A trio of local teams earned spots in the baseball rankings released this week by the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section. West Ranch was ranked No. 7 in Division 1 and Valencia was ranked No. 9 in Division 4, while Hart was listed among the notables outside the top 10 in Division 3.
SCV Sports Roundup
A recap of recent sports results
The following summaries were provided by team coaches and/or representatives for recent Santa Clarita Valley prep sports action. The Signal thanks all who submitted for helping get the word out about local athletes’ achievements. The following summaries are presented in chronological order of the games’ dates. In the event that both teams submit reports on the same event, the reports will be edited to combine them into one summary:
Girls Tennis: Hart 16, Golden Valley 2
Hart sophomore Mia Shields made her varsity debut March 23 and swept all three sets in singles 6-4, 6-2, 6-0.
Hart doubles swept all nine sets, led by Hart seniors Grace Howell and Hannah Heiber.
Golden Valley singles player Asleigh Azarraga won two sets.
— Allan Hardbarger, Hart tennis coach
Boys Swim and Dive: Saugus 141, Castaic 34
Girls Swim and Dive: Saugus 134, Castaic 49
Saugus High School welcomed Castaic High School into the league March 24. Some great weather greeted swimmers who had waited a year to return to competition. Castaic’s Cody Morgan put in a strong showing in the dive competition and Saugus’s Riley Botton qualified for CIF in the 200 individual medley and 500 free.
— Jim Klipfel, Saugus swim coach
First varsity meet for Castaic High swim
Castaic High swim had its first-ever varsity meet March 24 against Saugus High. Castaic lost, but won the 4×50 free relay. Castaic only has freshmen and sophomores on their varsity team, so this is a pretty amazing accomplishment.
Many personal bests were made by Coyote swimmers. Coyote Delaney Cowan took second in the 200 individual medley.
“Castaic was very grateful to be welcomed in so warmly by Saugus and it was a great start to the season,” said Castaic head coach Cody Kennedy.
— Kyle Cowan, Castaic parent/volunteer
Girls Tennis, Valencia 16, Hart 2
Valencia won all nine singles sets, let by Sydney Thay, who swept her matches March 25 without yielding a game.
The Valencia doubles team of Ashley Villarta and Skylar Brathwaite also swept their matches without dropping a game.
The Hart doubles team of Grace Howell and Hannah Heiber won two sets, 6-3, 6-1.
— Allan Hardbarger, Hart tennis coach
Baseball: West Ranch 3, Hart 2
West Ranch beat a talented Hart squad 3-2 on March 26 to stay undefeated on the season. With the Foothill League round robin tournament title on the line, West Ranch got a huge two-run home run by senior catcher Trey Topping in the bottom of the 6th.
The Wildcats were down 2-1 at the time of the home run that sailed over the left field fence. Scott Bauman, who was in the closing role, pitched a three-up and three-down top of the 7th to earn his second win of the season. Bauman finished the game tossing three scoreless innings, striking out four while allowing just one hit.
Jake Schwartz was in middle relief and went three innings, allowing no earned runs. James Hepp got the start on the mound and threw his scheduled one inning, striking out all three Indians he faced.
On offense, Logan Mandel had two hits and one RBI. Schwartz hit a double, and Blake Schroeder, DJ Tsukashima and Ty Deperno each added hits.
This game was the last of the pre-league games before the official 15-game Foothill League season.
— Casey Burrill, West Ranch baseball coach
Girls Soccer: Santa Clarita Christian 5, Village Christian 0
SCCS girls varsity soccer (3-0) went to Sunland to play Village Christain March 26 and came back to the SCV with a 5-0 victory. This was the first shutout of the season for SCCS, which had Olivia Caldwell in as keeper. She had plenty of help from defenders Avery Babikan, Kylie Webster, Rebecca Fowler and Sophia Soler. Briley Phelps came out of the game with a hat trick and Elly Edwards and Sophia Soler each had a goal as well.
— Amy Boswell, SCCS team rep
Boys Swim: Trinity Classical Academy 46, SCVi 4
Girls Swim: Trinity Classical Academy 43, SCVi 9
The weather was perfect March 27 as the Trinity Classical Academy Knights took to the pool against SCVi. This was the first meet in 389 days for the Heritage League. The Trinity men’s team was led by junior and captain Ty Lipis and sophomore captain David Lim, each winning both their individual races. Lim earned a CIF qualifying time in the 100 fly. For the ladies, Trinity had three swimmers win both of their individual events: sophomores Katherine Baljet, Anna Leathers and Olivia Leathers. The Leathers twins earned three CIF qualifying times at the event. Both teams will be back in action on April 10.
— Mike Leathers, Trinity swim coach
Boys Tennis: West Ranch 15, Saugus 3
Monday was a warm and beautiful day for the boys to play their first match in over a year. West Ranch was a tough opponent, with their doubles winning all nine sets.
Saugus singles players Andrew Belcher, Mathew Tolosa and Noah Fituci each won a singles set. Fituci played a compelling tie-breaker, which lasted over an hour, with Fituci getting the win.
From coach Bailey Sindle: “Our team still has some work to do, but ultimately I am extremely happy that these kids are able to play again. They need this, and I’m excited for the rest of the season.”
— Bailey Sindle, Saugus tennis coach
Girls Tennis: Saugus 16, Golden Valley 2
Winds were high at Golden Valley High School on Tuesday and both teams had to make adjustments.
On the doubles side, Saugus won eight of the nine sets played. In singles, Saugus also won eight of the nine sets. The singles players for both Saugus and Golden Valley had close matches that showed the grit, persistence and fight of each player.
— Bailey Sindle, Saugus tennis coach
Girls Tennis: Valencia 12, West Ranch 6
The Vikes singles lineup of No. 1 Audrey Park, No. 2 Sydney Thay and No. 3 Sydney Tamondong all remained steady but aggressive during the sweep of West Ranch’s singles. Park, a freshman, really stepped up as the new No. 1, bearing the stress and anxiety of being the No. 1 really well.
From Valencia coach Jackson Boxall: “(Park’s) attitude on and off the court has helped our team grow this year, and will continue for the years to come. The hard work and dedication from Sydney Thay and Sydney Tamondong during the hard months during the pandemic has really been showing during our first three matches. They have been a huge part of the team’s success so far.”
The improved Vikes doubles lineup of No. 1 Ashley Villarta and Skylar Brathwaite has been a dominant force in the first three matches of the year. They had a slow start versus West Ranch’s No. 1 team but started to come together as a team late in that set and carried that momentum to win two out of their three matches for the day. Doubles No. 3 Tiffany Recalde and Alexis Kuncar stepped up in their win against West Ranch’s No. 2 team.
From coach Boxall: “I feel so happy for our only senior and captain Ashley Villarta. It has been six or seven years since we have beaten West Ranch and for her to never give up and continue to work year after year just to get to beat our rival team has just been amazing to watch. Our team has been working hard for such a long time and taking each matchup as an opportunity to showcase who we are as a team against our longtime rival. The girls learned a lot about themselves today, and we are looking to carry this momentum into our next match and into the break.”
— Jackson Boxall, Valencia tennis coach
Join the roundup
Attention coaches and team reps: If you would like to include your team’s results in The Signal’s weekly roundup, please send results and write-ups to [email protected]. Please include final team scores of games, matches or meets. Also feel free to include notable individual accomplishments, highlights, etc. In the event that both teams submit reports on the same event, the reports will be edited to combine them into one summary.
