By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor When Rio Hondo Prep (17-7) takes the field on Saturday at 4:15 at UC Riverside, the Kares will be making their first appearance in the CIF-SS (Division 6) title game since 1999. If RHP defeats Costa Mesa (15-11), it would be the school’s first championship in baseball. The Mustangs have […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor The 2019 season has already been a historic one for the Arcadia baseball team. The Apaches won their first Pacific League championship since 2011, thanks to a two-game sweep of Crescenta Valley last week. Arcadia went 13-1 in league play, with credit going to both a remarkable pitching staff and […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Hailey Yoshida has accomplished so much in her high school career. And yet she just turned 15. Yoshida (and her teammates) led Westridge to the CIF-SS Division 7 title game for the first time in school history. The Tigers won postseason games over Coastal Christian, Vasquez, Whitney and Mayfield, before […]
Boys Volleyball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor One of the San Gabriel Valley’s most versatile athletes has chosen his destination. La Salle’s CJ Rettig, a three-sport athlete, will compete for William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, for the Statesmen. In fact, Rettig will be part of William Penn’s first (men’s volleyball) program in school history […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor In the last four years, you could easily make an argument that Cameron McFarlane and Franco Alonso were the two most complete and dominant athletes that strode across the Pasadena Poly campus. McFarlane’s impressive athletic prowess as well as his character and success in the classroom set up an […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Former La Salle pitcher Jeff Daley holds himself to academic standards that are almost unattainable for most student-athletes. The 2018 La Salle graduate has always wanted, since he was a boy, to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville. In 2018, as a senior, Daley took AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor You didn’t have to know Michael Okura to realize what a special man he was. All you needed was to be present at his beloved West Covina High School on Saturday morning to see the emotion his memory evoked from the hundreds on hand. His wife Diane, daughter Lyndie and […]
Wrestling: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Collin Hayes may weigh just 132 pounds. But the Northview senior is one tough dude. He’s been dealing with a torn meniscus in his right knee, as he put it, ‘for quite a while,’ but it took a turn for the worse just as his senior wrestling season was […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Jacob Alvarez didn’t see his name in the headlines, but don’t think for a second that he didn’t do his part and then some in Charter Oak’s success. Until his senior year, Alvarez was brought off the bench to either pinch-run or pinch-hit, but his duties also included holding […]
Baseball: Pictured L-R: Jake Brown, Jayden Lopez & Michael Woodward By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor The steep upward trajectory since Tony Garcia-Bautista took over the reins of the Rancho Cucamonga High School baseball program continued its ascension recently. And it isn’t just on the field that impresses. Last year alone, among the eight seniors, five […]
Pictured L-R: Maggiore with director of football operations, Jeff Platt & son, Nate Maggiore. Football: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor He’s back! And just in time. Mike Maggiore, who guided West Covina to CIF-SS championships in 2004, 2010 and 2011 announced Thursday afternoon that he’s going to return as head coach of the Bulldogs when […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Along with a solid start (6-2) to the 2020 baseball season for the South Hills program, the Huskies also featured a pair of senior right handers that looked to be one of the better 1-2 punches in the San Gabriel Valley. Ryan Wentz (3-0) and Ray Northey (2-1) combined […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Tommy Castillo is the kind of kid you can’t help but root for. Castillo spent the first two years of his prep career at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, which is wedged just on the other side of the 110 Freeway from Dodger Stadium. While attending Cathedral, he […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor There are a number of genuinely good people who either made or currently make a living covering local high school and college sports. Perhaps none was as generous, loyal and accommodating as Louis Brewster. Brewster, who was the longtime sports editor of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin died on Monday. […]
College Baseball: Pictured L-R: Tyler Frazier and Omar Veloz By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor By all objective measures, the year 2020 has been a nightmare for the world. There won’t be a single person in athletics that would dare compare their situation to the sickness and both lives and jobs lost thanks to COVID-19. But […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor When news broke Friday that longtime Mount San Antonio College baseball coach Art Mazmanian had passed away, it evoked many, many memories. And most were good between my college coach and me. Looking back, 99-percent of any squabbles we had were my fault. I wasn’t mature enough to realize he […]
Football: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor To say there was an inordinate amount of pressure on Sean Jastrab as he took over the reigns of the Bonita offense would be a massive understatement. The Bearcats junior replaced a Bonita legend in quarterback JP Andrade, who now plays for Ohio State. In 2018, Andrade capped off […]
Baseball: Pictured L-R: Brandon Ramey pitching to Franco Alonso, Zach Jacobs getting ready to face a batter, & PCC pitching coach/Legends Tournament Director, Nico Calderaro. By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor The idea of running an indoor baseball league had percolated in his brain for over a year. Nico Calderaro, a member of the PCC baseball […]
Girls Basketball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Even by Flintridge Prep standards, Sofia Gonzalez is a remarkably impressive and accomplished young lady. Gonzalez stepped into the role as the sixth-man (or woman) during her freshman year and she’s never looked back. During her three-year run at the La Canada school, the Rebels have won 73 […]
Softball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor You couldn’t blame Miranda Robson or her teammates at Los Osos if they’d never heard of singer Vanessa Williams. But it seems a No. 1 hit single that she released more than a decade before any of the 2020 Grizzlies had even been born called ‘Save the Best for […]
