Canon King and Venice High look to earn a trip to Dodger Stadium
There was pure joy as Canon King ran toward his Venice High teammates standing outside the dugout after touching home plate to complete a home run. He launched a group chest bump with Dylan Johnson, who went tumbling through the dirt like a kid playing in a sandbox.
'This feels great,' King said later. 'We've worked so hard for four years.'
Venice (27-2) is tantalizingly close to earning a trip to Dodger Stadium to play for the City Section Open Division baseball championship. The Gondoliers play Sylmar at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Cal State Northridge in the semifinals. The other matchup as part of a doubleheader has El Camino Real facing Birmingham at 3 p.m.
In many ways, these two games impose far more pressure on players than reaching the championship game, because each player so badly wants to make it to Dodger Stadium to fulfill dreams of a lifetime.
'It's magical,' King said.
To see King's smile and excitement last week after hitting his sixth home run in a 4-1 playoff win over Chatsworth offered a hint of his value and importance to a surging Gondoliers team. He's a three-time Western League MVP.
He's committed to Cal State San Marcos, has gotten all A's for four years on his report card except for one B in chemistry freshman year and one B in AP Spanish. He's a born leader and 'loves' being named Canon by his father, a high school teacher and former amateur rapper whose best friend had Canon as his last name.
'The energy is infectious,' he said of the team's success. 'It's all coming together. Our team chemistry has been high. Our practices have been so productive.'
Coach Kevin Brockway has 16 seniors on the roster. The Gondoliers haven't won an upper division championship since 1972 and are trying to follow the same improbable path as last year's champion, Bell, which hadn't been to a final since 1953.
Venice was given the No. 1 seed even though El Camino Real and Birmingham came from the stronger West Valley League. But the Gondoliers went 18-0 in the Western League and have the defensive prowess to do well, with a solid catcher in Charlie Nisbet, a dependable shortstop in Daniel Quiroz and King in center field.
Sylmar, the Valley Mission League champion, went to Dodger Stadium jtwo years ago for the Division I championship game. Pitcher Alex Martinez remembers starting at third base as a freshman.
'It's crazy,' he said of the atmosphere. 'Overwhelming for sure. It looks different, even when the ball is up in the air. It blends in.'
He threw a shutout last week in Sylmar's Open Division win over Cleveland. Coach Ray Rivera has come to rely on him as a pitcher and hitter.
'He trusts me with the ball and in special situations,' Martinez said.
He thinks the Spartans are coming into Tuesday's game feeling good about themselves.
'This team is special this year,' he said. 'This team can beat anyone if we play our game.'
Venice knows the challenge ahead, first having to get past Sylmar, then one of the two West Valley League powers, El Camino Real or Birmingham.
Whatever happens, King is ready, though he's thankful the games are 6 p.m. on Tuesday and 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Gondoliers don't do well with morning games.
'We're notorious for Saturday morning games,' he said.
He'll get everyone to go to bed early the night before. None of them will sleep well anyway thinking of the possibilities.
'Surreal,' is how King put it if the Gondoliers can make it to Dodger Stadium on Saturday.
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"My main goal [for entering the transfer portal] was development," King told HBCU Gameday. "I know [Mississippi State] is going to help me become the best version of myself." Things will look extremely different for King this fall. She spent her entire life in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region with her mother, Stacey Pettiford. However, Pettiford - an HBCU alum from Howard University - tried to get the 5'7" point guard to leave the DMV to explore her basketball dreams elsewhere. "I wanted her to go away," Pettiford said. "It's a big world out there, and she'd experienced the DMV all of her life." King wasn't ready to take her talents from the big city to a new hoops terrain. But now, as she transitions to Starkville, Mississippi, the sophomore floor general is ready to embrace her next chapter, one that will include some "peace and quiet." "I wanted to slow my life down," King said. "I don't know what life is like without hearing trains, ambulances, and cars constantly passing by. I wanted new scenery. That helps me feel at peace now." King's choice and determination to ditch familiarity for the Magnolia State would not be possible without confidence in her dream, faith in God, and the lessons learned at "The Mecca" of HBCU culture. King, who at 10 years old did not have experience hooping with an elite club team, strolled into a DMV gym for a tryout with the Lady Prime AAU basketball team, coached by then-Washington D.C. street hoops legend Lonnie Harrell. Tons of budding, young female basketball players graced the court. After a couple of drills and some intense 5-on-5 action, Harrell walked over to Pettiford and did not waste any time in his desire for King to join the team. "I remember [her tryout] like it was yesterday," Pettiford said. "Harrell was like, 'we need her' and asked 'how long had she [Saniyah] been playing?'" King's genesis in basketball began with playing with boys at the park during recess in elementary school and running a few houses down the street in her Bowie, Maryland, neighborhood to play pickup games during the week. "I didn't think I was good," King said with a laugh. Her talent reached new heights when she joined Lady Prime. That season, King and her teammates didn't lose a game. As her skills grew with Lady Prime, it later opened the door for success at Bishop Ireton - a private Catholic high school in Alexandria, Virginia - as well as on the AAU circuit playing for Team Durant EYBL, named after 15-time NBA All-Star and DMV native Kevin Durant. However, a "turning point" in her personal development came during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when she completed workout sessions three times per day with Joshua Morgan-Green, the founder of the Triple Threat training regimen based in Annapolis Junction, Maryland. "I was probably there from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.," King said. "When I was younger, I was always stronger and a little faster than my peers. That summer, I really got skilled. My ball handling went to a different level, I perfected my shot, and learned how to work. He [Green] changed my life." King entered the Washington, D.C.-based HBCU after excelling in the classroom as an AP scholar and becoming one of the top 15 point guards in Virginia for assists per game. She held a long lineage of Howard pride in her family. Pettiford, one of King's 11 family members to attend HU, played a key part in her daughter's interest in attending Howard after many years of taking King to basketball games and events on the HBCU campus. King, who had spent all of 18 years of her life living with her mom prior to attending HU, saw Pettiford depart the DMV to move to Atlanta during her freshman year. "When I was at home with her [Pettiford] every day, I would spend most of my time in my room," King said with a laugh. "Seeing her leave helped me mature emotionally." With a 10-hour trek separating the two, King began to realize the lessons Pettiford shared with her about life, time management, and avoiding worldly distractions in pursuit of her dreams, both on and off the court. However, when she entered the gates of the renowned Main Quadrangle, walked across The Yard or stepped inside Frederick Douglas Memorial Hall and Burr Gymnasium for the first time, she quickly found out that Howard was the epitome of "Black excellence" but also a place where she had to grow up and balance a myriad of priorities as a student athlete. "I underestimated college," King said. "Howard helped me come to that realization very fast. It wasn't the normal college experience. … Howard really prepares you for the real world." 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But with Pettiford away and a surplus of daily college life distractions around her, it forced King to find herself while remaining focused on her goals in the classroom as well as becoming the best point guard on the hardwood. King leaned into her faith in God to navigate her challenges. Each day, she logged into Instagram, swiped to her bio section and visited one of her highlights named Daily Words of Encouragement (DWOE), which listed her favorite Bible verses and quotes. One of her go-to scriptures comes from Matthew 19:26, which reads, "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" As her freshman season progressed, when she wasn't in class, at practice, or lifting weights with her teammates, she watched sermons and read the Bible, drawing closer to God when she was unable to attend Sunday services at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Silver Springs, Maryland. "I was in a place where I had to find and put God at the forefront of my life," King said. "His presence in my life strengthened my mindset and my vision to conquer my goals." As King embraced her walk with God, she matured in the face of adversity. King, who became a force for Howard in HBCU women's basketball, captured Rookie of the Week honors 11 times. With three games remaining against North Carolina Central, South Carolina State, and the defending MEAC champions Norfolk State, Howard sat in second place (17-9) in the MEAC standings. The Bison entered their clash with NCCU, winners of seven consecutive contests and 10 of their last 11 games since league play began on Jan. 4. And for King, her focus remained on finishing the season strong and getting another chance to face the Spartans. However, things took a twist for the Bison point guard. King injured her left foot in Howard's 74-51 victory against the Eagles, sidelining her for the final games of the regular season. She wasn't a stranger to foot injuries. King struggled with bone bruises over the years due to the absence of an arch in her feet. But with the MEAC tournament around the corner, her shot at helping Howard dethrone the Spartans and securing an automatic bid in the women's NCAA tournament remained in motion. However, with an injury comes a wave of emotions and physical challenges. When she returned to the court for the league tourney - specifically in Howard's matchup against Maryland Eastern Shore in the MEAC semifinals - King didn't feel like herself on the court. "I played a little scared," King said. "I wasn't trying to land a certain way [on my foot] and I kept thinking about that. That's not my usual mindset." HU's win set up the MEAC title against the Spartans and future 2025 WNBA signee Diamond Johnson, a player whom King respected, studied, and watched from afar throughout her college career in the Big Ten and HBCU hoops. 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