Southern Has Clout in Battle of Sections

It was no surprise that Southern Section softball teams asserted their superiority over the City Section in the San Fernando Valley tournament Saturday.

Southern Section teams were 10-2 against the City, including several of the region’s best City teams.

Sylmar and Verdugo Hills were the only City teams to defeat a Southern Section opponent. Sylmar defeated Faith Baptist, 8-3, and Verdugo Hills scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge Calabasas, 9-8.

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Last year’s hirings and firings of Marmonte League coaches provided players at Newbury Park and Royal extra motivation last week.

Newbury Park faced former assistant Geoff Combe, now coaching at Moorpark, and dealt the Musketeers their worst loss of the season, 5-0.

“They really wanted to beat [Combe],” Newbury Park Coach Lynn Baum said.

But the Panthers didn’t get to enjoy it long.

Two days later, Royal posted its first league victory by defeating the Panthers, 4-1, and former assistant Anthony Standard, now an assistant at Newbury Park.

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Newbury Park ended La Canada’s winning streak at six games, but Coach Bart Dickins took the loss in stride.

“This is a good tournament for us because we need to face these kinds of teams,” Dickins said. “We aren’t going to get that much competition in league [play].”

La Canada (7-1), which hadn’t surrendered a run this season until Saturday, is 4-0 in Rio Hondo League play and on its way to a fourth league title in five years.