Birmingham’s Matt Mowry has won five City Section championships and zero West Valley League championships in 19 seasons as head coach. Could this be the season he ends the jinx?
The Patriots began league play Friday by wearing green uniforms and getting back-to-back home runs in the first inning from Zion Wadell and Isaac Monterrubio to defeat four-time defending West Valley champion Granada Hills 9-3.
Monterrubio also had a double and Cristian Martinez went three for three. Freshman Jordan Lindsay had two hits and two RBIs.
Freshman pitcher Carlos Acuna struck out eight and walked four in 3 2/3 innings for Birmingham. Nathan Soto came on in relief to throw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out five.
Max Szczech had three hits, including two doubles, for Granada Hills. Luke Chau threw four scoreless innings of relief after his team fell behind 6-0 and closed to 6-3.
Sun Valley Poly 9, Bell 4: The Parrots handed defending City champion Bell (4-1) its first defeat.
Sierra Canyon 7, El Camino Real 0: Greyson Gullage finished with three hits and Theo Swafford, Dezi Delgado and Mikhal Johnson each had two hits for Sierra Canyon. Kingston Monette threw four scoreless innings.
Calabasas 4, Chaminade 3: The Coyotes won it on a walk-off wild pitch in the seventh inning. An AJ Seidel RBI double tied it for Calabasas. Jack Quirk had an RBI single. Robby Morgan hit a two-run home run for Chaminade.
El Dorado 1, El Modena 0: Logan Steenburgen threw the complete game, striking out six, to lead El Dorado.
Foothill 2, Villa Park 0: Gavin Lauridsen had a two-run single in the third inning and Adam Ujiie threw six scoreless innings for Foothill.
Mission Viejo 4, Fullerton 0: Aiden Chapuis threw five scoreless innings and Jacob Powley had a home run and two RBIs for the Diablos.
Edison 6, San Clemente 3: Kobe Kee had a three-run double to lead the Chargers.
Arcadia 6, Muir 1: The Apaches improved to 7-0. Tyler Swilling got the win and is 2-0.
Servite 2, Long Beach Millikan 1: The Friars (5-1) won in 11 innings. Tommy Cernius got the save.
Corona del Mar 8, Tesoro 0: Stevie Jones improved to 3-0 with three shutout innings. Vincent Menard had a home run.
La Mirada 8, Bellflower 4: Aiden Aguayo and Kevin Jeon each had two hits for La Mirada.
Paloma Valley 7, Valley View 2: The Wildcats improved to 6-0. Brody Smearer and Clinton Glass each had two hits and two RBIs. Jacob Melendez struck out nine in five innings.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 3, San Dimas 0: Beckett Berg threw five scoreless innings, striking out seven with no walks, in Notre Dame’s win. Dominic Cadiz hit a home run. Malakye Matsumoto had three hits.
Softball
Orange Lutheran 5, La Mirada 4: Chloe McGreevey and Carlie Snyder each hit home runs for the 4-0 Lancers.
Norco 13, Bonita 0: Ashley Duran and Tamryn Shorter each hit three-run home runs for unbeaten Norco, which later defeated Orange Lutheran 6-3 in Arizona. Leighton Gray homered. Carlie Snyder had a three-run home run for Orange Lutheran.
JSerra 8, Lakewood 1: Liliana Escobar struck out 17, walked none and gave up three hits for JSerra.
Huntington Beach 14, Aliso Niguel 4: Bree Carlson hit two home runs for Huntington Beach.
Mater Dei 4, Garden Grove Pacifica 1: Elle McCloskey homered and Sienna Acosta struck out seven in five innings to lead the Monarchs.
