South Bay Teams in Championship Hunt : L.A. Summer Games End This Weekend

A week later, less than half the field in the L.A. Games remains but intriguing match-ups persist.

The 21st annual prep sports festival opened last Saturday with preliminary rounds staged in 19 sports at 25 sites across the Southland. The field returns to action Saturday, with most of the finals to be played Sunday at El Camino College.

The champion will be determined in softball on Saturday at El Camino.

In girls soccer, Hawthorne High School reached the finals against Arcadia with wins last weekend over Simi Valley, 3-0, Bishop Amat, 2-1, and Corona del Mar, 2-1. Arcadia squeaked past Mira Costa, 1-0. The game will be played at 10 a.m. Sunday at El Camino.

Last season Hawthorne finished second to Mira Costa in Ocean League play with a 6-1-1 league record and a 16-3-4 overall mark.

Leuzinger will play Thousand Oaks at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the softball semifinals. The winner will face the winner of the Thousand Oaks-Rubidoux game in the finals at 2:30 p.m. Leuzinger defeated Poly High of Sunland, 11-7, to advance to Saturday’s competition.

The boys soccer tournament moves into the semifinal round Saturday at Granada Hills High with Palos Verdes and Hawthorne alive. Palos Verdes takes on Belmont at 8:30 a.m. and Hawthorne faces Royal at 10 a.m.

Upsets were the order of the day in boys basketball as top seeds were eliminated in early rounds.

Unseeded Carson advanced to Saturday’s fourth round against Paramount with wins over Los Amigos, Taft and El Camino Real. Paramount defeated Palos Verdes, 70-56, to move into round four. Saturday’s game will be played at 11 a.m. at El Camino.

Westchester lived up to its third-seeding with lopsided wins over Burroughs of Burbank, 64-48, Pasadena, 69-42, and Chadwick, 69-33, to earn the right to face Inglewood at 1 p.m. Saturday at El Camino. Inglewood needed two overtimes to get by Long Beach Poly, 72-70, in round three.

Gardena surprised seventh-seeded St. Bernard, 64-59, in the opening round and reached the fourth round with a 70-64 win over Buena of Ventura. Gardena meets Artesia at 11 a.m. Saturday at El Camino.

Morningside faces University of L.A. at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mira Costa High by virtue of victories over San Fernando, 56-44, Santa Monica, 45-36, and Fremont, 51-50.

Quarterfinals in boys basketball will played Saturday afternoon at Mira Costa and El Camino, with the semifinals and finals scheduled for Sunday at El Camino. The finals will be played at 3 p.m.

Top-seeded Morningside faces Santa Ynez at 8 a.m. Saturday at Mira Costa in the third round of the girls basketball tournament. The winner will play again at 11 a.m.

The girls basketball semifinals and finals will be played Sunday at El Camino. The finals are scheduled for 1 p.m.

Four South Bay teams survived the first two rounds of the 7-on-7 touch football competition, which gets under way at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at West Torrance High. Winners of the early games advance to the quarterfinals at 11:20 a.m. Saturday at West.

The semifinals will be played at 9 and 10:15 a.m. Sunday at El Camino, with the finals at 11:45 a.m.

In Saturday’s 8:30 a.m. games, top-seeded Carson takes on Dorsey, Banning faces Muir and Westchester meets Gardena.

Mary Star moved to the quarterfinals of the baseball tournament with two forfeit wins last weekend. The Stars will face Ocean View of Huntington Beach at noon Saturday at Redondo High.

Mira Costa plays in the water polo semifinals against Edison at 8 a.m. Saturday at El Camino. The finals will be played at noon Sunday.