Sports
LA MIRADA HIGH BASEBALL CAPTURES SUBURBAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
La Mirada~The La Mirada Boys baseball team has captured it's second straight, and 11th of the past 12, Suburban League Crowns, with a come-from-behind victory over second-place Bellflower here today, 8-3, on Senior Day. The Mats will start the playoffs next week with a home game, more than likely. See story below.
 |
| The Matadores celebrate, moments after their league-clinching victory. |
La Mirada~For the second straight game, the Matadores overcame a 3-0 deficit to win a crucial Suburban League game.
This time it resulted in a league championship on Senior Day.
La Mirada wore down a valiant Bellflower squad Tuesday to notch a 7-3 victory, the 10th in a row and 17th out of the last 18 to give coach Kim Brooks and the program an 11th league crown in the past 12 years.
Both teams will square off in a somewhat anti-climatic game Thursday in Bellflower to close off the regular season, although the Buccaneers (17-6, 8-3) could use a win to finish in second place and the Matadores (20-8, 11-1) could use it for playoff rankings purposes and to avoid the possibility of a double digit-loss season.
Mats See Ghost; Escape With Win
La Mirada~The Matadores survived--and that's putting it mildly--their fourth straight year of beating Cerritos by a run to inch one victory away from the Suburban League championship with Friday's 5-4 come-from-behind nailbiter.
La Mirada improved to 19-8 overall and 9-1 in league and almost delivered another gift from Artesia when the Pioneers took Bellflower (17-5, 8-2) to 10 innings before succumbing by the same score, 5-4. La Mirada and Bellflower will lock horns in a pair of Senior Day festivities next week to determine the league crown, the Buccaneers' surprising loss to Artesia on Wednesday giving the Matadores the leeway of a split to capture their 11th title in 12 years.
Cerritos and its ghost--perhaps taking refuge in the nearby empty lots of the Auto Square--almost gave some leeway to Mayfair, which was officially knocked out of the race when the Matadores scrambled back from a 3-0 deficit to the Dons.
After playing so well the past few weeks, with almost flawless execution, the Matadores were brought back to reality with a lot of Paranormal Activity courtesy of the Cerritos Ghost.
High School Football Guru Returning to LM Blog
La Mirada~Last football season was a special one for the La Mirada Blog as "The Guru" provided exclusive, in-depth, team-by-team, reports and analysis for Suburban League high school football. We read, watched and listened as the Matadores of La Mirada High captured a CIF title.
Well, ladies and gentleman, The Guru is back. Starting in just a couple of days, you can get all the Suburban League football you can handle, all the way through the end of the season in December.
It's just days away, exclusively, right here, on the La Mirada Blog, La Mirada's news source, then and now.
Matadores Rout Cerritos; Take First Place Alone
Cerritos~Nicko Lancaster singled four times in the first four innings, 15 of the 16 players who batted scored at least a run and 10 batters knocked in at least one to lead the Matadores to a 20-2 drubbing of host Cerritos.
With its 15th victory in the last 16 contests, La Mirada improved to 18-8 overall and remained atop the Suburban League with an 8-1 record. Bellflower, was upset by Artesia 3-0, giving the Mats sole possession of first.
The one-sided affair was one more indication that this 15-senior, six-junior squad has grown up a lot in the past two seasons, learning some humbling lessons along the way.
Not looking ahead to the epic showdown with Bellflower next week with the league championship on the line was just another way the Matadores have showed their maturity in 2010. But even more revealing was the fact that they cruised at a House of Horrors that not only the baseball team almost always struggles, but so does the basketball team.
Monsoons Gone With the Wind
Lakewood~-Mayfair has left the building.
More specifically, the Monsoons--on a terribly windy day that befit the hosts' nickname--have all but left the race in the Suburban League. Perhaps they are still on the porch.
With La Mirada's heartstopping, 4-3 victory Friday over Mayfair, both the Matadores and Bellflower are 7-1 with the Monsoons falling to 5-3. Some unexpected help from huge underdogs next week is the only way Mayfair can possibly grab a share of the league title as La Mirada and Bellflower are set to close the regular season with a pair May 11 and 13.
In the meantime, La Mirada has one more non-league contest, a very challenging one Saturday morning that includes a long road trip to face a strong club from the deep Marmonte League in Moorpark to close out the Redondo Tournament.
First Showdown Goes to Matadores
La Mirada~One of the wonders of the game of baseball is, whenever you think you've seen it all, you know you never will.
In today's game, the Matadores-in a crucial first-place battle with Mayfair looked like as if they were on their way to losing, with no momentum, as Mayfair was in control 2-0, through four innings.
With the Matadores batting in the bottom of the fifth and two outs, Andres Rodriguez struck out swinging, but the Mayfair catcher dropped the ball and allowed Rodriguez to reach first base-extending the inning.
The Matadores then scored 10 straight runs in the frame; and eventually going on to win 10-3.
The Matadores (15-8, 6-1), now have sole possession of first place in the Suburban League, with five league games remaining.
Matadores Post Two BIG Back-to-Back Wins
Matdores score 32 runs in two days
Palos Verdes~ The Matadores beat Peninsula 16-11 yesterday, in a slugfest, with Karl "Rocky" Perez hitting for the cycle and gathering six rbi's in the weekly Saturday Redondo Tournament..
The day before in league action, the Mats(12-8, 5-1) beat Artesia 16-2, behind another strong pitching performance by Kyle Harper.
Click the ball club's web-site here to access the full-length stories. Go Mats!
Matadores Lose in Classic Battle for Easter Title
Santa Fe Springs~The La Mirada Matadores lost to St. Paul in a game-here comes the cliche'-that nobody should have lost, in an epic battle featuring the pitching aces of the two squads. Check out the story here on the ball club's website.La Mirada Advances to Semi-Final
La Mirada~The Matadores cruised into the semifinals of the St. Paul Tournament with Tuesday's shortened 10-1 win over Calvary Chapel Downey.
La Mirada (9-7) will entertain Santa Fe, a mild upset winner over St. John Bosco, at 3:30 p.m. today in search of its seventh straight victory and a berth in the championship possibly against tournament host St. Paul.
The only mainstay juniors in the starting lineup--shortstop Andres Rodriguez and Nicko Lancaster--scored two runs each and stayed redhot with two base knocks apiece to pace a 10-hit attack in their team's five turns at bat.
Senior Karl Perez, who had two RBI and two runs scored, pitched three shutout innings from the southside while senior Daniel Poncedeleon knocked in two runs.
Tag-team relievers Jordan Rosenberg, a junior righthander, and Alex Pedroza, a senior righty, finished the game on the mound. Pedroza struck out four in his two innings.
Matadores Capitalize on Mistakes for Fifth Straight Win
Today's rained out contest to be played tomorrow at 12:30 at La Mirada
La Mirada~The Matadores captured their fifth straight game Saturday but it wasn't easy in a 3-2 escape over Warren in the opening round of the St. Paul Tournament.
La Mirada will resume the event at home in a 12:30 p.m. Monday matchup against either Riverside Christian or Calvary Chapel Downey.
Seniors Mitch Petersen and Daniel Poncedeleon combined on a five-hitter to keep the Bears close while the offense took awhile to overcome a lead Warren held until the bottom of the fifth inning.
Trailing, 2-1, and on the verge of slipping back into a Saturday funk that saw La Mirada lose its first three weekend games this season, senior second baseman Garrin Haile delivered one of the biggest hits of 2010 in the bottom of the fifth.
Recent posts
Feds Increase IRA Contribution Amount
Fatal shooting near the VFW La Mirada
