Hills

The Sheep’s Head peninsula is clearly a good place to be a skylark. They seem to warble overhead at every turn, singing their little hearts out – and who could blame them? The hills here are high and heathery, the sea breeze is warmed by the Gulf Stream and the edge-of-the-world scenery is a realm of wild green slopes and endless blue Atlantic. If you had to choose a sky to lark in, the one that crowns this County Cork headland is a bona fide wing-quiverer.

The peninsula wows hikers, too. I’ve come to one of the south-westernmost points on the Irish mainland to trek the Sheep’s Head Way, a long-distance trail opened by the local community 30 years ago this summer. It took serious work to complete – more of which later – but it’s a delight. I’m walking the original 55-mile (88km) loop around the peninsula, although a longer, 63-mile option is now considered the official route. The way attracts a fraction of the numbers drawn to the Kerry Way and Dingle Peninsula trail further north, and thanks to its untrammelled paths and rampant, cliff-edged scenery, the rewards are grand, in every sense.

“Ah, you’ll love it,” enthuses Thérése Linehan of Doire Liath B&B in Bantry, having fuelled me with poached eggs and soda bread for breakfast. “People do.” This colour-splashed harbour town, at the landward end of the peninsula, is the route’s start and end point. I’m setting off on a Friday and the waterside square is busy with market stalls: fresh seafood, local artworks, turbo-strength flat whites. A statue of 18th-century revolutionary Wolfe Tone stares out to sea. I dawdle a while in the chilly May sunshine, then walk west.

The early miles wind up into the range of rounded drumlins that form the spine of the peninsula. Wildflowers speckle the gorse verges; boggy paths squelch underfoot. Soon, the views open up. Bantry Bay to the north, Dunmanus Bay to the south and a belt of shaggy-grassed peaks stretching out ahead. Swallows are cavorting in the wind. I turn and see nothing but hills, ridges and sea. Where is everyone?

Despite being almost at the westernmost limits of the European map, the region is no historical hinterland. Folklore holds that Bantry Bay was the place where feet were first planted on Irish soil, in 2680BC. Millennia later, in 1796, the same bay witnessed an attempted landing by a vast French fleet looking to help local resistance forces against English rule, only to be thwarted by storms. I’m luckier with the weather. Today the bay is sun-stippled and marble smooth.

The themes of this first day – near-empty trails, unbridled scenery, spring birdlife and heady history – set the tone for those that follow. The loop walk is traditionally split into five or six days – I’m doing it in five. For the first two, with crags and coastal meadows cascading around me, I pass only sheep. Cuckoos sound from woodland patches, stonechats flit between rocks, squadrons of hooded crows glide overhead. High, lonely stiles come in their dozens; abandoned 1840s stone homesteads stand sentry above the sea.

At one point the trail ascends to a 345m (1,130ft) viewpoint known as Finn McCool’s Seat, where the legendary giant is said to have sat and rested. I do the same, gazing at the peninsulas further north. I don’t know whether, like me, McCool was sapped enough to wolf down two packets of Taytos while he lingered.

There are few settlements on the first half of the anticlockwise route, so prearranged road transfers take me to and from Bantry to the trail on the first two days. The town has the advantage of myriad pubs and restaurants. Ma Murphys bar, 185 years old, does a fine drop of Murphy’s – which often outsells Guinness in these parts – and sets things up nicely for what is arguably the scenic climax (and far and away the busiest part) of the walk, a roller-coaster trek on Day 3 out to the lighthouse on the promontory’s furthest cliffs.

I reach it in early afternoon. The sea is huge and aglitter. Gannets patrol the waves. To the south, across Dunmanus Bay, is Mizen Head, traditionally the last finger of Irish land seen by people sailing to North America. The Sheep’s Head path now spins on its heel and heads east, past a wayside shrine and a tea-and-toasties cafe. Within half an hour the trail is deserted again, its yellow markers leading back into the tussocky green of the hills.

The trail is so well signed that it’s easy to overlook the complexity of shaping a hike around an entire peninsula. The Sheep’s Head Way has an office in the village of Kilcrohane, my base for that night, where I meet local farmer James O’Mahony. Now 82, he was one of the original mid-1990s founders of the trail, along with the late Tom Whitty, a Philadelphian who fell in love with the region. They envisaged a hike that would promote the peninsula’s charms to the full, benefiting not just walkers but local communities. Setting it up, however, required effort.

“There’s no crown land in Ireland, it’s all freehold,” explains James, speaking softly in a thick Cork accent. “We had 265 different landowners to speak to, all on the route. Some of the farmers couldn’t believe their land might appeal to hikers. They’d say, ‘Why would anyone want to walk my old hill?’” He chuckles. “One of the aims was also to keep our old pathways alive. Lots of them were funeral paths, mass paths, church paths. That was very important.”

The trail took 18 months to complete. While never overcrowded, it has won wide recognition, including a European Destination of Excellence Award in 2009 for “respecting its protected environment while meeting the needs of local residents and visitors”. All landowners on the route still receive an upkeep payment from the government’s rural affairs department, a committee of volunteers oversees the trail and a small, grant-funded team of workers is tasked with maintaining it.

The next day, I’m back on the trail. The 11-mile stretch from Kilcrohane to Durrus, my last staging post before a final day’s walk back to Bantry, is as all-enfolding as all that’s come before. There are historical gems – including a bronze age stone circle and the ruins of a bardic school that, by some local accounts, can claim to be one of Europe’s oldest universities – and more of those coastal views.

There’s a feeling you get when you complete a long-distance trail, a sweet fatigue that holds a sense of the miles walked. This is a special corner of a special county, and the trail that snakes its way around the peninsula – soggy in places, steep in others, but rarely less than spectacular – is one to be celebrated.

The trip was provided by Tourism Ireland and Ireland Walk Bike Hike, which offers seven-day Sheep’s Head Way sel-guided packages, with five days of hiking, B&B accommodation, transfers and luggage transfers from €885. Five-day packages also available. For more information on the Sheep’s Head Way, visit thesheepsheadway.com

Scheffler’s score was deceptively good on a day when gusting winds reached 40mph and ensured that the greens became firmer and even more perilous.

Only one other player, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo – who moved to level par for the championship after signing for a three-under 67 – broke the par score of 70.

It was attritional. As US Opens often are. Ten players began the day under par. By the end, there were only five.

The third-round scoring average was 73.61, the highest of the championship.

It took one hour and 50 minutes for the first birdie to be registered, one of only two in 70 combined holes played by the field over the opening two hours.

Scheffler’s performance was all the more impressive given he bogeyed the first two holes and his resurgence arrived entirely on the harder back nine.

A birdie on the 10th provided some impetus but his chip-in on the 14th followed by an outpouring of emotion signalled a shift in momentum.

Further birdies at the 15th and 16th helped him play the final nine holes in 32 shots, matching the lowest score of the week.

But Clark’s lead was barely threatened.

Unheralded American Stevens briefly got within two shots at four under par but he was one of several players whose challenge faded on the back nine.

Rory McIlroy was another. The Northern Irishman had a hat-trick of birdies from the fifth, one of which was a sensational 66-foot putt, to get to two under but five bogeys in his closing nine holes derailed his title hopes.

And Fitzpatrick’s hopes of adding to his 2022 US Open triumph were all but sunk by a ruinous run of three successive bogeys to start his round.

The normally unflappable Yorkshireman, playing in the final group with Clark, had started four back at three under but by the final hole his frustration was evident after he hacked out of deep rough and then overhit a chip. It led to a fifth bogey of the round as he finished eight off the pace.

Those at one under know they need to shoot low on Sunday and hope Clark makes mistakes.

Perhaps they will follow Fleetwood in taking inspiration from the last US Open held at this Long Island layout when the Englishman shot a 63 in 2018’s final round as he came from six back to finish one behind champion Brooks Koepka.

Fleetwood, who will start eight adrift said: “We’ll see what conditions bring. It’s nice when you have good memories of a place, isn’t it? I have great shots to go off and good feelings, so you know, I can draw on that.”

But equally Clark knows that if he can emulate the only three players to have finished under par at a Shinnecock Hills US Open – Ray Floyd in winning in 1986, and champion Retief Goosen and runner-up Phil Mickelson in 2004 – then the title is likely his.

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The USGA set up a different golf course at Shinnecock Hills to keep it playable in strong wind. And when the wind subsided late Thursday afternoon, Wyndham Clark looked like he was playing in a different U.S. Open.

Clark seized on a more gentle course — slightly calmer and still soft with receptive greens — by pulling away late to reach six-under-par through 16 holes.

He left in darkness with a four-shot lead over seven players, one of them Oklahoma junior Ryder Cowan, another the surprisingly resurgent Dustin Johnson.

Rory McIlroy thought he had made a fine effort with a 69 in gusts that topped 30 mph in the middle of the day, when the scoring average was well above 74. The afternoon started tough until the wind kept subsiding, and players began taking aim at flags. The afternoon wave was playing at least a stroke easier than the early starters who faced relentless wind.

“Everything was kind of clicking,” said Clark, who came into the U.S. Open playing as well as anyone. “We were definitely fortunate with the wind laying down. Overall a good round.”

Shinnecock was still a brute of a test, but the red numbers on the white scoreboard were an unfamiliar site for this course. When play was suspended by darkness, 17 players were under par.

Xander Schauffele hits his tee shot on the ninth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Friday.

(George Walker IV / Associated Press)

The lowest opening round in the previous five U.S. Opens at Shinnecock is 66, last done by three players in 2004.

Cowan birdied his last hole for a 68 to join former Sooner Max McGreevy and former Oklahoma State player Sam Stevens, the only one of that trio who faced the harsh wind of the morning wave.

Johnson, in his final year of being exempt from the U.S. Open he won at Oakmont in 2016, ran off four straight birdies and was tied with Clark after 13 holes. But Johnson failed to get up-and-down for birdie on the easy par-five fifth, where Clark made eagle. And then Johnson three-putted from short range for double bogey on the sixth to fall four shots behind.

Scottie Scheffler, who needs the U.S. Open to complete the career Grand Slam, battled all day and relied heavily on his short game to salvage a 72. It was his 10th consecutive U.S. Open round without breaking par, but at the time it left him only four shots out of the lead.

Clark, who won the U.S. Open in Los Angeles three years ago, changed the look of the leaderboard. He was to return Friday morning to complete the round, then head out for the second round in wind expected to be not as strong.

One key to his round might have happened some five hours before he even showed up.

Thirty minutes after the round began, play was stopped because of fog so dense it was difficult to see the fairway and the green on the par-three 11th. The two-hour delay pushed back tee times.

The forecast was for the strongest wind of the week during the brightest part of Thursday.

“I would say when I got my tee times on Tuesday, I was like, ‘Oh, could be a tough draw,’” Clark said. “That two-hour fog delay was very helpful, and it was really nice it laid down. So it definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played.”

His golf wasn’t too shabby, either. Clark started on No. 10 and opened with two quick birdies. He went out in 32 to get his name atop the leaderboard. And after missing an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and failing to save par from a bunker on the long par-three second, he took off.

He hit wedge to five feet on No. 3 for birdie, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the next and then from 207 yards with some wind at his back, he hit his second on the par-five fifth to within three feet for eagle.

When Johnson faltered, Clark had plenty of breathing room — and a quick turnaround.

The wind was so strong and the conditions so severe that it took Scheffler’s group nearly three hours to complete nine holes. There was a question the round could have finished even without the fog delay.

Only 27 out of the 77 players from the afternoon wave — Jason Day withdrew because of a back injury — finished the first round.

Dustin Johnson reacts after missing a putt on the sixth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Friday.

(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

Johnson was joined by three other U.S. Open champions — Matt Fitzpatrick (2022), Gary Woodland (2019) and Jon Rahm (2021) — at two under, with all still having holes to play.

Rahm, who had a chance in the final hour at the PGA Championship, was bogey-free and reached two under by making a 60-foot birdie putt on the par-three 17th hole.

Stevens overcame a double bogey to start his round — a hole that took him over two hours to play because of the fog — and strung together six birdies for his 68.

“The greens haven’t been too firm, the fairways haven’t been too firm, so I’ve really felt like it’s pretty scorable,” said Stevens, who had only his second sub-70 round in his fourth U.S. Open. “Obviously, it’s difficult, but overall it’s an awesome place. I think the setup is great right now.”

For half of the opening round, the USGA appeared to have the ideal test. Coming off two Opens at Shinnecock when the course got out of control, it slowed greens to 10 1/2 on the Stimpmeter — rare for any major, much less the U.S. Open — and keep plenty of water on the putting surfaces.

It was all because of the wind, which did not disappoint. The sustained wind approached 25 mph, and gusts were even stronger. And if that wasn’t enough, it shifted directions in the middle of the day.

“It was tough around here without wind, and then it was blowing pretty hard — really hard,” Keegan Bradley said after a 70. “The USGA did a great job setting the course up because if the greens were any faster or firmer, we might not be playing right now.”

But they played, it became more ideal with each passing hour late in the afternoon.

The lord of the rings works behind a nondescript door in a Beverly Hills office building, not far from the UCLA campus where he once sold hair clips and trinkets from a folding table. Jason Arasheben was $28,000 in debt back then, running low on options. Now, eight of the past 11 NBA champions have worn his jewelry on their fingers.

Super Bowl winners have his rings, too — the Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles and the Seattle Seahawks, whose players opened their ornate jewelry boxes at a private team party Thursday night to find the prize every NFL player covets.

The Seahawks ring, large as a child’s fist, is encrusted with 20 carats of white diamonds and blue sapphires. It’s a miniature Lumen Field, featuring the hawk-head logo and two Lombardi Trophies. The top lifts off and converts into a pendant. Inside is a cowhide segment of a game-used football. Twelve flags on the sides nod to the “12th Man” fan base; one is a secret button — push it and the arches pop out to reveal the words “World Champions.”

A look at the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl ring celebrating their 2025 season championship.

(ONROPE studios; Jason Arasheben)

Even the box performs. Three tiny spotlights shine on the ring as it rotates on a mechanical platform. Each weighs about a third of a pound.

“It’s a memento to a certain period of time,” said Arasheben, who concedes the rings are closer to trophies than wearable jewelry. He competes for ring contracts with Tiffany & Co. and Jostens, both much larger operations. “It celebrates this time that these players and these fans will remember forever.”

His rings appraise for $50,000 to $250,000, though the market can push them higher. In 2024, Kobe Bryant’s 2000 Lakers ring sold at auction for $927,000, the highest price ever paid for an NBA title ring, topping Bill Russell’s 1957 ring at $705,000.

Beverly Hills jewler Jason Arasheben is

(Ric Tapia / For The Times)

NFL franchises typically order two or three times what NBA, NHL or MLB teams request — as many as 3,000 rings in four quality tiers. Lower-level employees might get cubic zirconia instead of diamonds. A limited number of fan versions are available at smaller scale and lower price. Arasheben always builds two extra into his contract so each of his sons can have one.

A career in luxury jewelry was never the plan. He grew up in Granada Hills and Calabasas; his Iranian father and Norwegian mother envisioned a doctor, lawyer or engineer. At UCLA, he found himself more interested in bars than books.

“I was $28,000 in debt because I enjoyed going out far too much, like every other college student,” he said.

One day he tagged along with a friend to the wholesale district downtown and had a flash of inspiration. She was buying plastic hair clips and silver trinkets by the dozen. He figured he could sell them to girls on campus.

He pitched the idea of a folding table to the university, which agreed when he offered to split the profits. He bought $400 worth of tchotchkes. One table became two, then six locations across Southern California campuses.

Then came the motherlode. He built acrylic display cases holding 30 to 40 pieces and drove from Agoura Hills to San Diego, stopping at every nail salon he could find, splitting the profits with owners who let him put a case on the counter. By his senior year, he had agreements with roughly 350 salons and was clearing $25,000 to $30,000 a month.

After college, as a regular on the L.A. nightclub scene, Arasheben built relationships with professional athletes and celebrities. He would go home and sketch chain designs for players he’d met, knowing nothing about the jewelry industry.

“Finally, an NBA player said, ‘Why don’t you come to my hotel room tomorrow before we play the Lakers and bring all the jewelry you have? I’m going to buy something from you,’” said Arasheben, describing an encounter with the late Anthony Mason.

Problem was, he had no jewelry. He spent the night cutting pictures from magazines and downloading images to create a makeshift catalog, then promised Mason a custom $40,000 necklace. Mason put down $20,000.

Arasheben went downtown, knocked on doors and found somebody to make it for $37,000. A new business was born, growing by word of mouth. Eventually he had four employees and a small office downtown, outsourcing most of his work.

Through his friendship with Jim Buss, son of owner Jerry Buss, Arasheben landed the contract to make the Lakers’ 2009 championship ring. It was a mad scramble. He and his employees slept in sleeping bags on the factory floor the final two weeks of production.

“We delivered the very last player ring 20 minutes before the ceremony began,” he said. “The ring ceremony was on national television, and can you imagine if they had to announce the rings weren’t ready? My career would have been over before it started.”

He made the Lakers ring in 2010, too, and five years later — through relationships with several Golden State players — produced four championship rings for the Warriors.

Tom Brady saw LeBron James’ ring during the 2020 offseason and convinced the Buccaneers to go with Arasheben.

A lot of Arasheben’s rings have James Bond elements such as secret compartments or special elements. The top comes off the miniature SoFi Stadium on the Rams ring, for instance, and the field below is made of a melted-down patch of the actual artificial turf. The World Series ring of the Texas Rangers features a tiny circle of leather from a game-used baseball.

He first incorporated a special feature in the 2018 Warriors ring, when a star player objected to a blue face and wanted white, only weeks from delivery. Arasheben devised a mechanism allowing the face to switch colors.

Jason Arasheben poses with some of the sports championship rings he has crafted over the years.

(Ric Tapia / For The Times)

“We started getting a lot of championship ring contracts after that,” he said. “Because we took it to a new level and showed some ingenuity. We wanted to be innovative.”

Push a button on the Eagles’ ring and wings pop out on the sides. Arasheben came up with that idea while shopping for a Buzz Lightyear toy for his nephew.

Buzz, too, has wings that pop out.

“I thought, ‘I can do that for the Eagles, but with amazing gold and diamonds,’” he said.

He will put a proposal together to make the medals for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Then there’s the one that got away.

“We lost out on the L.A. Dodgers,” Arasheben said. “They went with a company based in Canada instead of the hometown team, which broke my heart. But you know, that’s part of the business. You take your lumps.

“But I’ll still pitch. Every year, I pitch.”

Steve Baik, who coached Chino Hills to an unbeaten basketball season in 2016 led by brothers Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball, is returning to high school basketball. Calabasas announced on Wednesday he will be its new basketball coach.

Baik, who left Chino Hills and then guided Fairfax to a City Section Open Division championship in 2019, has long been considered an outstanding coach. He recently has been living and helping develop high school and youth players in Tennessee. He will replace veteran coach Jon Palarz, who retired from coaching.

“He reached out to me,” Calabasas athletic director Thomas Cassidy said. “He’s in the process of moving back. In talking to him, he had a lot of respect for coach Palarz and felt it was a good place to come back and build a program and have success. He blew us away. I was hoping we could work it out. We were able to put it together.”

Now the question is whether LaVar Ball, the father of the Ball brothers who Baik worked with at Chino Hills in sometimes much-publicized ways, will make an appearance in the Calabasas gym.

The Granada Hills and Carson softball programs know each other so well they might as well put on their MaxPreps schedule before the season a date for their annual game to decide the City Section Open Division championship.

It’s happening for a fourth consecutive season Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Legacy High in South Gate. Last season, Granada Hills ended a three-game losing streak to the Colts.

On Wednesday, both teams won their semifinal games. Granada Hills’ No. 1 and No. 2 batters in the lineup, Elysse Diaz and Zoe Justman, had big games in a 12-9 win over San Pedro. They combined to go five for eight with five RBIs. Justman had a home run. Gina Evangelista hit an inside-the-park grand slam.

San Pedro scored five runs in the seventh to give the Highlanders a little scare.

At Carson, the Colts came away with a 12-2 semifinal win over Birmingham. Sophomore Anaiyah Popoalii had a home run, double and three RBIs. Olivia Lomeli went three for four with three RBIs. Pitcher Isabella Campos threw a complete game.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The greatest day in high school baseball for City Section players is when you make it to the Open Division or Division I championship game and get to play on Dodger Stadium. Another memorable day happened on Saturday.

The Field of Dreams

Verdugo Hills players celebrate a 3-1 win over Taft in the City Section Division I final on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

For Birmingham and Verdugo Hills, there was a celebration at Dodger Stadium after winning the City Open Division and Division I championships, respectively. But runner-ups Taft and El Camino Real got their moment of appreciation and memories, too.

It’s become clear to win the Open Division, the key requirement is having three pitchers. Birmingham’s two starters, Carlos Acuna and Nathan Soto, did their job. Acuna (11-0) had complete games in the first round and semifinals. Closer Aidan Martinez was waiting to be called upon and delivered at Dodger Stadium in support of Soto with four strikeouts in two innings.

Even with its pitching, Birmingham still needed someone to deliver a clutch hit in a 4-2 win. It was the improbable that happened. Masen Ruiz, who hadn’t come to the plate since May 7 while stuck on the bench, hit a three-run triple to break open the game after being put in as a defensive replacement. Here’s the report.

Verdugo Hills was the biggest surprise. The Dons entered the playoffs at 10-18 after finishing fourth in the Valley Mission League and defeated Taft 3-1. Anthony Velasquez threw a complete game, but the story was the Dons’ defense, from the infielders to the outfielders. Here’s the report.

Baseball

Lachlan Clark of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame will be on the mound against Norco. He threw a shutout the last time he faced the Cougars.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The Southern Section Division 1 semifinals are set for Tuesday, and no one knows who’s going to make it to Cal State Fullerton. The games could go either way, with Harvard-Westlake at St. John Bosco and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Norco.

The last time Lachlan Clark faced Norco two weeks ago, he threw a shutout. He’s expected to face left-hander Landon Hovermale. It’s Notre Dame’’s first road game of the playoffs. Harvard-Westlake is also facing its first road game against the defending Division 1 champions.

Norco received a tremendous performance from Jordan Ayala in a 3-0 win over Orange Lutheran. He struck out 10 with no walks and also hit a home run. James Clark hit two home runs and Julian Garcia struck out 14 in St. John Bosco’s 5-2 win over La Mirada.

Here’s a report from Friday’s semifinals.

Newport Harbor and Laguna Beach are surging in the playoffs. Here’s a report.

Birmingham and El Camino Real have chosen to opt out of the state baseball playoffs. Pairings will be announced Sunday. It’s likely the final time that teams decide they don’t want to play in state playoffs because next season the first state championship games will take place, motivating schools to participate.

Softball

Liliana Escobar of JSerra threw a shutout in 1-0 win over Garden Grove Pacifica.

(Dylan Stewart)

The Southern Section Division 1 final in softball will take place probably Saturday with JSerra facing La Mirada at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

The playoffs have been about the dominant performances of JSerra pitcher Liliana Escobar, who struck out 14 in eliminating defending champion Norco 2-0 last week.

The Southern Section will release final dates and times for its championships Monday.

In the City Section, Carson and Granada Hills could be headed for fourth straight final. First they each have to win their Wednesday semifinal games. Granada Hills hosts San Pedro and Carson hosts Birmingham. The championship game is expected to be Saturday in Long Beach.

Track

The moment Lawrence Kensinger of Venice broke a 53-year-old City Section record in the shotput with a mark of 65-11.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Things couldn’t have been more exciting at the City Section track and field finals when Lawrence Kensinger of Venice broke the second-longest held record in the shotput. It was set in 1973 and he obliterated it with a staggering mark of 65-11 putting him squarely in the competetion for a state title at the CIF state championships Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

Here’s a story on Kensinger’s massive accomplishment.

At the Southern Section Masters Meet, there were plenty of outstanding marks in the girls’ competition, and sprinter Benjamin Harris of Servite set himself up to win multiple state titles. Here’s a look at top qualifiers.

Volleyball

Mira Costa has proven itself to be the No. 1 boys volleyball team in the state and the Mustangs are one win away from a Division I title. They face Northern California champion Northgate on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Fresno City College.

They’ve already accomplished what few teams have done — beat rival Loyola in three matches this season. They won the Southern California regional title with a five-set win over the Cubs.

Golf

The Southern California Regional championships are set for Thursday.

Austin Downing of San Marcos won the individual championship.

Notes . . .

Richard Simms has resigned after 21 years as girls’ soccer coach at Harvard-Westlake. His teams won four CIF championships and 18 Mission League titles. He coached the Thompson sisters, Alyssa and Gisele. Another Thompson sister is arriving in the fall….

In tennis, Harvard-Westlake continued its success by winning the Southern California Regional championship….

Steve Kennedy has resigned as softball coach at Newbury Park….

Loyola track star Ejam Yohannes has committed to Stanford….

Ernest Baskerville has resigned after seven years as basketball coach at South Pasadena….

Hurdler Peyton Brown from Trabuco Hills has committed to Cal Poly….

Terrence Worthy is the new basketball coach at West Covina….

Orange Lutheran announced that the Orange Police Department is investigating “a serious allegation” made against a former staff member believed to have worked with the football program….

Sage Hill has promoted Jethro Julian to girls basketball coach after being the interim coach last season….

Dezi Delgado, who was all-Mission League as a sophomore baseball player at Sierra Canyon, said he is transferring to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame for his senior year….

From the archives: Trent Grindlinger

Former Huntington Beach catcher Trent Grindlinger.

(Nick Koza)

After a terrific high school career playing catcher for Huntington Beach, Trent Grindlinger has been equally impressive as a freshman for Tennessee.

He led the team going into last week’s SEC tournament action with a .357 batting average, eight home runs and 28 RBIs.

His younger brother, Jared, is expected to be a first-round pick in this summer’s amateur draft.

Here’s a story from 2024 on the Grindlinger family of baseball players.

Recommendations

From the Los Angeles Times, a look at former Gardena Serra receiver Marqise Lee going back to earn his degree at USC.

From Philadelphiabaseballreview, a story on a youth pitcher throwing 160 pitches.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on three-year JV player JJ Saffie of El Camino Real taking advantage of his opportunity to finally play varsity. He had two hits at Dodger Stadium.

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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Verdugo Hills, the fourth-place finisher in the Valley Mission League with a 10-18 record entering the City Section Division I playoffs, completed a remarkable turnaround on Saturday, winning its fourth consecutive playoff game to take home the Division I title with a 3-1 victory over Taft at Dodger Stadium.

No one was picking the Dons in this one. They had used their two best pitchers in a 10-inning semifinal win over top-seeded Sylmar. But coach Angel Espindola had a plan.

“I’ve got tricks up my sleeve,” he said.

Anthony Velasquez threw a complete-game one-hitter while relying on his defense to make the routine plays and deal with six walks and only one strikeout. At the plate, the hero was first baseman Cutlor Fannon. He had an RBI double in the first inning and an RBI single in the seventh.

But there was drama in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Toreadors’ Victor Jara represented the tying run at the plate with two outs. He hit probably the hardest ball of the day to deep left field.

“The last one scared me,” Velasquez said as he watched left fielder Moises Rodriguez stick out his glove running to catch it and start a victory celebration.

Rodriguez said he “felt all my emotions running through me” as he chased down the fly ball.

“It was surreal,” he said.

Verdugo Hills pitcher Anthony Velasquez threw a complete game in 3-1 win over Taft at Dodger Stadium.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

Espindola’s best coaching moment came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Taft drew consecutive walks from Velasquez with one out. Espindola went to the mound for a pitcher conference.

“Relax,” is what he told Velasquez.

Then Taft hit into an inning-ending double play.

Verdugo Hills’ fielders more than handled the Dodger Stadium environment. Catcher Miguel Wong threw out a runner trying to steal second. Outfielders Rodriguez, Jack Iafrate and Jessie Olmos combined to catch seven fly balls. And third baseman D’Angelo Duran and shortstop Ethan Sanchez were flawless on ground balls.

As for what happened in the playoffs, Rodriguez said, “We changed our perspective to playing baseball instead of doing baseball. It was let’s have fun.”

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.

(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.