Prep Rally: March provides plenty of memorable athletic moments

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. March is over on Tuesday. Welcome to April. Let’s remember March Madness.

March memories

From Brayen Burries’ greatness in Sacramento to Corona High’s baseball team recording nine shutouts in 11 games after winning the Boras Classic South last week, March is ending with lots of terrific high school sports memories.

Eleven games into the baseball season, Corona has been even better than expected, and the expectations are extremely high. From fielding to pitching to hitting home runs, the Panthers are delivering every game. Here’s a look at how they have been so good so far.

Burries, the senior basketball standout at Eastvale Roosevelt, will be in New York this week to play in Tuesday’s McDonald’s All-American game. He still hasn’t announced a college choice, but his McDonald’s All-American teammate, Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth, is probably going to try to help recruit him to USC. What Burries did in the state championship game — score 44 points at Golden 1 Center — will go down as one of the greatest performances in finals history.

Former Corona Centennial guard Donovan Dent, the 2022 Times player of the year, announced he was transferring from New Mexico to UCLA. He’ll get to play his final season in front of family and friends.

Etiwanda’s Grace Knox and Aliyahna Morris are in New York for the McDonald’s All-American girls basketball game after leading their team to the state Open Division championship.

Baseball

Brandon Thomas has been a standout pitcher for Mater Dei.

(Nick Koza)

Huntington Beach has its best team in 25 years and thinks it can be best in Southern California. Here’s the story.

Corona won the Boras Classic South championship. Here’s the story.

Brandon Thomas of Mater Dei enters the start of Trinity League play this week playing as well as anyone in the Southland. On the mound, he hasn’t give up any runs in 20 innings with 24 strikeouts and three walks. He’s also batting .371.

At least four starting pitchers have not given up a run this season — Thomas, Otto Graham of JSerra, Jackson Eisenhauer of Crespi and Seth Hernandez of Corona.

Bishop Montgomery and Redondo Union are less than two miles apart and played in a nonleague game. Bishop Montgomery won 7-2 behind 14 strikeouts from Pierson Howe.

Sophomore catcher Dezi Delgado of Sierra Canyon is batting .490 with nine doubles and 15 RBIs.

Crespi pitcher Jackson Eisenhauer enters this week having thrown 30 innings without allowing any runs.

(Craig Weston)

Eisenhauer has thrown 30 consecutive scoreless innings.

Birmingham freshman pitcher Carlos Acuna continues to impress. He threw eight scoreless innings in a game against Paloma Valley.

Yucaipa is showing signs of being one of the best teams in the Inland Empire with an 11-2 record and 4-0 mark in the Citrus Belt League. The Thunderbirds have quality wins over Vista Murrieta and Foothill.

Here’s the top 25 high school baseball rankings by The Times.

The Thompsons endure

Junior catcher Brody Thompson of Bishop Alemany became eligible on March 25 after transferring to play for his father, Randy, the new baseball coach.

(Bishop Alemany)

It didn’t have to be. Brody Thompson could have stayed at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, where he was the starting catcher last season. Then his father, Randy, an assistant coach for the Knights, decided to accept the job as athletic director and coach at Bishop Alemany, where he had been for years before.

His family had no intention of moving. It was too expensive to change residences, so if Brody decided to join his father, chances were the Southern Section would make him sit out half his junior season under transfer rules

“He was doing well at Notre Dame,” Randy said. “He wanted to play for his father. It was his decision.”

The family appealed to the Southern Section. This wasn’t an athletically motivated transfer, something the rules are designed to prevent. Even Notre Dame coach Tom Dill wrote a letter in support of the transfer.

His appeal was rejected. He has sat and sat and finally becomes eligible this week. He’ll make his season debut on Tuesday against Notre Dame. Here’s the story on the challenge he has faced.

Softball

Santa Margarita High senior Payton Kennedy delivers a pitch against Mater Dei on Friday afternoon.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Payton Kennedy turned 18 on Friday, an event every teenager cherishes, but for her it also happened to be a game day, meaning any celebration had to be put on hold until victory was won.

“I walked into the team room and there was Starbucks in my cubby, gifts, and they sang me happy birthday,” the Santa Margarita senior said. “I love my teammates so much.”

The best present of all was one she gave herself by pitching four innings and adding two hits and two RBIs in host Santa Margarita’s 5-2 triumph over Mater Dei in its Trinity League softball opener.

Rated one of the best pitchers and hitters in Orange County, Kennedy has the numbers to back the hype. Through Friday she was 4-0 in the circle with 30 innings pitched to go with 16 hits, 19 RBIs, six home runs, a .457 batting average, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a 1.512 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

Here’s a story on her development.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, with six freshmen making contributions, has won nine consecutive games and is 13-3 overall. Here’s a look at the freshmen.

Sophomore Caroline Baker of San Pedro had a career-high 14 strikeouts last week.

The Michelle Carew Softball Classic begins Wednesday in Orange County. Norco is the team to beat. Most of the games will take place at Peralta Canyon Park in Anaheim.

Here’s the Southern Section power rankings, with Norco ranked No. 1.

Track

It was a productive trip for Servite to go to the Texas Relays, where Benjamin Harris and Jorden Wells finished 1-2 in the 100 meters with wind-aided times of 10.35 and 10.55.

Leo Francis of Santa Margarita turned in quite a performance at the Orange County championships, winning the 100 (10.57), 200 (21.17) and going 23-7 in the long jump

Brandon Arrington, a junior at Mount Miguel in San Diego, is the defending state champion in the 100 and only getting faster. He ran 10.24 in the 100 meters and 20.37 in the 200 this past week. As long as he stays healthy, lots of state records could be in jeopardy.

Junior Lawrence Kensinger of Venice is making major strides in the shotput.

(Nick Garcia)

Lawrence Kensinger of Venice, the favorite to win the City Section shotput, is being patient this season trying to peak for the final two weeks of the season while training under Nick Garcia, who’s had great success producing top shotputters for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Here’s his story.

Volleyball

The Southern Section power rankings have been released, and Mira Costa is No. 1.

Huntington Beach, which knocked off Loyola last week, is No. 2.

Here’s the power rankings.

Former Loyola standout Sean Kelly has moved into the starting lineup as a freshman for UCLA.

Lacrosse

Loyola, Santa Margarita and Mater Dei top the power rankings in boys lacrosse. Here are the rankings.

In girls power rankings, Mira Costa, San Clemente and Foothill lead the way.

Notes…

The McDonald’s All-American Game will take place for boys and girls in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Tuesday. Boys players include Brayden Burries from Eastvale Roosevelt, Alijah Arenas from Chatsworth and Nikolas Khamenia from Harvard-Westlake. Girls players include Grace Knox and Aliyahna Morris from Etiwanda and Addie Deal from Mater Dei. . . .

Douglas Langford from St. Pius X-St. Matthias has committed to San Jose State for basketball. He was previously committed to Harvard. . . .

Top receiver Carson Clark from St. John Bosco has committed to San José State. . . .

Guard Nicholas Khatchikian of Mesrobian has committed to Cal State Fullerton. . . .

Kevin Morton is the new flag football coach at Mater Dei. . . .

Former Narbonne standout Marcus Adams Jr. has committed to Arizona State. He played basketball for Cal State Northridge this past season, then entered the transfer portal. . . .

Junior defensive lineman Malik Brooks from St. Pius X-St. Matthias has committed to USC. . . .

Junior tight end Colby Simpson from Oaks Christian has committed to Utah. . . .

Trace Johnson, a highly touted junior quarterback from Florida, is transferring to Santa Margarita to play under new coach Carson Palmer. Here’s the latest from the high school football transfer tracker.

From the archives: Dylan Volantis

Left-hander Dylan Volantis from Westlake is 6 feet 6 and a freshman star at Texas.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Dylan Volantis, a 6-foot-6 left-handed pitcher from Westlake, has made quite a first impression in his freshman season at Texas.

He’s 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in 23 innings.

From his first game last season, Volantis served notice of his off-season improvement. Here’s a story from 2024.

Here’s a story from Texas newspaper about Volantis’ impact at Texas.

Recommendations

From LBPost.com, a first look at the NIL money being paid to California college sports athletes.

From the Newstribune.com, a story on former Clippers guard Jamal Crawford coaching high school basketball in Washington.

From Alldlls.com, a story on how volleyball has helped former Servite receiver Tetairoa McMillan.

From MLB.com, a story on former Thousand Oaks infielders Max Muncy and Jack Wilson starting for the Athletics.

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