Softball playoffs roundup: Huntington Beach wins on walk-off single; El Toro’s Hayden Jo Stofle throws no-hitter

• May 15, 2026

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Cali Siguenza continued to deliver under pressure for Huntington Beach’s softball team on Thursday.

The sophomore singled in two runs in the seventh inning to lift Huntington Beach to a 5-4 victory against visiting Santa Fe in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.

Huntington Beach (19-10) rallied for three runs in the seventh to advance to Saturday’s second-round game at Camarillo. Camarillo edged South Hills 4-3 in another first-round game.

In the second round of the Sunset League, Siguenza hit a two-run home run in a 2-1 win against Marina that helped the Oilers place third in league.

“Coming in strong,” Huntington Beach coach Jeff Forsberg said of second baseman.

Junior Maleah Humble and freshman shortstop Ella Carreon each went 3 for 4 to pace the Oilers’ 10-hit attack.

Siguenza, Johnson and junior catcher Emma Johnson each drove in two runs for Huntington Beach.

Sophomores Rubygrace Fauscette and Juliette Foutz combined to hold Santa Fe to seven hits.

In other Division 2 games:

Whittier Christian 10, Western Christian 2: Sofia Hernandez had three hits, including a double and triple, and Ali Plimpton drove in three runs to lead the host Heralds (20-8-1). Sofia Gonzalez pitched a three-hitter for Whittier Christian, which plays at Warren on Saturday.

San Clemente 5, Corona 3: Sophomore Luca Cifuentes pitched a five-hitter with five strikeouts for the visiting Tritons (20-7), who play host to Temescal Canyon in the second round Saturday.

In Division 3:

El Toro 9, Colton 0: Junior Hayden Jo Stofle threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts to lead the host Chargers (12-8-1). Sadie Mitchell and Sophia Croft added home runs for El Toro, which plays the winner of Friday’s Edison-El Segundo game.

Villa Park 5, Elsinore 3: Jules Romero pitched a complete game and hit a home run to power the host Spartans (15-14). Jordyn Noriega and freshman Claire Struck added home runs for Villa Park (15-14), which plays at Liberty in the second round Saturday.

In Division 1:

Pacifica 15, Glendora 4: Mikella Carey went 3 for 5 with two doubles to pace a 16-hit attack for the visiting Mariners (18-10).

Mattea Stern, Natalie Pacheco, Serena Antillon, freshman Jenna Valladares and Abigail Amezquita each added two hits.

On Saturday, Pacifica plays the winner of Friday’s Cypress-Fullerton game.

La Habra 3, Los Altos 2: Sammy Cervantes sealed the victory for the host Highlanders (21-7), who rallied from a 2-0 deficit. La Habra plays at top-seeded Murrieta Mesa on Saturday. Murrieta Mesa beat Valley View 10-0 in the first round.

Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks 6, Canyon 3: Mia Saenz hit a home run in the first and Gianna Alcala and Maya Valenzuela each had two hits for the visiting Comanches (16-13).

In Division 4:

Sunny Hills 17, Chino 7: Elayna Marquez hit her county-leading 17th home run and Rachel Buchi hit a home run to power the visiting Lancers (14-13-1). Sunny Hills plays host to Oak Hills on Saturday.

In Division 6:

Irvine 6, Vasquez 4: Harper Vandermolen had three hits and Midori De Los Santos pitched a complete game for the top-seeded Vaqueros. Irvine plays at Lakeside on Saturday.

In Division 8:

Bolsa Grande 16, Loma Linda Academy 1: Lilly Correa wene 3 for with a home run and Alyssa Xicohtenca pitched a two-hitter to lead the host Matadors (19-5). Bolsa Grande plays at San Bernardino in the second round Saturday.

More results to come.

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: An unhappy ending for Ducks, but is it also a beginning?

• May 15, 2026

ANAHEIM — As a disappointed crowd of Ducks fans gave their heroes one last salute before they left the ice Thursday night, Honda Center public address announcer Phil Hulett put it all into perspective.

“It only gets better from here,” he told them.

Maybe the Ducks should use that as their advertising slogan this summer. (Or maybe that’s already the plan, and the PA guy was giving all of us a preview.)

Yes, Ducks players and coaches had a longer playoff run in mind, rather than the one that ended with a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their best-of-seven second-round series. The elimination game was on a rink where the Ducks previously were 7-0 all-time in Game 6 opportunities, and not making it 8-0 stung.

The evening started badly enough with Vegas’ Mitch Marner scoring 1:02 into the game and the Knights taking a 3-0 lead in the first period, and got worse for the home side when Pavel Dorofeyev added his eighth and ninth goals of the playoffs in the third period.

But there most definitely is hope in Orange County, anticipation for a future led by young stars like Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke.

The franchise’s first playoff experience since 2018 reminded Ducks fans why this sport at its best can be so intoxicating. And the template over which Coach Joel Quenneville presided with the Chicago Blackhawks – which ultimately resulted in three Stanley Cup titles for that franchise – seems firmly in place in Orange County.

“I think you learn (as a group) that every game as a team, everybody pulls together in the playoffs,” Quenneville said. “It gets exponentially higher and more important, and (you) welcome that challenge of being a part of a group that knows that chips are on the line, and we’ve got to step forward and compete for one another and for the team and the fans and the organization.

“I think we’ve had a lot of character pieces here, and that’s where the growth starts. But this was an experience where you can say this should help us moving forward.”

Winning a series for the franchise’s first playoff victory in nine seasons, in the six-game triumph over Edmonton, was a good start. It showed the youngsters what was possible. The experience of a grueling second-round series against Vegas will help, too.

“Even some of the games we lost, we played really well in them,” right wing Troy Terry said, while acknowledging that Game 6 certainly wasn’t one of them. But, he added, “I think we earned the right to be in a Game 6 and try and force a Game 7. I know everyone was excited for it. And yeah, just it’s a little hard to take right now.”

It is a starting point, Terry conceded, adding: “But at the same time, you know, you can’t take it for granted. I mean, I’m well aware of how hard it is to make the playoffs. And I do hope that this springboards us into the way we look at other teams, and the way we look at (ourselves) and just the confidence that we’re bringing into next year.

“I think it does feel like it could be the start of something, but yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of work to be had. It’s a hard thing. I mean everyone else is going to get better this summer and we just got to keep pushing.”

When that message reverberates around the room, it’s a positive. As a group, and as individuals, there should have been enough lessons coming out of this postseason to set up what should be a serious summer of preparation and improvement.

Some of that should bleed into the regular season next year, too. Terry, 28 and a veteran of eight seasons, acknowledged that while the Ducks demonstrated they’re a good team, their inconsistency – a seven-game winning streak early in the season and 12 wins in 14 games from mid-January to March 1, mixed with a stretch of 13 losses (two in overtime) in 15 games at midseason and eight (two OT) in nine games at the end of the season – made things harder than necessary in the quest for that elusive playoff berth.

“And then you get into (the) playoffs and you get kind of a taste of it and just what it takes at that level,” he said. “And I think … we learned, myself included, just how to play in those games.

“I say this, we’re coming off a game that was a bit of a dud and it was hard to take, but I think our overall consistency in the playoffs was good. I thought we brought it for the most part and most of every game. … Like I said, this is what we kind of struggled with in the regular season, just the consistency and being sharp every night. And you learn … you can’t not be ‘on’ going into one of these games. So I think it raised everyone’s attention to details and all of that stuff.”

There’s also this example of growth: When the Ducks first began this postseason journey, Terry acknowledged, they were “maybe just trying to prove to ourselves that we can do it. And then that quickly turned into bigger aspirations. And that’s why it’s a little harder to swallow right now.

“We have guys that have won Cups and a lot of experienced guys, but for myself and then some of the young guys, I think it gave us just a taste of (a), how hard it is to get back to the playoffs, and (b), just how rewarding it is to go through this journey. … I hope that everyone goes home hungry and wants to be back here and keep building on this.”

If they do? That work is how Stanley Cups are ultimately won.

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers overcome inside-the-park homer to salvage series split with Giants

• May 15, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Baby steps.

The offense is still not firing on all cylinders and their defense – one player, in particular – was costly. But the Dodgers did enough things right to beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2, on Thursday night, splitting their four-game series by winning back-to-back games for the first time in a week.

Emmet Sheehan was cruising along in the fifth inning, having allowed just one hit – a bloop single – in the first four. With a runner on and two outs, Jung Hoo Lee sliced a soft line drive just inside the left-field line.

Teoscar Hernandez did not play it aggressively, acting as if he expected it to bounce into the stands for a ground-rule double. It did not. It bounced past Hernandez and rolled toward the left-field corner. Lee circled the bases as Hernandez ran it down. The relay throw beat Lee home but went over catcher Dalton Rushing’s head for a two-run inside-the-park home run that tied the score.

It was the first inside-the-park home run at Dodger Stadium since Nick Ahmed did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 9, 2018, the first ever by a Giant at Dodger Stadium and the first by a Giants player against the Dodgers since Larry Herndon did it against Fernando Valenzuela in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 1981.

The Dodgers (26-18) had failed to build a bigger lead than that 2-0 advantage because their offense remains stuck in neutral too often.

Batting leadoff and playing DH in place of Shohei Ohtani, who was given the day off, Will Smith led off the game with a home run. In the second inning, Max Muncy drew a walk and worked his way around on the first of two doubles by Hernandez and an RBI single by Hyeseong Kim.

But Hernandez was trapped off third when Miguel Rojas tapped a grounder back to the mound and the potential for a multi-run inning disappeared.

Hernandez’s second double of the game (and one of his nine hits in his past 20 at-bats) came with one out in the fourth and went for naught when Rushing and Kim struck out. The Dodgers stranded another runner at third base in the fifth inning.

In the sixth inning, though, they were able to cash in.

After a leadoff walk to Andy Pages, Hernandez’s third hit of the game put runners at second and third with one out. Rushing struck out for the second out, but Alex Call came off the bench to pinch-hit for Kim and dumped a two-run single into right field.

Rojas ended a 10-pitch at-bat with an RBI single to make it a three-run inning – the Dodgers’ biggest inning during the seven-game homestand that ended Thursday.

Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott protected the three-run lead with a hitless inning each.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

CIF-SS softball playoffs: Thursday’s first-round scores, Friday’s schedule

• May 15, 2026

CIF-SS SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 1

La Habra 3, Los Altos 2

Westlake 10, Paraclete 9

La Mirada 4, Los Alamitos 2

Pacifica/GG 15, Glendora 4

JSerra 3, Yucaipa 2

Oaks Christian 8, Chaminade 1

Notre Dame/SO 6, Canyon/Anaheim 3

DIVISION 2

Bonita 9, Sierra Canyon 1

Ganesha 7, Torrance 0

Warren 8, Thousand Oaks 1

Whittier Christian 10, Western Christian 2

Simi Valley 3, Alta Loma 1

St. Paul 20, Eastvale Roosevelt 1

Lakewood St. Joseph 4, Aliso Niguel 0

Moorpark 6, Long Beach Poly 1

Temescal Canyon 3, Aquinas 2

San Clemente 5, Corona 3

Huntington Beach 5, Santa Fe 4

Camarillo 4, South Hills 3

Saugus 2, Brea Olinda 1

Vista Murrieta 9, Schurr 4

Gahr 4, Yorba Linda 2

Mater Dei 11, Foothill 3

DIVISION 3

Great Oak 5, West Torrance 2

Riverside Prep 2, Quartz Hill 1

La Salle 21, Grand Terrace 5

Villa Park 5, Elsinore 3

DIVISION 4

St. Bonaventure 11, Valencia 4

Harvard-Westlake 11, Lakewood 8

Apple Valley 4, Hillcrest 0

Oxnard 14, Pasadena Poly 0

Monrovia 4, Indio 2

Don Lugo 6, Kennedy/La Palma 2

La Quinta 5, Hemet 4

Mira Costa 9, Redlands East Valley 7

Rio Mesa 9, Segerstrom 6

Mission Viejo 5, La Canada 1

Oak Hills 15, Linfield Christian 11

Sunny Hills 17, Chino 7

Paramount 5, Newbury Park 4

Ramona 3, Maranatha 2

Burbank Burroughs 6, Hart 1

Rosary 11, Orange Vista 6

DIVISION 5

Santa Clara 6, Jurupa Hills 3

Viewpoint 9, Burbank Providence 4

University/Irvine 2, University Prep 1

DIVISION 6

Irvine 6, Vasquez 4

Lakeside 9, Flintridge Prep 4

Heritage 13, Palm Desert 0

Alhambra 9, Silverado 6

Granite Hills 32, Big Bear 12

Eastside 7, Anza Hamilton 4

El Monte 11, Santa Paula 10

St. Genevieve 6, Coastal Christian 4

Sierra Vista 7, Rialto 6

Southlands Christian 14, Rancho Mirage 10

St. Monica Prep 4, Academy of Academic Excellence 3

Hesperia Christian 8, Los Amigos 7

Arroyo 11, Serrano 1

Lancaster 8, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 2

Jurupa Valley 14, Sacred Heart LA 2

San Jacinto 10, Garey 9

DIVISION 7

Ramona Convent 13, Riverside Bethel Christian 3

Victor Valley 7, Tustin 3

DIVISION 8

ACE 26, Public Safety Academy 1

Avalon 11, Santa Clarita Christian 3

Bolsa Grande 16, Loma Linda Academy 1

San Bernardino 17, Channel Islands 9

Glendale 9, Indian Springs 3

Workman 18, Santa Maria Valley Christian 3

Santa Rosa Academy 15, Environmental Charter 5

Cobalt 16, Wildomar Cornerstone Christian 3

Bell Gardens 11, Magnolia 4

Brentwood 10, Lennox Academy 9

Pomona Catholic 19, Gabrielino 6

Capistrano Valley Christian 18, California Military 1

Fontana 14, CSDR 3

Hawthorne MSA 28, Downey Calvary Chapel 27

Arroyo Valley 20, Westminster La Quinta 3

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 1

Valley View at Murrieta Mesa

Millikan at Orange Lutheran

El Modena at Chino Hils

Agoura at Etiwanda

Palos Verdes at Riverside King, 4:15 p.m.

Cypress at Fullerton

Charter Oak at Ayala

Riverside Poly at California

Marina at Norco

DIVISION 3

Rancho Cucamonga at Paloma Valley

Great Oak at West Torrance

El Segundo at Edison

Colton at El Toro

Redondo Union at Murrieta Valley

Beaumont at North Torrance

Trabuco Hills at West Ranch

Riverside North at San Juan Hills

Oak Park at Cerritos Valley Christian

Highland at Northview

Carter at La Serna

Crescenta Valley at Dos Pueblos

Arcadia at Liberty

DIVISION 5

Flintridge Sacred Heart at Anaheim

Patriot at Arrowhead Christian

Rancho Christian at Temple City

Buena Park at Grace

Alemany at Crean Lutheran

Shadow Hills at Cerritos

Leuzinger at San Marcos

Long Beach Wilson at South El Monte

Santiago/GG at Covina

Rio Hondo Prep at Muir

Katella at Santa Monica

Ontario at Norwalk

Duarte at Northwood, 3:30 p.m.

DIVISION 7

Fillmore at Bloomington

Miller at Savanna

Calvary Chapel/SA at Riverside Springs Magnolia

St. Pius X-St. Matthias at Faith Baptist

Rancho Alamitos at Twentynine Palms

Costa Mesa at Riverside Notre Dame

Pioneer at Firebaugh

Desert Christian Academy at Chadwick

Cathedral City at Artesia, 3:45 p.m.

Bellflower at Orange

Hawthorne at Santa Ana

Temecula Prep at Culver City

United Christian Academy at Windward

Calvary Baptist at Edgewood

DIVISION 8

Redlands Adventist at Banning, 4 p.m.

​ Orange County Register 

Newsom’s software tax is a bad idea based on an outdated anecdote

• May 15, 2026

Governor Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision was, by California standards, a model of fiscal restraint. The $350 billion spending plan avoids a deficit, builds reserves, and steers clear of the broad tax increases that Sacramento occasionally reaches for when revenues disappoint. That makes one proposal in the revision stand out all the more sharply: a new sales tax on digital prewritten software, including Software-as-a-Service products, set to take effect January 1, 2027.

The governor projects it will raise $450 million for the General Fund in its first partial year and $900 million annually thereafter, with another $1.1 billion flowing to local governments each year at full implementation. In a revision otherwise defined by caution, this is a significant new burden on a struggling industry.

Newsom’s argument for the tax is rooted in competitive fairness. He noted at his press conference that 35 of the 45 states with a statewide sales tax already tax digitally delivered prewritten software, and 24 tax SaaS. His preferred illustration was personal: as someone who lives near a Best Buy, he said, he pays sales tax on boxed software while his friends who download the same programs pay nothing. How is that fair, he asked?

That anecdote may sound good, but it is totally divorced from modern reality. Hardly anyone buys software on disks at Best Buy anymore. And that has nothing to do with tax incentives: it’s just easier and cheaper for software companies to sell their products online. In fact, there are no mainstream laptops sold today with built-in optical disc drives. The image of Californians streaming into Best Buy to purchase boxed software that their neighbors download tax-free belongs to a previous decade. Whatever competitive distortion The companies that would actually pay this tax, enterprise SaaS vendors, cloud analytics platforms, and AI-powered productivity tools (if their providers cannot litigate their way out of collecting the tax), have never sold a product on a shelf.

The proposal’s more serious problem is its timing. The SaaS industry is not in a position to absorb a new cost burden. What analysts have taken to calling the SaaSpocalypse has erased roughly two trillion dollars in software sector market capitalization in February, as investors concluded that AI agents capable of performing tasks that once required dedicated subscriptions pose a structural threat to the traditional per-seat software model. The median valuation multiple for public SaaS companies has fallen from pandemic highs of over eighteen times revenue to less than five times today. Growth rates have decelerated, and enterprise customers are consolidating vendors and scrutinizing renewal costs with new intensity.

Southern California has a direct stake in what happens next. Alteryx, the Irvine-based data analytics software company that was once Orange County’s most valuable publicly traded software firm, has already lived through this deterioration.

After a market capitalization that briefly topped $10 billion, the company went through an 11 percent workforce reduction affecting more than 300 employees, subsequently cut further, and was ultimately taken private. Its Irvine headquarters still employs hundreds of people, and ongoing layoff trackers show continued internal anxiety about further cuts. Alteryx is not an outlier. It is a preview of what happens to traditional SaaS companies facing competition from AI tools that replicate their core functionality at a fraction of the cost.

A new 7.25 to 11.25 percent sales tax (depending on locality) imposed on SaaS subscriptions leaves vendors with three bad options: pass the cost to customers who are already reconsidering their software spend, absorb it into margins that are already compressed by rising AI infrastructure costs, or restructure contracts to reduce California taxable revenue. None of those outcomes serve the workers whose jobs depend on these companies remaining competitive. 

Newsom is right that California’s tax code should reflect the modern economy. But updating the tax code to address a no-longer-relevant disparity, at the expense of an industry fighting for survival in the economy of 2026, is not reform. It is an obstacle at the worst possible moment.

Marc Joffe is a Visiting Fellow at the California Policy Center.

​ Orange County Register 

JSerra softball gets past Yucaipa in first round of playoffs

• May 15, 2026

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Sometimes, the best plan is to just take care of yourself and let everything else sort itself out.

That was the formula for JSerra on Thursday in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 softball playoffs.

JSerra took care of business. It hit the ball, it fielded the ball, it scored more runs than Yucaipa. The Lions took a 3-2 victory on an afternoon that could have been their last of the season.

Instead, JSerra put the ball in play, and the jitters, nerves – whatever you want to call it – that Yucaipa brought with it on its 60-mile bus ride was the downfall of the Thunderbirds.

After Annabel Raftery’s leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning, Yucaipa committed three errors. Two throwing errors came on Magenta De Arte’s pop single to left that staked JSerra to a 2-0 lead.

JSerra added another run in the second inning on what was scored a bunt single followed by a two-out RBI by Raftery.

Yucaipa didn’t think JSerra scored any earned runs against pitcher Brooklyn Dent. Earned or not, JSerra had three total, which was one more than it needed.

“Our chemistry was a little off in the first inning,” Thunderbirds coach Alyssa Liu said. “I think they were in their heads to come here, I don’t think they were ready. We started scared. Nerves is all it was.

“As coaches, we knew it was going to be a close game. We wanted to play them. We weren’t scared to play them. We knew it was going to be a good game, and it was a great game.”

Yucaipa’s scoring was a bit more decisive and gave the Thunderbirds a real chance at an upset. In the fourth inning, cleanup hitter Liberty Waysz belted a one-out double to left field. An out later, Sophia Bicondova cleared the center field fence — marked at 210 feet — into the wind to make it a 3-2 score.

It gave life to Yucaipa (21-7-1), but set up the Thunderbirds to forever look back at the pivotal first inning and wonder “What if?”

JSerra (21-8) won’t lose any sleep over it. The Lions move into the second round against the winner of Ayala and Charter Oak. JSerra will play Ayala at home or Charter Oak on the road.

JSerra lost in the Division 2 finals last season, and the Division 1 semifinals the year before.

“We have the potential to win the whole thing, we have the talent,” JSerra coach Katie Stith said. “We know we can play with any of them. We’re trying to go to the end. That’s our standard. We just have to worry about ourselves, staying loose, not trying to do too much, and sticking to what we do.”

The thing they do is win.

JSerra senior Liliana Escobar gave up two earned runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts and a walk. She allowed five hits.

“Once we got those two runs we were able to settle in a little bit, though we went a little flat,” Escobar said. “There’s always off days. I don’t think there was a specific reason for it.

“The two runs at the beginning were great, but we had to battle through the whole game. I don’t think there was a point in the game where we thought it was over until it was completely over.”

Dent, a junior committed to UNLV, gave up five hits with a walk and two strikeouts in six innings. Two of the hits were bunts that were beaten out.

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks’ season ends with Game 6 loss to Golden Knights

• May 15, 2026

ANAHEIM — The basic concept in hockey that the game begins when the puck drops eluded the Ducks all season and, fittingly, a sluggish start ended their campaign on Thursday night at Honda Center.

They were lanced by the Vegas Golden Knights, 5-1, and eliminated from the playoffs in Game 6 of their second-round series after falling behind by three goals in the first period.

Their first game facing elimination went much like their first opportunity to close out a series in Game 5 of Round 1 against the Edmonton Oilers. In Edmonton, they also trailed by three at the first intermission en route to a 4-1 defeat.

But that merely delayed destiny, whereas this loss cemented their ill fate.

Mikael Granlund had the Ducks’ only goal. Lukáš Dostál had 16 saves, having made every postseason start.

Mitch Marner, who leads the playoffs with 18 points after pouring in 11 in this series, scored a goal, set up another by Brett Howden and was on the ice for a third by Shea Theodore, who added an assist. Pavel Dorofeyev deposited two insurance goals. Carter Hart stopped 31 shots and allowed two goals or fewer in five of six games in the series.

In all, the Ducks surrendered the first goal in 49 of 82 regular-season games, eight of 12 playoff contests and 57 of 94 matches overall.

Their first season under Coach Joel Quenneville was a twisting, turning, end-over-end journey through disappointments, rallies, peaks and valleys. They led the NHL in comeback wins of virtually every kind and amassed two seven-game win streaks. But they also went through a nine-game tailspin that threatened their aspirations and they later backed into the playoffs, retroceding first place in the division to Vegas and slipping behind Edmonton.

Vegas scored 62 seconds after the opening draw before completing its collection with a shorthanded goal at 8:30 and a power-play marker at 17:19.

The Ducks gave up the game’s first goal on its first shot yet again – they did so 14 times in 2025-26, including four instances in the playoffs – but they could hardly be blamed in this instance as Marner scored perhaps the postseason’s most spectacular goal to date.

Former Duck William Karlsson’s stretch pass from the left faceoff dot of the Vegas zone to the Ducks’ blue line sprang Marner for a partial breakaway. Jackson LaCombe hounded him from behind, even raising his stick between Marner’s legs at one point. That was exactly where he’d score from, faking a backhand at one post before putting the puck between his legs and past Dostál inside the other post for an awe-inspiring tally.

After being out-skated, out-battled and out-shot 5-1, the Ducks drew a penalty. Yet even that favored Vegas as a zone entry gone awry led to an errant rim-around pass that found none other than Marner. He and Howden were off on a two-on-two rush down a man, with Howden slipping LaCombe and getting to the back post for a one-timer. Howden, who scored just 12 goals during the season, led the postseason with eight at that point before being surpassed by Dorofeyev.

Theodore made it 3-0 when Tomáš Hertl’s offensive-zone faceoff win came to him. The one-time Ducks first-round draft pick whipped a shot through traffic from just above the slot for his fifth point of the series. Vegas outscored the Ducks 12-2 in the series with Theodore on the ice, even more disparate than Marner’s 15-7 advantage.

The second period saw a decidedly stronger push from the Ducks and they finally got on the board with 7:14 left. During a power play, Troy Terry stickhandled through Marner and Theodore on the right wing to open up the left side for Granlund, whom he found with a deft dish. Granlund’s fifth goal of the playoffs – shot from high in the circle – made it 3-1.

Yet that momentum was short-lived as Dorofeyev drove in the dagger 2:52 into the final frame.

Defenseman John Carlson made a weak play off his forehand along the left-wing wall that was devoured by Ivan Barbashev, who snuck the puck past Granlund to Dorofeyev for a goal from the slot.

Dorofeyev scored again, short side from a sharp angle, with 6:28 to play. He has nine goals this spring and five in his past three appearances.

The Ducks exceeded expectations overall, not only making the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons but prevailing in a series for the first time in nine. Meanwhile, Vegas shook off a season in which momentum was tough to come by, barreling hard into a postseason that will now pit them against the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals.

It’s the fifth time in their nine seasons that the Golden Knights have reached the conference finals.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Newport Harbor baseball crushes Trabuco Hills in Division 2 playoffs

• May 15, 2026

NEWPORT BEACH – Gavin Guy is such an outstanding pitcher that Newport Harbor usually only needs to score a couple of runs to win on the day he pitches.

Newport Harbor gave him much more than a couple of runs Thursday.

The Sailors set a season high for runs in a 15-1 romp over Trabuco Hills in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs at Newport Harbor High.

“The kids played up to their potential offensively,” said Newport Harbor coach Josh Lee.

Newport Harbor (20-9) will play at Great Oak (17-10-1) in the second round Tuesday with a fresh Guy ready to roll.

Trabuco Hills, the South Coast League champion, finished the season 17-12.

Guy pitched three scoreless innings Thursday. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out two.

Guy, a 6-4 right-hander who committed to UC Santa Barbara, kept the ball low in the strike zone for most of his 30 pitches as he improved to 8-0 and dropped his ERA to 0.55.

By the time he was replaced by Ryan Williams to start the fourth inning the Sailors had a 13-0 lead.

“Our offense was great,” Guy said. “I went for 30 pitches, so I’m ready for the next game, for sure.”

Newport Harbor sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs, all with two outs, in the first inning. Grant Horsley and Keoni Wun had run-scoring singles and Cameron Hatfield had a two-run single in the inning.

The Sailors scored four more runs, again with two outs, in the second inning. Brooks Francis had a run-scoring single, Oren Damush sent in a run with a sacrifice fly and errors added to the Newport Harbor scoring for a 10-0 lead.

Henry Mann’s solo home run in the third inning and another Hatfield RBI single contributed to a three-run third inning to push the lead to 13-0.

Austin Giles contributed a two-run double in the fifth inning to push it to 15-0. Trabuco Hills got its run on a Daniel Van De Kreeke solo homer in the sixth inning.

Newport Harbor collected 16 hits. Mann was 4 for 4. Horsley was 3 for 4.

Newport Harbor lost to Trabuco Hills, 8-0, this season in a nonleague game at Angel Stadium.

Lee said it was a special event for the team, an “everyone plays” game so maybe let’s not put much stock in that contest.

“Our kids were not happy with the way that game went,” Lee said. “They were really locked for the last five or so days since the pairings came out. I kind of had a feeling something like this could happen.”

So now the Sailors, who finished second in the Sunset League, have an away game for the second round of the playoffs. Great Oak beat Valley View, 10-5, in the first round Thursday.

“They have a really good lefty,” Lee said, referring to Great Oak junior pitcher Roy Kim.

Kim, a Stanford commit, has 72 strikeouts in 47⅔ innings.

Newport Harbor will have an ace of its own, a well-rested Gavin Guy, ready to go, thanks to the big lead the Sailors built early on Thursday.

​ Orange County Register