Roundup: David Diaz ignites No. 2 Birmingham to 9-0 win in City Section soccer playoffs
There’s only a few weeks left to catch the wizardry of Birmingham High soccer player David Diaz before his high school eligibility runs out and he’s off to college. Meanwhile, he’s giving every indication he’s going to go out with a bang.
On Wednesday, defending City champion Birmingham opened the Division I soccer playoffs with a 9-0 victory over Locke. Coach EB Madha was wearing his lucky blue suit. Having Diaz on his team might be the only luck he needs. About a minute into the match, Diaz struck with a goal, his 25th of the season. He added Nos. 26 and No. 27 later in the match. Freshman Adrian Diaz (no relation) also scored and could be the heir apparent next season.
When David Diaz is healthy, there are few players better. He wasn’t 100% after suffering an ankle injury last week, but 80% still makes him better than many.
No. 2 Birmingham advances to play Canoga Park in Friday’s quarterfinals at Birmingham. Canoga Park defeated University 1-0. No. 1 El Camino Real secured a 4-0 victory over Fremont and will play Hamilton on Friday. Hamilton defeated Bell 3-2 with Omar Garcia scoring two goals.
In other matches, South East defeated Banning 3-0. San Fernando defeated Cleveland 2-1.
Girls’ soccer
Harvard-Westlake 2, Moorpark 0: Dani Quintero and Skyla Wilkins scored goals to help defending Division 1 champion Harvard-Westlake advance.
Newport Harbor 3, Capistrano Valley 2: Sadie Hoch and Isabelle Whittaker scored goals for Newport Harbor.
Boys’ basketball
Westchester 66, Washington Prep 25: The Comets, seeded No. 1 in the City Section Division I playoffs, received 14 points from Jonathan Choyce.
Granada Hills 65, Roosevelt 61: Ashton Eckert and Noah Ramirez each had 16 points for Granada Hills.
Chatsworth 78, Kennedy 66: Jamaal Unuakhalu had 16 points and Tim Lopez 15 in the playoff victory.
Grant 81, Marshall 53: Jeremiah Windham made five threes and finished with 37 points for Grant.
Crenshaw 72, Sun Valley Poly 44: The Cougars rolled to a first-round win in Division I. AJ Robinson scored 14 points.
It’s the fifth anniversary of a playoff doubleheader that featured nearly two dozen future college basketball players, five who made it to the NBA.
Girls’ basketball
Santa Ana Mater Dei 50, Windward 44: The Monarchs improved to 2-0 in their Open Division pool and will play Etiwanda on Saturday at Etiwanda to decide a berth in next week’s Open Division girls’ basketball final.
Sierra Canyon 81, Orangewood Academy 43: Juju Watkins scored 28 points, Izela Arenas had 23 points and MacKenly Randolph 16 for Sierra Canyon, which will play host to Corona Centennial on Saturday to decide an Open Division championship berth.
Camarillo 49, Paloma Valley 40: Gabriela Jaquez scored 29 points for the top-seeded team in Division 1.
Baseball
Arcadia 1, South Hills 0: Ian Hoffstetter went 6 2/3 innings and allowed two hits for the 2-0 Apaches.
San Juan Hills 2, Cypress 0: Ryan Chadwick threw 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball.
Yucaipa 6, Harvard-Westlake 5: Isaiah Walz contributed the game-winning two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to lead Yucaipa (2-0) past No. 1-ranked Harvard-Westlake (1-1) at JSerra.
Down by a run going into its final turn at the plate, the Wolverines scored twice to take a 5-4 lead. Jacob Galloway had the go-ahead RBI single. Jacob Reimer of Yucaipa delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning to give his team a 4-3 lead. Bryce Rainer had two hits for Harvard-Westlake.
Chaminade 6, Mira Costa 2: Cristian Brewster struck out 10 in 6 1/3 innings. Wolf Mahony and Hunter Essang each had two hits.
San Fernando 3, North Hollywood 0: Ben Curiel struck out 10 while allowing three hits for the Tigers.
Roosevelt 3, Taft 0: Lino Zepeda struck out 10 and threw a one-hitter for Roosevelt.
JSerra 9, Corona 3: Andrew Lamb had a two-run home run to lead the Lions.
Orange Lutheran 4, Ayala 3: The Lancers scored a run in the seventh. Gabe Miranda homered for Orange Lutheran.
Softball
El Camino Real 7, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2: The Royals gained some respect for the City Section behind Brooke DeSmet, who threw a four-hitter. Cynthia Carrillo had two doubles and two RBIs.
Mission Viejo 7, Santa Margarita 6: The Diablos improved to 4-0.
Village Christian 12, La Salle 0: Freshman Gaby Robel threw a five-inning no-hitter in her debut.
High school soccer: Southern Section boys’ playoff results and updated pairings on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
Girls’ water polo
Laguna Beach 10, Orange Lutheran 3: The Breakers won their semifinal match to advance to the Open Division championship match. Charlotte Riches had two goals early in the match.
Corona del Mar 11, Harvard-Westlake 5: Claire Eusey scored five goals to help Corona del Mar reach the Division 1 championship game.
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