Baseball: Harvard-Westlake upsets Crespi

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake helped its Southern Section Division II playoff chances with a 7-5 upset of Encino Crespi Thursday in a Mission League game.

Freshman Lucas Giolito got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth during a short pitching stint to provide a boost for the Wolverines (9-11, 3-5), who scored six runs in the first inning.

Oliver Lowry and Gavin McCourt had two hits apiece. Crespi dropped to 14-8 and 7-3.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Mississippi State signs Renardo Sidney

Mississippi State just signed Fairfax High standout center Renardo Sidney, days after USC's men's basketball team had backed out of recruiting the player for undisclosed reasons.

We'll have more later on latimes.com/sports.

-- Lance Pugmire

Photo: Fairfax's Renardo Sidney. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times

Football: South roster announced for Orange County all-star game

Quarterback Robbie Picazo of Tesoro will lead the South team in the Orange County all-star game July 10 at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

Andrew McDonald of Newport Harbor will also play quarterback and Jaron Hytche of Mater Dei and Brett Geisen of Dana Hills will serve as the South's running backs.

Receivers for the South will be J.B. Green of Newport Harbor, Dylan Denso of Dana Hills, Nicalaus Powell-Calhoun of Segerstrom, Gavin Escobar of Santa Margarita and Graham Tenney of San Clemente. The offensive linemen will be Andy Palacios of Fountain Valley, Bryce Brantley of Edison, Matt Peleti of Aliso Niguel, Jeff Quigley of Laguna Hills, Steve Watts of San Clemente, Aaron Henry of Trabuco Hills, Justin Tausaga of Tustin and Nick Abele of Irvine.

The linebackers will be Scott Graves of Tesoro, Jordan Winger of Foothill, Aaron Garbutt of Westminster, Artie O'Keefe of Fountain Valley, Matt Reza of Edison. The defensive line will consist of Tanner Hodgdon of Tesoro, Will Andrew of Edison, Kyle Hubert of Mater Dei, Chris Robinson of Tustin, Awwad Yasin of Fountain Valley and Anthony Kaspar of Dana Hills.

Tesoro's Preston King will headline the secondary alongside Michael Helfrich of Newport Harbor, Christian Maldonado of Mater Dei, Ameer Webb of Tustin, Colton Fitch of Mission VIejo, A.J. Cruz of Santa Margarita and Dillon Norton of Corona del Mar. Riche Hogan of Laguna Hills will be the kicker/punter.

--Ben Bolch

Alabama cancels high school sporting events because of swine flu

Concerns about the swine flu caused the Alabama High School Athletic Assn. to cancel all events scheduled this weekend, including the state track and field championships.

Texas athletic officials earlier did the same, and the California Interscholastic Federation sent out a reminder Wednesday to section officials that they have the emergency authority to postpone events if needed.

City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said Thursday she informed athletic directors at a meeting on Wednesday that safety would take precedence, warning that playoff schedules next month could be disrupted if schools are closed.

"The worst-case scenario is something might not be played," Fiege said.

Southern Section schools could be facing disruption in their sports season. Indio High was closed Wednesday after a "probable" case of the swine flu.

-- Eric Sondheimer

 

Baseball: Wednesday scores

CITY
EASTERN LEAGUE
Garfield 9, Los Angeles Roosevelt 2

VALLEY LEAGUE
Fulton Prep 12, Discovery Prep 1

VALLEY MISSION LEAGUE
San Fernando 13, Sylmar 0

WEST VALLEY LEAGUE
Chatsworth 15, Taft 1
Cleveland 11, Birmingham 1
El Camino Real 11, Granada Hills 3

WESTERN LEAGUE
Fairfax 3, Los Angeles University 0

SOUTHERN SECTION
BAY LEAGUE
Mira Costa 10, Peninsula 4
Palos Verdes 17, Leuzinger 2
West Torrance 12, Redondo 0

Softball: Wednesday scores

CITY
COLISEUM LEAGUE
King-Drew 9, Dorsey 2

EAST VALLEY LEAGUE
Verdugo Hills 13, Canoga Park 8

WEST VALEY LEAGUE
Chatsworth 18, Taft 0
El Camino Real 4, Granada Hills 2

WESTERN LEAGUE
Westchester 12, Fairfax 4

SOUTHERN SECTION
ARROWHEAD LEAGUE
La Sierra Academy 10, Upland Christian 7

Baseball: Roosevelt-Garfield rivalry is tough to beat

No matter what the sport or where they play, Roosevelt and Garfield have one of the best rivalries in high school sports. They played Wednesday in an Eastern League baseball game at Los Angeles Roybal, and Garfield came away with a 9-2 victory in a game for first place.

The two head coaches discussed in the video below about the rivalry and what it means to the two communities.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Baseball: Hart, Mater Dei pull out extra-inning victories

It took extra innings, but Newhall Hart and Santa Ana Mater Dei got victories Wednesday in important league games.

Hart (11-9-1, 5-5) defeated Saugus, 4-3, in an 11-inning Foothill League game. C.J. Millar came on to pitch in the sixth for the Indians and won it. He also had a double in the 11th to set up the winning run. Zac Vincej of Saugus sent the game into extra innings with a seventh-inning home run. Hart pulled to within a game of Saugus (10-9. 6-4) in the battle for third place.

In the Trinity League, Mater Dei (18-3, 7-3) scored seven runs in the eighth inning to defeat Santa Margarita, 11-4. Derek Campbell hit his sixth home run of the season.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Baseball: Edison moves into first place in Sunset League

After a pair of one-run victories over his fiercest city rival, Edison baseball Coach Steve Lambright wasn't sure how much really separated his team from Marina.

"Both teams are mirror images of each other, and we just happened to come out on the plus side of both games," Lambright said today after Edison pulled out a 2-1 victory in 10 innings at Marina, snapping the Vikings' 10-game winning streak.

It wasn't easy. Or quick.

The Chargers (16-3 overall, 9-1 Sunset League), ranked No. 4 in the Southland by The Times, defeated the No. 5 Vikings (18-3, 8-2) for the second time this season in come-from-behind fashion to move one game ahead in the league standings. They also won both games in their final at-bat.

With a runner on second base and two out in the 10th inning, Donald Sneed reached out with one hand and whacked a two-strike curveball to shallow left-center field to score pinch-runner Jon Torres with the go-ahead run.

"It was out of the strike zone and he went down and got just enough to hit it," Marina Coach Paul Renfrow said. "That was a good piece of hitting."

There was also plenty of good pitching.

Baseball: Garfield knocks off Roosevelt in battle for first place

Garfield and Roosevelt took their athletic rivalry to the baseball field on Tuesday, and it was the Bulldogs coming away with a 9-2 victory at Los Angeles Roybal.

Garfield (14-9, 10-4) moved a game ahead of Roosevelt (22-5, 8-5) in the loss column in the Eastern League and ended the Rough Riders' winning streak at 13 games.

Joseph Gomez, a junior, kept Roosevelt off balance with a terrific pitching performance. Rogelio Montes had a key two-run double early in the game for the Bulldogs.

-- Eric Sondheimer