Prep Rally: St. John Bosco was the surprise of the baseball season
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Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. What a weekend it was for championships in baseball and softball.
Memories of a lifetime
Going into the 2025 baseball season, St. John Bosco was hardly on anyone’s mind as a potential Southern Section Division 1 champion. It was going to be the super team, Corona, or last season’s runner-up Huntington Beach. But coach Andy Rojo built the most consistent team of all, going 27-4, eliminating Corona 2-0 in the semifinals, then enduring nine innings to defeat Santa Margarita 3-2 on a walk-off hit by Miles Clark in the Division 1 final.
There were so many big moments by big-time players in the Division 1 final. Few were more impressive than St. John Bosco closer Jack Champlin, who saved the Braves’ win over Corona and then threw four scoreless innings against Santa Margarita with key strikeouts in moments of pressure. He may become a starting pitcher next season, but he’s got a future as a closer because of his ability to thrive under pressure and his complete confidence in being able to do the job.
The Division 2 final saw West Ranch defeat Mater Dei 2-1 behind pitcher Hunter Manning. Here’s the report.
Manning finished 10-0 on the mound and is headed to UC Irvine.
The drought is over for Granada Hills softball. After losing heartbreaking championship games to Carson the last two seasons, the Highlanders beat the Colts in the City Section Open Division final 11-2. Here’s the report.
Norco ended the softball season No. 1 in Southern California after a 3-0 win in the Southern Section Division 1 final over El Modena behind pitcher Coral Williams, who threw a one-hitter. Here’s the report.
The Southern California regional playoffs for baseball and softball begin Tuesday, continue Thursday and end Saturday. Here’s the baseball pairings. Here’s the softball pairings.
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Track
Led by a talented group of freshmen athletes, Servite won the state championship in boys track and field in Clovis on Saturday. Long Beach Wilson won the girls title.
There were terrific individual performances, from Jack Stadlman of Temecula Valley winning the 400 meters to Leo Francis of Santa Margarita going 25-feet plus to win the long jump. Jayden Rendon of Carson wion the 300 hurdles. Here are the complete results.
Here’s the report from Clovis on the finals. Here’s a closer look at Servite’s Fab Four.
Golf
Jaden Soong, a freshman golfer at St. Francis, thrives under pressure.
“I will say I like pressure,” he said.
Twice in the last two weeks, he’s won playoffs to keep his season going. But the story of his first playoff win is comedy at its best.
He had left the Temecula Creek golf course at the individual championships after concluding he had failed to qualify for the SCGA regionals and had stopped at Jack in the Box while headed home. Then he got a phone call from a friend: “Hey dude, we’re in a playoff.”
He was 17 minutes away and needed to be back at the course in 10 minutes. “We hauled it,” he said. Thankfully, there were no police cars in the vicinity as he was driven back to the course.
The playoff had started when he arrived. Players were in the fairway. He had no time to change into his golf shoes, so he played in his Nike Air Force shoes. He got a par on the first hole, then a birdie to win the playoff and advance. Last weekend, he won another playoff to reach the state championships Tuesday at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach.
He’s ready for anything.
Brady McHenry of Buena won the SCGA Southern California regional championship with a playoff win to be the No. 1 qualifier for the state championships Tuesday at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger Woods, won his first juniors tournament. Here’s the report.
Volleyball
The Bradford family in Manhattan Beach loves volleyball and everyone is tall. Here’s a look at their love for volleyball and big shoes.
Mira Costa won the first state Division 1 championship with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-21 win over San Jose Archbishop Mitty. Mater Dei defeated Buchanan 3-1 to win Division 2. Sage Hill won Division 3 with a 3-0 win over International.
Here’s the Daily Pilot report on Mira Costa winning against Huntington Beach the previous week.
Prep talk
With major league baseball seeking to increase Black player participation, St. John Bosco has five Black players starting on its championship team. Here’s a report.
Lots of SoCal players are participating in the NCAA baseball playoffs. Here’s a look.
Notes . . .
Brentwood sophomore to be Shaelen Sheppard has been selected to be on the U16 USA Basketball national team. . . .
Austin Maziasz, a standout basketball player at Westlake, has committed to Johns Hopkins. . . .
April Schilling is the new girls basketball coach at Oak Park. . . .
Capistrano Valley has begun building a new $21.5 million football stadium that is supposed to be completed by the spring of 2026. . . .
Chris Allen has resigned as baseball coach at Charter Oak. . . .
The JSerra doubles team of Brady Schaefgen and Riley Anson won the Southern Section championship. Freshman Andrew Johnson from Palos Verdes won the singles title. . . .
Roy Walker Jr., an assistant basketball coach at Westchester, has been hired as Taft’s new basketball coach. . . .
Dee Pinkard is the new girls’ basketball coach at St. Bonaventure. . . .
Mark Bowman, the top tight end in California if not America, has committed to USC. He was supposed to be a junior this coming season at Mater Dei but changed his classification to the class of 2026.
Irvine University won the state Division 1 tennis championship.
From the archives: Griffin Canning
Griffin Canning is the best pitcher in the history of Santa Margarita. He led the Eagles to the 2014 Southern Section Division 1 championship, went on to star at UCLA and became a starting pitcher for the Angels.
But this season he’s enjoying a breakthrough pitching for the New York Mets. He’s 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA.
Here’s a story from 2014 on how Canning pitched Santa Margarita to the Division 1 title.
Here’s a story from 2015 on the “Griffin Canning rule” in the Trinity League.
Recommendations
From Projectplay.org, a story looking at a survey of parents whether their kids will become pro athletes.
From the Washington Post, a story on how a gymnast ended up getting a track and field scholarship.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on three L.A. students who earned college scholarships by caddying.
From Spectrum News1, a story on USA volleyball using the 2028 Olympic Games to boost the sport.
From the Los Angeles Times, a look at how the state track championship was affected by the participation of a transgender athlete.
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Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
