Orange Lutheran Has New Baseball Coach

Jeff Pressman, who coached for 12 seasons at Van Nuys Montclair Prep, has been named baseball coach at Orange Lutheran, the school said Wednesday. He replaces John Malmquist, who resigned.

Montclair Prep won 10 league championships and four Southern Section titles during Pressman’s tenure. He resigned after the 1987 season, citing increased demands on his time.

He is co-founder of the Mark Cresse School of Baseball in Huntington Beach. He also founded the Valley Cardinals Baseball Camp in 1972 and directed it until 1983, when it was purchased by former major league pitcher Rick Rhoden.

It isn’t a Texas Death Match, but . . .

We wonder how the World Wrestling Federation might promote the matchup of No. 2 El Modena and No. 8 Canyon. Probably something like this:

AN EPIC BATTLE OF THE UNDEFEATED!!!

Or:

BATTLE ROYAL!!!

Or:

BLOOD, GUTS, GLORY!!!

Thankfully, this dual wrestling meet doesn’t need such hyperbole to draw a crowd, and you don’t have to shell out $50 to your cable company to get it on pay-per-view.

When El Modena (3-0 in Century League dual meets) plays host to Canyon (2-0-1) at 7 tonight, the league title will be on the line.

A victory by El Modena would put an end to Canyon’s streak of 12 consecutive Century League championships. And that makes this edition all the more intriguing.

Them again? Esperanza and Los Alamitos meet Friday night at Los Alamitos to settle the Empire League basketball championship.

So what else is new?

In 1991, Esperanza won the league football title, but Los Alamitos won the Southern Section Division III championship.

In 1991-92, the schools went 9-1, tying for the league basketball title.

In 1992, Los Alamitos won the league football title, and the teams tied for the section championship, 14-14.

This season, Esperanza, the county’s eighth-ranked team, leads the league basketball standings with a 6-0 mark (going into Wednesday’s game against Katella). Ninth-ranked Los Alamitos is 5-1.

The difference?

Esperanza’s 61-53 victory Jan. 15.

Our advice?

Get there early.

Milestone: Slowly but surely, Tom Danley, Katella boys’ basketball coach, is closing in on his 500th victory.

After posting victory No. 496 last week, he had this to say:

“If you stay around long enough, you know, eventually you’ll get there. Obviously, it’s never been a goal. I don’t look back. I try to look ahead. It’s far more important for us to win our league games than for me to win games.”

Danley, Katella’s only coach since the school opened in 1966, is 496-199.