Sentnor, Biyendolo score 2 each as USWNT cruises past Jamaica

• June 4, 2025

ST. LOUIS — Ally Sentnor and Lynn Biyendolo each scored two goals and the United States beat short-handed Jamaica, 4-0, in an exhibition match on Tuesday night after the team honored longtime defender Becky Sauerbrunn.

Sentnor scored in the 19th minute, then formed a heart with her hands in celebration. She scored her second off a deflection 10 minutes later.

The 21-year-old 2024 U.S. Soccer Young Player of the Year, who now has four international goals, credited her teammates.

“They’re really easy to play with at moving the ball,” Sentnor said. “I’m still trying to work to get better for them.”

Biyendolo scored in the 60th minute, three minutes after coming into the game as a substitute. She added a second in the 88th minute off a cross from Avery Patterson. Biyendolo has 24 career goals.

“I do feel like, there is so much more to us than there was 12 months ago. And that’s how you have to look at progress,” Coach Emma Hayes said. “With Ally Sentnor, unbelievable finisher. Lynn Biyendolo, to come into a game and close it out, (it’s) really good for us to have both those options.”

Phallon Tullis-Joyce made her second consecutive in goal for the United States as Hayes looks for a successor to longtime goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who retired last year. It was her third straight clean sheet.

While Tullis-Joyce didn’t face any shots on goal, it has been important for her to build connections with her teammates, Hayes said.

“When you play in goal for this team, your behaviors have to be that you wait for one moment, and you have to be alert to that. I can see the progress is being made in Phallon’s game, and I’m quite happy that she had a really quiet evening,” Hayes said.

Jamaica, which has never beaten the U.S, started two sets of sisters – Allyson and Chantelle Swaby, and Kalyssa and Amelia Van Zanten.

The U.S. was coming off a 3-0 exhibition victory over China on Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota. The national team was originally scheduled to play a pair of matches against China, but Chinese officials in April pulled out of the second game and Jamaica filled the spot.

Before the game, the United States honored Sauerbrunn, who retired from soccer late last year.

The St. Louis native, whose international career spanned 16 years, is a two-time Women’s World Cup winner and an Olympic gold medalist. Fans, who received a bobblehead in her image, gave her a standing ovation and chanted her name during a pregame ceremony.

Sauerbrunn, who recently announced that she is expecting her first child with partner Zola Short, also served in her new role as a television commentator for the match.

The U.S. squad next plays a pair of matches against Ireland, the first on June 26 in Commerce City, Colorado, and the second on June 29 in Cincinnati. The U.S. will also play Canada on July 6 in Washington D.C.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels hang on for extra-inning victory against Red Sox

• June 4, 2025

BOSTON — The Angels’ bullpen is coming together.

After starter Yusei Kikuchi struggled again with his command, failing to get an out in the sixth inning, five Angels relievers each worked a scoreless inning to allow them to pick up a 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.

Since May 18, Angels relievers have a 2.78 ERA in a 16-game span.

“It’s been fun,” said left-hander Reid Detmers, who picked up his first career save. “That’s kind of one thing we take pride in: going out there and getting zeros. Yeah, we’ve had some bumps in the road, but just you just gotta get over the hump.”

For much of the season’s first two months, the Angels’ bullpen was one of the worst in baseball. Detmers has been at the center of the improvement, allowing one run in his last 11 innings.

He took the mound in the 10th with a one-run lead, because that’s all the Angels could muster from their automatic runner in the top of the inning. The Red Sox never even moved their automatic runner to third. Detmers struck out the first two hitters and then ended the game with a pop-up.

Nolan Ryan, Mike Witt and Detmers are the only Angels pitchers to have a no-hitter and a save since it became an official stat in 1969.

Between Kikuchi and Detmers, Brock Burke, Connor Brogdon, Hector Neris and Kenley Jansen each put a zero on the scoreboard.

They helped the Angels (28-32) win the first two of a three-game series in Boston. They had lost seven out of eight before their arrival at Fenway Park.

This victory was about the Angels getting good pitching and doing fundamental things well, in contrast to the Red Sox.

In the third inning, the Angels hit only one ball hard, but they still scored three runs.

Jo Adell was hit by a pitch and then stole second. Chris Taylor drew a walk. Zach Neto punched a single up the middle, and Adell scored. When center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela’s throw sailed over the head of catcher Connor Wong, the two runners each moved up 90 feet. That drew in the Boston infield, and then Nolan Schanuel hit a soft grounder through the left side, driving in two runs.

For the rest of the night, the Angels came up empty on numerous opportunities to expand the lead. In the 10th, though, the Red Sox cracked the door again.

Schanuel started the inning by dropping down a bunt, simply trying to give up an out to get their automatic runner to third. Red Sox pitcher Zack Kelly mishandled it, for an error. Thanks to that extra out, Taylor Ward’s subsequent double play pushed home what proved to be the decisive run.

By contrast, the Angels’ defense was solid, which it hasn’t been for most of the season. The Angels turned three double plays. The outfielders flawlessly handled each of the Boston hits, prevented any extra bases. Adell and Neto collaborated on two perfect throws to nail a runner at the plate in the second inning.

“The good thing is, we didn’t make any errors tonight,” Manager Ron Washington said. “We kept putting the pressure on them, and, they made some mistakes, and we took advantage of it.”

The biggest negative on the night for the Angels was Kikuchi’s control. He issued five more walks, and the game-tying two-run homer he allowed to Rafaela came after he fell behind 3-and-0 and hung a slider.

Kikuchi has a 3.23 ERA, but he has walked 40 in 69⅔ innings. That’s prevented him from getting deep into games. He still hasn’t thrown a pitch past the sixth inning.

Pitching coach Barry Enright believed the Angels might have figured out the answer last week. Enright said they realized Kikuchi had changed the grip on his fastball and slider. Kikuchi said through his interpreter that the grip wasn’t a significant issue.

“I tried to make some tweaks, but not really,” he said.

Asked what he has to do to limit his walks, Kikuchi said: “I think my stuff’s been good. The velo has been up with the heater too. Just a few adjustments here and there. I think I’ll be back to where I was before.”

In the meantime, he’s at least keeping the Angels close enough. While he has only one victory, the Angels have won five of his last six starts.

“Very tough matchup today,” Kikuchi said. “Had to grind out there. I’m glad I was somehow able to keep the team in the game. … The bullpen was really great. They picked me up today. They’ve been pitching really well recently. So yeah, just keep going.”

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Tuesday, June 3

• June 4, 2025

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Tuesday, June 3

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TUESDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

CIF STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

SoCal Regional

Round I

DIVISION I

Villa Park 5, Granite Hills 4 (9 innings)

VP: Lewis 4-5, 2B, 3RBI. Young 2-4, HR. Lopez 3-4, R, 2B. Nobles 1-3, R, 3B. Hoppie (W, 4IP 4H 0R 0BB 2K).

Other Division I scores

Crespi 4, Mater Dei 3

St. John Bosco 2, St. Augustine 1

Patrick Henry at Santa Margarita, resumes Wednesday, noon

DIVISION II

Rancho Bernardo at Fountain Valley, resumes Wednesday, 3:15 p.m.

Mary Star at Estancia, Wednesday, 3:45 p.m.

SOFTBALL

CIF STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

SoCal Regional

Round I

DIVISION I

El Modena, bye

DIVISION IV

Marquez at University, resumes Wednesday, 2 p.m.

BOYS GOLF

CIF STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Poppy Hills GC (par 71), Pebble Beach

Team championship: 1. Stevenson 353; T2. Santa Margarita 362, De La Salle 362; 4. La Serna 364; 5. Palo Alto 367; 6. Torrey Pines 381.

Individual championship: 1. Jaden Soong (St. Francis) 62; 2. Evan Liu (Torrey Pines) 64; 3. Brayden Jones (Mater Dei) 66; T4. Luke Brandler (Stevenson) 67, Josh Kim (De La Salle) 67; 6. Hudson Vedder (Santa Margarita) 68.

Other Orange County scores: T12. Matthew Hull (Corona del Mar) 71; T21. Alex Sheehan (Santa Margarita) 73, Ronin Bannerjee (Santa Margarita) 73, Shawn Nawata (Irvine) 73. T29. Landon Frank (Santa Margarita) 74, Anthony Wu (Santa Margarita) 74. T37. Daniel He (Santa Margarita) 76. T49. Aadhavan Prasad (Beckman) 81.

​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Does Rams star Puka Nacua have all the right answers?

• June 4, 2025

WOODLAND HILLS — Far be it for me to critique any of the advice LeBron James would give to another elite athlete, but allow me this – his message to Puka Nacua was almost on point: “Keep doing your thing.”

“Honestly, all I needed to hear,” gushed Nacua, long a LeBron fan.

And, I mean, sure, yes: So far, so good for the 177th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He rewarded the Rams’ bet by shattering league’s rookie records for receptions (105) and yards (1,486) and has also recorded more receiving yards (2,476) in his first 28 NFL games than anyone in the past quarter-century than Odell Beckham Jr. (2,828) and Justin Jefferson (2,609).

All a dream for the now 24-year-old father-to-be who could, this season, be the best receiver in the NFL, who’s smiling through it all, having a hard time sometimes believing that this is his life.

He told ESPN’s Mina Kimes on her podcast recently: “It doesn’t feel real sometimes … the surrealness of the feeling of having fans and people come up and they’re wearing your jersey and they say, ‘My son is just starting football and he plays because he sees you out there … and whenever he’s catching the ball in the backyards, he screams, ‘Puka!’”

Is it any wonder, then, that the message coming from the Rams is a lot like LeBron’s: “When speaking with Coach, it’s, ‘Be who I am.’”

The sure hands, the sheer joy. The physicality, the toughness. The way it looks to offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur like the 6-foot-2, 212-pound Nacua “swallows” passes more than he receives them; the way he eats up yards after the catch.

Never change, Puka – except for this: It’s imperative that the Rams’ laid-back, life-loving, elder-respecting team player learn to love the sound of his own voice.

To take the mic, to take the wheel – to not only get open, but to open up.

Because it’s not only kids in backyards looking up to the Rams star anymore; it’s his own teammates. All the experience he’s banked these past two incredible seasons, the new new guys want a piece.

“To have new faces, it’s weird,” Nacua said after an OTA session beneath the clouds on Tuesday at the team’s practice facility in Woodland Hills. “They’re asking me questions and it’s like, ‘Wait, Coach Yarbs [Eric Yarber], you want me to answer this, for real?’ I feel like i still have some of these different questions. But it’s been good its a teaching moment for me as well.”

I think Nacua will learn that he’s good at it.

“He’s a very welcoming person, my first day coming in, he made sure to ask for my name and nickname with a smile,” said Rams rookie receiver Konata Mumpfield, who finds inspiration in Nacua’s journey as the 242nd draftee. “He’s a good dude, smiling all the time, making jokes, you can tell he’s having fun.”

Said LaFleur: “He’s always had a pretty cool demeanor about himself, it’s just now he knows exactly what he’s doing, right?”

Nacua knows what Cooper Kupp taught him, valuable insight that is Nacua’s to pass along now after the Rams waived the 31-year-old star receiver in March.

“It definitely is a little bit different,” said Nacua on Tuesday. “The spot he used to sit in is occupied by somebody [else] now.”

Yeah, it’s him. Not literally, perhaps. But figuratively. It’s Nacua in that proverbial hot seat now – yes, even with All-Pro free agent addition Davante Adams aboard.

Even if they’re WR1a and WR1a, both having averaged 12.5 yards per catch last year, one of them is already the Rams fans’ Ram.

So even if he is wired to be deferential – “Davante has come in and been a great leader, obviously he’s somebody who’s played at a super-high level his whole career” – Nacua is now hired as one of the Rams’ offensive spokesmen. He’ll have to handle some tough passes and tough questions, too.

And even if he knows how much he still doesn’t know – “Watching the Davante, there is an art form of being elusive at the line of scrimmage, with less contact and being a bit more efficient instead of having to run through guys and rely on strength” – Nacua knows enough to know everyone’s looking at him.

Not just to break an explosive play or make a spectacular haul. Not just to keep doing his thing. Not just to sharpen his routes but to sharpen his message. To tell teammates who might need to hear it, and who will, as fans of his, appreciate hearing it from him: “Keep doing your thing.”

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow clarifies – back tightness led to ‘precautionary’ break in throwing

• June 4, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Tyler Glasnow wants you to know that reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on Monday that Glasnow’s throwing progression had been “paused” after the right-hander experienced “some discomfort” following a bullpen session on May 23.

Glasnow has been on the injured list with shoulder inflammation and clarified that he simply felt some tightness in his back following his first time throwing off a mound since April.

“I feel totally fine. Totally normal,” he said at his locker on Tuesday. “My shoulder is totally fine. That issue, I haven’t felt since I started throwing. It was fine. It really was just, I think, a precaution. I felt totally fine, I’m good to go.”

Glasnow, 31, said he resumed throwing after a couple of days and expects to throw another bullpen session later this week.

“If this was the season, no one would know about it,” said Glasnow, emphasizing that this back tightness was “nothing like” the back issue that landed him on the IL at midseason last year.

“I think it’s just precaution. We’re thinking about the playoffs. It is what it is. … I just kinda have to play the long-term card, and I’m just gonna have to take it slow.”

Glasnow, one of five Dodgers starting pitchers who are on the injured list, said he hasn’t thought about a target date to return to the rotation, saying he is taking it “step by step.”

“I’m just taking it bullpen by bullpen and see what it is,” he said. “Hopefully I can face hitters soon. I’m trying to get out there. I want to be healthy, I want to be in the playoffs. … Coming back as soon as I can in a healthy way to help the team in the playoffs is my goal.”

After missing the second half of last season and all of the Dodgers’ postseason run, Glasnow made an effort to analyze his mechanics and change his delivery to put less stress on his elbow, which has been the primary source of his checkered injury history. Those changes have created other problems, he believes.

“I think a lot of it is trusting my natural throw and just making sure all the staples of a healthy delivery are in there,” he said Tuesday. “I think any time I get out of whack or I’m not stable, I put myself at risk. I think just working with them (the pitching coaches and performance staff) to try to maybe not make such drastic changes but just get out to where we talk about just be athletic and go pitch.

“I think it was kinda tough to make such drastic changes where – it was a change for health, but then at the same time, performance goes down because it’s such a foreign feeling. I’m trying to meld a best-of-both worlds situation. But like right now, I feel really, really good, mechanics-wise. Just be athletic and throw. It’s enabled me to just be myself more now. As I get more on the mound and keep going I’ll kinda know more.”

REVOLVING DOOR

In the latest episode of DFA shopping, the Dodgers signed right-hander Jose Ureña. Ureña, 33, was designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, cleared waivers and became a free agent.

The Dodgers will be the ninth major league team for Ureña, whose best year might have been 2024 with the Texas Rangers when he went 5-8 with a 3.80 ERA over 33 appearances (nine starts). This season, he made one appearance for the New York Mets, was released and picked up by the Blue Jays. He made six appearances for the Jays, including two starts, and posted a 3.65 ERA over 12⅓ innings.

In order to make room for Ureña on the active roster, right-hander Will Klein was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Klein was acquired in a minor-league trade on Monday. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, catcher Chuckie Robinson was designated for assignment. Robinson was claimed on waivers from the Angels on Saturday.

MAY WORK

Sixty innings pitched is not a significant milestone – except for Dustin May. With his six-inning start on Tuesday, the Dodgers right-hander passed the 60-inning mark for the first time in his career. May has thrown 61⅔ innings this season, eclipsing his previous career-high of 56 in 2020.

“The biggest thing for me at this point, I’m healthy. I feel healthy. There’s no pain. My first time in June, so that’s exciting,” said May, who admitted he was aware of setting a personal record.

May had never thrown a major-league pitch in the month of June before his start Monday. He has pitched in July just once (in 2020). HIs seasons have been derailed by two major elbow surgeries and a life-threatening esophageal surgery last July.

“I feel good. I’ve been recovering very well,” he said. “I’ve been doing my routine in between starts. What I did before, it’s kind of the same as it’s always been. It’s just, I’m not in pain. That’s kind of where I’m at.”

ALSO

Shohei Ohtani was named the National League Player of the Month for May. Ohtani hit .309 in May with 15 home runs, 27 RBIs and an 1.180 OPS.

UP NEXT

Mets (RHP Griffin Canning, 5-2, 3.23 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Tony Gonsolin, 3-1, 5.23 ERA), Wednesday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers rally to tie the game in 9th, beat Mets in 10th

• June 4, 2025

LOS ANGELES — It was a night for restitution at Dodger Stadium, a chance to make up for past sins.

Max Muncy hit two home runs – including one in the ninth inning to tie the score – to make up for his ninth error of the season (tied for the second-most in the majors among all positions) that undermined Clayton Kershaw and helped the New York Mets erase an early Dodgers’ lead.

And Tanner Scott pitched the 10th inning for the second night in a row. He took the loss on Monday night but retired the side in order this time. That allowed the Dodgers to score the game-winning run on Freddie Freeman’s RBI double in the bottom of the 10th and walk off with a 6-5 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night.

That gave the Dodgers something to celebrate after watching Clayton Kershaw labor for each of the 14 outs he recorded.

For most of his career, hitters were eager to swing early against Kershaw for fear of the wipe-out stuff they would have to deal with if he got two strikes on them.

Things no longer come as easily for Kershaw. He got two strikes on eight of the first 12 batters he faced but struck out just one. Instead, he gave up costly hits on two-strike pitches and had to throw 58 pitches in the first three innings.

With one out in the first inning, he had Starling Marte down 0-and-2. Marte singled.

After a wild pitch moved Marte into scoring position with two outs, Pete Alonso drove him in with an RBI single on a 1-and-2 slider from Kershaw.

Two innings later, Kershaw threw his fastest pitch of the season so far – a 91.2 mph fastball – on a full count to Juan Soto. Soto crushed it, launching it into the right field seats for a two-run home run.

That all but washed away the 4-1 lead the Dodgers had given Kershaw after the first inning.

Back in the lineup for the first time since last Wednesday, Mookie Betts singled with one out and scored from first base when Freeman doubled into the right-field corner – showing no ill effects from the fractured toe that had sidelined Betts for four games.

Freeman went to third when Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil mishandled the relay throw and then scored on a ground out. Muncy capped the four-run first inning with a two-run home run, his fourth homer in the past four games.

While Muncy’s bat has come to life over the past month, his glove still remains a problem.

With one out in the fifth inning, Kershaw walked Francisco Lindor on four pitches. He got Marte to hit a ground ball right at Muncy but the ball had some odd spin on it and went right through Muncy. Kershaw got Soto to pop out for the second out of the inning, but Alonso lined a slider to the wall in left-center for a game-tying double.

The go-ahead run was a time-release headache for Kershaw. Nimmo bounced a ground ball to Freeman and Kershaw raced Nimmo to first base, grabbing the feed from Freeman on the way. First-base umpire Jansen Visconti called Nimmo out, ending the inning. But the Mets challenged the call and replay review showed Nimmo reaching the bag just before Kershaw. The call was overturned, giving Nimmo a go-ahead RBI infield single and ending Kershaw’s night after 4⅔ innings.

Mets starter Tylor Megill retired 16 of 17 Dodgers batters following Muncy’s home run in the first inning. A two-out double by Andy Pages in the fourth was their only hit until the eighth inning, when Betts followed a walk of Shohei Ohtani with his second single of the night.

A wild pitch advanced Ohtani to third with the tying run. Freeman struck out and, with the infield in, Teoscar Hernandez bounced a grounder to Ronny Mauricio at third base. He threw home and Ohtani was tagged out in a rundown. Smith struck out to end the inning. But Muncy took Huascar Brazoban deep to tie the score in the ninth and Freeman drove in the game-winning run in the 10th.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Thunder-Pacers could be an NBA Finals true fans enjoy

• June 3, 2025

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s No. 25 Indiana vs. No. 47 Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals.

That’s not their seeding. That’s their media market ranking. To some, that might matter. To others, it probably won’t – and probably shouldn’t – matter whatsoever.

A title matchup that starts Thursday night between the Pacers and Thunder – two young, fun teams that score a ton and are led by marketable stars in reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma City and Olympic gold medalist Tyrese Haliburton for Indiana – is the type of series that real basketball fans clamor for. It has everything: star power, good coaching, All-Stars on both sides. And it adds to the NBA’s recent run of parity.

That’s the good news. Here’s the inevitable other side: The ratings, especially at the start of the series, probably aren’t going to be good because the home markets are so small. Those who like the NBA won’t be dissuaded by that. Those who don’t like the NBA will tout it as great failure.

“I think this Finals is a great representation with the two teams that are in it,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “You know, they’re teams that play good, exciting styles of basketball. Players that have great individual stories, teams that have a great story collectively. And we’re proud to be a part of that.”

People are watching; they just might not be watching on television. The social media tracking site Videocites says NBA content is getting consumed at a 64% higher clip than last season – 32 billion views and counting so far in these playoffs. Gilgeous-Alexander is the most viewed player, Haliburton is No. 3 and playoff clips of those two have about 1.5 billion views between them to this point.

That’s billion, with a B. And speaking of that, there are 76 billion reasons the NBA won’t be bothered by whatever the ratings are over the next couple of weeks.

The new media rights deals – an 11-year, $76 billion pact between the NBA and broadcast partners Disney (ABC/ESPN), Peacock (NBC) and Amazon (Prime Video) that kicks in at the start of next season – show that clearly somebody is watching NBA games or consuming NBA content. The days of straight relying on Nielsen ratings seem to be long gone, with more and more people ditching cable for streaming and more and more young fans just watching everything on their phones and often in condensed versions.

If the ratings tank for Pacers-Thunder, those deals are still worth $76 billion. The ad buys for these playoffs have long been paid for. So, the numbers for this series are largely irrelevant to the NBA’s bottom line.

Haliburton was asked Tuesday what fans who watch will see if they tune in to these Finals.

“I think (they’ll see) two high-level teams that play an elite style of basketball, who share the ball really well, a lot of different people that can chip in,” Haliburton said. “I think that’s the exciting part about this. I don’t want to say it’s like a passing of the torch because the old heads are still here. They’re still playing very, very well. But definitely to see two young teams, two young organizations, fighting to win a championship, I think is a very big deal.”

Late in the regular season, as numbers were bouncing back from a slow start to the season, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league’s ratings were down about 2% from a year ago.

“But in this environment, where particularly when you’re largely featured in legacy media and particularly cable, and no question cable subscriptions are going down, that seems like a victory,” Silver said.

In short, nobody at the league office is panicking about ratings, especially right now. Whichever team wins will be the seventh different champion in the last seven seasons, and without question the Thunder and Pacers will be featured in more national broadcasts next season than they were this season and their ratings will be higher – as proven by recent Finals runs by Milwaukee, Denver and Dallas. Go ahead and expect Indy and OKC in the Christmas Day package next season as well; neither team was among the 10 picked for that this season, which was probably a mild disappointment for the Pacers and was a huge disappointment for the Thunder.

“I’d love to play on Christmas Day,” Gilgeous-Alexander said earlier this season. “And I think we’re that caliber of team. The NBA makes their decisions. Can’t slight them for it. Ball’s in our court to prove to them why we deserve to be in that game.”

It can easily be argued that both teams did it right: didn’t overspend, didn’t go into the luxury tax – it’s the first Finals between two non-taxpayer teams in about two decades – and tried to build around young stars.

And the Thunder and Pacers were teams that combined to win 49 games just three seasons ago; their success now has to be a reason for hope for teams like Utah, Washington, Portland, Charlotte and others that have been sputtering. Turnarounds can happen, and they can be rewarded. Some people will watch, some won’t, but true fans probably are expecting a pretty good series.

“I think that’s exciting,” Haliburton said, “for any basketball fan.”

AP Sports Writer Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Santiago Canyon College event makes science fun for younger students

• June 3, 2025

To some, the mere mention of “science” may bring up feelings of frustration, intimidation or even boredom. They don’t realize that science can be fun, even playful.

The more than 2,000 people who attended the 18th annual Community Science Night, a colorful assortment of hands-on activities, live demonstrations and interactive exhibits on April 25 at Santiago Canyon College, would happily concur. The engaging presentations invited all attendees — particularly elementary and middle school students — to celebrate the wonders of biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, and engineering. The activities were led by instructors from SCC and the Orange Unified and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School Districts.

“It’s a big circus and playground of science,” said Jeff Wada, SCC professor of chemistry. “The event really excited so many students and other little kids. At the end of the evening, when the families were leaving, they were either super excited to share with their parents what they played with or learned, or they were sad that the night was over.”

“We exposed a large number of students to many different sciences and gave them different kinds of experiences that they may not have at their schools or their homes,” said Rochelle Greenwald, a teacher on special assignment for the Orange Unified School District specializing in Career Pathways and STEAM subjects (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics). “Things like engineering-design challenges, using microscopes, observing animals, trying out robotics and more. They may not even know they’re interested in science until they’ve tried it.”

The exhibits, activities and demos, more than 50 in all, took place in Santiago Canyon College’s Science Center, Humanities Building and Gym, along with a few at outdoor locales on campus. They included:

• Push Car Derby – By building cars out of a LEGO Essentials kit to see which could be pushed the farthest, students learned about friction and force.

• Let There Be Light – Students explored the properties of light: how a light bulb contains a rainbow of colors, what happens when a beam of laser light is trapped in water, and more.

• Plushie Museum of Paleontology – Young kids played with new cuddly friends, in the form of stuffed dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.

• Magma-nificent Experiments – Future geologists discovered how trapped gases cause eruptions through several hands-on experiments that simulate the explosive power of volcanoes.

• Stuffie Stage – Students used clothespins and sticks to build platforms, at least 6 inches tall, to hold one of a variety of stuffed animals.

• Chemistry Magic Show – A comedic demonstration – featuring Dr. Solid, Dr. Liquid and Dr. Gas – explored the three phases of matter.

Wada, who wrote and performed in the latter exhibit, ran it with another SCC chemistry instructor and a student volunteer. “At this year’s event, we had over 200 SCC students who helped out,” he said. “They all talked about the event the following week. It helped reaffirm their interest in science. … In fact, I’ve had students who’ve said, ‘I started college because of Community Science Night.’ I’ve even had those who’ve told me, ‘I signed up for your class because I saw you there when I was younger.’ ”

Santiago Canyon College and the Orange Unified and Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School Districts partnered with several community organizations and companies that hosted their own room, booth or table, said Community Science Night’s chair, Angela Daneshmand, SCC associate professor and chair of Earth sciences. They included the OC Health Care Agency, The Cooper Center, Bricks 4 Kidz, the Environmental Nature Center, the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, Bio-Rad Laboratories and Amigos de Bolsa Chica, among others.

Wada noted that the event started 18 years ago through a grant that Santiago Canyon College received to benefit STEM-major students. Part of this grant involved a push to get elementary and middle school students in the community excited about science.

Wada also sang high praise for Daneshmand, who led the event’s planning committee. “She does an amazing job corralling so many different resources and people,” he said. “It’s like herding cats, as she often says. But she makes it all run.”

“Everyone likes to give me all the credit,” Daneshmand said, “but the event wouldn’t be the success it is without the energy, creativity and commitment of so many faculty, staff and students. It’s truly a team effort, and I’m incredibly grateful for the support.”

Greenwald, who also served on the event’s planning committee, noted that not just young students enjoyed the evening. “The kids had a great time, and sometimes it’s the parents who have more fun than the kids! … I hope that this event continues to grow and change each year, because it’s just about the best thing we can give to our students and the community.”

​ Orange County Register