By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor If there was ever a kid that gave everything he had from the moment he woke up in the morning to the second his head hit the pillow at night, it’s Charter Oak senior Chris Ceballos. Ceballos makes a diligent effort daily to better himself as a player, person and […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor It’s been a challenging past 12 months for the entire world. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on everyone’s physical and mental health, their jobs and finances, and in so many other ways. For local high school student-athletes, the pandemic upended almost the entire 2020 spring season, and so far there hasn’t […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor There’s nothing more reassuring for a young baseball player than to see his father in the stands. And for nearly half a century, that’s exactly what South Hills baseball coach Darren Murphy got from his dad. It meant everything. Sadly, for the first time in his playing or coaching career, […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto With all the uncertainty in high school sports, let alone life during this pandemic, a Monrovia High School senior did something that even COVID-19 couldn’t stop. Nathan Thompson, one of the area’s premier hitters, committed to play baseball for Cal State San Bernardino in 2022. In 2018, Thompson played freshman ball, […]
Softball: On top of the many reasons that the Coronavirus broke the hearts of so many spring sport athletes, especially seniors, was the fact that some programs were off to a quick start and had the potential for a great season. And that was the case for Rio Hondo Prep and its four-year starting pitcher, […]
Softball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor A pandemic may have cut Julia Valenzuela’s high school athletic career short, but it couldn’t diminish in the slightest her role in taking the Westridge softball program to its high-water mark in 2019. Valenzuela teamed with senior star Deijah Bradley, freshman sensation Hailey Yoshida and the rest of their […]
Baseball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Mikey Kane left quite a mark athletically at St. Francis. Kane contributed the last two years for the Golden Knights’ football program and he was a three-year starter in baseball. If you ask his teammates and coaches, though, Mikey Kane is a far better young man and student than […]
Softball: By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor There might be a number of softball players in the SGV area that are better known than Azusa High School senior Natalie Wilson. But without question, Wilson’s four-year run statistically puts her in a very elite club. In the spring of 2020, Wilson’s senior year ended abruptly after just […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor As Charter Oak hosts Glendora today in a CIF-SS Division 2 wild-card game, the Chargers are as battle-tested as anyone. They finished one-game back of Hacienda League champion South Hills, after dropping a 2-1 contest last Thursday. All four of their league losses (South Hills twice, Walnut & West Covina […]
How sweet it must feel for the Arcadia baseball program. They waited eight long years to be able to call themselves champions of the Pacific League. And they dethroned Crescenta Valley on the Falcons home field in the process. Arcadia used a combo of Preston Howey and Dustin Allen on the mound and CV was […]
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 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 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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
