By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Jerry Lewallen was officially named Glendora’s new athletic director at a school board meeting on Monday night. Lewallen, 47, is a 1990 Glendora High School graduate and he was a key member of the Tartans’ lone football championship in 1989. He served as head football coach from 2012-2017, going 43-25 […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Azusa softball player and recent graduate Jillian Walker is just 17 years of age. But this hard working, talented and giving young lady has suffered more heartbreak than most do in an entire lifetime. Four years ago, while a freshman at Monrovia High School, the Walker’s got a phone call […]
When Rio Hondo Prep took the field at UC Riverside on Saturday evening in the CIF-SS Division 6 title game, Pasadena area baseball programs had already gone 0-3 in championship games earlier in the day. Poly and La Canada were both shut out and Marshall was dominated in a 10-run defeat. RHP seemed to keep […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor To some, Friday the 13th is regarded as an ominous or unlucky day, but for Pasadena High School point guard Darius Brown II, 4-13-18 will go down as one of the happiest days of his young life. DBII, who is without question the Pasadena area’s best point guard and offensive […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Darius Brown II Pasadena High School was given so much (unfair) hype to live up to by the media before their season even began. A lot had to do with the return of their superstar trio of Bryce Hamilton, Darius Brown II and Darius Mason. But the additions of Tavian […]
Boys Basketball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor It was going to be a tall task for Davian Brown to live up to his big brother’s legacy at Pasadena High School. Darius Brown II, along with Bryce Hamilton, and their teammates, led the Bulldogs’ program to consecutive CIF-SS title game appearances in 2016-17 and 2017-18. DBII […]
Basketball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Devon Lewis transferred from Maranatha to Pasadena High School after his sophomore year. PHS just felt like home. And it was more than just Devon who felt that way. It was also a special place for his parents. Eric and Lynn Lewis met in 1985 at PHS, when Eric […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor The consensus among those who coached, played alongside or competed against Darius Mason is that the Pasadena High School star is ready to play Division 1 basketball at the collegiate level right now. Mason was a three-year starter for Coach Tony Brooks’ program, and for a team that year in […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Finally! After a year or so wait, and thousands of hours of work, former Muir star Hunter Woods has signed on the dotted line to compete at Elon University in North Carolina. Looking back, the 2017-18 boys basketball season was a very special year for Pasadena area hoops. The mighty […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Even for the most talented of athletes, there is typically a slight learning curve or minor adjustments that one makes while transitioning from high school to college baseball. That hasn’t been the case for PCC freshman Gabriel Arellano. The Lancers’ center fielder leads the entire state of California with 42 […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor: If there was one guy from the San Gabriel Valley wrestling community that had the mettle to resume a college wrestling program that hadn’t been competing since the early 1980’s, you couldn’t do better than hiring Caleb Flores. The 2006 Northview High School grad and four-time state placer accepted the […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Just after the 2017 football season had ended, more than 15 players from skilled positions left La Salle for what they believed were greener pastures. And each had their own reason for the departure. On that list, quarterback CJ Montes (Long Beach Poly) and receiver Justin Lockhart (Serra) were probably […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Preston Howey made a very wise decision as he contemplated his junior year at Arcadia High School. Howey acknowledged Monday night that after a sophomore season on the JV level last year, where he spent most of his time at shortstop, there was a fleeting moment where he actually considered […]
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 […]
