Prep Rally: Recapping two memorable City baseball finals at Dodger Stadium (2024)

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Dodger Stadium brought out the best in two memorable City Section finals.

Bell makes history

There’s nobody on Earth except for the most loyal fans of Bell baseball who envisioned the Eagles doing something they had never done: win the City Section Open Division championship at Dodger Stadium. It happened on Saturday with a 4-1 win over Birmingham. Bell gave up one run in three playoff wins over long-time San Fernando Valley baseball powers Sylmar, Granada Hills and Birmingham. Bell hadn’t made the upper division final since 1953.

And yet, coach Frank Medina sincerely believed his players could do it despite a roster loaded with freshmen, sophom*ores and juniors. He coached aggressively and taught fundamentals that saw the Eagles play near flawless defense, make routine plays and get clutch hits when needed from sophom*ore David Gonzalez.

Of course, the star of this team has been sophom*ore Jayden Rojas on the mound and at the plate. He’s so tough mentally he threw six shutout innings and got out of a bases loaded, no outs situation in the sixth by getting a strikeout and consecutive fly-ball outs. When Bell fans were chanting, ‘M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P,” they were not joking. He deserves to be the City Section player of the year.

“I felt like I was a real MLB player at that point,” Rojas said of the crowd’s chants.

Here’s the story from Dodger Stadium.

And here’s the story from Bell’s semifinal upset of top-seeded Granada Hills.

Nick Park of North Hollywood leaps for joy in the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium. He hit his second triple to drive in the winning run in a 3-1 win over Banning in the City Section Division I final.

(Craig Weston)

North Hollywood won the City Division I title 3-1 in eight innings over Banning on the strength of three hits, including two triples, by Nick Park.

Here’s the report.

State regionals

The Southern California regional playoffs in baseball and softball begin on Tuesday even though lots of section champions in both sports have opted out. In baseball, not playing are Southern Section champions Corona (Division 1), Hart (Division 2) and Beckman (Division 3). In softball, City champion Carson isn’t playing, along with Southern Section Division 1 champion Pacifica.

In Division II, City Section champion Bell will open on the road against Southern Section Division 2 runner-up Moorpark. Orange Lutheran is seeded No. 1 in Division I.

In softball, Murrieta Mesa is seeded No. 1 in Division I. City runner-up Granada Hills is seeded No. 2 in Division II.

Here’s the link to complete pairings.

Track

Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt leads the field during the girls’ 1,600 meters at the CIF state track and field championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 25, 2024.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The state track and field championships in Clovis saw another state record produced by Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura in the 1,600. Next season she has a chance to be a four-time winner.

Birmingham’s Deshawn Banks competes in the high jump on his way to winning the state title in the event at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 25, 2024.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Another story was the rise of Deshawn Banks of Birmingham in the high jump. He won the state championship with a career-best mark of 7-00.50. The former basketball player has only been competing in the event since last year.

When he cleared 7 feet, he celebrated with a series of backflips.

Long Beach Poly won the boys championship and Long Beach Wilson won the girls title.

Here’s the report from Clovis.

And here’s a report from the prelims featuring Culver City’s two 400 runners.

Evan Noonan of Dana Hills wins the state title in the boys’ 3,200 meters at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 25, 2024.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The summer season of seven on seven passing tournaments has begun. There’s tournaments June 29 at St. John Bosco and Simi Valley and the No. 1 tournament is July 13 at Edison.

Jeff Magdaleno is the new football coach at St. Anthony, replacing Raul Lara, who left for Mater Dei. He has been an assistant at the University of La Verne and was a defensive analyst at Nevada.

Cornerback Adonyss Currie from Quartz Hill has committed to Texas A&M.

UCLA has picked up a commitment from quarterback Madden Iamaleava of Warren. His brother is the quarterback at Tennessee.

Garden Grove has named Matthew LemMon as its football coach.

Notes . . .

Brad Metz, a former Hart baseball assistant coach, is returning as head coach to replace the retiring Jim Ozella. He was head coach at Valencia the last two seasons. . . .

Servite has named Alex Ramirez its new soccer coach. He was head coach at Savanna for 17 years. . . .

Tawnee Luafalemana is the new girls’ volleyball coach at Bishop Montgomery. She played at Carson and Utah. . . .

Catcher Ryan De La Maza of Hart, the Foothill League MVP, has committed to Fresno State. . . .

Logan Park of Diamond Bar shot a 10-under 64 to win the CIF/SGA regional golf championship last week and qualify for Wednesday’s state championships at San Gabriel Country Club. Torrey Pines, Oaks Christian and Classica Academy were the three teams moving on to the state championships. Here’s the pairings for state final. . . .

Middle school record in Modesto for consecutive sit-ups by Miller Clark, the grandson of former Fairfax and North Hollywood basketball coach Steve Miller.

(Courtesy Steve Miller)

Former Fairfax and North Hollywood basketball coach Steve Miller is a proud grandfather these days because his 14-year-old grandson, Miller Clark, set a record for his middle school in Modesto by doing 4,150 consecutive sit-ups. He shared the record with his friend. . . .

Nish Shaw is the new boys basketball coach at Covina. . . .

Irvine University won the first state tennis championship.

The Marina High doubles team of David Tran and Trevor Nguyen won the Southern Section doubles championship. USC commit Niels Hoffman of Corona del Mar won the singles championship. Here’s the report. . . .

Jerzy Robinson from Sierra Canyon and Kaleena Smith from Ontario Christian have made the USA U17 national basketball team.

From the archives: Tiare Jennings

Former St. Anthony shortstop Tiare Jennings.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s the senior year at Oklahoma for former St. Anthony shortstop Tiare Jennings as she tries to win another NCAA softball championship. The former Gatorade state player of the year has hit 22 home runs and driven in 63 runs. Oklahoma has advanced to another appearance in the College World Series.

She had her senior year at St. Anthony in 2020 cut to eight games because of the pandemic.

Here’s an interview from 2020 discussing her future.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story on the most trusted role on any lacrosse team — the stick doctor.

From the 562.org, a story on a pickleball club in Long Beach.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune, a story on a 7-foot volleyball player.

From MaxPreps.com, a story on Mater Dei basketball coach Gary McKnight being two wins away from becoming the second all-time winningest coach.

From the 562.org, a story on Long Beach Wilson quarterback headed to MIT.

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