NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Area Baseball Teams Earn Top Seedings in Playoff Pairings

Four San Gabriel Valley-area high school baseball teams are seeded first in their divisions for the Southern Section playoffs that began Wednesday with wild-card games.

First-round games begin Friday.

South Hills (23-2) is seeded first in Division II. Bishop Amat (25-0) is the top-seeded team in Division III, San Marino (20-2) is No. 1 in Division IV and Pasadena Poly is seeded first in Division V.

Area playoff games include:

* Division I--Royal at Hoover, Alhambra at Esperanza, Rowland at Fountain Valley, Notre Dame at Arcadia and Victor Valley at Diamond Bar.

* Division II--Redondo at Glendora, Downey at South Hills, Covina at Gahr and Paramount at Bonita.

* Division III--Wilson at Bishop Amat, Palmdale at Walnut and Charter Oak at Bellflower.

* Division IV--Bloomington at Arroyo, Colton at Sierra Vista, La Salle at A.B. Miller, El Monte at Yucaipa, Azusa at Temple City, Pacific at Gladstone and Monrovia at Mountain View. San Marino has a first-round bye.

* Division V--Maranatha at Fillmore, Rio Hondo Prep at L.A. Baptist. Pasadena Poly has a first-round bye.

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Twenty seven area softball teams are participating in the Southern Section playoffs that began Wednesday with wild-card games and continue Friday with first-round games.

Here are the matchups involving area teams:

* Division II--Saugus at Charter Oak, Eisenhower at West Covina, Bishop Amat at Hoover, Diamond Bar at Fontana and Ayala at Wilson.

* Division III--San Gabriel at Covina (wild card) and Rancho Cucamonga at St. Lucy’s (wild card). Glendora at La Serna, Highland or Notre Dame at San Dimas, Ramona at Pomona Catholic, Alta Loma at South Hills.

* Division IV--South Pasadena or La Salle at Atascadero, Arroyo at Sierra Vista, Bassett at Mary Star, Aquinas at Rosemead, La Puente at Bell-Jeff, Riverside Notre Dame at Temple City and El Monte at St. Joseph.

* Division V--Carpinteria at Mission (wild card). Ramona Convent at Flintridge Sacred Heart, Webb at Alverno, Pasadena Poly at Western Christian and Maranatha at Cerritos Valley.

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The La Verne University softball team will play Allegheny University (Penn.) in the first round of the six-team Division III national championships today through Sunday at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.

La Verne advanced by winning a three-team West regional at Thousand Oaks.

Second-seeded La Verne defeated Cal Lutheran, 1-0, in its opener, then beat Buena Vista, 3-1, in 11 innings. The Leopards advanced to the championships with a 1-0 victory over Buena Vista.

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The Mt. San Antonio College baseball team finished 30-11 after being eliminated from the Southern California regional of the state tournament with consecutive losses to Cypress.

The Mounties defeated Cypress, 11-5, on Saturday, but lost, 10-8 and 7-6, on Sunday.

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DeVon Edwards of Cal Poly Pomona established a school and conference record last weekend by winning the 400 meters in 45.69 seconds at the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships in San Diego.

Edwards, a sophomore, broke the record of 46.02 set by Demetrius Cook of Pomona in 1981. Edwards also won the 200 in 21.47 and anchored the Broncos’ winning 1,600 relay.

Edwards will compete in the NCAA Division II championships May 27-29 at Abilene Christian University in Texas.

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The Azusa Pacific baseball team ended its season 35-9-1 after losing twice to Pt. Loma Nazarene in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 playoffs at Azusa.

Top-seeded Azusa Pacific defeated The Master’s College, 7-5, in its opener, but lost to Pt. Loma, 13-2. Azusa beat Southern California College, 4-1, then lost to Pt. Loma, 5-2.

Pt. Loma advances to the four-team Area playoffs, which begin today in Newberg, Ore. The winner of Area championship advances to the NAIA World Series at Des Moines, Iowa, May 28-30.

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Azusa Pacific’s track team is competing in the NAIA outdoor nationals today through Saturday at Abbotsford, British Columbia.

The Azusa Pacific men’s team has won nine of the last 10 championships.

Jason Wyatt is attempting to win his third consecutive title in the shotput, and Davidson Ezinwa is attempting to win the 100 and 200 for the third year in a row.

Debbie Malachowski has a good chance to win titles in the women’s javelin, discus and the shotput.

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Rebecca Huereque and Tracy Nguyen of Cal Poly Pomona finished second in the doubles competition at last week’s NCAA Division II women’s tennis championships at Industry Hills.

Huereque and Nguyen were defeated by Lee Whitwell and Mary Hirst of Francis Marion in three sets.

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The Challengers Angling Club is seeking fisherman interested in joining the organization, which was established in 1953.

The club sponsors trips once a month from February through October and meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month for dinner and a program at Covina Bowl in Covina.

Information: (818) 443-6107.

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The 1993 Senior Olympics, featuring competition for men and women in 19 events, will be staged June 5-19 in Pasadena.

Participants 50 and older are eligible to compete in track and field, race walking and walking, swimming, golf, tennis, cycling, softball, lawn bowling, bowling, basketball and ice skating. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded in each age division and winners will qualify for the state championships that will be contested in San Diego in September.

Information: (818) 397-4062.