Prep Rally: Recapping the twists and turns (so far) of high school baseball playoffs

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. The opening week of the high school baseball playoffs had just about everything: A 14-inning game; controversial calls; walk-off home runs. There’s no reason week two can’t produce more drama.

Week 2 of baseball playoffs

Get ready for more twists, turns and dramatic endings for week two of the high school baseball playoffs.

Let’s look at key second-round matchups for Tuesday.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Bonita. Unbeaten Justin Santiago is expected to get the start for Bonita. Notre Dame will counter with Oliver Boone after securing a 1-0 win over Hart behind Justin Lee. Notre Dame needs to get Dean West on the bases to disrupt the Bearcats.

After missing baseball for two years because of injuries, Harvard-Westlake junior pitcher Duncan Marsten is back.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Harvard-Westlake vs. Orange Lutheran at Hart Park. Duncan Martsten finally makes his playoff debut for Harvard-Westlake. He was sick last week and was injured as a freshman and sophomore. He’s reaching 95 mph without walking batters. He’ll be a big challenge for Orange Lutheran, which needs its pitchers to come through.

Huntington Beach at Villa Park. Zach Brown of Villa Park will try to deal with a good hitting team. The Huntington Beach hitting duo of Aidan Espinoza and Ralphy Velazquez presents a huge challenge.

Cypress at Sierra Canyon. A young pitching staff for Sierra Canyon will be tested again by a veteran team. This game could come down to relief pitching, and Matthew Morrell will be counted on to deliver for Cypress.

Corona at San Dimas. It’s two Boras Classic teams locking up. Corona’s pitching staff has thrown nine shutouts this season and freshman Anthony Murphy has hit six home runs. San Dimas gets the home game, so that can be helpful.

Torrance at La Mirada. Fearless is how the people who support Torrance describe their team. An upset of Pacifica last week should serve notice to La Mirada to respect the Tartars. La Mirada is using the experienced gained in the Boras Classic to make a Division 1 run.

Santa Margarita at Millikan. The Eagles got a scare last week against Foothill and should come out more relaxed. Battle tested with lots of pitching options, Santa Margarita just needs to play defense and let the Lavin brothers contribute at the plate.

Players making impact: Brandon Winokur of Edison has been off the charts as a closer. With a fastball in the mid-90s, he comes in and strikes out batters. The 6-foot-5 senior has faced 27 batters and struck out 15 with one walk and one hit allowed. He also has hit nine home runs as a UCLA commit. “The plan is to get the lead,” coach Nick Cappuccilli said.

Jackson Freeman of Tesoro has hit 12 home runs, including a walk-off home run last week. Braden Ruiz of Mater Dei hit a walk-off home run to beat Oaks Christian in the ninth inning. Sterling Patick of South Hills threw a shutout in a Division 2 opener. Tanner Mahon of Campbell has gone 55 innings without giving up an earned run.

May Madness

Dijon Stanley of Granada Hills High will be part of a busy May of championships in track and field.

(Craig Weston)

May Madness has arrived in the form of spring sports championships. Get ready to enjoy the best of high school competition in Southern California as the 2022-23 school year comes to a close

Here’s a sport by sport calendar for when the championships will take place.

Track

Dijon Stanley (left) and Jordan Coleman are two track standouts at Granada Hills.

(Craig Weston)

The City Section track and field prelims will take place Thursday at Birmingham, followed by the championships on May 18 at El Camino College.

Dijon Stanley and Jordan Coleman of Granada Hills have become sprint sensations. Here’s a look at how they’ve been able to improve and bring attention to City Section track and field.

The Southern Section championships will be held Saturday at Moorpark High School.

New era for QBs

Quarterback Kingston Tisdell started as a sophomore for City champion Birmingham.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Watching the opening night of the NFL draft from home, sophomore quarterback Kingston Tisdell of Lake Balboa Birmingham High witnessed history. Bryce Young, at 5 feet 10 1/8, tied Kyler Murray in 2019 as the shortest first-round quarterback taken since 1967.

“I think it is inspiring,” said Tisdell, who’s 6 feet tall. “It doesn’t matter what size you are. It’s how you play the game.”

Size has always been considered a potential roadblock at every level and every position of football. College and pro recruiters will cross players off their list who don’t fit a particular mold, whether it’s linemen, receivers, tight ends, running backs and, yes, quarterbacks.

That’s why the selection of the former Santa Ana Mater Dei and L.A. Cathedral star as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers has the chance to serve as a sport-changing moment.

Here’s a report.

Rick Herrington mending

Hart football coach Rick Herrington (right) is on the mend after receiving a new heart. Brothers Dean (left) and Mike have supported him.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

You know that Hart football coach Rick Herrington is on the way to recovery after receiving a new heart because he’s already scheduling his return to the golf course.

“I’m getting better every day,” he said Sunday by phone. “They said in a month or two, I should be walking again. Right now, the legs and arms are sore.”

Hart has been holding spring practices, and Herrington receives video after each practice via Hudl. He sits on his couch watching and making notes so he can communicate suggestions to his assistants that includes his brother, Mike, a former Hart head coach who retired but has been serving as an assistant.

“I’ll take him to Jack in the Box,” Rick said of his gift for Mike.

Here’s a report on his recovery.

Speed demon

Jacelyn Gonzaga of Sierra Canyon is 15 and a drag racer. She also finished fifth in the 800 meters at the Mission League finals.

(Bob Johnson)

Jacelyn Gonzaga, a 15-year-old sophomore at Sierra Canyon, can’t wait until she turns 16 and gets her California driver’s license.

She has a little secret, though. She’s been driving more than 100 mph for months. That’s because since she was 8, she has been engaged in drag racing. She’s licensed and has been competing in races as part of the National Hot Rod Assn.

She finished fifth in the 800 meters at the Mission League track and field championships, then left town for Tucson to compete in her latest race and won. Her father, Mike, has been a long-time assistant football coach at Sierra Canyon. He got her started in racing cars. And she loves the speed.

Here’s the report.

Swimming

Loyola swimmer Rex Maurer.

(Luca Evans / Los Angeles Times)

It was a record-breaking performance for Loyola’s Rex Maurer at the Southern Section swimming championships.

Here’s the report.

A 16-year-old with cerebral palsy has brought adaptive swimming to the Southern Section. Here’s the report.

Softball

Granada Hills has been seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division softball playoffs. Opening action begins Wednesday.

Here’s the link to pairings.

The Southern Section playoffs resume Tuesday. The big Division 1 matchups include Norco vs. Esperanza or Riverside Poly, Murrieta Mesa at Huntington Beach, Orange Lutheran at Oaks Christian and Garden Grove Pacifica hosting Los Alamitos or Mission Viejo.

Lacrosse

Birmingham’s Rachel Franco (left) and Palisades’ Erica Davis try to scoop up a group ball during City title lacrosse match.

(Steve Galluzzo)

Palisades continued its domination in City Section lacrosse, with City titles for boys and girls.

Here’s the report.

Tennis

The accomplishment of Palisades coach Bud Kling keeps getting more astounding.

He has piloted the Dolphins’ boys tennis team to 30 City titles since 1979. He also has won 21 girls’ titles. That’s 51 City titles won under his guidance.

The latest came last week, Palisades’ 14th in a row. Here’s the report.

Volleyball

Get ready for the Newport Harbor vs. Corona del Mar rivalry to reach another level when the team volleyball teams play for the Division 1 championship on Saturday night at Cerritos College.

It became possible when Corona del Mar defeated top-seeded Loyola on the road to win its pool. Newport Beach defeated Mira Costa.

Here’s the report.

Here’s the complete weekend schedule for volleyball finals.

Bronny James picks USC

One of the strangest, most-followed, yet secretive high school basketball recruiting journeys in recent memory is over. Bronny James is staying home.

After months of speculation, James announced Saturday on Instagram that he is committing to USC, just a few miles down the 110 Freeway from father LeBron James’ stomping grounds at Crypto.com Arena with the Lakers. It’s the next step toward the elder James’ expressed hope of playing in the NBA with his son.

Here’s the report.

Track legends

The Edmonson family inside their well-decorated home (from left): Malika Edmonson, Joelle Trepagnier, Warren Edmonson.

(Luca Evans / Los Angeles Times)

A home that looks like a carbon copy of the White House sits in a quiet neighborhood in Inglewood.

It is perfectly pastel white with a finitely manicured lawn. It boasts four thin, towering columns descending from an outcrop that peeks over the front entrance. A clue that royalty lives here.

Yet most in the surrounding suburbia don’t know. They couldn’t, unless they were invited inside for a tour through history, of one of the great athletic families in Los Angeles.

From a chair in the living room, Warren Edmonson points to various items around the home that houses a massive shrine to track and field greatness. There are the trophies, overflowing three massive shelves by the window, odes to Edmonson’s Olympic champion wife, Barbara Ferrell Edmonson, and Warren’s UCLA days in the early 1970s as the fastest man in the world.

Now the granddaughter, Joelle Trepagnier, is making noise running at Culver City. Here’s a report.

Notes . . .

Harvard-Westlake’s Brady Dunlap, right, celebrates with fans after a win over Sierra Canyon on Feb. 18, 2022.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Standout basketball player Brady Dunlap of Harvard-Westlake has committed to St. John’s. . . .

Xavier Jordan, who was a star receiver at L.A. Cathedral the last two seasons until transferring to Sierra Canyon, has committed to USC. He’ll be a senior in the fall. Here’s a story from last season. . . .

Quarterback Alonzo Contreras of Calabasas has committed to San Jose State. . . .

Junior pitcher Bryan Yang of Ayala has committed to Brown. . . .

Baseball player Bradley Navarro from Huntington Beach has committed to Michigan. . . .

Matt Ramirez is the new girls’ basketball coach at Camarillo. . . .

Santa Margarita catcher Charlie Lapp has committed to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. . . .

Don Burke is the new girls’ basketball coach at L.A. University after being at St. Monica. . . .

Austin Pope is the new boys’ basketball coach at Burbank Burroughs. He was an assistant at Viewpoint and former player at Burbank. . . .

Jon Cabrera is returning as the boys’ basketball coach at Norco. He was head coach from 2000 to 2019. . . .

Sophomore infielder Dylan Wetzel of Mater Dei has committed to Cal. . . .

Former Reseda Cleveland baseball player Adrian Gonzalez has committed to San Diego State. . . .

Pitcher Daniel Flores from Birmingham has committed to Cal State Monterey Bay. . . .

Guard Ava Dominguez from Rosary has committed to Concordia. . . .

Paul Gross has been hired to coach girls’ basketball at West Ranch. He was previously head coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. . . .

Wyatt Benson is the new boys’ water polo coach at Mater Dei. . . .

Joshua Aguilera is the new boys’ basketball coach at West Covina. . . .

Water polo standout Ryder Dodd of JSerra has committed to USC. His brother, Chase, plays for UCLA. . . .

On Saturday, four former Harvard-Westlake baseball players hit home runs for their college teams: Stanford’s Drew Bowser, USC’s Jacob Galloway, Vanderbilt’s RJ Schreck and UC Irvine’s Thomas McCaffrey.

From the archives: Klay Thompson

Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson is a Santa Margarita grad.

(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

The pride of Santa Margarita, Klay Thompson, continues to be one of the best shooters in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors.

He came out of Santa Margarita, then went to Washington State and has helped the Warriors win four NBA championships and be a five-time All-Star.

Here’s a 2017 story on Thompson returning to Santa Margarita to see his No. 1 jersey hanging in the gym.

Here’s video from the 2017 jersey retirement ceremony.

Recommendations

From Insider.com, a story on former Harvard-Westlake and USC baseball player John Thomas becoming a top designer of clothes.

From 247Sports.com, a story on former Gardena Serra quarterback Maalik Murphy deciding to stay at Texas.

From MLB.com, a story on why former El Toro pitcher Paul Skenes continues to be the No. 1 college plitcher.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former Oaks Christian softball standout Maya Brady.

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