Dolphins are unlikely high school baseball finalists against Mater Dei; Division II takes it to the brink; Santa Margarita stuns Valencia softball.
They would not appear to have much in common, except that on Saturday, they will be on the same field vying for the same prize. The Southern Section's Division I free-for-all will come down to Dana Hills (Dana Point) and Mater Dei (Santa Ana), who won semifinal games on Tuesday.
It will cap four championship games to be played at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm minor league baseball team. 
Peter Tago, Dana Hills
File photo by Heston Quan
Dana Hills, a fourth-place team from the South Coast League, advanced with a 5-3 victory over El Dorado (Placentia) in a pairing of unlikely semifinalists who had to win wild-card games just to reach the 32-team bracket. El Dorado (19-12) finished third in the Century League but defeated top-seeded Orange Lutheran in the quarterfinals, 2-1, on Kyle Twomey's three-hitter.
Dana Hills upset fourth-seeded Edison (Huntington Beach) and its ace, Henry Owens (10-2) in the first round, 2-1. The Dolphins also won a slugfest with a 14-9 victory over Moorpark. Cal State Fullerton-bound Peter Tago (10-3) struck out 13 for Dana Hills (20-12). He gave up seven hits and walked two. A sacrifice fly by Brian Choi and RBI single by Mark Wilson gave the Dolphins a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth. Trevor Scott added an RBI single in the seventh.
This will be the first trip to the finals for Dana Hills.
“We don't think we're a wild-card team,” Dana Hills coach Tom Faris told the Los Angeles Times. “We believe we can play with anybody.”
So far, they have.
Mater Dei (19-10) has been to the finals three times and won in 1980 and 2005. It lost in the semifinals the previous three years. Not this time.
The Monarchs scored a 10-0 victory over second-seeded Royal (Simi Valley) (25-7), extinguishing the hopes of the last of the four seeded teams in the division.
Because of the easy nature of Mater Dei's victory, the Monarchs should be able to throw senior left-hander Cory Hahn (13-1) as many as five innings against Dana Hills. Hahn pitched five innings and gave up two hits. Mater Dei scored three runs in the third, four in the fifth. Hahn had a triple, double and RBI, and Jacob Medina had two hits and two RBI.
In four playoff games, Mater Dei has outscored its opponents 34-3, including an 11-2 victory over third-seeded Lakewood in the quarterfinals. Now, two teams with vastly different stories are on a collision course.
Division II drama
Semifinal games in Southern Section Division II could not have ended more dramatically. A two-run home run by Matt Hardison – his first of the season – with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning gave Yucaipa a 7-5 victory over El Toro (Lake Forest). Yucaipa, which advanced in a wild-card game to beat second-seeded Crespi (Encino) in the first round, got its big hit from its unlikely source against T.J. Kendzora, who had pitched a shutout against Damien (La Verne) on Friday.
Kendzora (11-2), the El Toro ace, had come on in relief in the fifth inning with two on, nobody out and escaped unscathed, his team still protecting its 5-4 lead. He wasn't able to escape the seventh, unlike Yucaipa ace Taijuan Walker, who came on to retire the Chargers in the final inning.
It was a bitter loss for El Toro (23-7-1), which scored four runs in the top of the first inning. Yucaipa (27-6) will go to the finals for the fifth time and try to win its fourth championship. Top-seeded Glendora (26-2-1) won a pitcher's duel as Jacob Smigelski hit a walk-off home run for a 2-1 victory over Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) (18-15), a team that began the season 4-11. The victory sends Glendora to the finals for the first time.
Glendora's Jacob Cage pitched a five-hitter and struck out 10 to get the best of Mira Costa's Drew Vanorden.
Play (a lot of) ball!
Here is the full schedule for the Southern Section baseball championships:
At The Lake Elsinore Diamond, Saturday
Division I: Dana Hills (20-12) vs. Mater Dei (19-10), 7:30 p.m.
Division II: No. 1 Glendora (26-2-1) vs. Yucaipa (27-6), 4:30 p.m.
Division III: Ocean View (Huntington Beach) (21-9) vs. Bonita (La Verne) (24-4-1), 1 p.m.
Division IV: Torrance (24-9) vs. No. 2 Palm Desert (25-5), 10 a.m.
At UC Riverside, Friday
Division V: No. 1 Woodcrest Christian (Riverside) (26-1) vs. Linfield Christian (Temecula) (17-11), 7:30 p.m.
Division VI: No. 1 Desert Christian (Lancaster) (28-1) vs. No. 3 Oxford Academy (Cypress) (22-5), 4:30 p.m.
Division VII: No. 1 Cornerstone Christian (Camarillo) (24-3) vs. No. 3 Milken Community (Los Angeles) (19-4), 1:30 p.m.
Soaring like an eagle
Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) still hasn't played the championship game, and even if it wins, it will pale compared to the program's biggest victory in its softball history. The Eagles scored a 2-1 decision over Valencia, which had won two titles in the last three seasons and seemed a lock to win this year as well. With a 21-game winning streak, coach Donna Lee's team was considered the No. 1 team in the state and one of the best in the nation.
Santa Margarita will play in the section finals for the first time. It got a good performance by pitcher Amy Letourneau, who retired Valencia's Madison Shipman for the final out. The Tennessee-bound star lined out to right field. Letourneau got some help with outstanding defensive plays behind her from shortstop Meghan Harman, first baseman Danielle Reiss (which probably saved two runs) and catcher Dany Doucette (who threw out Shipman trying to steal third base). Letourneau even threw out a runner at the plate on a ball blooped over her head.
Doucette had a two-run single in the first inning for Santa Margarita to provide what turned out to be all the runs that were needed.
None of the four seeded teams in Division I will be playing.
It's only the fourth time this season that Valencia (29-4-1) was held to one run (or fewer, in the case of a 1-0 loss to Chino Hills Ayala ace Jessica Hall). There was a 1-1 tie with Oxnard in the second game of the season, and a 1-0 Foothill League victory over Saugus the final week of the regular season.
Byrd flying high again
JoAnn Byrd, who guided Corona to back-to-back softball titles in 1991 and '92, and has won 552 games over 25 seasons, is in the section finals for the fifth time but first since 2004. It's not surprising that a representative from the Big VIII is playing for the Division I title, but second-seeded Santiago (Corona) (27-2) and second-place Norco (20-10) would have seemed the more obvious candidates. At the beginning of the season, Poly (Riverside) would have seemed a better bet, as well.
Behind the pitching of Loie Kesterson throughout the playoffs – she has allowed two runs in four playoff games – Corona is back. The difference in the 3-2 semifinal victory over Oxnard was Jordan Learn's leadoff home run in the sixth inning with Byrd waving her home all the way. A year ago, Corona went 10-16 in its first losing season under Byrd.
“I dreamed of going back” to the finals, Byrd told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “I honestly didn't know if it would happen.”
Byrd is the undisputed matriarch of Inland Empire softball and her impact is obvious and far-reaching. Just consider that Norco's Rick Robinson and Santiago's John Perez – who have won three titles apiece – coached in Byrd's program in the 1990s before they became head coaches.
When it takes the field against Santa Margarita, could Corona be a team of destiny? Consider this: Oxnard had runners on second and third in the first inning but squeezed itself into a double play, left the bases loaded in the second inning, and had a runner thrown out at the plate in the third inning.
It's softball for a hard championship
In the three largest divisions, only one of the top four seeded teams is playing in the finals this weekend at Barber Park in Irvine, and that's fourth-seeded Ayala (Chino Hills) in Division III. Here is the full schedule:
Friday
Division VI: No. 1 Marymount (Los Angeles) (24-6) vs.No. 2 La Salle (Pasadena) (24-6), 3 p.m.
Division V: No. 1 Whittier Christian (La Habra) (25-7) vs. South Hills (West Covina) (23-7), 5:15 p.m.
Division III: No. 4 Ayala-Chino Hills (27-5) vs. Warren (Downey) (24-6), 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Division VII: Kern Valley (Lake Isabella) (23-4) vs. No. 2 Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) (20-1), 10 a.m.
Division IV: North (Torrance) (23-10) vs. No. 2 Santa Monica (26-5), 12:30 p.m.
Division II: Upland (20-9-1) vs. Temecula Valley (18-12), 3:30 p.m.
Division I: Santa Margarita (18-12) vs. Corona (22-9-1), 6 p.m.
ECR wins City baseball title
The San Fernando Valley continued its mastery of the City Section Division I baseball championships as third-seeded El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat fifth-seeded San Pedro, 9-8, at Dodger Stadium. It was a tough loss for the Pirates (24-6), who led 8-6 in the sixth inning and were a strike away from becoming only the second non-valley team in 37 years to win the City's marquee prize in baseball. ECR's Justin Scovel's line drive might have been caught, but wasn't, and split outfielders for an RBI triple to tie the score at 8-8, and he then scored when a pitch got past the catcher.
Scovel had also hit a three-run triple in the fourth inning for El Camino Real (19-11), which won its sixth championship since 1993, its first since 2005. Top-seeded Westchester (Los Angeles), which won the City Section boys basketball title, won the Division II baseball championship with a 10-3 victory over 10th-seeded Venice (Los Angeles) (19-12). Josh Gilder hit a two-run homer and Andrew Carter drove in three runs for the Comets (22-8).
The City Division III title game is today, 4 p.m., at USC between Maywood Academy (19-6) and West Adams Prep (Los Angeles) (12-9).
City softball gets controversial
Third-seeded Kennedy (Granada Hills) scored a 1-0 victory over fourth-seeded Chatsworth to win the City Section Championship division. Kennedy became only the third different City champion in the past 23 years, the other 22 having gone to San Pedro or El Camino Real (Woodland Hills), according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
The lone second-inning run was controversial. With the bases loaded and one out, a sinking line drive by Kellie Mason was fielded by Chatsworth second baseman Ashley Waters, who threw home for what she thought was a force play. A field umpire instead ruled that Waters caught the ball for the second out. The home plate umpire mistakenly ruled it the third out and apparently ordered players off the field. However, the runner at third base, Danielle Estrada, had crossed home plate.
Umpires huddled for 10 minutes before ruling that the run counted, and put runners at first and second with two outs.
“We thought there were three outs because the umpire cleared us from the field,” Chatsworth coach Jay Creps told the Daily News. “In hindsight, I should have put the ball back in play and threw to third for an appeal.”
Carbajal Christian pitched a two-hitter in the shutout for Kennedy (24-5-1). Chatsworth finished 25-6.
In the Invitational division, fifth-seeded Narbonne (Harbor City) scored a 2-0 victory over sixth-seeded Banning (Wilmington).
In the small-schools championship, top-seeded Los Angeles CES defeated second-seeded Vaughn (San Fernando), 5-4, in eight innings.
A clearer picture
The situation regarding Jeff Kearin, whose sudden resignation at Loyola compounded the football program's struggles in 2009, became a little clearer last week when he took a position at McMinnville (Ore.). Kearin told the Yamhill Valley News Register: “In the last two years, my mom, my dad and my oldest brother have died,” he said. “My wife and I have two kids. And you know, you just kind of try to put your head down and push through, but we were just kind of in a tailspin. I had to take some time for my family. It was a hard decision, but I didn’t see a choice. Becky and I had to concentrate on our kids and on our extended family.”
The mother of Kearin's wife, Becky, was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer within days of the birth of the Kearins' second child. The team had lost its best player, running back Anthony Barr, to a broken leg early in the second game of the season, and had split its first four games when Kearin – citing “personal reasons” – resigned five weeks into his fifth season.
Young defensive coordinator Adam Guerra took over the program on an interim basis; the Cubs finished 4-6 overall, 1-2 in the Serra League and missed the playoffs. After a lengthy search, the all-boys Catholic school hired Mike Christensen, who had coached previously at Carson and Lakewood.
Kearin was 26-23, including 10-4 in his first season as successor to Steve Grady; the Cubs won the Division I title despite finishing third in the Serra League, but made the playoffs only once afterward.
Recruiting news
Alex Froloff, a infielder at Trabuco Hills-Mission Viejo, has signed with Concordia baseball.
Martin Henderson began covering Southland preps in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times. He contributes to the Orange County Register, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and San Bernardino Sun, and offers up motorsports opinions at Racescribe.com. You can reach him at southlandpreps@yahoo.com.
