San Pedro Wins League Title Again

Senior Nicole Castagnola scored in the bottom of the second inning Monday after a throwing error to lift San Pedro, ranked No. 13 in the Southland by The Times, to its fifth consecutive Marine League championship with a 1-0 victory over visiting Carson.

Castagnola doubled to open the second for the Pirates (24-3, 9-1) and, two outs later, freshman Katelyn Oro hit a blooper toward Carson second baseman Lolita Valdez, who fielded the ball but overthrew first base.

Senior Ashley Esparza (15-1) pitched a five-hitter with nine strikeouts to record her 13th shutout of the season. Esparza’s only loss came when the No. 12 Colts (24-6, 8-2) defeated San Pedro, 3-2, in the first round of league play.

Senior Danira Iolamo pitched a four-hitter with eight strikeouts for Carson.

-- Amelia Neufeld

Boys’ Golf

Senior Jason Fair shot a one-over-par 73 and senior Kris Patton finished with a 74 at Crystalaire Country Club in Llano to lead No. 6 Riverside Poly to the Palmdale Invitational title over No. 1 Newhall Hart.

It was Poly’s 10th Palmdale tournament victory in 11 years. The Bears finished at 380, with Hart and Apple Valley tied at 383. Senior Matt Ryan shot 71 to lead Hart.

-- Rafer Weigel

Swimming

For the Los Alamitos boys’ swim team, winning has been as easy as 1-2-3 -- as in a sweep of the 50-yard freestyle event.

The No. 9 Griffins (8-1, 5-0 in Sunset League meets) have lost only to No. 5 Long Beach Wilson, but even in that meet and seven others, Los Alamitos sprinters swept the event. The only time the Griffins failed to take the top three places was against Huntington Beach. The Oilers’ top swimmer, Bryce Elser, who has a best time of 21.21, won the race that time, and the Griffins settled for a 2-3-4 finish.

Los Alamitos’ success has been fueled primarily by the quartet of seniors Byron Bailey and David Mills and sophomores Calvin Kagan and Aaron Morelli, with junior Daniel Levin also thrown into the mix on occasion.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Los Alamitos Coach Dave Carlson said.

“We don’t have that top-end swimmer, but we’re pretty deep in the freestyle events.”

Making the Griffin sweeps more impressive is the fact that none of their swimmers has broken 22 seconds in the event. Mills, at 22.09, has the fastest time. Bailey follows with a 22.10. Kagan has gone 22.68, Morelli 22.75 and Levin 23.00.

-- Lauren Peterson

Boys’ Tennis

Long Beach Poly (15-3, 13-0) has already proven it’s the top team in the Moore League, but today’s home contest against Lakewood (9-4 in league) will help settle an individual battle.

The Jackrabbits’ Pierre Batton and the Lancers’ Sean Tan, the league’s two most dominant players, have split their head-to-head meetings this season. Tan, a freshman, won the first battle, 6-3, in a 13-5 Poly victory on March 23.

Batton, a junior, took the second meeting, 7-5, as part of a 14-4 victory on April 8.

Poly Coach Ricardo Montecinos called Batton’s triumph in the second meeting his “best win of the season.”

-- Elia Powers