SPRING HIGHLIGHTS

Reseda 5, Taft 1--Sophomore Steve Brody tossed a five-hitter for Reseda but failed to earn his third shutout when Todd Grayson homered in the fourth. Brody struck out eight as Reseda (7-6) pulled into a tie for third with El Camino Real in the West Valley League.

For Reseda, Tony Gilmore singled three times and scored three runs, and J.P. Desenfants hit a solo home run. Taft fell to 2-11.

San Fernando 6, Van Nuys 0--Pitchers Frank Ruiz and Jeff Lopez combined on a one-hitter as San Fernando moved into first place in the Mid-Valley League. Marcos Castillo led San Fernando (11-2 in league), going 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

In six innings, Ruiz had eight strikeouts and walked only two.

Poly 6, Hollywood 1--In his first varsity start, Poly sophomore Greg Nealon allowed only one unearned run and two hits. He struck out five.

For Poly, Tim Hunt was 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Ray Palafox had a single and two RBIs.

Sylmar 4, Verdugo Hills 3--Verdugo Hills scored a run in the sixth inning to send the game into extra innings, then scored twice in the top of the eighth to take the lead. But Sylmar scored on an error, tied the game on an RBI single by Isidro Rodriguez (2 for 4) and won it when Rick Diaz scored Art Monreal with a single.

Sylmar is 10-9 overall and 9-7 in the East Valley League, while Verdugo Hills dropped to 5-10 overall and 7-10 in league.

Birmingham 6, Monroe 3--Jordan Cook gave up five hits and struck out six for Birmingham.

Kevin Costa and Kevin Gelberd led the Birmingham offense with two hits each.

Birmingham and Kennedy are tied for third in the Mid-Valley League with records of 6-7.

High School Softball

Kennedy 6, San Fernando 1--Pitcher Pauline Madrid tossed a one-hitter and struck out seven batters as Kennedy improved to 8-1 in the North Valley League.

Madrid was 3 for 4, and teammate Krissy Erickson was 2 for 5, including a double.

Chatsworth 2, Granada Hills 1--Chatsworth’s Stephanie Ellis provided the offense for pitcher Tina Shimozo. Ellis was 3 for 3, scored a run and had one RBI.

Shimozo struck out 15 strikeouts and allowed two hits.

Canoga Park 3, Taft 0--Canoga Park pitcher De Dow picked up her 13th win in 15 games as she allowed only one hit, struck out 16 and walked one. Jennie Michaels picked up the lone hit for Taft in the seventh inning.

Canoga Park scored all three runs in the third inning to improve its record to 13-2 overall and 7-2 in West Valley League. Taft dropped to 6-10 overall and 2-7 in league.

El Camino Real 9, Reseda 0--Reseda pitchers walked seven batters to help El Camino Real to the West Valley League win.

Lisa Mahl was 2 for 3 with a solo home run in the seventh inning, while El Camino teammate Beth Silverman (14-0) tossed a three-hitter. El Camino is 14-0 overall and 9-0 in West Valley League.

Boys Tennis Playoffs

Calabasas 18, Cerritos 0--Singles players Al Martinez, Steve Oliver and Steve Wiere led top-ranked Calabasas to the first-round playoff win in the Southern Section 3-A playoffs.

Craig Kaplan paired with Mike Bloom, Cory Jorgenson with Todd Fellman and Steve Davis teamed with Craig Cignarelli in the doubles portion to sweep the match for Calabasas.

Calabasas, which finished first in Frontier League and is 15-4 overall, will play Hart on Friday in the second round. Calabasas is trying for its fourth consecutive 3-A tennis title.

Hart 14, La Canada 4--Foothill League champion Hart won eight of nine singles matches en route to a first-round 3-A playoff victory. Tuan Dam and Bret Silverman each won three singles matches for Hart.

Hart’s No. 1 player, Jamie MacMullen, won two of his three singles matches. His only loss came to La Canada’s No. 1 seed, Harold Goodman.

On Friday, Hart (17-1) faces top-ranked Calabasas.

Thousand Oaks 18, North Torrance 0--First-year coach Jeff Richards showed he might have a knack for getting his team prepared for the playoffs.

In sweeping every set, Thousand Oaks (16-5) won four tie-breakers to crush North Torrance.

Singles players Brendan Guerin, Derek Hall and Anlo Liu all cruised through their opponents.

Canyon 12, San Luis Obispo 6--Canyon’s singles players swept their matches to advance the Cowboys to the second round. Mark Vukanovich, Dave Castelblanco and Chris Mortimer were a combined 9-0, and the doubles team of Troy Doyle and Pontus Henningsohn was 2-1.

Canyon is 18-3 overall and was 14-1 in the Golden League.

Harvard 16, Hoover 2--Sam Salant won his three sets while the doubles teams of Mike Lindsay with Matt Tarses, Derrick Coleman with Dan Rothenberg and Andy Shirley with Mike Regen went undefeated to lead Harvard to the Southern Section 4-A first-round playoff win.

Harvard, which is 8-6 overall, will host Laguna in the second round on Friday at 3 p.m.

Burbank 9, Gahr 9--Burbank won its first round match on the basis of games, 76-74. Burbank, No. 3 in the Foothill League, upset Gahr, No. 1 in the San Gabriel League, as John Blas and Tyson Manning were 3-0 in doubles.

In singles, Mauricio Quierga and Mark Nielson had two wins each for the Bulldogs.

High School Volleyball

Chatsworth def. University, 7-15, 15-2, 15-6, 4-15, 19-17--Led by setter Steve Finkel, Chatsworth emerged with a hard-fought victory in the City 4-A semifinal match and will play top-ranked Palisades in the City final at Pepperdine on Friday at 7 p.m.

Palisades defeated Carson, 15-8, 15-1, 15-2, in its semifinal match.

Granada Hills def. Manual Arts, 15-13, 15-6, 15-9--Outside hitters John Lim, Joe Komsky and Nicky Kim led Granada Hills to an easy victory in the second round of the City 3-A playoff match. Kim had 12 kills and Komsky added 10 kills.

JC Baseball

Valley 4, Mission 2--Valley scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win its final game of the season. Mark Glennie hit a ground-rule double with the bases loaded to score two runs and give Valley a 3-2 lead. Tim Riley singled in Howard Halen for the Monarchs’ final run.

The win was Valley’s 15th in the last 17 games. The Monarchs did not make it to the state tournament despite finishing the season 15-5 in the Mountain Valley Conference.