California: Mater Dei, Westlake shine in passing league

Barkley, the true freshman starter at USC last season, was the previous Mater Dei quarterback who led the Monarchs to two Air Strike titles. Wittek threw touchdown passes to three different receivers, Sedric Hill, Victor Blackwell and Corbin Anderson. Wittek did throw two interceptions, though, both to Richard Turner – one of which was returned for a touchdown. Turner is a transfer from Long Beach Poly to Los Al.

Dylan Lagarde, who transferred to Los Alamitos from Long Beach Poly midseason last year, threw for touchdowns to Josh Caiquo and Kyle Roberts. Freddie Mora returned an interception for a touchdown for Mater Dei.

It was the second victory of the day for Mater Dei over Los Alamitos; the Monarchs won a pool play game, 22-20. Mater Dei defeated Roosevelt-Eastvale, 26-24, and Los Alamitos came from behind to beat Long Beach Poly, 20-14, in the semifinals.

Wittek has also been selected to participate in the Steve Clarkson Super 7 retreat July 1-5 in Hawaii.

Westlake also impressive in summer debut

Westlake (Westlake Village) turned in an impressive performance at the Pierce College passing league tournament by defeating St. Bonaventure-Ventura in the championship game. The Warriors won behind the play of quarterback Nick Isham and receiver Nelson Spruce, but also displayed a healthy dose of Tre'shon Wilson.

St. Bonaventure (Ventura) scored victories over Alemany-Mission Hills and Canyon-Canyon Country, and Dorsey-Los Angeles reached the semifinals behind quarterback Joseph Gray. Westlake will play this weekend at the Saugus tournament, and on July 10 at the Edison-Huntington Beach tournament, which could feature a showdown with Mater Dei.

Awards, awards, awards

Cory Hahn of Mater Dei-Santa Ana was named baseball player of the year by the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. A junior pitcher/outfielder, Hahn (14-1, 0.89 earned-run average; .411, 24 RBI, 10 home runs) led the Monarchs to the Southern Section Division I championship by winning four playoff games. He pitched the first five innings of a perfect game, along with sophomore Ty Moore, and homered in a 2-0 victory over Dana Hills in the Division I final. He also saved the perfect game with an over-the-shoulder catch in center field. Mater Dei (20-1) finished No. 1 in the MaxPreps Freeman Ratings.

Cory Hahn, Mater Dei

File photo by Heston Quan

The Register named junior shortstop Lauren Chamberlain of El Toro-Lake Forest, who set a county single-season record with 17 home runs, as its softball POY.

Nigel Nootbaar of El Segundo was named baseball player of the year by the Torrance Daily Breeze. A junior who also split time between first base and outfield, Nootbar was cited for his leadership, pitching (8-0, 0.98) and hitting (.425, 9 HR) on a team that won its first league title since 2005 and reached the Division IV semifinals despite the passing of legendary coach John Stevenson in January. The newspaper named Lauren de Castro (17-8, 1.36) of Torrance as its softball POY after pitching her team to the Division IV semifinals, and that included a streak of 34 consecutive scoreless innings.

All-Star bonanza

Most of the athletic events going on last week were of the all-star variety. Here's how some of those games went down.

Baseball: Inland Valley All-Star game – USC-bound catcher Jake Hernandez of Los Osos-Rancho Cucamonga had a two-run double in the first inning to help the North score a 6-2 victory over the South at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga. Hernandez scored on the first of three hits by Jeff Crowe of Diamond Bar, who also scored a run.

Baseball: Riverside County All-Star game – Mickey Phelps of Corona had a two-run double to lead the West to a 4-0 victory over the East in a nine-inning game played at Riverside Sports Complex. Phelps and Keegan Dale, who had two hits – one for an RBI – were declared co-most valuable players. Even though Riverside Poly was holding its graduation ceremonies, Dylan Stuart and Dylan Barnes still played in the game. Pitcher Stuart closed out the victory and Barnes had a hit in a three-run fifth inning.

"I wanted to come out here real bad, so I talked to some people and was able to leave graduation a little early," Stuart, who gave up a triple in the last inning, told the Press-Enterprise. "And I didn't blow the shutout, so it was good."

Baseball: Inland Empire Coaches San Bernardino County All-Star game – Luis Villareal of Colton singled twice, scored a run and pitched one inning of relief to lead the East to a 7-4 victory over the West. Villareal was named the Most Valuable Player. In a three-run seventh inning that broke a 3-3 tie, Cesar Aguilar of Miller-Fontana had a two-run double, and Aaron Rodriguez of Colton had an RBI double. For the West, A.J. Keenan of Alta Loma had three hits, scored a run, drove in a run and played three infield positions.

Baseball: City Section 4, Southern Section 3 – LeJon Baker of Crenshaw-Los Angeles walked and eventually scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the City to victory in the fourth City vs. Southern Section All-Star game at Lake Balboa Birmingham. The Southern Section had a chance to go ahead in the top of the ninth but Chaminade's-West Hills Brando Tessar was picked off second by pitcher Mitch Bluman of El Camino Real-Woodland Hills. Bluman pitched two innings of scoreless relief.

Most of the Southern Section players used wood bats, while the City used aluminum. Pat Valaika of Hart-Newhall had a two-run single for the Southern Section. The City leads the series, 3-1.

Baseball: San Gabriel Valley League 6, Moore League 5 – Mark Silva of Paramount had three hits, three RBI and scored twice to give SGV its 11-inning come-from-behind victory. The SGV trailed, 5-1, in the top of the ninth but Silva hit a bases-loaded triple and scored on a single by Josh Cabula of Gahr-Cerritos.

In the 11th, Silva's drag bunt helped him reach first base, and he took third when Lakewood pitcher Jeff Yamaguchi made an errant pickoff attempt. Silva scored on a wild pitch. Hunter Jones of Lakewood had two triples and scored twice.

Baseball: South Bay Athletic Club All-Star Game – Alex Sixtos of Banning hit a two-run double to tie the score at 4-4 in the fifth inning, then scored the winning run when he crossed home plate on an error to lead the Red team to a 5-4 victory over the Blue. Sixtos also pitched the last two innings of the game to protect the lead.

Baseball: KG Sports Training Foundation Underclassman All-Star Game – Robert Meir of Bonita-La Verne homered to help the Grey score a 3-1 victory over the Blue. Joe Hurrera of Gladstone and K.C. Huth of Bonita added RBI in the three-run fifth inning, in which losing pitcher Sergio Luna of Cathedral hit three batters.

Baseball: San Gabriel Valley All-Star Game – Joe Winterburn of Glendora hit a three-run home run in the first inning and took home MVP honors as he led the Red to a 12-7 victory over the Blues at Alhambra High. D.J. Wallace of Charter Oak and Efren Aguilera of Baldwin Park hit two-run home runs for the Red team.

Softball: Riverside County 2, Orange County 2 – Amanda Clark of tiny Riverside Christian scored two runs, and teammate Asia Alvarez entered as a pitcher with the bases loaded and one out, but escaped without allowing further damage as the neighboring counties tied, 2-2, at Mt. San Antonio College in the Riverside County-Orange County All-Star Game.

Clark scored in the third inning on a throwing error and in the sixth on a single by Evelyn Carr of Roosevelt-Eastvale. Alvarez entered the pitching circle in the third inning after OC's Kayla Massey of Trabuco Hills-Mission Viejo and Mandy Gardner of Aliso Niguel delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles.

Softball: Riverside County 4, San Bernardino County 0 – Mary Massei of Ayala-Chino Hills, who hit a grand slam a week earlier to give the Bulldogs a 5-4 victory over Warren-Downey in the Southern Section Division III title game, hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the South's 10-1 victory over the North.

Softball: San Fernando Valley All-Star Classic – Megan Foglesong of Valencia had three hits, including a triple and double, and scored a run to earn offensive player of the game honors, but it wasn't enough to lead her team to victory as the East scored a 4-3 victory over the West. Jenessa Gutierrez of Rio Mesa-Oxnard pitched three innings of scoreless relief – the third, sixth and seventh innings – for the victory. Brittany Williams of Canyon-Canyon Country homered for the East.

Softball: San Gabriel Valley All-Star Game – Natalie Hernandez of Glendora had two hits and drove in two runs to help the North score a 9-2 victory over the South at Mt. San Antonio College. Kortnie Clark of San Dimas pitched five shutout innings for the victory.

Softball: South Bay Athletic Club All-Star Game – Jessica Cherness of South Torrance pitched five innings of hitless relief – and retired the first 11 batters she faced – in relief of San Pedro's Kailee Cuico to lead the Blue team to a 5-9 victory over the Red in the nine-inning game. Cherness struck out eight. Amanda Wondergem of North Torrance had a two-run single, Veronica Vasquez of Carson had two hits and an RBI, and Jackie Delgado of Hawthorne homered.

Bray is MVP in Valley game

Eric Solis of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame kicked a 35-yard field goal with 48 seconds remaining to the the East a 20-17 victory in the 14th Daily News All-Star football game at Birmingham-Lake Balboa. Antonio Bray of Arleta was the game's Most Valuable Player. He scored on a 59-yard punt return and had a 36-yard reception to set up a 30-yard field goal by Solis to tie the score, 17-17.

Tessar caught three passes for 117 yards and touchdowns of 59 and 44 yards. He was to begin his baseball career at Oregon. "I thought (this) was going to be my last game, but now I'm not so sure," he told the Daily News. "I think I want to try to play both sports in college."

Poly connection keys all-star victory

Chris Leachman of Long Beach Poly completed a 61-yard touchdown pass to Travon Payne of Artesia with 3 minutes 39 seconds remaining to give the East a 25-19 victory in the 605 All-Star Football Classic at Cerritos College.

The West had taken a 19-15 lead less than two minutes earlier on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Steven Cervantes of Downey to Derek Speight of Long Beach Cabrillo. They also connected on a 56-yard score. The East added a field goal in the final minute. Leachman completed 9 of 12 passes for 179 yards. Cervantes passed for 185 yards and two touchdowns.

Terris Jones of California (Whittier) was the game MVP; he caught two passes for 58 yards that set up one touchdown, and rushed five times for seven yards, including a one-yard score.

Basketball all-star notes

Tre Mauldin of Lancaster scored 25 points and had eight rebounds to lead the East to a 92-89 overtime victory in the second War on the Floor/Future Stars Showcase for members of the Class of 2011. In a losing effort, Stephen Maxwell of Taft-Woodland Hills scored 24 points and had 21 rebounds.

In the girls game, Jasmine Wooton of Chatsworth and Tori Wells of Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth scored 12 points apiece to lead the West to a 79-64 victory over the East. Xava Grooms of Granada Hills scored 12 for the East.

Gilles Dierickx of Chaminade-West Hills scored 18 points and had nine rebounds to earn player of the game honors in leading the Valley Elite to a 125-121 victory over the City Elite. C.J. Cooper of La Verne Lutheran scored 29 points and six assists.

San Gorgonio sports fixture passes

John "Jack" Boyne III, who coached baseball and other sports for decades in the San Bernardino area, including 15 years at San Gorgonio High, died June 7 after battling colon cancer. He was 62. Former San Gorgonio football and baseball player Perry Amador told the Press-Enterprise: "He was more than a coach to a lot of us growing up in the San Bernardino area in the '70s, '80s and '90s."

Hall gets state honor

Jessica Hall, the UCLA-bound pitcher who helped Ayala-Chino Hills (29-5) to the Southern Section Division III championship, has been name the Gatorade State Softball Player of the Year. Hall was outstanding all season, but may have benefited from her team's performance: Ayala was one of the only elite programs in the Southern Section that was able to win a championship. Valencia, Mater Dei, Corona Santiago and Etiwanda-Rancho Cucamonga were among the teams that lost, and only Valencia among that group reached the semifinals.

Hall was 28-3 with a 0.68 earned-run average and 336 strikeouts. She also batted .340 with five home runs, 26 runs and 32 RBI. Gatorade will name its national player of the year later this month.

Retirement suits Mel Sims

Mel Sims, as distinguished a dresser as there has been in California coaching circles, announced his retirement as the girls basketball coach at Ayala. Memorably known for his stylish suits and abundance of rings or jewelry – the guy's hands looked like Elvis' – Sims ended his 17-year run at Ayala with 14 consecutive league titles and a 137-3 record in the Sierra League after taking over the struggling program in 1992.

His 35-year coaching career included stops in the professional and collegiate ranks, as well as compiling a 583-164 record in stops at Muir, Ganesha-Pomona, Monrovia and Alta Loma high schools. He won two section titles, in 2007 and in 1990 at Muir. In 2008, his team lost in the Southern California Regional finals in triple overtime to Mira Costa-Manhattan Beach.

Sims, 69, has a daughter at Ayala who plays soccer, which occurs at the same time of year as basketball. His focus is now on watching her play. Amy Campbell has been named his replacement. She was 10-17 last season at Chino.

Comings and goings

Andy Rucker has been named boys basketball coach at Murrieta Valley. He had been the girls basketball coach and over seven seasons guided the program to a 128-60 record and two league titles. He replaces Kurt Ruth (86-70), who resigned to spend more time with his family after going 15-13.

Joel Hurtt has been named the new football coach at Granite Hills (Apple Valley). He had coached at the school from 2005-07 before giving way to Justin Price, who has since left for Yucaipa.

Robert Morrow has resigned as girls basketball coach at Moreno Valley. His team was 13-12 last season.

Judy McAfee will not return as girls basketball coach at Roosevelt (Corona) after two seasons. The Mustangs were 15-13 last season, 24-28 under McAfee's guidance.

Robert Marshall has been named the new baseball coach at Marina (Huntington Beach). A lower-level coach, he succeeds Paul Renfrow, who guided the program for 27 seasons and won 420 games.

Joe Hay has resigned after one season at Garden Grove, citing pressure and the commitment of time. Hay guided the program to a 13-1 record last season after player Kevin Telles collapsed and died the night of the team's first game. He has been replaced by assistant Willie Puga. Hay told the Orange County Register he might might assist Puga if he has the time.

Reggie Grant has been named the new football coach at Leuzinger (Lawndale). He had been 5-16 over two seasons at South Gate. He replaces the fired Dion Toliver, who was 24-18 over four seasons but missed the playoffs twice and didn't advance past the first round of the playoffs.

Mike Anderson, who coached boys and girls basketball concurrently at Magnolia (Anaheim), resigned to take a coaching position at Long Beach City College. Anderson coached the girls for six season, compiling a 126-52 record, and in 2008 reached the Division III state finals. He inherited a boys team that had been 6-17 and over four seasons went 50-59, including two seasons of 17-11. This past spring he coached the softball team to a 9-14 record.

David Washington, who coached Gardena Serra track and field to seven Southern Section boys championships and one girls title in his eight years, has been fired, although he will remain a teacher on campus. Serra finished second in the state meet, falling two points short of sharing the title.

Randy Horton has been approved as the new football coach at Pasadena. He replaces Mike McFarland, who was 5-5 before taking the position at Temple City. Horton had been an assistant at Temple City.

The transfers among you

DaVonte Young, who played his freshman season at Irvine and has since enrolled at Tustin, had his athletic transfer denied by the Southern Section. Spokesman Thom Simmons cited "disciplinary action by the previous school" and "evidence of an athletically motivated transfer." Young, the Pacific Coast League Player of the Year who rushed for 1,612 yards and 20 touchdowns, has 30 days to appeal.

Recruiting news

Jared Baker, a running back at Loyola (Los Angeles), has committed to Arizona. ... Michael Bercovici, a quarterback at Taft (Woodland Hills), has committed to Arizona State. ... Marcus Martin, a lineman at Crenshaw (Los Angeles), has committed to USC. ... Darius Guillory, a junior defensive back at Temecula Chaparral, has committed to San Diego State.

Baseball signing news

Griffin Murphy, a left-handed pitcher at Redlands East Valley chosen in the second round by Toronto, has agreed in principle to join the team after accepting an $800,000 bonus. He will forgo college at San Diego. ... Cesar Aguilar, a pitcher at Miller-Fontana drafted in the 14th round, signed with St. Louis for a $60,000 bonus.

Football notes

The Servite game against John Curtis-River Ridge in Louisiana scheduled for Sept. 10 has fallen through. The promoter failed to meet contract deadlines. The Friars will probably play Kennedy-Granada Hills instead.

Traves Raphael, a lineman at Taft-Woodland Hills, won a hardship appeal with the City Section for a fifth year of eligibility. Raphael's appeal was based on his not being a fulltime student at Taft until his junior season because he had split his schedule with another school his first two years.

Running back sentenced to six months

Tyler Singleton, a three-year starter at running back for Claremont, pleaded no contest to a felony and a misdemeanor count of statutory rape and was sentenced to 180 days in jail. He had been arrested in February after girls ages 17 and 14 came forward with accusations against him. Singleton, 18, had claimed the sex was consensual. Under terms of his plea agreement, he will be on probation for five years but will not be required to register as a sex offender.