NOTABLE

Reggie Smith of Montclair Prep is the only player from the Valley area on the All-Southern Section 1-A first team in baseball. Smith batted .342 with five home runs and was 4-0 with an 0.64 earned-run average for the Mounties. Reed Olmstead of Blair was named player of the year.

Rodney Beck of Grant High, The Times’ Valley Player of the Year, has been named to the 30-member all-state team compiled by Cal-Hi Sports, an influential newsletter. Other Valley-area players on the team are pitcher Scott Radinsky and outfielder Shaun Murphy of Simi Valley and catcher Bob Allen from Granada Hills. Mike Urman, a junior catcher at Canoga Park, made the all-state underclassmen team.

Gene Hatton was named Friday as coach of the Royal High boys basketball team. He replaces Jack McCrory, who resigned to coach at Grass Valley High.

Hatton served as an assistant last season with the Cal Lutheran women’s team after coaching the Royal High girls team for seven years, winning one Marmonte League championship.

David and Daron Connelly of North Hollywood have signed professional baseball contracts with the San Francisco Giants, and the brothers may both be assigned to the rookie league affiliate in Everett, Wash., a team spokesman said Friday. David, a 6-1, 185-pound first baseman/outfielder, never played a varsity game in high school because of academic problems, but was selected on the 18th-round of the June draft. Daron, who signed Thursday, graduated from North Hollywood and pitched last season for Cal State Dominguez Hills, champion of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Steve Oliver, a senior at Calabasas High, has signed a letter of intent to attend UC Irvine in the fall. Oliver played on the boys tennis team that won four consecutive Southern Section 3-A championships under Coach Joe Trahan.