It’s been a challenging and successful March for Mission Viejo’s softball team.
How does April look? Also challenging.
The Diablos, undefeated going into Thursday’s game against Santa Margarita and No. 1 in county, state and national rankings, play in the Michelle Carew Classic that begins Wednesday. The tournament, named for the late Canyon softball player who was a daughter of baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew, is in its 29th year overall and its 19th with the Carew Classic name.
Ten teams in the California top 20 are in the event: Mission Viejo, No. 1 in those CalHiSports.com state rankings; No. 5 Pacifica; No. 6 Yucaipa; No. 7 Saugus; No. 9 Etiwanda; No. 11 Murrieta Valley; No. 12 Canyon; No. 13 Los Alamitos; No. 14 Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga; and No. 15 Norco.
Mission Viejo has won two big tournaments this month, the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions Invitational, sometimes simply called “Bullhead City” because that is where the tourney is played, and the Best of the West tournament.
The Diablos beat Yucaipa, 1-0, in the Bullhead City final as Mission Viejo pitcher Taylor McQuillin had 11 strikeouts.
The Carew Classic, played mostly at Peralta Park in Anaheim, has its championship game April 4 at Peralta at 7:30 p.m. Maybe Mission Viejo’s March march continues through early April.
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Both Mater Dei basketball teams are No. 2 in the state top 20. CalHiSports.com has the Monarchs boys at No. 2 behind Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland, the team they play at Cal on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the CIF State Open Division championship game. The Monarchs girls are No. 2 behind St. Mary’s of Stockton, the team they play at Cal on Saturday at 6 p.m.
• Time Warner Cable will carry live coverage of CIF State championship basketball games Friday and Saturday. The Brea Olinda vs. Bishop O’Dowd game is live on TWC Community today at 2 p.m. The Mater Dei-St. Mary’s girls game is live on TWC Community on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Mater Dei-O’Dowd boys game is live on TWC SportsNet on Saturday at 8 p.m.
• Brea Olinda, No. 13 in this week’s state girls basketball top 20, has the most CIF State girls basketball championships, with nine. Other county schools with three or more girls basketball championships are Troy, with three, and Mater Dei, with four.
• Brea won four state girls titles in a row from 1991-94. Brea won three state girls titles in a row from 1998-2000.
• Mater Dei’s boys basketball program has won four state championships in a row. Last year’s state title tied the Monarchs for most boys state titles in a row with Price of L.A., which won four in a row, 2000-03.
• Saturday’s game against Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland in the CIF State Open Division championship is Mater Dei’s 16th appearance in a state boys basketball final. The school with the second-most state boys basketball finals is St. Joseph of Alameda, with 10. Jason Kidd was St. Joseph’s star player in the school’s first two state finals, 1991 and ’92 (St. Joseph’s beat Mater Dei in the ’92 final).
• The record for most points scored in a CIF girls state championship basketball game is held by a familiar name. Cheryl Miller scored 41 points for Riverside Poly in a 1982 state final. She would go on to star at USC, win an Olympics gold medal, get enshrined into the basketball hall of fame in Springfield, Mass., and become a broadcaster and college coach (her brothers Reggie and Darrell were pretty good athletes, too).
• The Register’s All-Orange County winter sports teams will be published April 11.
• The South won the county all-star basketball game Saturday at Irvine Valley College, 119-108. Aaron Harris of Trabuco Hills and Tyler Burch of Westminster led the South with 21 points apiece; Servite’s Trevor Treinen of the North scored a game-high 28 points and Brandon Smith of Godinez won the dunk contest.
• St. John Bosco announced that Derrick Taylor no longer is its basketball coach. We might see Damien of La Verne coach Matt Dunn’s name among likely candidates.
• The Celebration of Life for longtime county football coach Herb Hill is Saturday beginning at 10:30 a.m. at The Green Parrott, 2035 N. Main Street in Santa Ana. Hill, at one time the county leader in career coaching victories, coached at Rancho Alamitos and Loara.
• The Beach Cities Invitational track and field meet Saturday at Marina attracted a strong group of athletes. Among them are standout senior Gabe Warner of Woodbridge, who is entered in the 200 and 400. Warner was CIF-Southern Section Division 2 champion in the 400 last year.
• San Clemente replaced JSerra as California’s No. 1 baseball team in CalHiSports.com’s state rankings. JSerra is No. 2 this week. Dana Hills is No. 4 and Edison, unranked last week, is No. 8.
• The CIF-Southern Section office continues to work on a model that would have playoff divisions in all sports based upon competitive equity. Eliminated would be the format that in many sports has all playoff teams from the same league playing in the same playoff division.
• That CIF-SS office plan has hit a snag. To create the model and show CIF-SS member schools how it would function, the CIF-SS office needs scores and results from all of its member schools for the 2014-15 fall and winter seasons. Many CIF-SS schools don’t inform the section office or their local newspapers about their results.
• Sage Hill sophomore baseball pitcher Brett Super lived up to his name Tuesday when he threw a no-hitter against Brethren Christian. He had 14 strikeouts.
• St. Michael’s prep junior pitcher Michael Gates struck out 19 last week in a one-hitter against Tarbut V’Torah.
• Fountain Valley senior Willie Aguilar was 7 for 9 including a three-run home run and four stolen bases in a doubleheader sweep of La Habra last week.
• El Dorado relief pitcher Skylar McMillan in two appearances last week struck out five with one hit and no runs, and got a win and a save for the Golden Hawks.
• CASportsZone.com provides audio streaming of many county baseball games. Today it covers a matchup of two teams in the county top 10, No. 3 Dana Hills at No. 7 Aliso Niguel.
• Former Cal State Fullerton star outfielder Sam Favata is a base coach for Western baseball.
• The North team for the Orange County all-star football game, July 9 at Orange Coast College, has one running back on it, Moby Contreras of Los Amigos, and five receivers for quarterbacks Nick Buras of Cypress and Nick Brown of Rancho Alamitos. Gosh, just what type of offense might North coach Mike Enright of Rancho Alamitos employ?
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
