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Prep talk: Julian Garcia’s championship pitching performance ranks among best

As someone who has been covering high school baseball championship games in Southern California for six decades, the pitching performance seen on Friday night by Julian Garcia of St. John Bosco moves into the top five, if not a share for No. 1.

Garcia struck out 14, walked none and surrendered only a first-inning double to Codey Brown in a 2-0 victory over Norco in the Southern Section Division 1 final at Cal State Fullerton. His fastball was reaching 95 mph. He was blowing fastballs past top hitters all night.

Probably the No. 1 pitching performance continues to be Bret Saberhagen of Cleveland in the 1981 City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium when he threw a no-hitter against Palisades.

Others that come to mind:

No pitcher has been as overpowering as Garcia was under the lights. And he needed to be near perfect to beat Norco pitcher Jordan Ayala, who also was outstanding.

What a memory to add to Southern California’s great pitching moments in championship games.

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

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Chatsworth wins City Section Open Division volleyball championship

It’s now official. You can call Chatsworth a 12-time City Section volleyball champion after the Chancellors won the Open Division championship on Saturday night, knocking off West Valley League rival Granada Hills 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 25-18.

Noa Beauregard led Chatsworth with 14 kills and Grant Chang had 13.

Coach Sina Aghassy got his team to settle down and dominate the Highlanders after their first-set defeat. The two teams had split their league matches.

Both schools will move on to the state tournament next week, with pairings announced on Sunday.

Baseball

Sylmar 4, Chatsworth 3: The No. 1-seeded Spartans survived a three-run seventh inning by Chatsworth to advance to the City Section Division I semifinals against Verdugo Hills on Wednesday at Stengel Field. Tim Sepulveda had two hits.

Verdugo Hills 8, Sun Valley Poly 2: Jered Smith hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to help the Dons reach the City Division I semifinals.

Taft 11, Cleveland 0: The Toreadors advanced to the Division I semifinal behind Sebastian Gamez, who threw the shutout. Nate Swinson had two hits and two RBIs.

Venice 7, Palisades 6: The Gondoliers earned a match against Taft in the Division I semifinals. Darius Basco’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh won it. Miguel Medina threw three scoreless innings of relief.

Softball

La Habra 6, Murrieta Mesa 4: Rylee Gruener hit a grand slam during a five-run inning to enable La Habra to eliminate top-seeded Murrieta Mesa in the Division I playoffs. Alyssa Hernandez added three hits.

Orange Lutheran 17, Chino Hills 14: In a wild Division 1 playoff game, Sierra Nichols and Madelyn Armendariz each had four hits for Orange Lutheran, with Armendariz getting three doubles. Nichols, Rylee Silva and Eliza Johnson hit home runs. Brett Lambrecht had five RBIs for Chino Hills.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 8, Oaks Christian 5: The Mission League champions advanced behind freshman pitcher Ainsley Jenkins, who came in and provided three innings of three-hit relief pitching. Nadia Ledon, Keira Luderer and Ellayne Tellez-Perez hit home runs.

Norco 8, Riverside Poly 2: The No. 2-seeded Cougars were led by Savannah Gonzalez, who had three hits, including a home run. Coral Williams struck out 13. Camryn May and Sadie Burroughs also had three hits.

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Granada Hills High coach Tom Harp goes for another volleyball title

Tom Harp has been coaching volleyball at Granada Hills High for so long that few remember he won a City Section championship as a co-head football coach with Darryl Stroh in 1987.

In the 1990s, he turned exclusively to coaching boys’ and girls’ volleyball, winning a combined 15 City titles and making 28 finals appearances. The top-seeded Highlanders will try to deliver a seventh Open Division championship on Saturday when they face West Valley League rival Chatsworth in a 4 p.m. final at Birmingham.

The league rivals split their two West Valley matches, with each going five games. Chatsworth knocked off 17-time champion Palisades in the semifinals. MIT-bound Grant Chang is Chatsworth’s 6-foot-6 powerful outside hitter.

All-City volleyball player RJ Francisco of Granada Hills shows off his hitting skills against Chatsworth.

All-City volleyball player RJ Francisco of Granada Hills shows off his hitting skills against Chatsworth.

(Craig Weston)

Granada Hills has RJ Francisco, who had 19 kills in a win over Chatsworth.

The Southern Section Division 1 final is Friday night, with Mira Costa taking on Loyola in a 7:30 p.m. match at Cerritos College.

Regional and state playoffs begin next week.

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

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