Latest news with #EricSondheimer
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Prep talk: Seven of eight women's College World Series teams have SoCal players
Former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame softball star Ella Parker leads Oklahoma into the College World Series. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times) If you want to win a Women's College World Series championship in softball, you probably need one, two or even three players from Southern California, which is loaded with high school softball talent. Seven of the eight teams that will begin action in Oklahoma City this week have at least one SoCal product making major contributions on the roster. Only Texas Tech is missing the SoCal connection. Advertisement Let's start first with Ella Parker, the standout from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame who leads Oklahoma with a .416 batting average, 13 home runs and 49 RBIs. Florida has Taylor Shumaker from Esperanza, a freshman hitting .389 with 22 home runs and 86 RBIs. Texas has freshman pitcher Cambria Salmon from Beaumont. She's 7-1 with a 2.37 ERA. Tennessee has Sophia Nugent, a Los Alamitos graduate with 17 home runs. Ole Miss has Persy Llamas, a freshman from Eastvale Roosevelt. She's batting .355 with 10 home runs. Oregon relies on freshman Rylee McCoy from Oaks Christian. She's second in hitting with a .399 average, 19 home runs and 58 RBIs. Advertisement And there's UCLA, which has Godinez grad Savannah Pola. She leads the Bruins in hitting with 96 hits, a .440 average, nine home runs and 48 RBIs. This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
California Science Center opens free interactive sports exhibits
Former UCLA softball pitcher Rachel Garcia stands in the batting cage as the digital Rachel Garcia pitches to visitors at the new Game On! exhibition, which opens Thursday at the California Science Center. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times) There's a new interactive exhibit opening on Thursday at the California Science Center across the street from the Coliseum that will provide Disneyland-like sports entertainment for all ages, and it's free. Using censors, cameras and 21st century technology, "Game On!" takes up 17,000 square feet formally occupied by the Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit. It allows visitors to learn about science, sports and movement. You get to actively participate by hitting a softball against pitcher Rachel Garcia, take batting practice instructions from Freddie Freeman and kick a soccer ball into a goal while learning from Alyssa and Gisele Thompson. All are mentors. Advertisement Yet there's so much more. You get to try swimming strokes, skateboarding, snowboarding, cycling. There's climbing, yoga, dancing and challenging your senses during an exhibit that tests your quickness trying to block a hockey puck. There's a basketball exhibit where you shoot a ball toward the basket and learn if your form is good or not. One of the murals at the new interactive sports exhibition at California Science Center. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times) "There's something for everybody," said Renata Simril, president and CEO of the LA84 Foundation that helped provide funding along with the Dodgers Foundation and Walter Family Foundation. She's not embellishing. Parents, children, adults, teenagers — they're all going to be smiling. Don't be surprised if nearby USC students discover a new place to enjoy an hour break for fun and laughter from studying by walking over to the exhibition hall when it opens at 10 a.m. The California Science Center new interactive sports exhibit — "Game On!" — opens on Thursday. It's free. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times) It's supposed to be open through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but don't be surprised if popularity creates momentum to keep it around longer. Advertisement "It's really cool," said Garcia, a former UCLA All-American softball pitcher who appears on a screen showing off her 60 mph pitch as a participant swings a real bat trying to hit an imaginary ball as a light trail moves down a rail toward the batter. "I think it's phenomenal. It's going to get a lot of kids engaged." Garcia even tried to hit against herself. "I missed the first time," she said. The batting cage where Freeman is providing hitting advice has a real soft ball and bat. It will be popular for all ages. The rock climbing exhibit still has not been completed, but participants will wear a harness as they climb toward the ceiling. Advertisement While kids will be the most enthusiastic, a dinner recently held at the facility that had adults dressed in tuxedos and dresses resulted in them trying out the exhibits and acting like teenagers again. Using science to teach lessons could provide inspiration for non-sports visitors. There's sound effects throughout and most important, pushing a button doesn't just mean you watch and listen. It means you get to participate, whether hitting a baseball or softball, trying to make a free throw, trying to swim or skateboard. Don't be surprised when word gets out how fun this exhibition creates. There will be lines. The only question will it be kids lining up or adults? Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Prep Rally: The high school sports season closes with a ton of title games
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. May Madness has arrived in high school sports, the final month of the 2024-25 season. Get ready for a month of section, regional and state championships as the 2024-25 sports season comes to a close. Here's a look at the calendar and options to attend. Dodger Stadium will be the site for the City Section baseball championships on May 24. It remains the most special destination every season for lucky City players who make it. El Camino Real, Birmingham and Venice are the early contenders. Cal State Fullerton or Blair Field will host the Southern Section baseball finals May 30-31. Someone will have to eliminate Corona to win it all in Division 1. Pitcher Seth Hernandez has an astounding 88 strikeouts and just three walks in 42 1/3 innings. Make sure you take an afternoon off to see him pitch before he's taken No. 1 or No. 2 in this summer's amateur draft. He has a 98-mph fastball. The Southern Section track and field prelims take place this weekend. There are so many male and female runners ready to unleash their best performances in the coming weeks leading up to the state championships at the end of the month at Buchanan High in Clovis. Prepare for a month of excitement, surprises, tears of happiness and tears of disappointment. Crespi clinched the Mission League championship by winning two of three games over Harvard-Westlake. Catcher Landon Hodge was impressive hitting. Sophomore Mikey Martinez turned in a stellar relief performance. Nate Lopez came through in the clutch. Here's a report. Santa Margarita claimed the Trinity League's final automatic playoff berth with a win over Servite on Friday. Arcadia wrapped up an unbeaten Pacific League season. Summit has won 19 consecutive games. Norco ended Big VIII League play with 11 wins in its last 12 games. Birmingham dropped two games to Granada Hills in the West Valley League, which means the Patriots must sweep El Camino Real in a two-game series this week to win the title. El Camino Real has a one-game lead and is on a 12-game league winning streak. Venice lost a nonleague game to San Pedro to drop to 24-2 but is unbeaten in the Western League. City Section pairings will be announced Saturday with Southern Section pairings Sunday. Here's this week's top 25 rankings by The Times. It's time for the annual warning that seems to be ignored yearly. Batting practice before Southern Section playoff games is not allowed and could result in forfeits. Parents and coaches have been known to break out their cameras to take video to prove the illegality. And protests must be made before the first pitch to the umpire. Then it's up to the Southern Section to decide if the violation is deserving of a forfeit. Good luck and make sure your video is clear. Orange Lutheran has clinched the Trinity League championship. Kai Minor leads the team with 40 hits, a .488 batting average and 31 RBIs. It's been a wild season in the Crestview League, where Garden Grove Pacifica (7-4) is trying to hold off El Modena (7-5), Anaheim Canyon (6-5) and Cypress (6-5). Norco has clinched the Big VIII League title but lost for only the third time all season in a 7-4 defeat to Eastvale Roosevelt. Rosary is 24-2-1 and 9-0 in the Pacific Coast League. Sophomore Jenna Caldera is hitting .570 with 49 hits. In the City Section, San Pedro (7-0) has a two-game lead over defending City champion Carson (5-2) in the Marine League. Dahlia Davila is batting .509. Granada Hills has a two-game lead over Birmingham in the West Valley League and is 21-3. Demare Dezeurn said he runs track to help his receiving skills in football. 'This is for football to get me faster,' he said before running the 100 meters at the Thursday's Mission League track and field finals Thursday at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. His coach at Bishop Alemany, Terrell Stanley, said he gave Dezeurn permission to run a fast time. Dezeurn then ran a wind legal 10.32 seconds, second fastest in the state. Here's the report. Rodney Sermons ran a wind-aided 10.30 100 meters at the Baseline League finals. The Trinity League finals were filled with top performances. Servite set a meet record in the 4x100 relay at 40.48. Servite freshman Jaelen Hunter broke the meet record in the 400 at 46.32. There were nine runners who broke 11 seconds in the boys 100 with Servite's Benjamin Harris running 10.45. Santa Margarita's Leo Francis ran the 200 in 20.99. Eden Murray of Mater Dei won the girls 100 in 12.08 Rivals Mira Costa and Redondo Union faced off for the Southern Section Division 1 championship, and Redondo upset the top-seeded Mustangs in matches filled with drama. Here's the report. Venice won the City Section championship. Here's the report. Tragedy struck the Loyola High community with the death of tennis standout Braun Levi, the team's captain who was killed in a traffic accident. He's the report. . . . The Southern Section baseball championship games will be played May 30 and 31 at Cal State Fullerton and Blair Field in Long Beach. . . . Orange Lutheran has hired Nate Klitzing as its new boys basketball coach. He had been at Crean Lutheran for seven years and is a former Orange Lutheran assistant. . . . Debbie Shaffer has resigned as tennis coach at Mater Dei. . . . Savannah Seiler is the new girls basketball coach at Edison. . . . Quarterback Derek Garcia from Ventura has committed to UNLV. . . . Jeremiah Soifer, who was a longtime high school sportswriter during his days with the Riverside Press-Enterprise and recently inducted into the Norco High Hall of Fame, died last week. He was 80. He became a photographer in retirement. . . . Former Oaks Christian running back Marc Tyler is the school's first girls flag football coach. Nathan Santa Cruz, a 400-meter runner at Venice, has committed to Cal Poly Poly. He was the player who came back from a serious football injury in 2022 that required brain surgery. . . . Standout guard Isaiah Bennett from AGBU has committed to the University of La Verne. . . . Junior receiver Luc Weaver of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to USC. He ran a 10.68 100 meters at the Mission League track finals. . . . Mater Dei pitcher Brandon Thomas has committed to Fresno State. . . . Former Iowa wrestler Charles Matthews is the new wrestling coach at San Clemente. . . . Brothers Bear and Tiger Bachmeier are transferring from Stanford to BYU for football. They were standouts at Murrieta Valley. Former Servite infielder Roman Martin has become a standout in his sophomore season at UCLA. He entered this week hitting .300 with 45 hits, three home runs and 33 RBIs. He's part of a Servite contingent that has been performing well for UCLA, including Jarrod Hocking and Chris Grotheus. Here's a story from 2022 of Martin hitting a grand slam. From the Los Angeles Times, a story on Dodgers manager Dave Roberts adopting the Palisades baseball team and helping out the program after the school and field became unavailable after the Palisades fire. From the Washington Post, a story on how Maryland is known for lacrosse but one county is playing catch up. From the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a story on star Maranatha pitcher Zach Strickland. From Floridatoday, a story on high school football coaches hoping for a raise.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Prep talk: Keisean Nixon of Green Bay Packers returns to Salesian High for honor
Keisean Nixon, the Green Bay Packers' cornerback and return specialist, was honored by his alma mater, Salesian High. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times) There was mariachi music, flowers, hugs, laughs and lots of sincere, emotional moments on Saturday night at Salesian High's annual gala in the school gym that helps raise scholarship funds and honor alumni at the 400 all boys Catholic school in Boyle Heights. Two NFL players, Keisean Nixon of the Green Bay Packers and Deommodore Lenoir of the San Francisco 49ers, members of Salesian's 2013 Southern Section championship team, were chosen for the Golden Mustang award that honors alumni and other supporters of the school. Nixon spent his senior year at Salesian and said it changed his life. "Never quit," he said of the lesson he learned. "I never let anyone put me in a box. I stayed true to what I dreamed about my passion to play football. When I sought out my destiny, I chased it. I never gave up. Salesian changed me a lot. I didn't have structure. I met a lot of people who cared about me. I learned a lot being here." It's the final week of the regular season in high school baseball for the City Section and Southern Section. Playoff pairings will be announced on Saturday for the City Section and Monday for the Southern Section. Advertisement This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Prep Rally: It was a big day for Servite at the NFL draft
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The NFL draft was held last week, and dreams came true. Former Servite football coach Troy Thomas was invited to Green Bay on Thursday to see if his two former players, Mason Graham and Tetairoa McMillan, would be first-round NFL draft picks. It happened fast and early. Graham, the defensive lineman from Michigan, went to the Cleveland Browns as the No. 5 selection. McMillan, the receiver from Arizona, went No. 8 to the Carolina Panthers, whose quarterback happens to be Heisman Trophy winner and former Mater Dei quarterback Bryce Young. Here's a report on the historic moment of two former high school teammates being selected among the top 10 picks in the NFL draft. Then came former Oaks Christian and UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger being taken by the Browns with the opening pick of the second round. Here's a report on his storybook rise from college walk-on to NFL draft choice. Few were happier than Loara grad Ahmed Hassanein, a native of Egypt who played defensive end for Boise State and was a sixth-round pick of the Detroit Lions. As if following Southern California grads wasn't exciting enough last weekend, perhaps the No. 1 quarterback in Southern California from the Class of 2026, Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park, announced he has committed to Michigan. Here's the report. Corona is back hitting home runs and destroying the competition. The Panthers scored 23 runs against Corona Centennial in the first game of a three-game sweep and ended the week with a 13-3 win over St. Mary's in the championship game of the Boras Classic in San Diego. Back at the No. 1 position in Southern California, Corona closes out league play with a three-game series against Eastvale Roosevelt. Then the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs will soon begin and everyone will be trying to beat the Panthers. The big surprise of the week was Huntington Beach losing twice to Newport Harbor in Sunset League play. The Oilers still hold a two-game lead. Here's a report. St. John Bosco completed an incredible turnaround, clinching its first Trinity League championship since 2017. Here's a report. Hunter Manning struck out 12 in West Ranch's 3-1 win over Hart. Here's a report. Birmingham and El Camino Real continue on a collision course to decision the West Valley League title. El Camino Real's only loss in league play was to Birmingham. Sylmar and Poly meet this week to decide the Valley Mission League title. Venice is 21-1 and 14-0 in the Western League. The Gondoliers picked up a 12-2 win over Loyola on Saturday. Harvard-Westlake and Crespi play a three-game series to decide the Mission League title. Jackson Eisenhauer of Crespi enters this week having allowed no earned runs in 47 innings. Summit is on an 18-game winning streak. Here's this week's top 25 rankings by The Times. Here's the Southern Section power rankings. Norco, Rosary and Orange Lutheran continue to be the top three softball teams in the Southland. Here are the rankings by Norco is 23-2 and 7-0 in league. Norco plays second-place King on Tuesday. Kai Minor is having an MVP season for Orange Lutheran. Here's a report. Lots of Southern California natives have been named to the USA national softball team competing in China. Here's the report. The Southern Section released its playoff pairings. Loyola is seeded No. 1 in boys and Mira Costa gets the top seed in girls. Here's the link to pairings. The City Section finals are Wednesday at El Camino Real, matching El Camino Real and Palisades in both the boys and girls finals. University's boys team forfeited its semifinal match because it did not have enough players after others opted to prepare and attend school prom. The Southern Section playoff pairings were released for boys, and Mira Costa is seeded No. 1. Action begins Wednesday in pool play. Here are the pairings. The Southern Section girls beach volleyball playoffs continue. Quarterfinal action takes place Tuesday. Here's the updated pairings. The City Section will hold its competition Friday at Santa Monica State Beach. Venice is seeded No. 1 in the 16-team tournament. Here's the pairings. It was the spring of 2022 when Colin Yeaman finished as the leading hitter with a .385 batting average on a 13-16 Saugus High baseball team. He had zero home runs, which matched how many scholarship offers he had. 'I figured not getting any offers, junior college was going to be the best place for me to grow and develop to get to the Division I level,' he said. During two injury-plagued seasons at College of the Canyons, he grew to 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds. He started showing moments of power and ability playing shortstop. This season at UC Irvine he has become a pro prospect with 12 home runs. Here's the story of how he did it. On the day before volleyball practice began in January, Hall of Fame coach Michael Boehle spoke to his players at Loyola High to let them know about expectations for the coming season. 'One of the things we talk about is cancer within a team and how there are times when cancer can really affect a lot of things and it's not curable and it spreads,' he said. 'We use that analogy talking about bad teammates.' Players had no idea what was about to come out of their coach's mouth. 'Unfortunately, today, I'm here to tell you your coach has cancer.' So began his battle with prostrate cancer in the middle of volleyball season. Here's his story. The City Section announced that the Narbonne High football team has been banned from the playoffs for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons because of rule violations, and all the school's sports programs have been placed on probation through the 2027-28 school year. Narbonne also has to vacate its 2024 football title. Here's the report. Jonathan Antolin is the new basketball coach at Tustin. He was an assistant at Foothill. . . . Ben Finnegan from Santa Margarita has committed to Point Loma Nazarene for baseball. . . . Kaliya Ndiaye of Santa Margarita has committed to Syracuse for women's volleyball. . . . Former Ontario Christian coach Matt Tumambing is the new girls basketball coach at Corona Centennial. . . . Jordan Jamestown is the new basketball coach at Newbury Park. He had been an assistant at Harvard-Westlake. . . . Pitcher Joseph Moreno of South Hills has committed to St. Mary's. . . . Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth, the City Section co-basketball player of the year headed to USC, was involved in a serious car accident last week and has been recovering. Here's the report. . . . Top girls golfer Jude Lee from Orange Lutheran has qualified to the U.S. Women's Open. . . . Irvine University sophomore Rishvanth Krishna won the singles title at the Ojai tennis tournament. Here's the report. . . . Another prominent player has been added to the high school football transfer tracker. Former Crespi pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno is thriving as a relief pitcher at Hawaii. He's 4-1 with a 2.89 ERA and has five saves in 43 2/3 innings. He helped Crespi win the Southern Section Division 2 championship in 2023 as the Celts' ace pitcher. Here's a story from 2023 on Crespi's incredible comeback in the Division 2 final. From the San Diego Union-Tribune, a story about six high school games being played at Petco Park and the impact of the experience on players. From the Washington Post, a story on the coming rule changes and likely changes for college athletics.
