San Pedro Aims for Another Softball Title

San Pedro will try to make it six City Section softball titles in a row when the Pirates take on Woodland Hills El Camino Real today at 4:15 p.m. at UCLA.

Top-seeded San Pedro (29-2) and second-seeded El Camino Real (27-6) each have won 12 section titles, and the five consecutive championships by San Pedro matches the record held by El Camino Real.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve had in the last five years, and I couldn’t say that at the beginning of the year,” San Pedro Coach Tony Dobra said.

The Pirates have four players with 20 runs batted in or more: seniors Stephanie Tam (22) and Jackie Conlin (25), sophomore Katelyn Oro (21) and freshman Perelini Koria (27).

Senior Courtney Lyons (9-0, 0.23 earned-run average), who was expected to give the Pirates their best chance of reaching the finals, quit last week to focus on travel ball. She had been out 4 1/2 weeks to recover from surgery to remove a large cyst on an ovary, but had been frustrated about being replaced by freshman Taylor Petty.

Petty (19-2, 0.16 ERA) has thrown eight consecutive shutouts. She has given up one hit in 25 innings in the playoffs, with 45 strikeouts and two walks.

Dobra said Lyons, who will attend Lewis (Ill.) University, returned to the lineup as the designated player April 29 but wasn’t happy about the change.

El Camino Real entered the season as the more highly touted team and hasn’t disappointed with a strong lineup that has batted .473 in the playoffs. Sophomore Amanda MacIntosh, who batted .478 with 34 RBIs and 16 runs, and junior Sarah Bass (.321, 18 RBIs, 25 runs) have been impressive at the plate, and junior Megan Miller (19-3, 0.66 ERA) has been dominant at times.

“She’s much tougher than she has been the last two years,” Coach Lori Chandler said of Miller. “She looks forward to facing the best hitters.”

-- Martin Henderson

Badminton

Brendan Taft, ranked fifth nationally in men’s singles by USA Badminton, completed his stellar high school career at Villa Park by leading the Spartans to their fifth consecutive Southern Section team title Tuesday with a 16-3 victory over Diamond Bar at the Orange County Badminton Club in Orange.

The top-seeded Spartans (18-0) opened a 7-0 lead. Diamond Bar (17-1) cut the deficit to 8-2, but Villa Park clinched the title minutes later with two victories in girls’ singles. Anoma Phongasavithas scored the clinching 10th point with an 11-3, 11-0 win over Jian Fung.

Villa Park’s victory tied Colton’s 16-3 win over Palm Springs in 1986 as the most lopsided final since the section switched from 29 points to 19 in 1985.

Taft completes his career with four team championships, two boys’ singles titles and a boys’ doubles championship he won his freshman season with Mike Chansawangpuvana.

“I can’t imagine a more perfect ending,” Taft said. “These four years have been an awesome experience.”

-- Josh Gajewski