Jurupa Valley 14, RSCSM 4

La Quinta 6, Shadow Hills 2

La Salle 8, Crescenta Valley 3

Long Beach Jordan 21, Century 12

Ocean View 16, Estancia 0

Orange Vista 5, Arlington 3

Rancho Mirage 16, Palm Springs 1

Rosary 14, Sonora 12

Riverside North 6, Rancho Verde 4

Sacred Heart of Jesus 15, Pomona Catholic 0

San Marino 14, South Pasadena 6

Santa Paula 24, Nordhoff 2

Segerstrom 26, St. Pius X-St. Matthias 0

Sunny Hills 17, Oxford Academy 0

INTERSECTIONAL

El Camino Real 10, Calabasas 2

LA University 15, Long Beach Cabrillo 4

Laton 17, Valley Christian Academy 16

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 11, Birmingham 2