bosco

Defending Southern Section Division 1 champion St. John Bosco, the top team in The Times’ high school baseball rankings, began its season Friday with an 8-0 win over La Serna.

Julian Garcia, who missed last season while recovering from an arm injury, was impressive in his debut. He struck out five with no walks and no hits in four innings. Closer Jack Champlin continued to blank the Lancers, getting the final two outs, one on a strikeout.

Noah Everly had three hits and James Clark added two hits and two RBIs.

Orange Lutheran 10, Crespi 0: Gary Morse struck out eight in five innings and Brady Murrietta had two hits and two RBIs for the Lancers.

Gahr 1, El Dorado 0: A ninth-inning run ended the pitching duel. Jake Ourique gave up one hit in six innings for Gahr.

Harvard-Westlake 3, Cypress 0: Evan Alexander, Jake Chung and Nate Blum combined for the shutout. Jake Kim had two RBIs.

JSerra 17, Prosper (Texas) 9: Brise Boop had a home run, a double and four RBIs, and Blake Bowen homered and finished with thee hits for JSerra in Texas.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2, Servite 0: Beckett Berg gave up three hits in six innings. Jacob Madrid and Malakye Matsumoto each had two hits for 4-0 Notre Dame.

Granada Hills 6, Sylmar 1: Max Szczech had a home run, double and single for the Highlanders.

Moorpark 7, Rio Mesa 3: Carson Cerny had a home run, a triple and five RBIs for Moorpark. He also struck out three in three innings. Cody Brossard threw four shutout innings of relief.

Hart 4, Bishop Alemany 2: Hayden Rhodes and Jaiden Chan had RBI hits for Hart, which received six shutout innings from pitcher Cayden Kollasch.

Birmingham 4, San Marcos 2: A two-run fifth lifted the Patriots. Aidan Martinez got his second save.

South Hills 4, Bonita 0: Carson Baker threw a four-hitter with five strikeouts for South Hills. Richie Soto hit a home run.

Los Alamitos 8, Yucaipa 1: Cruz D’Errico had a two-run double and Will McCullough had two hits and two RBIs for Los Alamitos.

El Camino Real 8, Sun Valley Poly 5: An eight-run third inning propelled the Royals. Hudson December gave up no runs in five innings for El Camino Real. RJ De La Rosa had two hits and two RBIs. Blake Dubin had a double, a single and three RBIs.

Sierra Canyon 3, West Ranch 1: Kingston Monette and Mac Kennedy combined on a five-hitter for Sierra Canyon.

Bell 10, South El Monte 1: Adolfo Esquivel finished with two hits and two RBIs and also threw four hitless innings.

La Cañada 9, Arcadia 2: Will Park and Joe Bell each had two hits and two RBIs for La Cañada. Scott Burns struck out seven.

Santa Margarita 4, Loyola 3: The Eagles picked up a run in the top of the seventh to beat their second Mission League team this week. Warren Gravely IV contributed two doubles.

Westlake 6, Highland 1: Blake Miller and Dylan Lee had two hits each for Westlake.

Fountain Valley 4, Tesoro 1: Josh Grack had three hits, including a home run, to lead Fountain Valley. He also threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

Carson 5, West Torrance 0: Skylar Vinson threw five scoreless innings and also had two hits for the Colts.

Newport Harbor 6, Foothill 1: Gavin Guy struck out seven and had two hits for 5-0 Newport Harbor. Henry Mann went three for three.

Boys’ basketball

Gardena Serra 57, Pilibos 51: Chinemerem Anyikwa scored 25 points to help Serra win the Southern Section Division 5 championship at Azusa Pacific. Demetri Galadjyan scored 23 points for Pilibos.

Girls’ basketball

St. Margaret’s 57, Murrieta Valley 41: Jayden Witten had 19 points, one of four players in double figures, to help St. Margaret’s win the Division 3 championship.

Savanna 46, Warren 25: Jazara Madrid led Savanna to the Division 6 title with 16 points.

Crescenta Valley 51, Saugus 43: Kelin Shajanian scored 14 points and Anik Nortikyan contributed 11 rebounds to lead the Falcons to the Southern Section Division 2 championship.

William Hudson, a 14-year-old freshman golfer, shot 71 on Monday at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills to win the Servite Invitational.

“It was very important to me and my school,” Hudson said.

Some think it’s the first time a St. John Bosco student won an invitational title.

Hudson is a straight-A student who picked up his first golf club when he was 3. He has a daily routine involving practicing at 6 a.m. before heading to school. He’s also enrolled in a school entrepreneur program that involves taking classes at a junior college that will qualify for college credits.

“They are long days, but I get through it,” Hudson said.

He comes from a family that enjoys golf. His great-grandfather played until his death at 98 last year.

“I love how it can take me to interesting places and meet interesting people,” Hudson said. “I can play for the rest of my life. It’s a lifelong sport.”

It’s looking like another strong year for golfers in Southern California, with several individual champions returning, including Jaden Soong of St. Francis and Grant Leary of Crespi.

Now Hudson has thrust himself into the conversation.

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

La Mirada finally got its breakthrough win in the Southern Section Open Division basketball playoffs on Friday night, going on the road to defeat St. John Bosco 56-53.

The Matadores (23-7) wanted to be in the Open Division playoffs last season and went 1-3, failing to make the state playoffs. They lost to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Wednesday, in a pool-play opener, ending their 14-game winning streak, then came back to inflict a rare home defeat on St. John Bosco in a pool play game. St. John Bosco had a chance to tie the score at the end but a three-point attempt failed.

Jordyn Houston led La Mirada with 22 points. St. John Bosco faces Notre Dame on Tuesday. La Mirada is in good position to claim second place in the pool and advance to the quarterfinals.

Harvard-Westlake 67, Damien 62: Joe Sterling finished with 22 points to help the Wolverines get back into the win column in an Open Division pool play game.

Corona Centennial 74, Etiwanda 48: The Huskies rolled to a win in their Open Division opener.

Crespi 82, Corona del Mar 70: The Celts faced a large, enthusiastic road crowd and won their first Open Division game. Isaiah Barnes scored 24 points and Jasiah Williams 23. Maxwell Scott scored 35 points for Corona del Mar.

JSerra 75, Loyola 46: Jaden Bailes scored 22 points in the Division 1 playoff victory.

Mater Dei 85, Westlake 59: It was another dominating win for the Monarchs in Division 2.

Rolling Hills Prep 63, Orange Lutheran 52: Josahn Webster, the son of King/Drew coach Lloyd Webster, contributed 23 points for Rolling Hills Prep.

Shalhevet 42, Palm Springs 41: Sam Jacobsen had the game-winning basket for Shalhevet in a Division 4-A game.

Venice 58, Sun Valley Poly 40: The Gondoliers advanced in the City Section Division I playoffs.