City Tennis Final Has Familiar Foes

For the fourth time in five seasons, Woodland Hills El Camino Real (15-0) will play Granada Hills (11-4) in the City Section Championship division boys’ tennis final at 1 p.m. Friday at the Balboa Sports Center in Encino.

On the strength of seven doubles victories in nine sets, Granada Hills scored a 16 1/2-13 victory over last year’s finalist, Palisades (12-3), in a semifinal Wednesday at Balboa Sports Center. Palisades defeated Granada Hills, 15-14 1/2 in last season’s semifinals.

Granada Hills’ No. 1 singles player, Phil Weisburd, swept his sets, including a 6-1 victory over Palisades’ top player, Chris Ko, who had not dropped a set in section play this season.

In the other semifinal, four-time defending champion El Camino Real took 13 of 16 singles sets in its 20 1/2-9 victory over Woodland Hills Taft (9-7).

El Camino Real defeated Granada Hills twice this season, 5-2 and 6-1, to finish ahead of the Highlanders in the West Valley League.

-- Elia Powers

Swimming

Irvine’s Courtney Cashion began her quest for a third consecutive 50 freestyle title in record fashion during the Southern Section Division I preliminaries at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Cashion’s time of 23.02 seconds bettered the previous meet standard of 23.04. She also won the 100 freestyle in 50.74 seconds -- she set the meet record of 49.45 in 2002 -- and will be looking for her fourth consecutive title in that event at the division finals, Friday at Belmont Plaza.

In the 100 breaststroke prelims, Long Beach Wilson junior Jessica Hardy won in 1:01.76, beating defending champion Nicolette Teo of Mission Viejo, who finished in 1:03.17.

-- Lauren Peterson

Baseball

Still without a baseball field to call home and featuring a lineup less intimidating than in years past, Los Angeles Roosevelt continues to squeeze the most out of its program.

The Roughriders (21-4, 11-2 in league) will play for their fifth Eastern League title in the last six years when they meet Bell (22-6-1, 10-3) in the penultimate game of the regular season today at East L.A. College.

“We don’t have any superstars but fundamentally we’re very sound,” Coach Scott Pearson said. “We’re a bunch of little guys with big hearts.”

Pearson had not decided Wednesday whether to start Ramon Marquez (5-4) or Cesar Martinez (5-0) against the Eagles.

Marquez, a senior who also plays third base, has a team-high six home runs and 34 RBIs.

-- Dan Arritt

Softball

Jayme Elliott, the Holy Cross-bound second baseman from Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, is batting .594. One of the reasons?

“She’s so darn fast, they can’t get her out,” Coach Richard Amberik said. “She’s 2.5 seconds to first base.”

Mira Costa can end El Segundo’s three-year reign as Bay League champion with a victory tonight at 7 at El Segundo Recreation Park. A win by El Segundo will create a tie for the title.

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Amanda Watkins, who pitched Placentia El Dorado to a Southern Section Division I title in 2002, had two strong outings after missing nearly two seasons.

Watkins was a sophomore when El Dorado defeated La Palma Kennedy for the championship, but she missed last season with a foot problem and broken hand and she injured her back before this season.

Watkins (4-1) had a perfect game May 6 against Tustin and a three-hit shutout Tuesday, beating Villa Park, 5-0.

Freshman Alyssa Freight (8-2) had done most of the pitching this season for El Dorado (16-6), which is ranked No. 20 by The Times and ends its regular season today against visiting Brea Olinda in a Century League game.

-- Martin Henderson

Track and Field

Los Angeles Dorsey is heavily favored to win its first City Section boys’ title in four years as it heads into the Coliseum League finals at East Los Angeles College at 1:30 p.m. today, but Coach Ralph Tilley takes nothing for granted.

Tilley knows that Dorsey, the top-ranked team by The Times, could contend for titles in eight of the 15 events when the City championships take place May 27 at Lake Balboa Birmingham, but he remains cautious. “We’re feeling like we’ve got a good shot,” Tilley said. “But we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do first.”

-- John Ortega

Badminton

Villa Park will lead the way in the Southern Section’s individual championships, which begin today at 1 p.m. with the mixed doubles competition at the Orange County Badminton Club in Orange. Singles and doubles play will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Villa Park’s Eva Lee, ranked No. 3 in the United States, is the top-seeded player in girls’ singles and teammate Brendan Taft, ranked No. 2 nationally in boys’ under-19, is the top-seeded player in boys’ singles.

Lee and Taft are also the favorites in mixed doubles. Lee won that title last year with partner Eric Go, but she and Taft will face strong competition from second-seeded Richard Vi and Samantha Jinadasa of Long Beach Poly.

-- Melanie Neff