Long Beach shooting injures 7; 4 critically

• May 5, 2024

Seven people were wounded in a Long Beach shooting, authorities said.

The shooting occurred about 11:15 p.m. Saturday in the area of South Street and Paramount Boulevard, according to Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Alexis Lauro.

Four of the victims were in critical condition and three had non-life-threatening injuries, Lauro said. Some of the victims were taken to hospitals in private vehicles.

Suspect information was not available, she said. The shooter or shooters fled the scene before officers arrived.

The motive was unknown, Lauro said.

OC Hawk and OnScene.TV, video news agencies, reported numerous shell casing were found in the street and the parking lot of a nightclub on South Street.

The Press-Telegram staff contributed to this report.

Evidence markers are seen on the ground as police look for evidence after a shooting Saturday night in Long Beach. (Photo by OC HAWK)

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​ Orange County Register 

Canelo Alvarez retains undisputed championship with unanimous decision over Jaime Munguia

• May 5, 2024

By MARK ANDERSON (AP Sports Writer)

LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez held off a feisty challenger Saturday night, proving to be the stronger and more effective boxer to retain his undisputed super middleweight championship, winning by unanimous decision to hand Jaime Munguia his first loss.

Tim Cheatham scored the fight 117-110, David Sutherland had it 116-111 and Steve Weisfeld 115-112.

Alvarez (61-2-2), who closed as a minus-380 at BetMGM, overcame a somewhat slow start to dominate Munguia (43-1) before a crowd of 17,492. The champ took full control after knocking down Munguia in the fourth round.

The lead-up to the bout was unusually polite, with both fighters saying they were proud to represent Mexico on Cinco de Mayo weekend.

Alvarez saved his harshest criticism during week not for his opponent, but for Munguia’s promoter. Oscar De La Hoya used to be in Alvarez’s corner, but they clearly are on opposite sides now and nearly even came to blows Wednesday at the news conference after trading allegations.

Munguia the most aggressive boxer the first three rounds, even getting Alvarez into the ropes in the third. Alvarez, though, showed in the fourth he wasn’t going anywhere, using a left and then a right to the face to send Munguia to the canvass with 38 seconds left.

Alvarez then proceeded to sting Munguia over the next four rounds with shots to the face. Munguia put together his own sets of flurries, but they did little noticeable damage to Alvarez.

That is until the ninth round when Munguia landed some blows to the face that sent Alvarez backward, including into the corner at one point. But Alvarez responded with his own combinations, including coming out of the corner, in the fight’s most action-packed round.

The 10th and 11th rounds were close, but largely the same trends followed of Alvarez delivering the harder shots.

Munguia came out in the final round fighting as if he knew he was trailing on the judges’ card, but did little damage. It was Alvarez who again came through with the best blows, using a combination with about a minute left to Munguia’s head and following with several more shots to end the fight.

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In the other main-card fights:

— San Antonio’s Mario Barrios (29-2) successfully defended his WBC interim world welterweight title by defeating Argentinian Fabian Maidana (22-3) by unanimous decision in the co-main event. Each judge scored the bout 116-111.

Barrios prevailed despite fighting with his right eye nearly completely closed.

“Maidana fought hard for 12 rounds like I expected,” Barrios said. “Once my eye started swelling up, it was hard to find my range. But we stuck to the fundamentals, tried to find openings and came out with the victory.”

— WBC interim world featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) of Welasco, Texas, knocked out Jessie Magdaleno (29-3) of Las Vegas with a left uppercut to his kidney with one second left in the ninth round ended.

— Lithuania’s Eimantas Stanionis (15-0) easily retained his WBA welterweight title by claiming a unanimous decision over Venezuelan Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1) with scores of 117-111, 118-10 and 119-109.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Margarita boys volleyball sweeps Servite to advance to CIF-SS Division 2 final

• May 5, 2024

ANAHEIM – Ethan Saint had a team-high 25 kills for Santa Margarita on Saturday as the Eagles swept Servite in three sets, 27-25, 25-18, 25-22, in a CIF Southern Section Division 2 semifinal at Servite High.

Santa Margarita (24-4) will play Redondo (24-6) in the final on Saturday, May 11  The two teams have not played against each other this season.

The CIF-SS office on Monday will announce the site for the contest.

Servite (19-14) might be selected to play in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs that begin May 14. The regional brackets will be released May 12.

Santa Margarita will be playing in its fifth CIF-SS boys volleyball championship match. The Eagles are 3-1 in finals and won championships in 1997, ‘98 and 2001.

Eagles senior outside hitter Brooks Ignosci had 15 kills and 12 digs. Freshman setter Chase Wallin had 40 assists.

Santa Margarita coach Sinan Tanik got the all-around team effort he wanted.

“When I take pride in my team the most is when everyone is contributing,” said Tanik, in his third season as Santa Margarita’s head coach after playing and coaching for many years in Europe and in Turkey. “Yes, we have our heavy guns. But when everyone is contributing that is very important.”

Santa Margarita defeated Servite twice in Trinity League matches during the regular season, including a 3-2 win at Servite and a 3-0 win at Santa Margarita.

“Every time you play Servite you’ve got to play well,” said Saint, a 6-3 senior outside hitter who signed with UC Santa Barbara. “We came out with a lot of energy and our team played well.”

The match featured many high-velocity spikes and athletic digs in all three sets.

A Saint kill gave Santa Margarita a 15-10 lead in the first set, the Eagles’ biggest lead of that set.

Servite relied on USC-signed, 6-6 senior outside hitter Eamon Rigdon and fellow seniors Quinn Rosenkranz and Connor Truong to lead their charge in the first set. The Friars took a 23-22 lead and a 25-24 lead but could not get the win, with Santa Margarita taking the set 27-25.

Santa Margarita grabbed momentum midway through the second set and went on to a 25-18 win.

As in the first two sets, Servite had an early lead before Santa Margarita put together a mid-set run to win it 25-22.

“Servite is a really good team at every position,” Tanik said. “This year I think we matched up very well against them.”

Saint said the Eagles must play like they did Saturday in order to beat Redondo in the final.

“I think we just need to stay sharp,” Saint said. “Serving and passing are always big, and playing good defense and blocking. Just the whole game, really.”

​ Orange County Register 

San Clemente boys volleyball sweeps El Dorado to grab spot in Division 3 final

• May 5, 2024

SAN CLEMENTE — The last time the San Clemente boys volleyball team played in a CIF-SS championship match, none of the players on the current team had been born.

San Clemente swept El Dorado 25-20, 25-17, 25-16 at home Saturday in the Division 3 semifinals to advance to its first championship game since 2003.

The Tritons (26-6) last won a CIF championship in 1976. In 2003 San Clemente lost to Loyola in the Division 1 final.

“I think it’s always about CIF and I want this program to have that type of culture,” San Clemente coach Justin DeBlasio said. “I’m grateful that it’s finally here. It’s been a long time, it’s been a lot of work and we still have another job to do.”

Last season was the first losing season for San Clemente in many years, dating back to at least the year 2000.

“I think we are all super locked in and focused after our season last year,” San Clemente senior Kai Schmitt said. “I think we all knew that we needed to get it done this year.”

San Clemente has won 13 consecutive matches, 10 of them coming via sweeps. The Tritons have lost only three sets during the winning streak.

El Dorado (29-6) was the Crestview League champion and entered Saturday with seven consecutive wins, six of them being sweeps. The Golden Hawks reached the Division 4 championship game last season.

“We knew walking in that this was going to be the big game,” El Dorado coach Brit Brown said. “Tons of respect to San Clemente. They brought it, we brought it too and I’m so proud of my team.”

San Clemente will play St. Margaret’s in the championship game Saturday, May 11, at a site to be determined.

This will be the third consecutive championship game for St. Margaret’s, which lost in the Division 3 championship game in 2023.

Serving and passing were the key to San Clemente’s success against El Dorado. The Tritons had seven service aces and junior setter Jettie Presho was spreading the ball around well to set up big swings.

“We always try to get him to move the ball around and let our hitters know they are one-fifth of the offense,” DeBlasio said. “He’s got so many weapons and that makes it so much tougher for other teams to scout us. They don’t know where the ball is going.”

San Clemente does not feature one hitter that has eye-popping stats but instead has a balanced offense with multiple players tallying more than five kills.

Junior Jack Loper (Stanford commit)  led San Clemente in kills. Marcus Kosolcharoen and Pepperdine signee Will Whidden also had over five kills.

Schmitt, a Stanford signee, had three aces and was also effective around the net.

El Dorado features outside hitter Max Smith who entered Saturday with the second most kills (383) in Orange County this season. San Clemente’s length and athleticism at the net made it challenging for El Dorado to score. Smith’s 13 kills were his lowest during the playoffs.

“We kind of knew that he was going to be their go-to option so we keyed on that,” DeBlasio said. “We had high hands. I don’t think he’s seen that level of physicality with the hands with the teams they have played against so that worked to our advantage.”

“We knew they were going to be big,” Brown said. “We had a game plan going in. I think we just wanted it so bad that we were almost afraid to make mistakes and held back a bit.”

Trent Chaffin had six kills for El Dorado and setter Ryan Chia had 33 assists.

DeBlasio likes the way his team is playing and how they attacked El Dorado.

“We got back to our competitive mindset,” DeBlasio said. “Instead of waiting for the other team to give up, it was us working our game plan, winning the serve and pass battle and being physical. It’s a rare combination in high school and that’s what has worked well for us.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Keffiyehs are not an exemption ticket

• May 5, 2024

Protestors who set up encampments and siege buildings should be prosecuted to the fullest extent, under both the law and their institutions’ codes of conduct.

Failing to do so undermines a fundamental commitment of liberal democracy: no person is above the law. Despite ill-informed assertions to the contrary, encampments and sieges are not protected by the First Amendment. They are permissibly regulated under content-neutral time, place, manner restrictions.

Restrictions on the time, place, and manner of conduct otherwise protected under the First Amendment are permitted under specific conditions: the restriction must be content-neutral, narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels for communicating the speaker’s message. Prohibitions on encampments on college campuses easily meet these criteria.

The prohibitions are content neutral because all are prohibited, regardless of race, sex, religion, or political preference. They’re narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest because ensuring equal access to public space is a clear and consistent governmental interest (e.g., access to parks, roadways, the list goes on). And the restrictions leave open ample alternative channels because protestors can still protest on campus; they are only prevented from forcibly occupying public space to the exclusion of others.

Imagine a different group of “anti-Zionists” physically occupying college campuses, besieging buildings, and preventing students from attending class. Perhaps these “anti-Zionists” wear white cloaks and pointy white hats. Should they escape prosecution under the guise of free speech? The same would be true if the besiegers wore kippahs and tzitzit. Keffiyehs are not an exemption ticket.

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Fanatics of all sorts are the same: they all think the law applies to thee and not to me. But we are a nation of laws, not of men. When you pillage and destroy property, you must be held accountable, even if you believe doing so advances social justice. When you infiltrate the capital to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, you must be held accountable, even if you believe the election was stolen. A sincere belief in the justness of one’s cause is no excuse. Actions have consequences.

Now is the time to reaffirm our commitment to the bedrock principle that no person is above the law. There is no greater force for unity than that. Neither a sincere belief in the righteousness of a cause nor the popularity of a cause can overcome the need to do what is right.

Branden Nikka was born and raised in Los Angeles and is a graduate of USC and UCLA School of Law. Branden’s opinions are his own and do not reflect those of his friends, family, or employer. 

​ Orange County Register 

Corona del Mar boys volleyball loses to Mira Costa; Newport Harbor falls to Loyola

• May 5, 2024

Corona del Mar lost to Mira Costa in four sets, 25-12, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, Saturday at Mira Costa High in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 pool-play match that decided which team would play in the final.

Sterling Foley led Corona del Mar with 19 kills. Brady Gant added seven kills and Daniel Booker had six kills.

No. 2 seed Mira Costa (35-3) will face No. 1 seed Loyola (30-1-1) in the championship Saturday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at Cerritos College.

Corona del Mar’s season will continue in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs that begin May 14.

The top six of the eight teams in CIF-SS Division 1 qualify for the CIF SoCal Regional. Also advancing to the regional are Edison, Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor.

Also in Division 1:

Loyola 3, Newport Harbor 1:  The Cubs won their battle with the visiting Sailors 18-25, 25-23, 25-18, 29-27 in the final pool-play round to earn a spot in the championship match.

Huntington Beach 3, Mater Dei 0: The Oilers (28-7) swept the Monarchs (21-13) in a pool-play finale.

Aidan Dubno had 24 kills and three blocks for Huntington Beach. Nick Ganier added 10 kills and Jake Pazanti contributed seven kills and 47 assists for the Oilers.

In Division 2:

Redondo 3, Beckman 1: The Patriots (25-12) lost at home to top-seeded Redondo (24-6).

Luke Morrison led Beckman with 27 kills. Gavin Looney added 12 kills for the Patriots.

In Division 3:

St. Martgaret’s 3, Long Beach Poly 0: The Tartans (33-4) swept the Jackrabbits in a semifinal to advance to a CIF-SS championship match for the third year in a row.

Reed Wainwright led St. Margaret’s with 22 kills. Beckett Harvey had 10 kills and Caden Isola had six kills for the Patriots, who won by scores of 25-19, 25-18, 25-19.

St. Margaret’s won the CIF-SS Division 4 championship in 2022. The Tartans lost to El Segundo in last year’s Division 3 final.

They are 3-4 in boys volleyball finals, with previous championships in 2001 and ‘10.

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​ Orange County Register 

Max Muncy’s three home runs highlight Dodgers’ rout of Braves

• May 5, 2024

LOS ANGELES – At one point during the Dodgers’ desultory last homestand in April, Dave Roberts kvetched that he couldn’t remember the most recent time the Dodgers had played a complete game.

His memory is getting refreshed on a regular basis these days.

Max Muncy homered three times and Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages added one each to back Tyler Glasnow’s latest strong start as the Dodgers routed the Atlanta Braves 11-2 Saturday night.

The win was the Dodgers’ second in a row over the Braves this weekend and their 10th in their past 12 games overall.

During this dozen-game run, the Dodgers have looked like the complete team Roberts (and the front office) thought they had.

They have outscored their opponents 78-24. Eight times in the 12 games their pitching has allowed two runs or fewer. Six times the offense has put up eight or more runs. Four times they reached double digits.

The Dodgers offense went clubbing against Braves starter Bryce Elder, chasing him from the game with seven runs in the first four innings.

Muncy started it with his first home run, a two-run drive in the second inning.

Ohtani led off the third inning with his eighth home run of the season, passing Roberts for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player in franchise history. The homer also continued to make good on an offseason promise.

As the Dodgers were acquiring Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays and negotiating what would eventually be a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension, Glasnow said he got a video recruiting pitch from Ohtani during which the two-time MVP said he “hopes to hit some home runs for me.”

Saturday was the third time in Glasnow’s first eight starts that Ohtani has made hope a homer reality.

Pages, meanwhile, has been everything the Dodgers could have hoped for when they promoted him from Triple-A. He led off the fourth inning with his fourth home run in 16 games and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, adding a single later in the game for his sixth multi-hit game since arriving.

Just for good measure, Pages added a nice running catch on Marcell Ozuna’s drive into the corner to end the eighth inning.

Walks got Elder in deeper trouble in that fourth inning and three consecutive singles from Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith made it a four-run inning.

Ohtani and Freeman each had three-hit games. Muncy made it a four-hit, three-homer game by going deep in the seventh off lefty reliever Tyler Matzek and again in the eighth off right-hander Jackson Stephens.

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It was the first three-home run game by a Dodger since Trayce Thompson on April 1 last season

That was more than enough for Glasnow who held the Braves to two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out 10 in seven innings.

It was the third time in his past five starts that Glasnow has gone at least seven innings, the fourth time in that stretch he has struck out at least nine and the sixth time in his eight starts as a Dodger that he has allowed two runs or fewer. He continues to lead the majors in wins (six), innings (50) and strikeouts (63), tacking a 2.70 ERA alongside those stats.

​ Orange County Register 

LAFC stumbles against Earthquakes

• May 5, 2024

SANTA CLARA — Rodrigues gave San Jose the lead in the 5th minute and the Earthquakes never looked back in a 3-1 victory over LAFC at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday night.

LAFC (4-4-3) got on the scoreboard in the 69th minute on Cristian Olivera’s second goal of the campaign and his fourth in 21 appearances with the club in his two seasons in the league. Kei Kamara had an assist. Hugo Lloris saved one shot for LAFC.

LAFC has lost six straight on the road against the Earthquakes but leads the all-time series 9-7-1.

San Jose (2-8-1), which ended a five-match unbeaten run, jumped out to a 1-0 lead on defender Rodrigues’ second goal of the season. Cristian Espinoza notched his sixth assist on Rodrigues’ header from the center of the box to the bottom right corner of the net off a corner kick.

Espinoza tallied another assist as the Earthquakes stretched their lead to two goals in the 55th minute on a score by Amahl Pellegrino. Espinoza sent a through ball on the fast break to Pellegrino, who was making his sixth start and ninth appearance.

San Jose had a 3-0 advantage four minutes later after an own goal by LAFC’s Denis Bouanga. It was the second straight week Bouanga had an own goal. He did it against the Portland Timbers before scoring during second-half stoppage time for a 3-2 victory.

William Yarbrough turned away three shots in each half for San Jose. Yarbrough is in his first season with the Earthquakes after spending the past four seasons with the Colorado Rapids.

San Jose has a draw and a victory in its last two outings after suffering through its second four-match losing streak of the season.

The match was played at the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers instead of PayPal Park — the usual home stamping grounds of the Earthquakes.

LAFC returns home to play the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday. San Jose travels to play the Colorado Rapids on Saturday.

​ Orange County Register