garfield

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

Birmingham 12, Taft 1

CALS Early College 11, East College Prep 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

AAE 14, ACE 4

Agoura 4, Calabasas 1

Alemany 3, Sierra Vista 0

Anaheim 11, Bolsa Grande 3

Antelope Valley 11, PACS 4

Anza Hamilton 14, Sherman Indian 1

Aquinas 7, Arcadia 4

Ayala 13, Corona Centennial 6

Beverly Hills 24, Compton Centennial 2

Bishop Montgomery 10, Atascadero 5

Bloomington 2, Arroyo Valley 1

Buena 14, Nordhoff 0

Burbank 16, Glendale 10

California City 12, Frazier Mountain 6

Cantwell-Sacred Heart 4, Hueneme 2

Carter 12, Eisenhower 3

Chadwick 4, Rolling Hills Prep 3

Chaffey 5, Don Lugo 4

Chaminade 11, St. Bonaventure

Channel Islands 11. Placentia Valencia 4

Chino 3, Ontario 2

Citrus Valley 5, Yucaipa 1

Colony 12, Pomona 1

Compton 7, Dominguez 2

Cornerstone Christian 12, Bethel Christian 1

Crean Lutheran 11, Anaheim Canyon 3

Crossroads 10, Campbell Hall 5

Crossroads Christian 19, NSLA 4

Culver City 15, Hawthorne 1

Cypress 2, La Habra 1

Desert Christian 14, Faith Baptist 1

Elsinore 18, West Valley 1

El Toro 7, Edison 0

Fontana 6, San Gorgonio 4

Foothill Tech 12, Thacher 2

Gahr 11, Patrick Henry 0

Glenn 11, Downey Calvary Chapel 6

Godinez 5, Saddleback 3

Grace 9, Thousand Oaks 8

Granite Hills 12, Adelanto 2

Great Oak 3, Chaparral 0

Harvard-Westlake 17, Santa Maria St. Joseph 0

Hoover 8, Mark Keppel 5

Katella 4, Fullerton 2

La Canada 6, South Pasadena 0

Leuzinger 8, Lawndale 3

Liberty 23, St. Monica 0

Long Beach Cabrillo 2, Lakewood 0

Long Beach Jordan 16, Avalon 0

Los Osos 1, Huntington Beach 0

Los Osos 1, Norco 0

Lucerne Valley 9, CIMSA 5

Maranatha 12, Westlake 0

Mira Costa 11, New Roads 0

Montclair 9, Diamond Ranch 0

Montebello 4, Covina 3

Muir 8, Duarte 0

Nogales 9, Baldwin Park 4

Norco 3, St. John Bosco 2

North Torrance 10, West Torrance 3

Oakwood 15, Burbank Providence 3

Orange 15, Rancho Alamitos 1

Orange Lutheran 13, Fountain Valley 1

Paraclete 3, Northview 1

Paramount 9, Long Beach Poly 2

Quartz Hill 9, Lancaster 3

Redlands 12, Redlands East Valley 4

Rialto 5, Colton 0

Righetti 8, Cathedral 5

Riverside Notre Dame 15, Rim of the World 2

San Dimas 15, Alta Loma 1

San Jacinto Valley Academy 21, California Military 0

Santa Barbara 5, Saugus 4

Santa Monica 10, Inglewood 0

Santa Rosa Academy 8, Nuview Bridge 7

Savanna 8, Westminster La Quinta 0

Segerstrom 4, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 3

Silverado 8, Vista del Lago 7

Silver Valley 18, Victor Valley Christian 3

Summit 2, Kaiser 1

Tahquitz 4, Temescal Canyon 3

Temecula Prep 9, Desert Christian Academy 1

Temecula Valley 10, Murrieta Mesa 0

Tustin 9, La Palma Kennedy 1

University Prep 4, Hesperia Christian 0

Ventura 14, Santa Paula 0

Viewpoint 14, Milken 6

Village Christian 1, Pioneer Valley 0

Vista Murrieta 13, Murrieta Valley 3

Walnut 3, San Marcos 2

Western 7, Magnolia 3

West Ranch 2, Camarillo 1

Windward 2, Brentwood 1

INTERSECTIONAL

Beckman 2, Central Valley 1

Bishop Union 7, Rosamond 2

Holtville 7, Needles 3

Kern Valley 13, Desert 2

Laguna Hills 7, El Capitan 1

Victor Valley 7, Barstow 2

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Alliance Bloomfield 20, East College Prep 5

Orthopaedic 24, Santee 7

SOUTHERN SECTION

Adelanto 10, Granite Hills 7

Artesia 9, Yucca Valley 2

Cerritos Valley Christian 16, La Palma Kennedy 10

Corona 18, Rancho Mirage 3

Grand Terrace 3, Colton 2

Heritage Christian 11, Calabasas 1

Hesperia Christian 4, University Prep 1

Highland 11, Antelope Valley 0

Littlerock 20, Palmdale 5

Quartz Hill 9, Eastside 2

Santa Fe 11, Whittier 0

St. Genevieve 23, Marymount 3

Sultana 14, Tahquitz 3

Viewpoint 10, Windward 0

Villa Park 6, El Dorado 4

Vista Murrieta 13, Great Oak 3

INTERSECTIONAL

North Torrance 5, Carson 0

Oak Park 14, El Camino Real 0

Corona baseball is receiving some competition in Big VIII League play this season. Norco is supposed to be the Panthers’ primary competition, but it was Corona Santiago handing the Panthers their first defeat Monday.

Troy Randall had three hits and threw three innings of scoreless relief in a 6-2 home victory. The teams play again Wednesday at Corona, with ace Striker Pence on the mound for Santiago.

Santiago (10-2) took advantage of rare wildness by Corona starting pitcher Mason Sims, who walked four in two innings. Randall and starting pitcher Ben Lewis held Corona’s top four batters hitless with eight strikeouts.

Cleveland 6, Chatsworth 2: The Cavaliers continued their march toward third place in the West Valley League. Max Salazar had three hits. Joshua Pearlstein threw a complete game with five strikeouts.

Taft 9, Granada Hills 7: The Toreadors scored three runs in the ninth inning for a West Valley League win. Nathan Swinson had a home run and Julian Antolin recorded three hits and three RBIs. Max Szczech had four hits, including a home run, for Granada Hills.

Garfield 10, Huntington Park 0: Omar Martinez had two hits and two RBIs and Michael Agredano struck out six in 3⅔ innings for Garfield.

South Hills 4, San Dimas 1: Marc Morales threw three scoreless innings of relief for South Hills.

Loyola 12, Paramount 2: Jack Murray contributed three hits for the Cubs.

Etiwanda 19, Los Osos 5: Angel Mejia finished with three hits and seven RBIs, including a grand slam.

SACRAMENTO — With more than 100 fans supporting from the bleachers, Garfield High’s boys’ soccer put on a strong performance at the inaugural CIF state Division V championship game Saturday morning before losing to Ross Branson 2-0 at Natomas High.

Two communication errors on defense proved costly for the Bulldogs, who took a bus from East Los Angeles on Friday, stayed overnight and were set to return after the match.

Coach Pablo Serrano praised his team. “I felt we played outstanding,” he said.

Goalkeeper Javier Zarate turned in another impressive performance. “He can only do so much,” Serrano said.

Zarate, without prodding, went up to CIF executive director Ron Nocetti and thanked him for what will become an annual state soccer championship event.

On Friday, Irvine University won the Division IV boys’ title with a 3-2 win over Del Mar.

Cole Barkett, Jake Raboid and Brendan Leung scored goals.

Sophomore pitcher Carlos Acuna, building upon his outstanding freshman season, threw a one-hit shutout on Friday in Birmingham’s 5-0 West Valley League win over Taft.

He lost his no-hit bid when the first hitter of the seventh inning singled. He finished with seven strikeouts. In 24 innings this season, Acuna is 3-0 with 29 strikeouts, eight walks and a 1.16 earned-run average.

Cypress 14, JSerra 2: Tyler Vladic had five hits and Noah Johnson contributed five RBIs to lead Cypress.

Foothill 7, Cajon 0: Evrett Rycroft struck out two and walked none in six scoreless innings.

Huntington Beach 4, Edison 1: Tanner Brown struck out seven with no walks in six innings and Jared Grindlinger had two hits for the Oilers.

El Camino Real 6, Cleveland 1: Hudson December threw a complete game for the Royals.

Granada Hills 8, Chatsworth 5: Nicholas Penaranda finished with three hits for Granada Hills.

Villa Park 6, La Habra 1: Jack McGuire struck out 10 and threw 6 2/3 innings for Villa Park.

Garfield 3, Venice 2: The Bulldogs scored a run in the ninth on an error to break a 2-2 deadlock. Michael Santillan had three hits for Garfield.

Bell 11, Palisades 3: Jayden Gonzalez had a home run and three RBIs for 10-1 Bell.

Palos Verdes 3, Mira Costa 1: Kai Van Scoyoc struck out nine in 4⅓ innings to lead Palos Verdes.

Fountain Valley 6, Los Alamitos 2: Ethan Cortez had a two-run single for Fountain Valley.

Marina 5, Newport Harbor 4: Three hits from Elijah Herald helped Marina hand Newport Harbor its first loss.

Santa Margarita 19, Los Osos 9: Brody Schumacher drove in seven runs on four hits, including a home run and double.

When a freshman is wondering whether to play sports or focus on academics because of the immense time commitment, it’s usually the parents who have to give a nudge toward one or the other. Except this time, the decision was left to 15-year-old Javier Zarate, and he chose to give up club soccer to try for straight A’s last year at Garfield High.

Last spring, Garfield soccer coach Pablo Serrano, knowing he had a highly regarded goalie on his campus, began a lobbying campaign with emails and text messages inviting him to try out for the Bulldogs’ soccer team.

“He told me if I wanted to give it a shot, I could try out,” Zarate said. “They were very welcoming and nice.”

The rest is going to be part of Garfield sports lore, because Zarate saved three penalty kicks when Garfield won the City Section Division II championship game against Canoga Park and delivered more saves last week in helping the Bulldogs beat Bakersfield Taft 1-0 in the Southern California Division V regional final.

Incredibly, Garfield is headed to Sacramento this week to play in the first CIF state soccer championships, against Branford on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Natomas High.

“I’m super pumped up,” Zarate said.

Who knows how many alumni from Garfield are living in Sacramento or nearby, but they have been known to travel around the country to support their Bulldogs, especially if rival Roosevelt is the opponent. Something tells me there’s going to be a caravan from Boyle Heights headed to Sacramento to provide support.

“I know some will make the drive,” Serrano said.

It’s been a strange season in City Section soccer, with six schools removed from the playoffs for using ineligible players, most of whom played for club teams while also playing tor their high school team, in violation of CIF bylaw 600.

Serrano said there’s always a reminder making sure his players know the rule.

“There’s a lot of soccer going on in this community,” he said. “It’s always a challenge because kids play outside with club. It’s something I do from the beginning of tryouts. We talk to the kids that if they play in a club outside of school, they are not allowed to play high school or vice versa. There’s no excuse,”

In the case of the 5-foot-6 Zarate, he didn’t play any soccer last year while focusing on academics and being part of the school’s ROTC program. His weighted grade-point average is at 4.4. He wants to study to become a firefighter.

“My family motivated me to be academically focused and I found a balance to do both,” he said of his return to soccer.

Goalies are usually much taller than Zarate, but he received lots of lessons on how to overcome the size disadvantage.

“I get that a lot that I’m very short for a goalie,” he said. “As a kid I, got training by a good trainer. He told me, ‘You’re pretty short for a goalie. As long as you can master being able to dive and jump high, you should be as good as them.’”

Garfield finished fourth in the Eastern League behind City Section soccer powers South East and Marquez, both of whom were eliminated after making the semifinals because of ineligible players.

Given the opportunity to get hot in the playoffs, the Bulldogs have done just that. Junior Noe Marmolejo has been the leading goal scorer.

The team is scheduled to take a bus to Sacramento on Friday, stay at a hotel Friday night, rise early for its game on Saturday, then immediately return home. Considering how loyal the Boyle Heights community is, look for lots of fans supporting the team in Sacramento and when that bus returns home.

“It’s an honor,” Serrano said of being the first City team to play for a state soccer title.