PT Prep Sports

In the past 24 hours, I've seen Wilson High's softball team and Poly's baseball team engineer final-inning rallies, only to lose first-round CIF playoff games in heartbreaking fashion.
On Thursday, it appeared - for a moment, anyway - Wilson had come back to beat visiting Rio Mesa in Division II on a seventh-inning, two-run home run from Hannah Duarte. The ball landed in front of Rio Mesa's right fielder, then bounced - or deflected, it wasn't completely clear - into dead ball territory as the Bruins circled the bases. According to the Joe Rodgers Field ground rules, any ball that lands in that area is automatically a ground-rule double, meaning both runners had to return to the base paths and both runs came off the board.
After an intentional walk to load the bases, Wilson's Loren Stavrou hit the ball hard, but right to the third baseman who threw to first to end the game, 1-0.
On Friday, Poly also found itself trailing by a run in the bottom of the seventh of its Division I game with Huntington Beach. And like Wilson the day before, the Jackrabbits found a way to load the bases with two outs. Unfortunately, Poly had the same outcome as its crosstown rival, a season-ending 2-1 loss at home.
Both claimed outright Moore League titles this season after long droughts, and both deserved a better postseason fate.

CIF-SS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Baseball
First Round at 3:15 p.m.
Today
Division 2
Placentia Valencia at Mayfair
Friday
Division 1
Capistrano Valley at Los Alamitos
Huntington Beach at Poly
Wilson at Newbury Park
Marina at Lakewood
Division 3
Paramount at California
Rialto at Gahr
Santa Monica at Downey
Warren at Rancho Alamitos
Division 5
San Jacinto at Valley Christian
Division 6
St. Anthony at St. Margaret's
Division 7
Marywood PV at Firebaugh

Softball
First Round at 3:15 p.m.
Today
Division 1
Upland at Los Alamitos
Division 2
Millikan at San Clemente
Oxnard at Cerritos
Dana Hills at Lakewood
Rio Mesa vs. Wilson at Joe Rodgers Stadium
Beckman at La Mirada
Mayfair at Cajon
Division3
Paramount at Atascadero
Heritage at Downey
Oak Park at Warren
St. Joseph at St. Lucy's
Division 4
Calvary Murrieta at Valley Christian
Division 6
S.G. Mission vs. Whitney at Cerritos Sports Complex
Hesperia Christian at Downey Calvary Chapel
Division 7
Trinity Classical Academy at St. Matthias
Avalon at Viewpoint
Academy of A&E at Firebaugh

I had the distinct pleasure of watching Deon Reid's final high school diving performance Saturday at the CIF-SS Division II Swimming and Diving fiinals. Reid all but wrapped up the title in the preliminary rounds, and he gave everyone at the Riverside Community College pool something to remember with his final effort, which drew scores of perfect 10.0 from four of the five judges.
Reid ended his high school career as a three-time CIF divisional champion - he was fourth as a freshman - and he won the Masters Meet as a freshman, sophomore and junior. Because of budget issues, the Masters Meet has been cancelled this year.
Reid is a nationally recognized diver who has trained ferociously for over a decade to develop his skills. He has a grace and elegance that eludes other high school divers, and he's as dominant at his sport as any athlete I can recall covering at the high school level. Reid is as dominant in his chosen sport as Poly's Jasmine Dixon was in basketball, as future NFL running back Napoleon Kaufman at Lompoc High, as future NCAA All-American softball pitcher Jocelyn Forest at Righetti High in Santa Maria.
Reid has already signed to attend Duke University, where he'll major in environmental engineering, and his dream is to be an Olympian, possibly in 2016. I have not doubt he'll do it.

This time it was Lakewood High which pulled off the comeback.

The Lancers turned the tables on visiting Millikan on Thursday night at Mayfair Park in a battle of CIF-SS Division 2 Top 10 teams, rallying for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to record a 13-8 victory to move within one big victory of yet another Moore League softball championship.

To clinch its fifth consecutive league crown, Lakewood (17-4, 6-1) needs to defeat Wilson - both of which only have one league loss - on Tuesday afternoon at Joe Rodgers Field.

"What a wild game," said Lancers coach Andy Miramontes. "I've called them the 'Heart Attack Kids.' I'm not getting any younger and they put me to the test tonight."

Lakewood actually led by three runs twice, 3-0 after three innings and 6-3 after five innings.

But Millikan, which came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the first meeting 7-3, rallied to tie the score at 3-3 in the fourth and pulled ahead 8-6 with a five-run sixth inning.

However, the Lancers had the final say, erupting for seven runs on five hits, two walks and hit batter and two errors in the bottom of the sixth to take a commanding 13-8 lead.

Justine Robles picked up the win in relief of Lakewood starter Janel Hayes. She entered the game in the sixth and got the Lancers out of further trouble and then easily held the Rams off in the seventh. Robles even drove in a run in the Lancers' big inning.

"It was an ugly win, but an exciting game," Miramontes said. "It wasn't one of the best-played ball games by either team ... but the girls never said die. I'm proud of them."

Millikan(18-7, 6-2) had their hopes of its first league title since 2007 more or less dashed. The best the Rams can hope for is a Wilson win over Lakewood and then a victory of their own over Wilson, creating a three-way tie for first place.

Eric Cooper, who has guided the La Verne Lutheran High boys basketball program into prominence of the past several years, will be taking charge at St. Anthony.

Cooper, who prepped at Banning High, will be taking over for Chris Morrison, who stepped down recently.

Cooper coached the La Verene Lutheran for the past five years. He posted a combined 132-30 record and guided the team to CIF State championships in 2011 (Division 3) and 2010 (Division 5). His teams also won CIF-SS titles in 2008 (Division 5AA), 2010 (Division 5AA) and 2011 (Division 3AA).

See more in Friday's Press-Telegram

Lakewood ace Shane Watson got the the best of Wilson counterpart Chase DeJong as the Lancers won the Moore League showdown 1-0 at Blair Field on Friday Night.

Watson (2-0) shut out Wilson on just three hits and struck out four, and DeJong (3-1) allowed one run on four hits and struck out 12 in the highly anticipated pitchers' duel.

Lakewood scored the game's lone run in the sixth inning. Danny Kaeka singled with two outs and Nick Reeser followed with a hit-and-run double down the left-field line to plate Kaeka with what turned out to be the game-winning run.

Athletes of the Week
Boys
Andrew Encinas, Jr., Gahr
The senior southpaw was on his game last week, leading the slow-starting Gladiators to a 3-0 win over defending SGVL champ Paramount in a league opener. Encinas allowed just three hits, struck out nine and walked none in a complete-game effort.

Girls
Liz Snow, Jr., Millikan
The Rams first baseman cleaned up in a doubleheader sweep of Gahr last week. She went 2 for 2 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored in the Game 1 win and followed that up with a 3-for-3 performance in which she drove in four runs and scored three times in the nightcap.