Seventh

Redondo Union didn’t care that Mira Costa’s volleyball team was ranked No. 1 in California. This was their South Bay rival coming to their gym Thursday night, and anything can happen when a team digs deep and doesn’t fear losing.

The Sea Hawks (14-2) were aggressive from the outset and came away with a 27-25, 21-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-13 victory.

“Chemistry,” setter Tommy Spalding said about the Sea Hawks’ triumph. He’s one of three players headed to MIT, and all three had big matches.

At one point on back-to-back plays, Carter Mirabal had a block and Vaughan Flaherty followed with a kill off an assist from Spalding. Chemistry.

JR Boice, a Long Beach State commit, was delivering kills, and Cash Essert’s serving and all-around play kept Mira Costa’s Mateo Fuerbringer looking frustrated. The Sea Hawks’ focus was on Fuerbringer, who came alive in the fifth set with six kills, but Redondo was able to come back from an 11-9 deficit.

It was only Mira Costa’s second loss in 25 matches. Redondo Union took over first place in the Bay League.

Baseball

Orange Lutheran 3, Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian 2: The Lancers advanced to the semifinals of the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C., behind a walk-off single in the eighth inning by Andrew Felizzari. Brady Murrietta had tied the score with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh. CJ Weinstein had two doubles for the Lancers.

Venice (Fla.) 12, Harvard-Westlake 0: The Wolverines were limited to three hits at the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C.

Casteel (Queen Creek, Ariz.) 3, St. John Bosco 2: The Braves suffered their first defeat in North Carolina. Jack Champlin threw five innings and also had two RBIs.

Chatsworth 6, Taft 3: Tony Del Rio Nava threw six innings and had two RBIs in the West Valley League win.

Granada Hills 4, El Camino Real 3: A two-run single by Nicholas Penaranda in the seventh inning keyed a three-run inning for the Highlanders in their West Valley League upset. JJ Saffie had three hits for ECR.

Cleveland 4, Birmingham 3: The Cavaliers pushed across a run in the top of the 10th inning to break a 3-3 tie in the West Valley League win. Joshua Pearlstein finished with three hits, including a home run.

Sun Valley Poly 4, San Fernando 2: Fabian Bravo gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Parrots, who are tied with Sylmar for first place in the Valley Mission League. Ray Pelayo struck out eight for San Fernando.

Verdugo Hills 15, Kennedy 1: Cutlor Fannon had two doubles and four RBIs in the five-inning win. Anthony Velasquez added two singles and four RBIs.

Westlake 9, Agoura 4: Jaxson Neckien hit a three-run home run to power the Warriors.

Thousand Oaks 7, Calabasas 5: Gavin Berigan, Jeff Adams and Cru Hopkins each had two hits for the Lancers.

Oaks Christian 11, Newbury Park 2: Dane Disney contributed three hits in the Marmonte League win. Carson Sheffer had two doubles and three RBIs.

Santa Monica 12, Simi Valley 4: Ryan Breslo and Johnny Recendez had two RBIs and a triple for Santa Monica. Ravi Chernack had three RBIs.

Dana Hills 7, Corona Santiago 0: Gavin Giese finished with eight strikeouts over six innings and gave up one hit for Dana Hills.

Softball

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Sierra Canyon 0: Kelsey Luderer contributed three hits and two RBIs while freshman Ainsley Jenkins threw five scoreless innings.

Chaminade 15, Louisville 2: Norah Pettersen had two hits and four RBIs.

Carson 10, San Pedro 0: Atiana Rodriguez finished with three hits, including a double and triple, and three RBIs.

Huntington Beach 6, El Modena 2: Willow Kellen had three hits for the Oilers.

Murrieta Mesa 15, Chaparral 0: It’s a 16-0 start for the Rams. Tatum Wolff hit two home runs.

March 26 (UPI) — Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security after they could not reach terms on a bill 41 days into its shutdown.

A bill to fund all of DHS failed in the Senate for the seventh time, once again along a mostly party line vote, 53 to 47, as the Senate is expected to leave for a two-week recess that includes several members traveling outside the country, The Hill reported.

The is not expected to reconvene until April 13, but the GOP has not ruled out delaying, shortening or canceling the recess.

With the lack of action from Congress, President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he plans to declare a national emergency forcing DHS to pay TSA employees.

“I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Senate Republican majority leader John Thune, R-S.D., who’d earlier called the GOP’s latest plan “our last and final offer,” told reporters on Thursday night the executive order would temporarily relieve “the immediate pressure” on the Senate to solve the situation.

Senators actively negotiated Thursday on the DHS shutdown ahead of Friday’s deadline, which is the start of a two-week Easter recess.

Thune, also, however, kept a procedural vote open on the Senate floor to prevent requests for unanimous consent to fund only TSA as the rest of the funding bill gets worked out.

“Let’s let the Dems react to what’s out there, and hopefully we can find a pathway to drive this to the finish,” CBS News reported Thune said.

He didn’t share details of the plan, but said it’s close to what they offered earlier this week, which Democrats voted down because it didn’t create reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Though recess is scheduled to start this weekend, if the Senate doesn’t agree on a funding bill, Thune said, “I suspect we’ll probably be around here.”

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said Democrats were looking at the offer, but he doesn’t think it’s enough.

“We’re talking through it right now but it’s not where we want it to be,” Kim said. “We just continue to be stuck here.”

He didn’t give details about the offer, but said, “it’s not good enough for me.”

Thune later walked back his “final offer” statement, saying that the GOP senators are willing to work with Democrats to tweak the bill.

“If there’s something that they think needs to be tweaked, one way or the other, as long as that’s a final thing, then we’ll see if it can get done,” Thune said.

“At some point they got to take yes for an answer,” Thune said.

The department has been shut down since Feb. 14 as Democrats and Republicans battle over a funding bill. Democrats don’t want to fund the department without putting some restrictions on ICE enforcement, and Republicans have agreed to some measures but not the ones on which Democrats insist.

Because of this, Transportation Security Administration workers have been working without pay for more than a month. Some are quitting or taking days off work, creating long lines at airports. Trump has sent ICE agents to some airports to help TSA agents.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters this morning that talks have increased.

“We put options in front of the Democrats, and they just need to quit backing up on us and vote to get DHS funded and TSA agents paid,” CBS reported Hoeven said.

“I’m hoping that as we get to the end of this week — you know how it works around here with deadlines — that that’s going to get us to a point where we get it done,” he said. “But we’re still working.”

Thursday morning, President Donald Trump began a Cabinet meeting by saying that Democrats are “really punishing the American people.”

“They need to end the shutdown immediately, or we’ll have to take some very drastic measures,” he said. He didn’t explain what he meant.

The only Democrat who has voted for the Republican bill was Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. Some Democrats fear that other centrists will defect and vote for the Republican bill, The Hill reported.

Some who voted to reopen the government last fall met with White House border czar Tom Homan last week, including Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; and Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats. So far, they haven’t broken with the Democrats, but there is anxiety that they will, The Hill reported.

Kawhi Leonard had 27 points, Darius Garland added 24, and the Clippers beat the Toronto Raptors 119-94 on Wednesday night.

Bennedict Mathurin had 23 off the bench and Brook Lopez scored 11 of his 14 points in the first quarter for the Clippers, who have won three in a row.

The Clippers stayed a half-game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for eighth in the Western Conference.

Brandon Ingram had 18 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili chipped in with 13, but the Raptors have now lost three straight.

Toronto dropped into sixth in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Atlanta Hawks, and is a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers in seventh.

With Lopez setting the tone, the Clippers outscored the Raptors 23-9 over the final 6:10 of the first quarter to open a 14-point lead.

The Raptors found themselves trailing by 22 in the second quarter before a late 11-1 run cut the gap. However, Toronto could have cut into the advantage even more had it capitalized better on 10 offensive rebounds or from the free-throw line, where it shot 14.3% (one for seven) in the period.

Mamukelashvili hit consecutive three-pointers as the Raptors tried to make one more push late in the third quarter, only for the Clippers to pull away again, with Garland making a 35-footer at the buzzer.

The Clippers were 19 for 24 from the free-throw line and outscored Toronto there by 15 points.

Raptors center Jakob Poeltl was briefly forced out of the game after sustaining a cut near his left eye going up for a rebound early in the second quarter and finished with 10 points.

A seventh U.S. soldier has been killed in action during combat in Iran, less than 24 hours after the remains of six service members returned to the United States. The six died in a March 1 Iranian drone attack against a command center they were stationed at in Kuwait. The seventh was killed in Saudi Arabia. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo

March 9 (UPI) — The U.S. military identified the seventh soldier killed in the fighting against Iran as Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Ky.

Pennington was injured during an attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1 at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and later died. He was assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, a unit within Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

“Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East,” U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.

The seven service members have been killed during the first week of Operation Epic Fury, which the United States and Israel launched on Feb. 28.

Since the beginning of the onslaught, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes at its neighbors, some of which host U.S. bases and assets that are being used in the war.

A March 1 retaliatory strike on an Army sustainment unit based in Kuwait killed six service members and injured 18 others, whose remains returned to the United States on Saturday.

Overall, Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 20 people across the region, The New York Times reported, while between 800 and 1,300 hundred people in Iran have died during the widening conflict.

March 8 (UPI) — The Pentagon on Sunday afternoon announced that a seventh U.S. service member has died during the U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran.

The service member was seriously wounded during an attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1, military officials said.

“Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East,” U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.

“Major combat operations continue. The identity of the fallen warrior will be withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification,” CENTCOM said.

The seven service members have been killed during the first week of Operation Epic Fury, which the United States and Israel launched on Feb. 28.

Since the beginning of the onslaught, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes at its neighbors, some of which host U.S. bases and assets that are being used in the war.

A March 1 retaliatory strike on an Army sustainment unit based in Kuwait killed six service members and injured 18 others, whose remains returned to the United States on Saturday.

Overall, Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 20 people across the region, The New York Times reported, while between 800 and 1,300 hundred people in Iran have died during the widening conflict.