Parents Sued by Ex-Coach

Mike Lee, fired as baseball coach at Newbury Park in July, has filed a civil suit in Ventura County Superior Court seeking unspecified monetary damages against seven parents, alleging that they made libelous and slanderous comments to have him dismissed.

Also named as a defendant were the St. Louis Cardinals, who employ Chuck Fick, one of the parents, as a scout. Lee alleged that Fick assaulted him on school grounds and was verbally abusive, resulting in “severe emotional distress.”

Fick denied assaulting Lee but said he had called Lee a derogatory name. “I felt he was intimidating my son and other kids in the program,” Fick said.

Lee is the second high school baseball coach in Southern California in the last year to sue a parent.

John Emme, the baseball coach at Newport Beach Corona del Mar, was sued twice by a parent whose son had pitched for his team. He then countersued in January 2003 with a $1-million malicious prosecution suit.

Lee continues to teach at Newbury Park.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Boys’ Basketball

Freeway League teams will be well represented today in the second round of the Southern Section Division II-AA and II-A playoffs.

The most surprising is La Habra, which was fourth in the league standings but has won two playoff games on the road. Fullerton, La Habra Sonora and Fullerton Sunny Hills posted first-round victories Friday.

The only loser was Buena Park, by two points to Placentia Valencia in a wild-card game Wednesday.

Among today’s matchups involving Freeway League teams, Sonora plays host to Irvine Woodbridge in a Division II-A second-round game. Sonora is led by 6-8 senior center Jeff Arnold; the Warriors by 6-10 senior center David Burgess.

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Long Beach Poly managed only a two-point victory over wild-card entry Valencia in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs Friday. The road to a possible championship game matchup against Etiwanda won’t get any easier tonight, when the second-seeded Jackrabbits play host to Fontana.

The Steelers, who finished second in the Citrus Belt League, are led by Sean Green and Ira Graham. Graham is averaging 23.7 points a game, and Green is contributing 20 points and a state-leading 13 assists.

-- Dan Arritt

Boys’ Soccer

Torrance will be without a starting midfielder and an assistant coach when it plays host to Lakewood Artesia in a second-round game of the Southern Section Division III playoffs today, because of their involvement in a skirmish that had occurred after the Tartars’ 1-0 victory over Lynwood in a first-round game on Friday.

Torrance senior Jonathan Jacome was issued a yellow-red card for taunting, and assistant Javier Baltazar received a red card for using foul language with an opposing coach during the bench-clearing incident that had occurred after Jacome made inflammatory remarks to Lynwood defender Juan Alvarado after the game.

“It was a game in which there were a lot of hard fouls,” Torrance Coach Eric Spotts said.

“And there was a lot of talking back and forth between players. But Jonathan should not have said what he said, especially at that moment.”

Three Lynwood players, who were not identified by the Southern Section, were issued red cards for their actions during the fracas that led to Torrance Police Department officers being called to the scene.

Lynwood Coach Ed Lopez said Monday that he had taken no further disciplinary action.

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A second-round game worthy of a quarterfinal will occur at 3 p.m. today when La Verne Damien, the No. 1 team in the Southland in The Times’ final regular-season rankings, plays at No. 7 Fountain Valley in the Southern Section Division I playoffs.

Top-seeded Damien (25-2-2) will take a 16-game winning streak into the game after defeating Ontario, 4-0, in the first round. Fountain Valley (18-4-2) beat Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills, 1-0, in the first round.

-- John Ortega