St. Margaret’s boys volleyball falls short of winning back-to-back CIF-SS titles

• May 14, 2023

NORWALK — The St. Margaret’s boys volleyball team had an opportunity Saturday to win CIF Southern section titles in back-to-back seasons.

After taking the first set, the Tartans fell to El Segundo in the next three games as the third-seeded Eagles won 20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-9 in the Division 3 final at Cerritos College.

St. Margaret’s (29-6), the 2022 Division 4 champ and No. 1 seed this season, had gone 15 matches without dropping a set until it faced El Segundo.

After taking the opening set 25-20, the Tartans seemed to be off to a great start, but coach Bob Yoder felt things shifted in the second set due to a lack of fundamentals by his team.

“Our passing really broke down,” Yoder said. “We’ve been a really good serve and pass team. It’s cliché, but that’s pretty much the game. We were OK the first game but they got to us by the middle of the second game. We could not get the ball consistently up there, so that was the biggest issue.”

St. Margaret’s takes the first set 25-20 over El Segundo. Samuel Harvey with the set-clincher.@ocvarsity @SMESAthletics pic.twitter.com/DrJ6M3RBod

— David Delgado (@DavidDelgado_OC) May 13, 2023

“It just took a second to shake the cobwebs off, adjust and roll into the game,” El Segundo coach Luke Dallavo said. “Second set, once we started getting touches on the block, that’s when we really started to get into our groove.”

Reed Wainwright finished with 13 kills for St. Margaret’s and Luke Reinskensmeyer added nine kills

El Segundo (23-3) was led by the Pilkvist brothers, Dylan and Ryan, who recorded 18 and 15 kills, respectively.

The sophomore duo wreaked havoc from the outside while Daniel Escobar was a force at the net.

The Eagles won their first championship since 2015.

“We know how good this program can be, so we’re glad we can get back to that spot a few years later,” Dallavo said.

El Segundo wins the Division 3 final in four sets over St. Margaret’s, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-9. Dylan Pilkvist had the ace for match point. Eagles first title since 2015!@ocvarsity @breezepreps pic.twitter.com/oFhQqB49KA

— David Delgado (@DavidDelgado_OC) May 13, 2023

Yoder felt the challenge El Segundo presented was unlike anything the Tartans saw all year, but he was pleased that his team nearly won consecutive championships after moving up a division.

“I was proud of these guys in moving up,” he said. “It’s a school of 450 kids and it’s a good group of guys.”

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Galaxy’s Jalen Neal, denied a U-20 World Cup spot, sees the positive

• May 14, 2023

Several teams across Major League Soccer debated releasing their players for the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup later this month.

The Galaxy was one of those clubs.

While Marcus Ferkranus and newly signed Mauricio Cuevas were selected to the roster and have joined the team in Argentina, defender Jalen Neal was not released, which is understandable when looking at the Galaxy roster .

Neal was a member of the U-20 team that won the CONCACAF Championships and qualified for this month’s World Cup and the next year’s Olympics.

“It was kind of expected for me,” he said Friday. “In the beginning (of the season) as the season went on, I was getting more playing time. I thought it would help me get into the U-20 World Cup, but in the end, it was the reason I didn’t go.

“Obviously, I was disappointed. It was a dream of mine to go play in the U-20 World Cup, especially since this is the only chance to play in the U-20 World Cup for me, but to still be here with my team, there are still positives to take out of it. To see how much the team values me and Greg (Vanney) values me, so it’s nice to see that also. I always have motivation to reach the highest accomplishments I can, especially now that the U-20 cycle is over me, now I’m looking toward the main (U.S. National) team for sure.”

Ferkranus and Cuevas were also members of the U-20 team that qualified for the World Cup. Ferkranus has spent this season with Galaxy II and Cuevas has yet to debut, but his previous club, Club Brugge, had already given the OK for him to be selected.

As the Galaxy prepares to take on California Clasico rival San Jose on Sunday (6:30 p.m., FS1), Neal is one a few healthy center backs remaining. Sega Coulilbaly and Chris Mavinga are sidelined with injuries, making Neal’s presence even more necessary, especially as the club heads into the upcoming stretch of four games in nine days.

“There are positives and negatives (of not going), but now my focus is with the Galaxy,” Neal said. “One of the positives I’m taking out of this is knowing that the club trusts me that much, that they want to keep me for this stretch of games. It’s also an important stretch of games for us, coming off of a (Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup) win, we can use this as momentum.”

Busy days ahead

The question facing the Galaxy this week will be can the club survive the upcoming stretch?

The Galaxy played a first-team lineup in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup game. After Sunday’s home game, the Galaxy will travel to Columbus for a game Wednesday, followed by a trip to D.C. United for a Saturday game and then back home for Round of 16 U.S. Open Cup game against LAFC on May 22.

Coulilbaly, Mavinga and Douglas Costa remain injured and unavailable.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to approach this home game with everything to try and win the home game,” Vanney said. “Then we’ll assess and see where we are. I think the toughest turn around we’re going to have is between Sunday and Wednesday, within that you have to travel to Columbus and play off of two days of rest. That’s going to be a difficult transition.

“Depending how we approach Wednesday, you will probably see something a little different on Saturday. We will try to manage the guys through this week, for sure. There are a lot of guys who’ve played some minutes here or there, there are some guys at the start of the season who were starting and haven’t played a ton recently that need another opportunity again. We’ve got guys chomping at the bit to show that they’re ready to help the team and this is that opportunity for everybody to step in and contribute.”

San Jose at Galaxy

When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Dignity Health Sports Park

TV: FS1, Apple TV (free)

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Huntington Beach girls lacrosse team defeats Portola to win Division 3 title in its second season

• May 14, 2023

DOWNEY — In only its second year as a program, the Huntington Beach girls lacrosse team beat Portola 12-9 Saturday to win the CIF-SS Division 3 championship at Downey High.

The Oilers had a team last season but was a freelance team without a league and didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Huntington Beach (16-4) was an at-large representative from the Sunset League this season and was the No. 3 seed in Division 3.

CIF-SS @socaliford Girls D3 UPDATE

: @PortolaAthDept 9
: @HBUHSD 12
: FINAL
: Downey HS#CIFSSLAX pic.twitter.com/yFg65d5Jji

— CIF Southern Section (@CIFSS) May 13, 2023

“They are super fun, coachable and awesome teammates to each other,” Huntington Beach coach Brian Eisenberg said. “I can’t say enough great things about them.”

The Oilers opened the season with 10 consecutive wins and Eisenberg realized that the team had championship potential.

“We have a few girls that have a little bit more experience than the rest of the team and we knew we had some athletes coming in,” Eisenberg said. “I set the goal for a championship early in the season and they didn’t really understand what it was because we are a brand new team, but I really thought we could do this and they bought in.”

Lauren Pilkington led the Huntington Beach offense with four goals and Nicole Hazan added three. Maya Ford, the team’s leading scorer this season, added two goals.

Portola (20-2) trailed 5-0 early but battled its way back into the game. Jadyn Zdanavage scored six goals for the Bulldogs, which brought her season total to a county-high 134.

The Huntington Beach defense, led by Ella Kelly, frequently double-teamed Zdanavage and made it difficult for Portola to get clean shots. Oilers goalie Rachel Levine had three saves.

“(Rachel) is captain and has just been the mom of this team the whole year,” Eisenberg said. “Ella Kelly just started playing last January and she totally glues our defense together.”

Amy Bebawy had five saves for Portola which helped keep the Bulldogs in the game.

Portola beat Millikan. Heritage and Northwood in the early rounds of the playoffs.

The Bulldogs were in danger of not having a season this year due to a lack of coaches, but soccer coaches Jeralyn Newton, Joshua Stringer and Samantha Ezratty took over coaching duties to save the season.

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Angels appreciate Matt Thaiss back behind the plate

• May 14, 2023

CLEVELAND — After a slow start to the season, Matt Thaiss’ bat is heating up, and he’s helped the Angels find some stability at a position hit hard by injuries.

The Angels catcher is hitting .432 since going 0 for 12 to start the season, allowing him to settle into the lineup as the Angels navigate injuries with Logan O’Hoppe (torn labrum) and Chad Wallach (concussion).

“It was a slow start, but he wasn’t getting much consistent playing time,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “It’s tough when you’re here in that role and then kind of make an impression, if you will. Logan carried the load for most of it there those first few weeks until he was hurt, and now Thaissy’s getting his chance. I couldn’t be more happy for him, the way he’s handled it and gone about his business.”

The Angels have relied on Thaiss as their starter after he played just four times in the first 15 games, and he responded to the call with five multi-hit performances in his past 15 games, including a two-hit night Friday that boosted his season average to .327.

“It feels good,” Thaiss said. “Anything I can do to help this team win and put together good at-bats, get out there and get on base for the hitters we have in this lineup. Not trying to do any damage or anything like that because of how deep our lineup is. It’s kind of just a passing-the-baton kind of thing.”

He’s had an opportunity to show the progress he’s made at the position after going almost five years without playing it.

Thaiss was a catcher with Virginia prior to being drafted in 2016, but he didn’t pick the position up again until he was with Triple-A Salt Lake in 2021.

After making his major-league debut at catcher last season, Thaiss – who mainly played third base, first base and outfield in the big leagues prior to 2022 – has played exclusively at catcher and designated hitter this season.

“He’s done a heck of a job behind the plate defensively,” Nevin said. “It’s gotten to the point where the pitchers really feel comfortable with him. I think that’s going to start showing in the results with our pitchers, too.

“He’s such a student of it. He works so hard to study it, game planning and everything, and he follows it so well. He creates his own moments really well. Love having him back there.”

SHOHEI AND CATCHER INTERFERENCES

Shohei Ohtani drew his fifth catcher interference of the season Friday in the fifth inning when he hit the glove of Guardians catcher Sam Gallagher mid-swing.

Ohtani has five catcher interferences this season. No other MLB player has more than two.

Nevin believes the quirky stat has come as a result of Ohtani standing back in the box to give him more time to swing – and give himself a higher probability of making contact.

“It’s his bat path,” Nevin said. “He loves to let the ball get deep, and he knows he can get balls deep in the contact space. If a catcher gets too close, it’s just part of it. He knows he can foul balls off back there. He’s not trying to hit the catcher, obviously, but he knows if he can get a piece of the bat on it, it can serve an at-bat.”

WALSH IN TRIPLE-A

First baseman Jared Walsh played the first game of his rehab assignment in Triple-A on Friday, going 0 for 2 with two walks.

Nevin said Walsh will play five or six innings again Saturday and see how he feels after the weekend before judging how many more games he’ll need before joining the team.

“He felt great,” Nevin said. “He did say his timing was way off, but (I said), ‘Yeah, you haven’t played baseball in a long time.’ That’s the least of our worries. He came out feeling great and he woke up feeling great.”

AROUND THE BASES

Nevin said catcher Chad Wallach (concussion) has a “good chance” to come off the 7-day injured list Monday when the Angels start their next series in Baltimore. …

Top prospect Jo Adell is hitting .290 with a .390 on-base percentage and has totaled 13 home runs, which leads the Pacific Coast League. Nevin called Adell’s work “outstanding.” …

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP Patrick Sandoval, 3-1, 3.41 ERA) at Guardians (RHP Tanner Bibee, 1-1, 4.30 ERA), 8:35 a.m. Sunday, Peacock, 830 AM

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Chris Roberts, former longtime UCLA broadcaster, dies at 74

• May 14, 2023

Chris Roberts, the former voice of UCLA football and men’s basketball for 23 seasons, died Friday morning from complications of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Glendora. He was 74.

Roberts was the play-by-play voice for 10 years at Long Beach State before making the move to UCLA. From 1992 to 2015, Roberts was the Bruins’ play-by-play broadcaster for both sports. He called 16 bowl games for the UCLA football team, including the 1994 and 1999 Rose Bowl games, and 19 trips to the NCAA tournament for the the men’s basketball team.

The highlight of his career was arguably the Bruins’ 1995 NCAA tournament championship run, capped by their title-game victory over Arkansas at the Kingdome in Seattle.

The decorated broadcaster, who was a four-time Golden Mike Award winner and a Hall of Fame member in the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association, also co-authored two books with Bill Bennett – “Stadium Stories: UCLA Bruins” and “UCLA Football Vault” – and worked in real estate. He also spent time coaching the Glendora High junior varsity baseball team.

Born as Bob LaPeer in Alhambra, Roberts grew up in Baldwin Park and played football, basketball and baseball at Baldwin Park High before continuing to play baseball at Cal Poly Pomona. He began his broadcasting career at KCIN in Victorville, then at KREO in Indio and KWOW in Pomona, where he announced high school and junior college sports. Other stops included KFXM in San Bernardino – where a program director asked him to change his name because someone else named Bob also worked there – as well as KUTE-FM, KFI-AM, KOST-FM and KMPC-AM.

Roberts is survived by his wife Ann LaPeer, son David LaPeer and daughter-in-law Yvette LaPeer, daughter Nichole Hijon-LaPeer, son-in-law Octavio Hijon and grandchildren Andrés, Santiago and Carmen.

According to a release from UCLA, Roberts’ family “requests that in lieu of flowers, in Chris’ memory, to please remember to provide love, guidance, and mentorship to those around you and in need. He was always proud and fond of the young broadcasters that he had the privilege to coach and mentor.”

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Has Scabby the Rat reached the end of his relevance?

• May 14, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, a giant, inflatable rat with beady eyes, sharp teeth and a pustule-covered belly has loomed over union protests, drawing attention to various labor disputes.

But in the era of TikTok and influencer culture, middle-aged Scabby faces a new challenge: staying relevant.

“It’s kind of unfortunate, changing times, older members of the public know exactly what the rat is for,” said James Smith, union activity administrator for the NYC District Council of Carpenters. “The newer generation sometimes doesn’t — one person thought that we were protesting a building that needed an exterminator.”

Nevertheless, Scabby isn’t collecting hard-won retirement benefits just yet. Most recently, he has been making the rounds at various picket lines in New York for the Hollywood writers strike organized by the Writers Guild of America East and other unions.

Scabby is the “true rat czar of New York City,” said WGA East communications director Jason Gordon, referencing the more fun title for the city’s new director of rodent migration.

At the picket line near HBO and Amazon’s New York offices on Wednesday, screenwriter Lisa Kron, 61, said she was “thrilled to see that we were being chaperoned by Scabby the Rat.”

She’s seen Scabby out and about during her four decades living in New York, but this was her first time picketing with the rat.

“It’s one of those great enduring symbols, it’s a great piece of visual protest,” she said. “It’s got humor and it’s got a shaming kind of message. And it’s very New York.”

“It’s an attention grabber,” said Benjamin Serby, a professor at Adelphi University who has written about the history of Scabby. “It’s something that just is very effective, for whatever reason, at making people walking by or driving by, stop and ask: ‘What’s going on here?’”

Although having a rat as a mascot seems quintessentially New York, Scabby the Rat was actually invented by a union in Chicago around the late 1980s (several claim credit), and other unions around the country quickly adopted the practice of using inflatables to draw attention to actions (pigs, roaches and cats are other popular inflatables to use as well, although they lack a catchy nickname).

There are many Scabbys. At another union action in March at a Petco, Marty Flash sat in the cab of his truck used to ferry one of the NYC District Council of Carpenters’ eight rats around (most unions have several, or borrow from unions that do). Most of the District Council’s rats, along with a generator and gas can, stay in a locker at union headquarters or in organizers’ trucks so they can be quickly deployed.

Flash, a carpenter for 35 years, has seen many reactions to the 10-foot-tall rat, which, at the moment, was towering over Union Square in the truck’s bed.

“In midtown Manhattan, it’s a tourist attraction. Little children get a real kick out of it. They come over, they want to touch it. Dogs are petrified of it,” he said. Flash said Scabby can inflate in about a minute and a half with a generator and deflate in about 30 seconds. Bigger rats — the rats range from 8 to 20-plus feet — can take 15 minutes to fill up.

Scabby’s name is a play on “scabs,” the derogatory term dating back to the 1800s for strikebreakers who cross picket lines to work. The oozing sores on his belly are a visual reference to the term. But Flash said workers at the sites visited by Scabby shouldn’t take offense, since the rat is protesting against contractors and companies, not the workers themselves.

“Some workers think that we are against them. We’re actually fighting to get them more money, better pay and better benefits,” he said. “But it’s perceived as the rat is calling them a rat or implying that they’re ‘less than.’ Which is not our intention. … It’s to imply that a rat contractor is not paying their workers the fair pay.”

Rats are made of PVC vinyl and cost between $8,000 to $20,000, according to Flash. One company, Blue Sky Balloons outside of Chicago, is responsible for most of the rats found in NYC. But they seem to be distancing themselves from the inflatables, The Guardian reported earlier this year. Blue Sky Balloons responded to an Associated Press query by saying they were new owners who weren’t associated with the rat, and didn’t respond to follow-up queries.

But Flash says his union still sends their rats to Big Sky for repairs, which can cost up to $2,000. Repairs are needed often since most are years or decades old — so the unions try to take good care of their rats.

“I baby this one with my life,” Flash said. “We have a pool of rats and generators that you take when you need. I just always keep mine with me because I’m familiar with this operation.”

Not everyone likes Scabby. Sometimes the inflatable rat gets slashed or attacked by anyone from random passersby to disgruntled workers at sites. The rat has often been the subject of legal challenges by the companies Scabby targets. If he blocks the sidewalk or street, police can boot him. But Scabby is a survivor, winning its most recent legal challenge in 2021, when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that it was a protected form of expression.

These days, Scabby also has to contend with new technology and social media. Its Facebook page, run by a retired union organizer, lets various unions post photos of Scabby at protests around the country, and some rats feature QR codes that give people information about campaigns. But Mike Piccirillo, president of Local 20 Carpenters Union, said a more recent addition to the union’s arsenal might overshadow Scabby.

“Our LED sign truck is a lot more effective than the rat,” he said. “I’ve been in construction for 25 years, and most New Yorkers are numb to the rat. They just walk by it. Now the LED sign with its flashing lights actually gets their attention.”

Yet — much like the currently surging rat population in New York — Scabby is unlikely to completely disappear anytime soon, as long as the rat keeps conveying his message of fair pay for workers.

“People are drawn to it in part because it’s like an ironic symbol of defiance,” Serby said. “Something about this giant, ugly, toothy kind of scary-looking rat makes people feel permitted to express anger and defiance and outrage at employers.”

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Saturday, May 13

• May 13, 2023

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Saturday, May 13

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

SATURDAY’S SCORES

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Finals

DIVISION 3

El Segundo def. St. Margaret’s, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-9

GIRLS LACROSSE

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Finals

DIVISION 3

Huntington Beach 12, Portola 9

Goals: (HB) Pilkington 4, Hazan 3, Ford 2. (Por) Zdanavage 6

Saves: (HB) Levine 3. (Por) Bebawy 5

SOFTBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Semifinals

DIVISION 5

Irvine 5, Santa Paula 4

​ Orange County Register 

Shepherd Asta is a charmer who’s sweet as they come

• May 13, 2023

Breed: German shepherd

Age: 2 years

Sex: Neutered male

Size: 79 pounds

Asta’s story: Asta is sweet as honey. He has been featured at adoption events and is nothing but a gentleman around his furry friends, large or small! Not only is he a social butterfly, but he’s also incredibly smart. Asta knows how to sit and shake, and he’s excited to learn more tricks from his forever family. Although Asta is quick to befriend other dogs, he takes an old-school approach when it comes to humans. He prefers to go on several play dates before calling anyone his best friend, so we think he’ll do best in a home with very patient adults.

Adoption fee: Throughout May, adoption fees are waived for dogs 25 pounds and over. Those adopting dogs 25 pounds and over will not have to pay for microchipping, vaccinations, spaying or neutering and an anti-parasite treatment. Waived adoption fees do not include licensing fees or puppies six months of age or younger.

Adoption procedure: Call OC Animal Care at 714-935-6848 to pre-schedule your adoption visit. While pre-scheduled visits are available for convenience, walk-ins are welcome on a first-come, first-served basis at the  shelter, 1630 Victory Road, Tustin.

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