NOTEBOOK : Area Schools Move Into Playoffs

Postseason competition in baseball, softball and volleyball begins for several Glendale-area high schools this week.

The opening round of the Southern Section 5-A Division baseball playoffs Friday will send Crescenta Valley (13-9) to Fontana (22-3) and Glendale (10-7) to Simi Valley (20-4).

St. Francis (10-11) is at Saugus (13-9) in a 2-A game.

“There’s good news and bad news,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Tony Zarillo, who takes his team to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. “Fortunately, we always make the playoffs. Unfortunately, we’ve never won a playoff game.”

Franklin played Roosevelt and Eagle Rock played Garfield in City Section 3-A Division games Wednesday. Results were not available at press time.

In the girls’ Southern Section 4-A Division softball playoffs, which begin today, Hawthorne (16-7) is at Glendale (17-3), Hoover (14-5) is at Brea-Olinda (16-6) and Crescenta Valley (23-2) plays host to Burbank (13-9).

In 2-A games, Flintridge Sacred Heart (7-1 in league play) plays host to St. Anthony (7-5 in league play) and La Canada (18-1) plays host to the winner of a wild-card game between Bell-Jeff and Atascadero.

Flintridge Prep (14-3) travels to Bishop (12-9) for a 1-A game and Ribet Academy (14-4) plays host to Rosamond (11-9) in a Small Schools game.

In the boys’ City Section volleyball playoffs, Venice defeated Verdugo Hills, 15-7, 15-4, 15-7, Tuesday in the 3-A semifinals.

Glendale swept Edison, 15-9, 15-8, 15-11, in a second-round Southern Section 4-A Division match Tuesday night at Glendale.

Having a blast: Andy Saltsman of Crescenta Valley hit his eighth home run of the season in a 13-4 win over Hoover last week, putting more distance between him and the school record of six, set last season by Brendan Cowsill.

Before Cowsill and Saltsman, no player at Crescenta Valley had hit more than three home runs in a season. Last season’s team hit a school-record 19 home runs.

On the right track: Five Glendale-area athletes have qualified for the Southern Section 4-A Division track and field championships, to be contested Friday at Cerritos College.

Margarito Casillas of Hoover qualified in the 3,200 meters by running 9 minutes 37 seconds at last Saturday’s prelims at Gahr High.

Crescenta Valley’s Robert Dilts qualified in the shotput (52 feet 6 inches) and the discus (149-8) and Nada Kawar of Crescenta Valley qualified in the girls’ shotput (37-9).

Paul Sheklow of Crescenta Valley advanced in the 300 intermediate hurdles (40.01) and Mike Wright of Glendale qualified in the triple jump at 48-3.

St. Francis will have three athletes and a relay team and La Canada will have two athletes competing in the 1-A finals Friday.

St. Francis’ Froylan Sanchez qualified in the 3,200 in 9:54.0, David Ower in the shot (48 feet 3 inches), Howie Smith in the pole vault (12-6) and Jeff Conrado, Tony Caruthers, Dan Vargas and Fred Brashear in the 4 X 100 relay (44.35).

Sarah Dien will compete in the 1,600 (5:16.1) and Jennifer Riney in the triple jump (39-7 1/2) for La Canada.

More track: Five athletes from Glendale College have qualified for the state championships today and Friday at Sacramento.

Hugo Allan Garcia qualified in the 10,000 meters two weeks ago, and four other Vaqueros qualified Saturday in the Southern California championships at Bakersfield.

Rick Provenzano qualified third in the 800 meters in 1:52.90 and Oscar Perez qualified fourth in the steeplechase with a time of 9:32.98.

Obed Aguirre qualified fifth in the 5,000 and Ryan Barreras qualified sixth in the javelin with a throw of 185 feet 3 inches.

Last add track: Occidental’s Jacqui Dent turned in another impressive performance last weekend at the Occidental invitational.

Dent, a sophomore who has already qualified for the NCAA Division III championships in the 100, 200 and 4 X 100 relay, ran a personal-best 2:07.98 in the women’s 800, finishing second.

Flipping out: Three high school gymnasts from the Glendale area will be competing in the Southern Section gymnastics finals Saturday at Westlake High.

Wendy Cohen of Crescenta Valley, the two-time defending all-around champion, will go for her third title. Eileen Derzakharian of Crescenta Valley and Emilo Lo of La Canada will also compete.

Awards time: Occidental baseball players Jason Rusk and Mark Harris were selected first-team All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference by conference coaches.

Rusk, a senior outfielder, batted .351 for the Tigers, who finished 14-20 overall and 9-9 in SCIAC play.

Harris, a senior shortstop, batted .273.

More awards: Freshman outfielder Jill Normington and junior shortstop Kathy Lobel were selected All-SCIAC in softball.

Normington led the conference with a .476 batting average and Lobel batted .413 for the Tigers, who finished 10-25, the most wins in school history.

Staff writer Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.