Sports Briefs: No. 1 seed Downey awaits opponent

DOWNEY – The Downey High School baseball team finished their regular season with an overall record of 19-8 and a league record of 9-1. The Vikings are the 2014 San Gabriel Valley League champions. For their efforts, Downey is the number one entry from the S.G.V.L. in the C.I.F. Division 3 playoff bracket. Downey will host the winner of the Rialto/Walnut game later today. Downey has won 16 of their last 17 games and are certainly playing their best baseball of the season.

Warren earned the number two entry from the S.G.V.L. The Bears finished their regular season with an overall record of 26-4 and were 7-3 in league play. Warren will host Rancho Alamitos later today in their first round game. Rancho Alamitos finished their season with an overall record of 18-6-1 and were 12-3 in league play. The Vaqueros were the second place finisher in the Garden Grove League behind Garden Grove. Garden Grove was 20-4 overall and 14-1 in league play.

Gahr was the final S.G.V.L. team to earn a postseason spot. Gahr finished their regular season with an overall record of 19-10-1 and were 7-3 in league play. Gahr hosted a wildcard game on Wednesday (score unavailable at press time) against Beverly Hills of the Ocean League. The Normans finished their season with an overall record of 13-11 and league record of 5-5. The Normans were the fourth place team in the Garden Grove League behind Santa Monica (24-5, 10-0), Culver City (17-10,7-3) and Hawthorne (16-8-1, 6-4), respectively.

The 2014 C.I.F. Divison 3 baseball playoffs are here and all three San Gabriel Valley League teams are playing well and poised to make deep runs toward a title.

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The Downey High School softball team has seen their 2014 season come to an end. Downey finished their season with an overall record of 10-18 and a San Gabriel Valley League record of 5-5.

Downey was the third entry from the San Gabriel Valley League in the C.I.F. Division 3 playoff bracket.

The Lady Vikings were defeated Tuesday afternoon at Sunny Hills 5-3 in the wildcard round of the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs. Senior Cassie Grana was selected player of the game in the playoff effort. Moving forward, Sunny Hills now has an overall record of 14-11 and had a Freeway League record of 7-3. The Lady Lancers were the third place team from the Freeway League behind La Habra (18-10, 7-3) and Fullerton (17-13, 7-3), respectively.

Despite their challenging season, Downey had several bright spots. Senior Rachel Rodriguez led the Lady Vikings with a .559 batting average, had 52 hits and scored 34 runs. Senior Daphne Gaspar held a .446 batting average, had 37 hits and scored 20 runs. Senior Brittany Juarez held a .386 batting average, had 27 hits and scored 16 runs.

The Lady Vikings had a team batting average of .342 and an on base percentage of .423. Downey had 68 stolen bases, a team E.R.A. of 3.75 and a team fielding percentage of .930. Coach Karzen is looking forward to next season and building on the challenges of this season.

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The Warren High School softball team are the 2014 San Gabriel Valley League champions. The Bears currently have an overall record of 22-5 and were 9-1 in league play.

The Bears were co-champs with Gahr (17-9, 9-1) but earned the top S.G.V.L. entry in the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs due to their second round win against Gahr.

Gahr, the number two entry from the San Gabriel Valley League, defeated Fontana 2-0 on Tuesday to advance to the second round. The Lady Gladiators played Righetti (24-6, 11-1) in their second round game yesterday (score unavailable at press time).

The Bears defeated Notre Dame (16-13, 7-3) 2-0 at home on Tuesday. The Notre Dame Lady Knights were the number three entry from the Mission League behind Chaminade (17-7-1) and Alemany (16-8, 7-3), respectively.

With their win, the Bears advanced to the second round of the playoffs where they played California (17-11, 8-2) yesterday (score unavailable at press time). California defeated Atascadero (23-6-1, 10-2) 9-2 at Atascadero on Tuesday in their first round matchup. The California Lady Condors were the number two entry from the Del Rio League behind league champion La Serna (25-3, 9-1).

Coach Starksen, her staff and players are poised and looking forward to making a deep run in the Division 3 playoffs.

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The Warren High School girls’ swim team competed at C.I.F. Prelims and Finals last week at Riverside Community College. Valeria Orozco placed 10th in the 200 IM and 9th in the 100 Butterfly. For her effort in the 100 Butterfly, Orozco earned a medal.

The Lady Bear 200 Freestyle Relay team of Justine Castro, Erin Gonzalez, Kim Shepherd and Kayla Casas placed 16th. Unfortunately, the 400 Freestyle Relay team of Valeria Orozco, Kayla Casas, Brittney Baron and Kim Shepherd were disqualified due to a false start on one of the relay legs during the race. Despite the qualification, the Lady Bear 400 Freestyle Relay still worked hard to qualify for the event.

Coach Cordero is very pleased with her team’s effort. Cordero said, “all in all we walked away with newly written records again (both individual events and both relays).” Cordero went on to say that “the 400 relay broke the school record in Prelims and that there were plenty of best times.” Cordero concluded by saying that “I could not be more satisfied with how they did, despite these last two days being marathon status and with the 100 + temperatures on both days.”

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The Warren High School boys’ volleyball team lost a tough five set match, 3-2, to Rio Mesa last Thursday night at home in the second round of the C.I.F. Division 3 playoffs. With the loss, the Bears have now been eliminated from postseason competition. Warren defeated Hemet 3-1 in their first round match last Tuesday at home to advance.

Coach Simons is extremely proud of his team and how hard they have worked this season. The Bears will now turn their attention to getting ready for next season.

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Published: May 22, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 06