Prep Rally: Here are the greatest local high school baseball pitchers of recent memory (2024)

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Inspired by seeing Seth Hernandez of Corona pitch, I’ve thought back to all the great high school pitchers I’ve seen since the late 1970s.

Memory lane

Left-hander Max Fried during his Harvard-Westlake days

(Los Angeles Times)

Southern California has been home to so many fantastic pitchers through the years during my time covering high school sports in the San Fernando Valley and later throughout the region.

My memories include lots of great pitchers from the City Section: Bret Saberhagen, Rod Beck, Jon Garland, Randy Wolf.

The Southern Section includes Jack McDowell, Jeff Suppan, Tyler Matzek, Max Fried and Trevor Bauer.

Here’s a look a memories of seeing the pitchers of the past.

Baseball rewind

Bryce Rainer of Harvard-Westlake went eight for 12 hitting in three games against Loyola.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

With one week left in the regular season, the battle for league titles and automatic playoff berths continues.

No. 1 Corona clinched the Big VIII League title by sweeping Corona Centennial in a three-game series. The Panthers lost in a Saturday nonleague game to La Mirada 2-0. La Mirada’s Luke Armijo threw the shutout. La Mirada faces Gahr this week in a series that will decide the Freeway League title.

Westlake took a two-game edge in the Marmonte League after Calabasas lost two of three games to Oaks Christian.

Hart moved into a tie for first place in the Foothill League after a two-game sweep of West Ranch.

Bryce Rainer had quite a week in helping Harvard-Westlake sweep Loyola to clinch the Mission League title. He went eight for 12 at the plate with two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs.

Mater Dei won the Boras Classic with a 7-3 win in Northern California. Brody Connors had three hits.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Softball

Garden Grove Pacifica clinched the Empire League title and is 21-2 overall. It’s the Mariners’ 31st softball title.

They may no longer be No. 1 in the Division 1 rankings because of their stumble losing two games in a row earlier but don’t think the Mariners aren’t in position to win another CIF title.

In the MVP talk should be Taylor Shumaker of Esperanza. She has 18 home runs, 46 hits and 37 RBIs.

Brianne Weiss of Orange Lutheran continues to dominate. She is 15-1 pitching and struck out nine in her latest outing, a 2-1 win over Rosary. The Lancers have clinched their fifth consecutive Trinity League softball title.

Here’s the Southland’s top 20 rankings.

Here’s the Southern Section poll.

Track

Granada Hills sprinter Jordan Coleman reaches back to receive the baton from teammate Justin Hart.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Jordan Coleman of Granada Hills is gearing up to be a 100 meters contender. Here’s a profile of the Harvard-bound senior.

The Mt. SAC Relays were held Saturday.

Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura set another meet record in the girls’ 1,600 in 4:31.72. Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan won the boys’ 1,600 in a state-leading 4:06.89.

Deshawn Banks of Birmingham won the high jump at 6-10. Carson junior Jerald Martin Evangelista established himself as a state contender in the long jump by winning in 23-7 3/4. Aja Johnson of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame won the girls’ shot put and discus.

Here’s the roundup of top performances at Mt. SAC.

Lacrosse

El Camino Real and Palisades have advanced to the City Section boys and girls lacrosse finals Tuesday.

Palisades has dominated in the City Section.

St. Margaret’s and Oaks Christian continue to be ranked No. 1 in Southern Section boys.

Foothill and El Dorado top Southern Section girls with one week to go in the regular season.

Volleyball

The Southern Section released its boys volleyball playoff brackets Saturday. Loyola is seeded No. 1 in a very strong eight-team Division 1. Here’s the link to pairings. Mira Costa is No. 2.

Loyola’s Sean Kelly.

(Nick Koza)

Loyola has the best player in Southern California in UCLA commit Sean Kelly. He and his teammates are motivated to win a section title after being upset in the semifinals last season.

In girls beach volleyball, top-seeded Mira Costa has advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals in Division 1. The semifinals and finals will be Saturday at Long Beach City College. Here’s the link to playoff brackets.

Notes . . .

The City Section Open Division baseball semifinals will be held as a doubleheader at Pepperdine on May 21 at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The Division I semifinals will be May 22 at Stengel Field in Glendale at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. The finals are May 25 at Dodger Stadium. . . .

The City Section softball championship game will be May 18 at Long Beach State. . . .

Mater Dei failed to name a new head football coach last week, which means the candidate list could be expanding. Raul Lara had been considered the favorite but no longer. . . .

Former Franklin quarterback Eduardo Cuevas is now at Eagle Rock. Here’s the latest from the transfer portal. . . .

Westchester has picked up two top basketball transfers from St. Bernard in Tajh Ariza and Christian Collins. Ariza is the son of former Westchester, UCLA and NBA player Trevor Ariza. . . .

Tony Bland has resigned as basketball coach and athletic director at St. Bernard to become associate head coach at Washington. . . .

Bernard McCrumby has resigned as basketball coach at Gardena Serra. . . .

Baseball player Owen Faust of Tesoro has committed to Fresno State . . . .

Jason Miller is leaving Bellflower High to become football coach at his alma mater, Leuzinger. . . .

The Southern Section has surpassed the number of required teams needed to hold its first girls’ flag football playoffs and championships in the fall. . . .

Edmund Zozaya has resigned as basketball coach at Montebello. . . .

Bethany Garcia, a swimmer from JSerra, has committed to the University of San Diego. . . .

The Coliseum and SoFi Stadium will be hosting high school football games this fall. The Coliseum will be the site for San Pedro vs. Banning on Oct. 18. SoFi is scheduled to host Mission Viejo vs. Long Beach Poly on Oct. 4. . . .

LACES center Ryan Conner has committed to Cal State San Marcos for basketball. . . .

Point guard Aaron Powell of Campbell Hall has committed to Rice. . . .

All-CIF guard Aidan Fowler of JSerra has committed to Humboldt State. . . .

Westlake baseball standout Will Kaczynski has committed to Westmont College. . . .

Viewpoint has hired Josh Frechette as its new athletic director, replacing Patrick Moyal, who is retiring after 35 years. . . .

Guard Justin Pippen of Sierra Canyon has committed to Michigan. . . .

Pitcher Ross Clark of Orange Lutheran has committed to Grand Canyon.

From the archives: Charisma Osborne

UCLA guard Charisma Osborne was taken No. 25 in the WNBA draft.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

After five years of playing basketball for UCLA, former Windward standout Charisma Osborne was the first player taken in the third round of the WNBA draft by Phoenix.

Osborne is a former Los Angeles Times player of the year.

Here’s a 2017 story on Osborne in high school.

Recommendations

From the New York Times, a discussion on why youth sports is too expensive for some.

From the Irish Sports Daily, a story on a freshman football player from St. John Bosco impressing at spring practice in South Bend.

From OCRegister.com, a story on a new sports program for elite athletes run by the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District.

From ESPN.com, a story on former Bishop Alemany quarterback Miller Moss and his journey staying at USC.

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