PREP FLASHBACK : THIS WEEK IN COUNTY PREP SPORTS HISTORY

10 YEARS AGO

Bolsa Grande needed a victory to clinch at least third place and get into the Southern Section baseball playoffs. But the Matadors found themselves trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh against Los Amigos.

Bolsa Grande’s chances didn’t look good, even though the bases were loaded.

But Sal D’Alessandro got what may have been the most dramatic hit of his career, a grand slam, as Bolsa Grande clinched a playoff spot with a 13-10 victory.

5 YEARS AGO

Happy Anniversary: Many tough decisions and court cases later, Stan Thomas might not look back on this week with fondness. But on May 8, 1986, Thomas was named the sixth athletics commissioner of the Southern Section.

Thomas, who was an administrator of commerce and technology for the Tustin Unified School District, was chosen from a field of 18 applicants.

“I read in the paper that Ray (Plutko) was leaving,” Thomas said. “I joked with my son about going for it and thought about it a week. Then I said, ‘Why not?’ I have experience in the area and have been successful, so I decided to take a run at it.”

The 18 applicants were pared to Thomas, Southern Section Administrator Dean Crowley and Associate Commissioner Margaret Davis.

“I thought being a principal had to be an advantage at that point,” Thomas said. “The CIF Southern Section is essentially a principal’s organization, and having had the opportunity to serve in that capacity, I feel that it will give me more insight on a daily basis.”

1 YEAR AGO

Great Lengths: Distance swimmer Sionainn Marcoux won the 200- and 500-yard freestyle at the Southern Section Division 4-A championships. Marcoux’s times of 1 minute 49.68 seconds in the 200 and 4:49.86 in the 500 were the county’s top marks for the season. Marcoux also scored 32 of Foothill’s 150 points as the Knights finished second in the meet.