
Prep sports roundup: Huntington Beach gets walk-off home run by Ethan Porter
If anyone was hoping to get in some surfing Tuesday afternoon in Huntington Beach after watching the Oilers take on Los Alamitos in a big Sunset League baseball game, Ethan Porter did them a big favor.
Porter hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth inning to finalize a 3-2 Huntington Beach victory.
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The sun had come out, the clouds disappeared and Huntington Beach was being Huntington Beach, improving to 16-2 overall and 8-0 in league play. There was nothing easy about it.
Los Alamitos (15-5-2, 8-4) held a 2-0 lead going into the sixth inning behind left-hander Tristan Dalzell. The Oilers got a run back on a walk and RBI double by Porter. With two outs and a runner on third, Jared Grindlinger hit a line drive off the thigh of relief pitcher Logan Anderson to tie the score.
But the game's most important play came in the third inning. Los Alamitos had started to whack the ball against Otto Espinoza. Devin Porch had an RBI double and Tyler Smith had an RBI single for a 2-0 lead. Then Wyatt Joyce hit a long fly ball to right field. That's when Matt Haidl made a running catch that turned into a double play, ending the inning.
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"He's made those catches all year," coach Benji Medure said. "He's tremendous defensively."
Said Haidl: "The ball kind of floated. I had to lay out. I've always played outfield my whole life. It's second nature."
Newport Harbor 1, Fountain Valley 0: Gavin Guy threw the shutout.
Corona del Mar 5, Marina 4: Will Chiechi delivered an RBI double in the 11th inning for the Corona del Mar win.
Corona 10, Corona Santiago 1: Billy Carlson had a home run, two singles and four RBIs for the Panthers. Joshua Sur had two doubles and Trey Ebel added three RBIs.
Norco 19, King 4: Ryan Farias had four hits to lead Norco.
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Arcadia 5, Burbank 0: Gus Cooper gave up one hit and struck out nine in the Pacific League win.
St. John Bosco 4, Servite 1: The Braves stayed atop the Trinity League standings. Trevor Heishman and Jack Champlin combined on a two-hitter. Jaden Jackson and Noah Everly each had two hits.
Orange Lutheran 3, Santa Margarita 0: Colt Peterson struck out four, walked one and threw a two-hit shutout.
JSerra 6, Mater Dei 0: Max Reimers struck out seven in six innings and Jordan Marian finished with three hits.
Softball
Orange Lutheran 7, Mater Dei 0: Kai Minor contributed two hits and three RBIs, and Rylee Silva struck out seven in a complete game.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
How the Edmonton Oilers are set up for the 2025 NHL Draft
The Edmonton Oilers signed another young free agent on Saturday. Finnish left winger Viljami Marjala is 22 and the latest addition to the prospect pool by general manager Stan Bowman. Marjala posted 44 assists in Finland's Liiga last season, the fifth best total in the entire league. His 52 points landed him just outside the top 10 in league scoring. Scouting reports have him as a playmaker with a good shot, a good two-way type and a player who blossomed in the last two seasons with TPS Turku. Advertisement Bowman has signed a plethora of prospects since arriving last August, giving the team's talent pool more long-shot bets and addressing a major area of need. The draft this summer will be a challenge for Edmonton. Currently in the middle of the Stanley Cup Final, management has one eye on the series against the Panthers and another on the summer's activities. That includes the draft. Here's a quick look at what the picks Edmonton owns, and a possible target with the top selection. At this point in the season, there's some uncertainty in the final draft seeding. Edmonton's first-round selection will land No. 31 or No. 32, depending on the outcome of the final. Here's a look at the selections currently belonging to the Oilers: via Pro Sports Transactions The Oilers own three picks in the 2025 draft, the highest originally belonging to the St. Louis Blues. That selection, tentatively No. 83, will be key to any draft success delivered by Oilers scouts. A decade of dealing picks and prospects left the Oilers with holes at most positions. The organization has made attempts in the last 12 months to add bona fide NHL future talent, specifically Sam O'Reilly and Matt Savoie. A look at the projected best player by position informs us the group, while showing considerable promise, isn't deep and could use some help via the 2025 draft: Bowman could sign KHL winger Maxim Berezkin in the days to come, and help the depth chart at left wing. The Oilers organization may have found a late-round gem in goaltender Samuel Jonsson, who offers size and an impressive 2024-25 performance. Savoie is the surest bet in the group, a guaranteed plug-and-play on an NHL skill line next season. The only ways he isn't on the opening-night roster for 2025-26 will be poor performance in preseason, injury or a trade. Advertisement That leaves defence. It is there that the Oilers may use that third-round pick acquired from the Blues. A team that enters a draft with a third-round selection as its highest option is forced to make a decision: Go for the safe prospect, or try to hit a home run with a player with both extreme talent and enough question marks to scare away the teams with higher picks. Most of the players who make the NHL as depth players are readily available via trade or free agency. The Oilers would be best served by attempting to hit a home run. Since Bowman arrived as general manager, he has signed two defencemen (Atro Leppanen, Damien Carfagna) and three forwards (Marjala, Josh Samanski, Quinn Hutson) from outside the organization. He also secured goalies Jonsson and Nathan Day and forward Connor Clattenburg from the group of previous Oilers drafts. Based on the team's depth chart, a defenceman might be the best option available. Scott Wheeler at The Athletic has Reese Hamilton of the Regina Pats ranked No. 77 on his final list for the 2025 draft. His description reveals an exceptional skater who was highly ranked entering his draft season but fell down lists due to dull performance in 2024-25. Wheeler's thumbnail sketch of Hamilton suggests the type of defender the current Oilers management group may value highly. Wheeler: 'Hamilton is a smooth-skating, heads-up defenseman whose impressive mobility allows him to transport pucks, walk the line, gap and re-gap and get back to pucks. He's a zone-exit machine.' The Oilers are currently trying to win the Stanley Cup playing a style that focuses on zone exits that allow fast breaks for Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and others. Gathering a player who could play that role in the future is a good idea. Although Hamilton does not have the resume Evan Bouchard delivered in junior, he plays for the Regina Pats, who were the poorest offensive team in the WHL last season. The club's 170 goals represent just 2.5 goals per 60, in the same league that the Medicine Hat Tigers averaged 4.41 goals per game. The Pats were bad one year ago. Advertisement Wheeler concludes, 'his skating is the real premium, though. It's effortlessly smooth and should allow him to develop into an entry/exit/escapable/rush defense/tight gap D.' Hamilton is 6-feet-1, 170 pounds and could grow into a more substantial blueliner. His foot speed will get him a long look as a pro, and if his offence develops, the Oilers could have a useful top-four defenceman by the end of the decade. The Oilers have left themselves vulnerable at the 2025 draft, but no Oilers fan can possibly be upset. If the idea is winning the Stanley Cup, the last two years have proven beyond a doubt that the organization is laser-focused on winning it all. The steps taken by Bowman this season, in adding multiple players, show management is aware that the organization is vulnerable in the area of amateur procurement. The urgency is warranted. There's little use in finding a future No. 6 defenceman. Taking a chance on a player like Hamilton allows the team to make a sizeable bet on a player with raw physical skills. In baseball, these types are called 'draft and follow' and can have a major impact. Last season, playing for two WHL teams, Hamilton posted just four goals and 14 points in 59 games. Akey, another speedy puck mover, scored 47 points in 66 games during his draft season. The Oilers grabbed him with selection No. 56 in 2023. The key to identifying a 'draft and follow' player is making certain the talent was real and confirming the opportunity was unlike other draft-eligible players one year ago. It would seem Hamilton is such a player. Wheeler's ranking, despite the poor offensive production, is a tell.


USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
What we learned in Oilers-Panthers Stanley Cup Final and how it affects Game 3
What we learned in Oilers-Panthers Stanley Cup Final and how it affects Game 3 Show Caption Hide Caption NHL rescue dogs, all available for adoption, compete in the 2025 Stanley Pup 32 adorable rescue puppies representing each NHL team will compete in the 2025 Stanley Pup, airing June 6 on TruTV and Sportsnet! The 2025 Stanley Cup Final is changing venues this week with a 1-1 tie in the best-of-seven series. That's a big difference from last year's series between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers when the Panthers won the first three games and the Oilers won the next three before Florida clinched the championship with a Game 7 victory. Last year had no overtime games but this year, both games have gone past regulation. The Oilers won Game 1 at home on a Leon Draisaitl overtime goal. But the Panthers took away Edmonton's home-ice advantage by winning Game 2 on a Brad Marchand goal in the second overtime. Here are some trends from the first two games and how they might affect the series heading into Game 3: Sam Bennett will earn a big contract The Panthers' pending unrestricted free agent entered the final with a league-best 10 goals. He has added to that with three goals in two games. Bennett has scored 12 playoff goals on the road, setting an NHL record. Toronto's Mitch Marner is the top UFA, but Bennett's playoff prowess will have suitors lined up. He's highly effective around the net and has a habit of bumping goalies. His Game 1 goal as he fell into Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner survived a coach's challenge, but he was called for goaltender interference on a similar play in Game 2. Is he being watched more closely by on-ice officials? "I was pushed and then I think the goalie kicked out my heel, which made me fall," he said. "I didn't agree with that (call), but I'll move on." Will Bill Zito finally win general manager of the year? He's a finalist for the fourth consecutive season but has yet to win. He changed up the Panthers' depth players last summer after winning the Stanley Cup, but his biggest moves were before the trade deadline. He added defenseman Seth Jones, who played more than 30 minutes in each of the first two games of the final and had a goal and an assist in Game 2. Marchand, the former Boston Bruins star, has been critical to the Panthers' success. He scored on two breakaways in Game 2, including the winner. "I think our whole bench stood up when he had that breakaway," Bennett said. "It was just a huge play at a huge time. He's been incredible for us this whole playoffs, scoring massive goals at massive times." The voting is already done for the GM award, so we'll see if it's finally his turn. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl working their magic Draisaitl has three goals in the first two games and McDavid has five assists. They connected on the Game 1 overtime winner and the Game 2 setup was even more impressive. McDavid stickhandled past Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov and No. 1 defenseman Aaron Ekblad before feeding Draisaitl. The Panthers will continue to need to figure out how to limit those two, especially when coach Kris Knoblauch puts them on the same line later in games. Florida has the last line change in Games 3 and 4 and can get the matchup it wants. Oilers need to play better in the second period The Oilers have been outscored 3-1 in the second period and outshot 31-16. Florida turned around its Game 2 fortunes with its performance in the second period, when there's a longer distance to get to the bench for a line change. "Our passes weren't sharp. We gave away a lot of pucks," Knoblauch said. "If you can't make that first pass, you're stuck in the defensive zone. … If you just get it out to the neutral zone, you can't change." The OIlers, however, have outscored the Panthers 2-0 in the third period, tying both games and forcing overtime. Goalies are playing better than their numbers Skinner and the Panthers' Sergei Bobrovsky each have given up eight goals, albeit in elongated games. Though some goals against haven't been great, such as Evander Kane's in Game 2, Bobrovsky made a big pad save on Draisaitl before Corey Perry tied the game. Skinner stopped several breakaways before Marchand's winner. "There were some good saves made at both ends, high-end saves," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "There's some world-class shooters here."


New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
What's gone right and wrong for Oilers against Panthers in Stanley Cup Final
EDMONTON — Could this Stanley Cup Final be any tighter? Two overtime games. One win apiece. Each team takes control before the other punches back until someone lands the final blow. There have been unbelievable goals and thunderous hits. There's even been some controversy. The Edmonton Oilers nearly went up 2-0 in the series but had to settle for a split as things shift to South Florida. There's been a lot to like about their performance and also some aspects to quibble about. Let's look at three areas where they're doing well and three where they're not. Offense was hard to come by for the Oilers through the first two games of last year's Final. They scored just once on 51 shots in back-to-back losses as Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky almost seemed to be in their heads. That hasn't been the case this time around. The Oilers have scored four goals on 46 shots in each game and appear to have more of a book on the star netminder. Advertisement Pucks were placed on Bobrovsky's glove side the first five times the Oilers scored. Each shot that has beaten Bobrovsky has been elevated, a good call considering Bobrovsky is one of the best at stopping attempts along the ice in the NHL. The Oilers have a good chance of winning this series if they can continue scoring at a rate anywhere close to this one. Winger Zach Hyman's absence for the series due to a dislocated right wrist presented the possibility of a gaping hole in the Oilers' lineup. He went from a scoring wonder last year to a complementary piece and a hitting machine this year. It's hard to replace that, but the Oilers have done just fine thanks to a largely by-committee approach. Kasperi Kapanen was great in Game 1, and so was the fourth line of Vasily Podkolzin, Mattias Janmark and Viktor Arvidsson. Evander Kane has been everything you thought he could be: playing physical, acting as pest control against the most annoying Panthers and scoring a goal in Game 2. We can't forget about Corey Perry. He has a goal and an assist. The former was the latest tying marker in Cup Final history when he scored with 17.8 seconds left in regulation of Game 2, and the latter contributed to the winning tally in Game 1. Perry's up to eight goals in 18 games, seven more than he produced in 19 contests during the 2024 run. 'He only had one goal last year, but we wanted (him back), knowing in the playoffs it's hard to score and you need guys around the net and finding ways,' coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'He's as good as anybody finding ways to score.' The Oilers have also tilted the ice when they've loaded up the top line with the 40-year-old Perry and their two superstars, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers are outshooting the Panthers 19-8 and out-attempting them 37-16, and they own a 71 expected goals percentage in 22:25 minutes together at five-on-five. Advertisement Here are the number of shots the Oilers have allowed in the third period in each of the last two games: two in Game 1 and five in Game 2. That five-spot must have felt like a lot considering the Oilers had surrendered no more than four shots in each of the previous four contests. Sure, the Oilers trailed heading into the third period of both games of the Stanley Cup Final, but it sure helps trying to make an offensive push when you defend that well. Besides, Mattias Ekholm scored 6:33 into the third period of Game 1, so things were on level terms from there on. 'We find our way, get better throughout the game,' defenseman Jake Walman said between the first two games. 'Maybe in crunchtime we dial it in a little bit more, but ideally, we'd like to do that from the start of every game.' The way the Oilers have charged back offensively in the third period is worth mentioning, too. It's something they've done all playoffs, dating to their first win in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings. The series opener of the Final was their seventh come-from-behind win. They could have made it eight when Perry forced overtime in Game 2. That would have equalled a franchise mark set in 1987 and 1991. 'We all understand that it's never over with this group,' McDavid said. The Panthers are in and around the blue paint more than any team the Oilers have faced in the playoffs. That's been an issue through the first two games. Former Calgary Flames nemesis Sam Bennett has been the ultimate irritant. Bennett was tripped by Brett Kulak in the first period of Game 1 before falling into goalie Stuart Skinner. The puck nicked him on the way into the net. The Oilers challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld. The Panthers scored on the subsequent power play. Advertisement 'I would challenge that any day,' Knoblauch said after the game. 'Actually, I challenged it. I was on the bench, and I was even looking at it again. I was getting ready for the next lines, and I see the player fall in. I was told he was tripped. 'If that play happened again, I would challenge it. What I've seen in the NHL this year on the challenges for goaltender interference, I had a lot of confidence and would challenge that again.' In Game 2, Bennett was at it again. He was contacted by Ekholm during the first period and toppled into Skinner. This time, with Skinner down on the ice in apparent pain, Bennett was sent off for interference despite neither referee — Chris Rooney or Jean Hebert — initially raising his hand to signal a penalty. In the second period, another former Flames rival, Matthew Tkachuk, was bumped into Skinner as a point shot from ex-Oiler Dmitry Kulikov eluded the goalie. The Oilers opted not to challenge, and the Panthers tied the score at 3. It's not easy to keep Bennett, Tkachuk and others away from their goalie, but it's something the Oilers must be more cognizant of. 'We know they have players that want to drive the net,' Oilers defenseman John Klingberg said after Game 2. 'It comes to us trying to box out earlier. But we're trying to drive the net, too. 'They're a high-shooting-volume team, and if you are that, they're bringing people to the net as well.' The middle stanza hasn't been kind to the Oilers through two games, and that was especially the case in Friday's loss. The Oilers were outscored 2-0 in the second frame of Game 2, and they were outshot 14-9. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Panthers out-attempted them 31-13 at five-on-five and had double the number of high-danger chances (8-4). 'We just lost our legs a little bit,' Draisaitl said after the overtime defeat. 'We weren't as quick to recover pucks, and they're going to have their push. It's something to look at.' Advertisement After Game 2, Knoblauch pointed to a couple of areas the Oilers need to improve at to solve their woes in this regard. 'It was puck execution. I know our passes weren't sharp and we gave away a lot of pucks,' he said. 'If you can't make that first pass, you're stuck in the defensive zone, and you might get it up to the neutral zone. 'But especially in the second period, if you just get it out to the neutral zone, you can't change, and then you get stuck, and that's what happened.' Overall, the Oilers have been outscored 3-1 during the second period as the series shifts to Florida. They've been outshot 31-17. 'You're never going to play a perfect 60 minutes,' Klingberg said. 'If you can control the puck most of the time in the second period, you're going to have fresh legs and having an easier way to change.' The Oilers have had some outstanding moments on the man advantage in the early portion of the series, with two of Draisaitl's three goals coming in that capacity. Draisaitl scored the winner in Game 1 at 19:29 of overtime after Tomas Nosek's puck-over-glass penalty. It doesn't get more important than that. The Oilers can add style to substance, too. McDavid side-stepping Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov and then undressing Aaron Ekblad before feeding Draisaitl for an easy one in the first period of Game 2 was simply an otherworldly move. 'There's one player in the world that can make that (play),' Draisaitl said. For all the good with the power play, it struggled after that McDavid masterpiece. The Oilers failed to capitalize on a 33-second two-man advantage a couple of minutes later. They wound up going 1-for-6 on the power play Friday. Worse still, Brad Marchand scored his first of two breakaways when the Panthers were short-handed in the second period. Advertisement 'As good as our power play is, and as much as I'd like it to score every single time, that's unrealistic,' Knoblauch said. 'As long as they're getting quality looks — and the majority of our power plays, I feel we have. But we'll definitely be looking at things that we can try to exploit if there are things.' (Photo of Corey Perry celebrating after scoring during the third period of Game 2: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)