CIF-SS boys volleyball playoffs: Orange County schedule for Friday, Saturday

• May 8, 2025

The schedule for Orange County teams in the CIF-SS boys volleyball playoffs Friday and Saturday.

CIF-SS BOYS VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS

Games start at 6 p.m. unless noted.

FRIDAY

Division 1

Loyola at Huntington Beach

Corona del Mar at Mira Costa, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Division 1

Redondo at Newport Harbor

Division 2

Mater Dei at St. Francis

St. Margaret’s at Peninsula

Division 3

North Torrance at Tesoro

Orange Lutheran at Warren

Division 4

Crean Lutheran at Sage Hill

Division 5

Newbury Park at Esperanza

Vista Murrieta at Kennedy

Division 6

Laguna Blanca at El Toro

Division 7

San Jacinto at Brea Olinda

Division 8

Desert Christian of Lancaster at Katella

​ Orange County Register 

La Habra baseball beats Canyon to win North Hills League championship

• May 8, 2025

La Habra’s baseball team beat Canyon 3-2 on Wednesday to win the North Hills League title.

La Habra and Canyon went into the game tied for first place. The Highlanders finished with a 9-3 league record and Canyon went 8-4.

Bobby Fierro had two hits and drove in two runs. Izaiah Posada had two hits and scored a run.

La Habra is 11-1 over its past 12 games.

CIF Southern Section baseball playoff brackets will be released Monday. The playoffs begin with first-round games on May 15 and 16.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange Lutheran boys volleyball goes from last place to CIF-SS semifinals

• May 8, 2025

MISSION VIEJO – Orange Lutheran’s boys volleyball team finished last in the Trinity League with a 1-9 league record.

The Lancers got into the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs as an at-large team. In the first round they defeated San Joaquin League champion Capistrano Valley Christian before beating Channel League champion San Marcos in the second round.

Orange Lutheran on Wednesday beat another league champion, Mission Viejo, 25-21, 27-25, 25-23-0, in the quarterfinals.

The Lancers (24-13 overall) will play Warren (25-6) of Downey in the semifinals Saturday at 6 p.m. The Orange Lutheran-Warren winner advances to the Division 3 championship game on May 16 or 17 at a site to be determined.

Mission Viejo finished the season 20-6. The Diablos shared the Sea View League championship with San Juan Hills.

Trinity League coaches of any of sport often say their league gets their teams ready for playoff competition.

Orange Lutheran coach Henry Valiente said that certainly applies to his team’s success in these playoffs.

“Playing against all of the great teams in our league prepares us for moments like this,” Valiente said. “We went five sets with a lot of teams in our league and that taught us lessons. As we say, you win or you learn.”

The first set was tied 15-15 when Orange Lutheran made its move, outscoring the Diablos 10-6 the rest of the way for the 25-21 win.

Mission Viejo had a terrific front line group, led by sophomore Juan Escobar and senior Dillon Scolaro, both 6-foot-4, that helped keep the Diablos in the battle all night.

The Diablos had a 17-9 lead in the second set when Orange Lutheran made another surge. With senior outside hitter Logan Busch making some of his 13 kills and with fine setting and scoring by senior setter David Zazueta, the Lancers rallied.

They caught up with Mission Viejo at 24-24, a kill by senior outside hitter Connor Engelbrecht gave the Lancers their first lead of the second set at 26-25 and they won it 27-25.

Orange Lutheran broke to an early lead in the third set but Mission Viejo did not fold, trading points with the Lancers for much of the rest of the set until Orange Lutheran junior Josiah Trautman slammed in the set winner for a 25-23 victory to take the match.

Engelbrecht, who finished with a team-high 17 kills, agreed with his coach that the Trinity League made the Lancers playoff-ready.

“It was a tough season in terms of wins and losses,” Engelbrecht said. “But all of our league games were super close so we were ready for these close games. The league prepared us for a higher level of play and for whoever’s coming at us.”

​ Orange County Register 

Calvary Chapel swimmer Bianca Nwaizu sets CIF Division 3 record in breaststroke

• May 8, 2025

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

WALNUT — Bianca Nwaizu understandably felt intimated last summer as a 14-year-old swimming at the U.S. Olympic Trials, a meet known to rattle even the most experienced racers.

Not only did Nwaizu expend months of energy in qualifying for Trials in her final summer attempt, she found herself on the same pool deck with several stars of the sport such as sisters Alex and Gretchen Walsh.

“These people I see on TV, and I’m just here,” Nwaizu recalled. “I went in and I was just kind of like ‘I don’t belong here. I don’t deserve to be here.’ (I learned) you need to go in with confidence and know exactly what you (need) to do. (The experience) really helped me a lot.”

Nwaizu displayed her growth Wednesday at the CIF-SS Division 3 swimming preliminaries at Mt. SAC.

The Calvary Chapel sophomore blazed to the Division 3 record in the 100-yard breaststroke and qualified first in the 100 butterfly to highlight the session for Orange County.

Nwaizu rocketed off her starting block in the breaststroke and quickly reached a high tempo. The reigning CIF State champion stopped the clock in 1 minute, 0.44 to break the 2014 Division 3 standard of former Crean Lutheran and Stanford star Ella Eastin by more than a second.

Nwaizu also added the Division 3 record to a resume that includes her Division 4 record from last season.

“I wanted to go 59 (seconds) but I’ll just take it,” said Nwaizu, who posted the fastest in Orange County this season.

Only one Orange County girl has ever broken 59 seconds in a high school 100 breaststroke, and that’s county-record holder Teagan O’Dell of Santa Margarita (59.73 in 2023).

Nwaizu continued her ascent in December by breaking the barrier with a 59.73 — the same time as O’Dell’s O.C. record — at the Speedo Winter Junior Championship West with the Irvine Novaquatics club.

She’ll take aim at the 59 seconds at Friday’s 10 a.m. finals.

“At Junior Nationals, I was locked in,” she said. “I just need to lock in again.”

Nwaizu qualified first in the 100 butterfly with a lifetime-best 55.91, almost 2 1/2 seconds ahead of No. 2 seed and freshman Cassandra Espinoza of Sonora.

Nwaizu also helped Calvary Chapel’s 200 medley relay qualify fourth (1:56.42) behind Crean Lutheran (1:54.43), El Toro (1:55.48) an Sonora (1:44.60).

The relay will be a new high school experience for Nwaizu, who raced by herself at CIF last season at Liberty Christian.

“I haven’t done a high school relay before,” she said excitedly.

Sonora senior Mayu Yager also qualified first in two events. She clocked the top times in the 200 IM (2:07.68) and 500 free (5:00.32).

Orange County also has a swimmer to watch in the boys breaststroke finals. El Modena junior Barron Murdock qualified second to South Torrance’s Adriel Sun with a time of 58.61. Sun earned the top seed with a 57.92.

The 6-foot-3 Murdock is a former water polo player who is focusing on swimming and training with the SOCAL club. He recently set the school record with a 57.56 in the prelims of the North Hills League finals.

“I’ve found a lot of enjoyment in swim,” Murdock said. “It helps me feel better about myself.”

CIF STATE DIVING QUALIFER

Five O.C. boys and three county girls qualified Tuesday for the CIF State championships next week in Fresno.

Capistrano Valley Christian’s Grant Schneider won the section’s state qualifying meet at Mt. SAC with a score of 334.80. The Stanford-bound senior is the defending state champion.

Schneider outdistanced runner-up Chase Shipp of Laguna Beach (330.45), third-place finisher Valentino Nieto of Santa Margarita (310.60), fourth-place Braeden Valenzuela of San Juan Hills (309.05) and sixth-place Johnathon Reidel of Capistrano Valley (272.90).

Orange County’s girls qualifiers for state were third-place finisher Allison McNichols of Edison (269.10), fifth-place Corinna Ruffini of Newport Harbor (264.70) and sixth-place Violet Carone of Newport Harbor (262.75).

San Dimas’ Jacqueline Chen won the qualifier in 288.10.

DIVISION 4 PRELIMS

Valencia’s girls 200 free relay and Fairmont Prep’s Yves Pan helped pace the Division 4 prelims on Tuesday.

The Tigers’ sprint relay qualified first with a time of 1:48.81 while Pan claimed the top seed in the boy 500 free with a 4:46.88.

In Thursday’s 4 p.m. finals, Pan, a junior, could duel against Anaheim Discovery Christian’s Bo Zheng (4:50.78) and Pacifica Christian’s Ryan Ham (4:54.20) in the finals.

​ Orange County Register 

3 Santa Ana High School students stabbed; 1 fatally

• May 8, 2025

A 14-year-old Santa Ana High School student died and two other students at that school were injured after a stabbing near campus shortly after the school day ended Wednesday, May 7. Police were searching for two suspects, who are also believed to be students.

Santa Ana Unified School District spokesperson Fermin Leal said the students were involved in an altercation shortly after 3 p.m., which led to a stabbing outside the high school in a parking lot shared with Martin R. Heninger Elementary School. Three teen boys were hospitalized, including the one who died, police said.

The name of the boy who died was not immediately released.

The two suspects in the altercation — both males — are also believed to be students from Santa Ana High School, Santa Ana Police Officer Natalie Garcia said.

Police said the surviving victims are boys 15 and 16 years old.

“The Santa Ana Police Department and Santa Ana School Police are actively investigating the matter,” the school district said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, all after-school activities have been canceled for today. Please be assured that there is no immediate threat to the school or surrounding area. The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our highest priority.”

Additional details on the victims and the circumstances leading up to the altercation were unavailable. Some reports said the stabbing appeared to be gang-related, but Santa Ana Police had not confirmed that as they investigated early Wednesday evening.

District officials said crisis counselors will be available on campus Thursday to support any students who may need assistance processing the event.

“We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. Thank you for your understanding and continued support,” officials said.

Santa Ana High School is at 520 W. Walnut Avenue, in the area of 1st and Flower streets. One nearby resident, who did not want to be named for privacy reasons, was surprised by the violence.

“It’s been pretty quiet lately. We were kind of surprised to learn it happened when we came home from work,” said the 55-year-old resident who lives across the street from the parking lot where the stabbing occurred. She said people often vandalize a wall connected to the school parking lot.

​ Orange County Register 

360 PACE drops plans for a comprehensive senior health center in Westminster

• May 8, 2025

Plans for a new senior health center in Westminster have been dropped in the aftermath of allegations that the developers are linked to a separate program accused of health care fraud.

Owners of 360 PACE announced Wednesday, May 7, they have withdrawn their application to CalOptima Health, Orange County’s insurance plan for the poor, and to the state Department of Health Care Services for the new center after spending millions on the nearly completed site.

In an emailed statement, 360 PACE attributed the decision to “the ongoing financial burden of maintaining an operational facility without active participants” as well as “regulatory delays pushing us past our anticipated July 1 launch into 2026 or later.” The company would not answer any questions beyond the statement.

The CalOptima board of directors on Feb. 6 rescinded its 2023 endorsement of 360 PACE based on allegations of health care fraud against what staff members called an “affiliate,” 360 Health, which conducted mass COVID testing for the county. CalOptima officials left the door open to reconsider its action upon further investigation, but 360 PACE gave up.

CalOptima’s endorsement was needed to secure state and federal approval of the 360 PACE center, which is 95% complete in Westminster’s Little Saigon at a cost of more than $5 million.

The center would have been based on a state model as a “program of all-inclusive care for the elderly,” or PACE. That model operates as a one-shop stop for health and other services aimed at keeping senior citizens at home rather than at a nursing facility.

PACE programs are funded by Medicare and Medicaid dollars and must be approved by the state Department of Health Care Services and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“This was a difficult choice,” company officials said, “as 360 PACE had invested years of its time, millions of dollars and developed a program that would provide culturally competent care to underserved seniors, especially Vietnamese and API populations in Orange County.”

They continued, “despite having a facility ready to serve the community, we’ve faced numerous regulatory delays and bureaucratic hurdles that made timely progress extremely challenging.”

The company could no longer afford to keep the center operational after sitting vacant for four years, they said. “The emotional and financial toll on our team has been substantial,” they said.

Some members of 360 PACE were linked to 360 Health, which operated county “super sites” for COVID testing during the pandemic under the name 360 Clinic.

CalOptima’s concern over 360 PACE was sparked by a whistleblower lawsuit filed in May 2024 that alleged 360 Clinic schemed to illegally solicit kickbacks from doctors and defraud federal health programs. The suit alleges 360 Clinic double-billed government agencies for the tests and plotted to get kickbacks from physicians for referrals.

The litigation by former employee Laura Garcia also accuses 360 Clinic officials of conspiring to send patients to medical services either owned by the firm or by relatives of company officials, a violation of federal and state regulations against physician self-referrals.

In Wednesday’s email, 360 PACE said a comprehensive, independent audit of 360 Clinic, ordered by legal counsel and led by a former FBI special agent, was conducted over the past three months and found full compliance across all areas.”

However, 360 PACE did not respond to a request for a copy of the audit and the name of the auditor.

CalOptima had no comment Wednesday on 360 PACE’s withdrawal.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ Jo Adell says he needs to be more aggressive at the plate

• May 8, 2025

ANAHEIM — The first pitch Jo Adell saw in the eighth inning on Tuesday night was a hanging slider.

The Angels outfielder hammered it 418 feet, over the center field fence. It was his first home run since April 10, and it was symbolic of what Adell believes has gone wrong.

“I’m taking a lot of pitches I think I should be hitting early in the count,” Adell said on Wednesday. “I’m letting a lot of pitches go by, which is something that I haven’t done in the past. I’ve been aggressive in the zone early.”

Manager Ron Washington sees the same thing.

“I think what the (coaches are) trying to do is get him to quit taking so many balls down the middle of the plate,” Washington said. “When you do that, you’re guessing. So trying to get him to see the ball and just let it fly. When he sees the ball and lets it fly, he’s more consistent. Sometimes he gets up there and he wants to work the plate, and they’re just throwing bastard pitches.”

Adell is hitting .183 with a .547 OPS and three home runs. He’s struck out in 29.6% of his plate appearances and walked in 4.1%, both well below the major league average.

Adell was on the bench to start Wednesday’s game, the fifth time in the last seven games that he hasn’t been in the lineup.

“The lineup is what it is,” Adell said on Wednesday. “I continue to work and hopefully find my way back in there when I can.”

Perhaps a new bat will help.

Adell has used the new “torpedo” bats four times this season. He has two hits with the new bats, including the homer on Tuesday night.

Mostly, though, Adell said it’s just a matter of being more aggressive at the plate.

“You try to make it too perfect,” Adell said. “Hitting isn’t perfect. And like, for me, just going back and understanding that I’m the type of guy that I’m trying to drive the ball and score runs. It doesn’t have to be a perfect pitch to do so. Just really staying there with the aggressiveness. Kind of forget everything else. I’m not a work the count type of guy. I get a strike and I can do some damage.”

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SLUMP

The Angels’ seven-run outburst on Tuesday ended a 21-game stretch in which they scored just 52 runs – the lowest scoring stretch of that length for the Angels since 1992. They hit .197 and went 5-16 in those games.

They played 16 of those games, however, against teams that currently rank in the top eight in the majors in ERA.

Heading into Wednesday’s games, the Detroit Tigers ranked second in the majors with a 2.96 ERA. The Texas Rangers were fifth (3.37), the Houston Astros were sixth (3.43), the San Francisco Giants were seventh (3.46) and the Minnesota Twins were eighth (3.46). Two of the other five games were against the Seattle Mariners, who ranked 12th (3.72).

Their big offensive night on Tuesday came against a Toronto Blue Jays team that ranks 23rd (4.37). This weekend they play the Baltimore Orioles, who rank 29th (5.49).

NOTES

Mike Trout (bone bruise in left knee) is “feeling better, but he’s still not able to do baseball activities,” Washington said on Wednesday. Trout said he hopes that he is on the injured list for the minimum 10 days. He’s eligible to be activated on Sunday. …

Outfielder Gustavo Campero was not in the lineup on Wednesday, a day after suffering a sprained left ankle on an awkward swing. Campero was not placed on the injured list, though. Washington said he’s day to day. …

Right-hander Sam Bachman (thoracic outlet syndrome) is scheduled for his second rehab outing on Friday, Washington said. Bachman pitched a perfect inning on seven pitches on Tuesday night with Class-A Inland Empire. …

For the second straight day, left fielder Taylor Ward took some swings in early batting practice against a minor league pitcher the Angels brought to Angel Stadium specifically to help him get more comfortable at the plate. Ward had two hits, including a homer, after going through a similar workout on Tuesday. …

A day after closer Kenley Jansen was unavailable because of an illness, Washington said he’s “much better than yesterday,” and he planned on him being available. However, Washington added the caveat that they would have to see how he felt in the late innings of the game.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays (RHP Chris Bassitt, 2-2, 2.95 ERA) at Angels (RHP José Soriano, 2-4, 3.83 ERA), Thursday, 6:38 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Man who crashed into Jennifer Aniston’s gate is charged with stalking, vandalism

• May 8, 2025

A man accused of ramming his vehicle into the front gate of actress Jennifer Aniston‘s Bel Air home was charged Wednesday with felony counts of stalking and vandalism.

Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, 48, was arrested around 12:30 p.m. Monday by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Los Angeles station after private security guards helped detain him outside Aniston’s home in the 900 block of Airole Way.

Prosecutors said he crashed into the front gate of the home, “causing substantial damage.”

Carwyle is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at the Airport Branch Courthouse.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Carwyle has allegedly been harassing Aniston since March of 2023 by “sending her unwanted social media, voicemail and email messages.”

Carwyle allegedly made multiple social media posts referencing the actress, with some of them referring to her as his wife.

He faces up to three years in prison if convicted as charged, according to prosecutors.

“Stalking is a crime that can quickly escalate from harassment to dangerous, violent actions, threatening the safety of victims and our communities,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “My office is committed to aggressively prosecuting those who stalk and terrorize others, ensuring they are held accountable.”

Carwyle remains in custody without bail. During Thursday’s arraignment hearing, prosecutors plan to ask that his bail be set the statutory level of $150,000, according to the D.A.’s Office.

​ Orange County Register