Rosary Regroups With Wins

The lights went out at the Thousand Oaks Community Center on Saturday, but everything was bright for Fullerton Rosary.

The Royals (17-7), embarrassed by La Puente Bishop Amat, 14-3, in a Serra League game 10 days earlier, capped off an eventful week with victories over Santa Maria Righetti (18-6) and No. 11 Thousand Oaks (18-3) at the Thousand Oaks softball tournament.

“We certainly had question marks in our minds after getting trounced by Bishop Amat, but to win two extra-inning league games and beating two teams with 18 wins does a lot for our confidence,” Rosary Coach Tom Tice said, referring to 10-inning Serra League victories over Santa Ana Mater Dei, then ranked No. 3 in the Southland by The Times, and Santa Margarita, as well as Saturday’s games. “Hopefully, this shows that our pitchers are turning the corner.”

No. 20 Rosary beat Righetti, 3-0, behind a three-hitter by freshman Maryann Cronin and a two-run homer by Katie Chifcian.

The Royals defeated Thousand Oaks, 2-0, in a game shortened to five innings because of the lighting malfunction.

Sophomore Taylor Peyton (10-4) limited the host Lancers to three hits in that game, working out of a none-out, bases-loaded jam in the third by retiring the 2-3-4 hitters. Payton also had a run-scoring single.

Cristen Lee stole home in the first inning for the Royals’ other run.

Rosary beat both Mater Dei, 9-8, and Santa Margarita, 5-4, in 10 innings earlier in the week.

Rosary will play No. 9 Riverside Poly next Saturday in one semifinal. Mater Dei will play Newhall Hart in the other. Both games are at 2 p.m.; the championship game is at 6 p.m.

-- Martin Henderson

Baseball

Carlos Vasquez had a double, two home runs and nine runs batted in for Cuyama Valley in a 30-30 tie at Shandon.

The teams set a state record for the runs in a game Friday in a Coast Valley League contest that was called after seven innings because of darkness.

The 60-run total surpasses the previous record of 55 runs, scored in Van Nuys Montclair Prep’s 54-1 victory over Los Angeles Pilgrim in 1998.

Cuyama Valley trailed, 15-5, after the first inning, but Vasquez’s efforts and a grand slam by Eddie Venegas helped the Bears (3-10-1, 2-6-1) rebound to take a 30-24 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Shandon (0-11-1, 0-7-1) tried to score the winning run on a wild pitch, but the baserunner was thrown out at home plate to end the game.

Cuyama Valley gave up 29 bases on balls.

-- Eric Maddy

Boys’ Golf

Newhall Hart’s No. 1 ranking will be challenged when the Indians tee off against defending tournament-champion Riverside Poly in the Palmdale Invitational at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Crystalaire Country Club in Llano.

Poly, ranked No. 7 in the Southland by The Times, has won the 24-team tournament the last eight years. The Bears beat out second-place Hart, 389-391, last season.

Hart, which has four returning starters from that team, last week won its second consecutive Foothill League title, going undefeated. The Indians (37-0-1) set a league-tournament record by shooting a three-under-par 357 at Harding Golf Course on Tuesday.

Riverside Poly (16-1, 8-0) went undefeated in the Ivy League for the 10th consecutive year after defeating Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, 380-455, at Victoria Club in Riverside on Thursday.

Other teams participating in the tournament are Valencia, which shot a school-record 363 to take second in the Foothill League tournament, and Newbury Park, Apple Valley, Quartz Hill, San Bernardino San Gorgonio and Victorville Victor Valley.

-- Rafer Weigel