Prep sports roundup: Westchester, Birmingham to play for City Open Division girls’ title

Mariah Blake wants another ring. She was a key figure on last season’s 29-2 Westchester girls’ basketball team that won the City Section Open Division championship and came through with 23 points and 16 rebounds Saturday to help the Comets return to the championship game in a 66-58 win over Hamilton at El Camino College.

Westchester will face top-seeded Birmingham on Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. at Pasadena City College.

“We’re confident,” Blake said.

Westchester assistant coaches EJ Jackson and Bri Anugwom have guided the Comets into the final after taking over the team just before the end of the regular season after head coach Dominic Grimes was put on administrative leave.

The Comets (22-5) and Western League rival Hamilton (24-6) had split their two league games. Serenity Johnson aided Blake with 14 points. Jade Fort scored 20 points for Hamilton.

Birmingham (23-6) advanced with a 49-44 semifinal win over King/Drew. Zoee Mitchell, whose brother, David Elliott, was the City player of the year when he led the Patriots to the 2021 City title, led the Patriots with 15 points. Natalie Lopez added 13 points.

Sierra Canyon 81, Mater Dei 61: Mackenly Randolph scored 28 points, Jerzy Robinson 21 and Izela Arenas 14 to help the Trailblazers advance to Friday’s Open Division championship game against Etiwanda at Cal Baptist.

Etiwanda 75, Ontario Christian 56: Grace Knox scored 34 points as Etiwanda wrapped up its pool championship in the Open Division. Kaleena Smith scored 34 points for Ontario Christian.

Brentwood 76, Orange Lutheran 65: The Eagles earned a spot in the Division 1 championship game.

Louisville 40, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 36: Louisville has made it to the 2A final, with Andrea Hurtado making a big three in the final minute to help.

Boys basketball

Garfield 46, Arleta 41: The No. 1-seeded Bulldogs advanced to the City Section Division II finals on Feb. 24 at Pasadena City College against Verdugo Hills. Jayden Barnes had 15 points and eight assists for Garfield.

Verdugo Hills 58, Manual Arts 56: The Dons upset the No. 2-seeded Toilers at Narbonne in a City Division II semifinal. Gianmarco Figueroa led Verdugo Hills with 19 points, including four threes.

Baseball

El Camino Real 6, Chaminade 5: In a wild semifinal game of the Easton tournament, there were two grand slams before El Camino Real (4-0) was able to hang on to advance to Tuesday’s final against Westlake at Birmingham at 6:30 p.m. El Camino Real was leading 2-0 when Matt Churchill of Chaminade hit a grand slam. Then Luke Howe hit a grand slam for a 6-4 ECR lead.

Westlake 3, Simi Valley 1: The Warriors’ pitching has been exceptional in a 4-0 start. Andrew Habermann threw a complete game, walking two, striking out two and giving up three hits.

Servite 2, Fountain Valley 1: Gustavo Gutierrez and Isaiah Camacho combined on a two-hitter for the Friars (2-0).

Birmingham 4, Oaks Christian 3: The Patriots hung on for the victory despite four hits by Oaks Christian’s Carson Sheffer. JB Dalumpines had an RBI for Birmingham.

Verdugo Hills 2, San Fernando 0: Cristian Banuelos struck out nine and Ozzie Berkowitz had two hits and two RBIs for the Dons (2-0).

Bonita 4, South Hills 0: Cam Farina gave up one hit in 6 1/3 innings to lead Bonita (3-0). Diego Villa had two hits and two RBIs.

Cleveland 2, Saugus 1: Alfredo Martinez gave up one hit and struck out eight for the Cavaliers.

Crespi 10, Sun Valley Poly 3: Troy Miller, Landon Hodge, Nate Lopez and Krystan Bell each had two hits for Crespi.

Paraclete 3, Newbury Park 2: The Spirits picked up their first win of the season.

Ventura 3, Hart 1: Josh Woodworth gave up one hit in three innings and also hit a two-run home run to lead Ventura.

Huntington Beach 7, Cypress 3: Linkin Garcia had two hits and three RBIs, including a home run, for Huntington Beach.

Agoura 5, San Marcos 1: Ethan Broome struck out eight for the Chargers.

Granada Hills 10, Valencia 2: Juan Tirado had three hits, including a home run, for the 3-1 Highlanders.

Sierra Canyon 4, Camarillo 3: The Trailblazers won on a walk-off hit batter in the eighth. Ajani Wrightster had three hits.

St. Francis 3, Grace Brethren 0: Lucas Favretto had seven strikeouts and Kal-El Hoguin six for St. Francis.

La Salle 4, San Dimas 2: David Mysza hit his second home run of the season to help La Salle improve to 4-0.

West Ranch 6, Calabasas 1: Jackson Banuelos struck out five with no walks through three innings for West Ranch.

Quartz Hill 8, Chatsworth 3: Jeffrey Kavanagh went three for three and Ish Quintero struck out six in five innings for Quartz Hill.

Damien 6, Corona Santiago 5: Nikko Paoletto hit a three-run walk-off home run for Damien.

Royal 12, Schurr 1: The Highlanders improved to 4-0. Zach Nagy finished with three hits and three RBIs.

Aquinas 1, Arcadia 0: Jason Gerfers’ walk-off single in the eighth won it for Aquinas. He also pitched three scoreless innings.

Gardena Serra 7, Hamilton 0: Jaden Harris struck out 10 for the Cavaliers (2-0).

Narbonne 1, Lakewood 0: Vandross Callahan threw six scoreless innings for Narbonne.

Vista Murrieta 7, Anaheim Canyon 5: Mikey Hollis and DC Ruth each had two hits for Vista Murrieta (2-0).

Great Oak 1, Capistrano Valley 0: Kaysen Raineri struck out eight in five innings for Great Oak.

Softball

El Camino Real 3, Burroughs 2: Sarah Delgado gave up five hits and Delgado, Senia Gutierrez and Nerissa Winokur each had two hits for ECR.

Granada Hills 3, Irvine 2: Annabella Ramirez had a two-run single in the sixth to lift the unbeaten Highlanders (5-0) to victory. Granada Hills overcame a 2-0 deficit. Then the Highlanders defeated Downey 9-0. Jocelyn Jimenez had three hits against Downey and leads the Cypress tournaments in hits.

Girls soccer

Palisades 4, Venice 3: Erica Hamilton scored all four goals for the Dolphins, which advanced to the City Division I semifiinals against Cleveland.

Louisville 1, Walnut 1: Louisville moved on to the Division 4 finals after winning on penalty kicks. Sekai Sardinha had the deciding goal. Louisville will play Monrovia, which defeated St. Genevieve on penalty kicks. Miye Kodama tied the score with a late goal in regulation.