Hughes Pitches In to Stop La Quinta

Westminster La Quinta’s baseball team hadn’t lost in its last 30 games. Santa Ana Foothill pitcher Phil Hughes hadn’t lost a decision this season. When the dust settled Wednesday afternoon, the shorter of the streaks still stood.

Hughes improved to 6-0 with a four-hit, eight-strikeout performance to beat the Aztecs, 7-1, in a championship semifinal of the Santa Fe Springs St. Paul tournament.

Trevor Tibbetts had two hits, including a double, and four runs batted in for the Knights (15-2), ranked No. 9 in the Southland by The Times. La Quinta, ranked No. 12, fell to 15-1-1.

-- Rafer Weigel

*

Top-ranked Villa Park continued its winning ways in the Placentia El Dorado National Classic, scoring a 14-6 victory over Baton Rouge (La.) Parkview Baptist (13-13) in a championship quarterfinal.

Sophomore Alex Curry (4-0) struck out six and gave up one earned run in five innings for the Spartans (13-1). Casen Burwell had a grand slam and a double, good for six runs batted in.

In another championship quarterfinal, Trevor Plouffe (5-1) pitched five innings for No. 7 Encino Crespi in an 11-3 victory over Memphis (Tenn.) Christian Brothers.

Plouffe helped himself at the plate too, with a double and triple among his four hits. He scored twice and had five RBIs.

-- Melanie Neff and Andre Uribe

Boys’ Tennis

Fullerton Troy breezed past Fullerton, 18-0, in a Freeway League match, but the Warriors expect a bigger challenge today when they play host to Brentwood (8-2) in a nonleague match.

Even after winning the Southern Section Division II title and finishing 29-1 last year, Troy’s 13-0 start this season has been a pleasant surprise for Coach George Vallance.

“We thought this would be a rebuilding year,” he said.

The Warriors graduated nine seniors, seven of whom were starters in either singles or doubles. The most notable loss was Jeffrey Das, The Times’ player of the year in 2003.Juniors carry the lineup this season. At No. 1 singles, Lawrence Wang, is a consistent baseline player who is 33-0, and the No. 1 doubles team of Henry Yan and Andrew Hyun is 35-1.

-- Elia Powers

Golf

Ryan Ritzau shot a five-under-par 66 to tie his school record and lead Goleta Dos Pueblos to a 355-412 Channel League victory over Santa Barbara at the Montecito Country Club.

The Chargers’ 18-hole total eclipsed their former team record of 358 set on March 23 against Santa Barbara San Marcos at Glen Annie Golf Course in Goleta, where Ritzau first set his individual record.

Ritzau, a senior, had five birdies and an eagle on the 518-yard, par-five 11th on Wednesday. Junior Sean Bowman had six birdies to finish at 67 and sophomore Jason Bullemer shot 70 for Dos Pueblos (10-2, 4-0 in league). Santa Barbara is 6-7, 3-2.

--Rafer Weigel

Swimming

Venice Coach Sophie Sabbah expects every member of her girls’ team to be competing when the Gondoliers play host to defending City Section champion Palisades in a crucial Marine League meet at 7 p.m. on Friday.

That will be a switch from what happened on Monday, when six swimmers sat out a 100-11 victory over Gardena as punishment for participating in an unofficial senior ditch day on April 2, the day before the school’s spring vacation.

Team captains Marisa Villareal and Alison Iwamoto, along with seniors Brittany Marlin-Zechar, Jessica Nishimoto, Graciela Cruz and Tina Ortega were held out in accordance with a team policy that requires swimmers to miss the next meet after an unexcused absence from school or practice.

“It’s not only about winning. It’s about them learning about consequences and responsibility and teamwork,” said Sabbah, a second-year coach. “It was a good lesson for those kids.”

Venice (5-0, 4-0) finished fifth behind Palisades in the section team finals last season.

-- Lauren Peterson