O.C.'s diamond dominance hard to miss
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
•County baseball's excellence is easily proven by the number of county players on Major League Baseball rosters. But the county also shines bright in that other diamond sport, softball, in which seven county schools are in ESPN's national rankings: No. 4 Esperanza; No. 15 Marina; No. 16 Edison; No. 34 Pacifica; No. 38 Los Alamitos; No. 47 Canyon; and No. 48 Orange Lutheran. The best name of a school in the ESPN softball national top 50 is No. 14 Soddy Daisy, of Soddy Daisy, Tenn.
•The Ojai Tennis Tournament began Tuesday and continues through Sunday. It is the tournament of the year for junior and college players. A good website: ojaitourney.org.
•Two county schools are ranked No. 1 in their CIF-SS boys volleyball divisions: Santa Margarita, in Division 1; and Corona del Mar, in Division 2. The county is well represented in both divisions, with Newport Harbor (No. 4), Mater Dei (No. 5) and Esperanza (No. 10) also in the Division 1 poll, and Laguna Beach (No. 2), Trabuco Hills (No. 5), Beckman (No. 7), El Toro (No. 9) and Aliso Niguel also in the Division 2 poll.
•The rosters of the South and North teams for the (drawing in breath for long-winded title) Brea Lions Club 52nd Annual Orange County North/South Prep All-Star Charity Football Game (whew) can be found at ocvarsity.com. The roster rules: 35 players on each team, or 36 players if one player is exclusively a kicker and/or punter. Between now and the game, which is July 15 at Orange Coast College, there could be roster changes for various reasons.
•Foothill linebacker AJ Hoover is on the South all-star roster, which is appropriate because Hoover is diabetic and one of the charities involved in the county all-star game is the PADRE Foundation that helps young diabetes patients and their families.
•Next week at ocvarsity.com: a spring football edition of the 2011 county football preseason top 25.
•When Jim Staunton's resignation as CIF-SS commissioner becomes official in August, Staunton will depart with the third-longest tenure as the organization's chief official. His 12 years at the post is exceeded by the 37 years of Seth Van Patten (37 years, ended in 1950) and Kenny Fagans (20 years, ended in 1975). Former Los Alamitos baseball coach and athletic director Rob Wigod moves from his assistant commissioner role to CIF-SS commissioner in August.
•A trial date of Oct. 3 has been set for Orange County Superior Court in the legal complaint filed by the Diocese of Orange against the CIF-Southern Section. The complaint alleges unfair business practices by the CIF-Southern Section against Mater Dei.
•Edison's baseball team moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 in Baseball America's national rankings this week after going 3-1 in the San Diego Lions Tournament. Last week's No. 1, St. Francis of Mountain View, lost three of its four games in last week's local Hard9 National Classic in which Bishop Amat of La Puente beat Esperanza in the championship game at Cal State Fullerton. Amat is No. 15 in Baseball America's rankings.
•However, in ESPN's national baseball rankings, Edison's 3-1 mark in the San Diego Lions Tournament knocked the Chargers down from No. 1 to No. 11. JSerra is No. 19 on that national list.
•JSerra's baseball team is No. 5 in the nation, according to Baseball America, and also is No. 5 in CIF-Southern Section Division 1. That's a tough division. Edison is No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 1, and another county team, Oxford Academy, is No. 1 in Division 6.
•Mater Dei junior pitcher/outfielder Ty Moore, having a great year, has been selected to play in the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars in June, in North Carolina. Moore is batting .514 with 27 RBIs and on the mound is 7-1.
•Troy baseball senior center fielder Michael Gregory had a productive week as the Warriors beat Fullerton twice, 12-3 and 15-5. Gregory, who committed to Redlands, was 8 for 11 with five stolen bases.
•Cox3 will televise taped coverage of Friday's El Toro-Dana Hills baseball game that evening at 11:30. The telecast is repeated on Cox cable systems on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.
•And, speaking of which and in the unlikely event you care, yours truly is on the Cox3 Sports Zone high school sports show every week, and also is a guest every Friday at 9:30 a.m. on KLAA/830 AM with Rodger Lodge on the Sports Lodge. There also is that twitter.com/stevefryer thing. That concludes the final self-promotion of the 2010-11 school year.
