Sports

PREPS

It’s no surprise that Bishop Amat, Arcadia and San Marino are having another fine baseball season. Those programs are strong almost every year.

Nogales, however, has taken the San Gabriel Valley by storm. The Nobles, who were 7-18 last season, defeated West Covina, 13-4, on Monday to improve to 15-2 and 7-0 in the Sierra League.

Nogales, under Coach John Romano, has been led by senior pitchers Brian Barber and Robert Gonzales, both of whom are 5-1. Junior Roger Castaneda is 4-0.

Junior shortstop Ismael Garcia is batting over .350.

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Bishop Amat is ranked fifth, Arcadia sixth and San Marino 13th in the state baseball rankings.

San Marino is ranked No. 1 in Division III, Bishop Amat is No. 2 in Division II and Arcadia is No. 4 in Division I.

Wilson’s softball team is ranked fifth in the state. The Wildcats are No. 4 in Division I and San Dimas is No. 5 in Division III.

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San Dimas softball pitcher Brandi Isgar, who has thrown 14 no-hitters during her high school career, has signed a letter of intent to play next season at Cal State Fullerton.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Nicole Irving of Mt. San Antonio College, who is the state’s leading long jumper with a mark of 20 feet 6 inches, won the community college portion of the Mt. SAC Relays with a mark of 19-1.

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Lataya Woods and Latricia Johnson of Citrus College qualified for the state heptathlon championships by finishing second and sixth, respectively, at the Southern California championships at Santa Barbara City College.

Woods scored 4,012 points, Johnson 3,567.

COLLEGES

The top-ranked Cal Poly Pomona women’s tennis team finished its California Collegiate Athletic Assn. schedule with a 5-0 record by defeating UC Riverside. It marked the fifth consecutive conference championship for the Broncos.

Pomona men’s tennis player Jauffrey Faustini entered the week as the fifth-ranked player in the nation. Faustini has a 25-0 record.

The Bronco men and women will compete in the Ojai invitational this weekend.

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The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team begins a three-game CCAA series against Cal State Los Angeles on Friday within striking distance of first place.

Pomona defeated UC Riverside and won two of three conference games against Cal State San Bernardino last week to improve to 25-17-1 and 10-7 in the CCAA.

Pomona catcher Brian Dennis hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the Broncos’ victory over San Bernardino. He finished with six runs batted in.

Dennis has 10 home runs, three shy of Pomona’s single-season record of 13 set by John Hotchkiss in 1981 and tied by John Love in 1985.

Cal State Dominguez Hills is in first place in the CCAA at 12-6. UC Riverside is 11-7 and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is tied with Pomona at 10-7.

Cal State L.A. is 12-27 and 3-17.

PREP OF THE WEEK

Junior Muro, Monrovia--Muro started a game-winning rally against La Canada and had three hits, including a grand slam, in a victory over Blair to help Monrovia improve to 8-3 and 4-2 in the Rio Hondo League.

COLLEGE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Bob Sanchez, Citrus--Sanchez, a sophomore right-hander from Temple City, pitched a no-hitter as the Owls defeated Victor Valley, 7-0, in a Foothill Conference game.

Sanchez struck out 11 and walked one for the Owls, who entered the week 24-4 and 14-1 in conference.

MISCELLANY

The public is invited to participate in three grass volleyball tournaments at Azusa Pacific University. Pairs competition in men’s A, men’s B, women’s A and co-ed divisions are scheduled for May 7 and June 16. The entry fee is $15 a team in advance, $17 on the day of the tournament. Information: (818) 812-3024.

CALENDAR

The second annual Crown Valley Senior Games begin this weekend and will continue through May 7 at various sites throughout Southern California. Competition will be staged in 24 events. Information: (818) 795-4331.