EXTRA INNINGS PREP SOFTBALL NEWS AND FEATURES FROM AROUND THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY ... AND BEYOND.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. ; Gerry Gittelson and Erik Boal contributed. DAILY NEWS VICTORY SPRING CLASSIC DAILY NEWS SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT The Daily News Victory Spring Classic concludes Saturday at Hjelte Park in Encino. Here are the match-ups: GOLD BRACKET: El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
Outlook: Both semifinals are rematches from earlier this season. Royal beat Westlake 2-1 on March 24, and El Camino Real beat Agoura 1-0 on March 2. Royal, which had posted four consecutive shutouts before Tuesday's 10-1 romp over Moorpark and has outscored its past five opponents opponents 46-1, is the favorite. SILVER BRACKET: Oaks Christian of Woodland Hills vs. L.A. Baptist of North Hills, 1:30 p.m.; Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks vs. Alemany of Mission Hills, 1:30 p.m.; championship, 3:30 p.m.; third-place game, 3:30 p.m. Outlook: Oaks Christian looked like a heavy favorite to win this group, but L.A. Baptist showed it could hang with, and beat, the best with its 4-0 upset of defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre Chaminade of West Hills. Mission League rivals Alemany and Notre Dame also proved their mettle. BRONZE BRACKET: Newbury Park vs. Birmingham of Lake Balboa, 9 a.m.; Granada Hills vs. Village Christian of Sun Valley, 9 a.m.; championship, 11 a.m.; third-place game, 11 a.m. Outlook: Newbury Park split two extra-inning games Saturday, beating Chaminade of West Hills 6-5 in nine innings and losing to El Camino Real of Woodland Hills 4-3 in eight innings. The Panthers are a heavy favorite in this division, but Birmingham and Granada Hills are dangerous. Village Christian looked overmatched against Westlake, then pulled an upset with an 11-6 victory over San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. . COPPER BRACKET: Harvard-Westlake of Studio City vs. Chaminade of West Hills, 9 a.m.; Burroughs of Burbank vs. San Fernando, 9 a.m.; championship, 11 a.m.; third-place game, 11 a.m. Outlook: The bottom bracket's field is strong. Chaminade, the defending champion, has beaten some of the best area teams this year. Burroughs is scrappy, with strong offensive weapons in juniors Kimmie White and Sara Burdrick and freshman Kerry Hodgins. San Fernando always is dangerous with senior pitcher Selena Salazar. KEEPING TABS It's hard to determine who is hotter, Cambria Miranda or the Oregon State softball team. The Beavers have a 22-game winning streak Noun 1. winning streak - a streak of wins streak, run - an unbroken series of events; "had a streak of bad luck"; "Nicklaus had a run of birdies" and a 7-0 mark in the Pacific-10 Conference The Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Membership Full members . Miranda, a Camarillo High standout, leads the team in batting (.377) and slugging (.652). Former Newbury Park standout Oli Keohohou is making an impact at Long Beach State. Keohohou, a three-time All-American at BYU BYU Brigham Young University BYU Bayou BYU Bob's Your Uncle BYU Bayreuth, Germany - Bindlacher Berg (Airport Code) BYU Beyond Your Understanding , transferred last year. She took classes at Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. while waiting, until the end of March, to gain academic eligibility at Long Beach State. Keohohou is 8 for 13 with two home runs and seven RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in in her first six games. Long Beach State opens a critical three-game series Friday at home against Cal State Northridge. Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith (born December 16, 1969 in Rathcoole, County Dublin), now more commonly referred to by her married name, Michelle de Bruin, is an Irish former swimmer. continues to impress in her freshman season at Stanford. The former Agoura High standout hit her team-leading 11th home run of the season and knocked in four runs Saturday in the Cardinal's 6-3 victory over Washington. She hit her 12th home run the next day in a 4-3 victory. LEAGUE UPDATES GOLDEN Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley of Lancaster pitcher Jessi Dunn has accepted a full scholarship to Dixie State Community College in St. George, Utah St. George is a city located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and the county seat of Washington County, Utah.GR6 It is the principal city of and is included in the St. George, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. . Dunn, who carries a 4.2 GPA GPA abbr. grade point average Noun 1. GPA - a measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university; calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted , wants to transfer to a four-year college after completing her associate degree at Dixie State, one of the top community college programs in the country. ``I think she's going to explode in college,'' Antelope Valley coach Giselle Neumann said. ``I really think she's just going to get better and better. This is just the beginning for her.'' Dunn has been one of the Golden League's hardest throwers the past three years, but she lost 5-7 mph last year while experimenting with new pitches. She mastered those pitches and is throwing in the mid-60s again. FOOTHILL Construction is forcing Saugus to play its home games at Central Park in Saugus or the William S. Hart Softball Complex in Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, . Coach Rich Perez said the Centurions likely will play at the off-campus sites for at least two seasons during remodeling remodeling /re·mod·el·ing/ (re-mod´el-ing) reorganization or renovation of an old structure. bone remodeling . Central Park is just a few blocks from the Saugus campus. Saugus played its first home game Tuesday, a 1-0 victory against Burbank. ``We were getting pretty used to away games,'' Saugus coach Rich Perez said. ``It'll be nice to finally have a home game.'' ... Burroughs of Burbank did some team bonding last week. The Indians swept a doubleheader against Frazier Mountain Frazier Mountain is a mountain (or peak) that is located near Frazier Park, California and Lake of the Woods, California to the north. Frazier Mountain is 8,026 feet (2446 m) of Lebec to climb above .500, then spent the night at the Frazier Mountain cabin of assistant coach John Dilbert. ``We had a great time, won two games, ate a lot and did some quality team building,'' coach Jen Gomez said. MARMONTE Royal of Simi Valley's Becca Heteniak would have been the top pitcher for a lot of area schools last season, but the Highlanders had two experienced seniors, Jordan McPherson and Mercedes Lovato. Heteniak is 6-1 this year with three shutouts and a 0.35 ERA. She is batting .370 with six extra-base hits and 11 RBI. ``We've got a lot of good pitchers,'' Royal shortstop Andi Ramirez said. ``But we had two good seniors, so she had to wait. She's doing really well now.'' MISSION Alemany of Mission Hills junior shortstop Sara Ramirez makes a scorekeeper's life miserable. Her outstanding range and strong arm forces scorekeepers to adjust their expectations when the ball is hit to her. A tough ball in the hole is an easy play for Ramirez. So, how do you score the play when Ramirez doesn't get to a ball she normally would - a ball most shortstops wouldn't come close to? It happened Saturday, when Alemany's Jennifer Day took a no-hitter through 6 2/3 innings Saturday in a 6-0 victory over Granada Hills. The no- hitter was broken up by Michelle Reeves infield single, a flair that a diving Ramirez couldn't reach. ``It's a hit, but it's tough, because she normally makes that play,'' Alemany coach Regina Hernandez said. ``She catches balls out in left field. She gets everything.'' WEST VALLEY Granada Hills senior Michelle Reeves can ``hang ten'' almost as well as she can hit a hanging dropball. Reeves, an accomplished surfer, hits the waves at least once or twice a week, anywhere from Ventura to Huntington Beach Huntington Beach, city (1990 pop. 181,519), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast, across from Santa Catalina Island, in an oil-producing area; inc. 1909. It manufactures aerospace vehicles, aircraft parts, optical instruments, and heat transfer equipment. , and she speaks the lingo Lingo - An animation scripting language. [MacroMind Director V3.0 Interactivity Manual, MacroMind 1991]. like a professional. ``I love it,'' she said. ``I've had a few wipeouts, but nothing serious. The other day, I dropped in and got tubed a little.'' Translation: She surfed inside a wave and got caught in the curl, leading to a wipeout. WHO'S HOT CANOGA PARK After four consecutive losses to Verdugo Hills, Canoga Park finally broke through with a 5-1 victory last Thursday. The Hunters improved to 10-0 and have the inside track to the Sunset Six League title. Not bad for the smallest comprehensive high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . Canoga Park's 2,000-strong student body is less than half its league rivals'. Four Canoga Park players are hitting .400 or better. Stacy Milne leads the team with a .750 average and 24 stolen bases, followed by Sara Hasenfuss (.538), Andrena Calix calix /ca·lix/ (ka´liks) pl. ca´lices [L.] calyx. ca·lix or ca·lyx n. pl. ca·li·ces or ca·ly·ces 1. A flower-shaped or funnel-shaped structure. (.444) and Antonia Reyes (.400). ``We were really excited,'' catcher Riane Johnson said. ``We were much more serious than we've been.'' PALMDALE The Falcons have been at the bottom of the Golden League the past couple of years, but that could be changing. Palmdale upset Quartz Hill 4-3 Tuesday, pulling within one game of first place with six games remaining. Senior pitcher Ashley Thomas Ashley Thomas is the name of a fictional character in ITV's soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by John Middleton. About Ashley The character Ashley Thomas is vicar of Emmerdale. leads the team with a .400 batting average and 0.98 ERA. ANDI RAMIREZ, ROYAL BYU-bound shortstop leads Royal of Simi Valley with a .567 average and .649 on-base percentage. She's not a prototypical leadoff batter, but she makes the best contact, and coach Bill Dishon said she's the fastest player on the Highlanders. Ramirez leads the team with four stolen bases and 14 runs in 10 games. SAMANTHA TAKASHITA, THOUSAND OAKS Freshman shortstop leads Thousand Oaks with a .459 average, seven extra-base hits and six stolen bases. She has three home runs, 12 RBI and three triples. SELENA SALAZAR, SAN FERNANDO Salazar has struggled as a pitcher with arm soreness this year, but she's made up for it with her bat. Salazar was a single away from hitting for the cycle In baseball, a player hits for the cycle when he hits a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game, though not necessarily in that order. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a natural cycle. in Monday's critical 5-2 victory over Sylmar. ASHLEE VEILLEUX, OAKS CHRISTIAN Veilleux has given up three or fewer hits in each of her seven starts for Oaks Christian of Westlake Village. The senior right-hander has 38 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings. TAYLOR SCHLOPY, OAKS CHRISTIAN The sophomore is 9 for 12 with two RBI and five runs in her past four games. She pitched a no-hitter, striking out Tuesday against Nordhoff of Ojai. SHAYNE LOTITO, VASQUEZ Lotito left Vasquez if Acton last August and transferred to Valencia High so she could play with better competition and experience life at a bigger school. At the time, she was being recruited by Dartmouth and thought she needed to prove herself academically and athletically on a larger stage. Southern Section transfer rules prevented Lotito from playing for Valencia - her family didn't change residences - and she returned to Vasquez in September for her senior year. Things have worked out well for Lotito, who has signed with Boston University. ASHLEY ARNETT, SAUGUS Entering Thursday's game against Hart, Arnett had shut out her past four opponents and six of the past seven: March 16.....Quartz Hill.......W 3-0 March 18.....Lancaster.........W 6-0 March 19.....Harvard-Westlake..W 9-5 March 21.....Highland..........W 9-0 March 26.....Hart..............W 6-0 April 5......Hueneme...........W 11-0 April 12.....Burbank...........W 1-0 CAPTION(S): photo, 2 boxes Photo: Royal's Kacee Cox, right, looks back after Alemany's Laura Kratochvil tagged her out Saturday. John Lazar/Staff Photographer Box: (1) TOP 10 (2) SEVEN-DAY FORECAST |
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