Arcadia

SOFTBALL Glendale 3, Arcadia 1: Casey Ramirez pitched a complete game to lead the Nitros to a Pacific League road win on Tuesday backed by offensive contributions from Meghan Spencer, Janette Avina and Sheila Araji. Flintridge Prep 8, Chadwick 0: Denise van der Goot struck out 15 batters and went four for four at the plate to lead the Rebels in a Prep League home win on Tuesday. Other Prep (12-4, 9-2 in league) standouts included Ashley Kim (two for three with a run batted in)

ARCADIA — With two games remaining in the regular season and in the hunt to qualify for the playoffs, Glendale High softball Coach Christine Paknik offered a suggestion concerning her team. “We have to go back and work on the basics,” Paknik said shortly after Glendale suffered an 8-1 loss Thursday afternoon to host Arcadia in a Pacific League contest. “Then we are going to have to stick to the basics and attack. “We can either kick ourselves or learn from it.” Arcadia (8-11, 6-6 in league)

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Two innings of miscues added up to six innings of bad news for Coach Rich Henning's Hoover High softball team. Henning and the Tornadoes fell on hard times in the field and at the plate Thursday afternoon to the tune of a 13-2 Pacific League loss against visiting Arcadia. The game was called after six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule. "We couldn't rebound from the first two innings," Henning said after two first-inning errors helped give the Apaches a 2-0 lead before they batted around in the second to extend the lead to 5-0. "We couldn't recoup and it's going to be about repetition and working harder.

LA CRESCENTA - It was too close to call heading into the fourth quarter Wednesday, as the Crescenta Valley High boys' water polo team held a three-goal lead over Arcadia in a Pacific League game. The host Falcons turned the match into a blowout in the fourth quarter, as they won, 15-7, on the heels of a 6-1 run in the last seven minutes. Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju said his team was plagued by inconsistency early on Wednesday - something it's dealt with all year. "It's how we've been playing this whole season," said Sakonju, as his team clinched third place in Pacific League with the win heading into the league tournament.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — One rally from down two runs just wouldn’t be enough for the Glendale High softball team to defeat Arcadia on Thursday. In order to get their 10-8 Pacific League win over the Apaches, the Nitros would have to do it twice. The second comeback was final and the more impressive of the two, as Glendale strung together seven consecutive hits for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, highlighted by Amber Veliz’s go-ahead two-run triple. “I wanted to win so bad,” said Veliz, who went three for four at the plate with two triples, three runs batted in and three runs.

Hamlet Nalbandyan Title up for grabs? If there's a year that Crescenta Valley or Arcadia won't win a Pacific League title in baseball, this might be it. That's a long shot, of course, considering the stranglehold the two programs have had on the league championship the past 10 years. But with league play beginning Friday, one has to wonder if teams like Glendale or Hoover -- which are off to a 7-2 combined start -- could have a chance? -- YEAR TEAM RECORD 1994 Crescenta Valley 13-2 1995 Crescenta Valley 13-2 1996 Glendale 13-2 1997 Crescenta Valley 12-3 1998 Crescenta Valley 12-2-1 1999 Crescenta Valley 12-3 2000 Arcadia 14-1 2001 Arcadia 13-2 2002 Crescenta Valley/Arcadia 13-2 2003 Crescenta Valley/Arcadia 13-2 -- "We have our work cut out for us," Hoover Coach Jim Delzell said.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE ? In recent seasons, games between the Crescenta Valley High and Arcadia baseball teams have gone close to three hours with low-scoring contests usually the norm. Crescenta Valley and Arcadia, for years the top squads in the Pacific League, met in their first of two meetings this season on Friday. The game took about three hours, but the bats for both teams proved to be the story. And in another contrast, Crescenta Valley fell to fifth place in league after it was handed an 11-7 loss by Arcadia Friday night at Stengel Field.

The Glendale High baseball team did Tuesday what no other Pacific League team had done this season: beat Arcadia. The Nitros accomplished what highly regarded Crescenta Valley couldn't with a 4-3 victory at Glendale High, spoiling what could've been an undefeated run by the Apaches (17-4, 10-1 in league) -- ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division I -- in league. Glendale (10-10, 5-6) trailed, 3-0, but timely hits and great pitching gave Jay Chadwick's squad its first win against Arcadia since 2001.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Finally. As Pat Lancaster announced the Crescenta Valley High girls' swim team finished in second place in Friday's Pacific League Swim Relays at Glendale High, with 132 points, a loud roar was heard from Arcadia's ensemble of athletes. Because the Apaches knew that for the first time in five years, the Falcons lost this event, and Arcadia came away victories with 150 points. Moments later, Lancaster announced the boys' results.

LA CRESCENTA — While it was hosted by the Crescenta Valley High Falcons and featured more than half the other teams from the Pacific League, the championship round of the 2012 Crescenta Valley Passing Tournament was dominated by the Foothill League. By the semifinals of the two-day tournament that concluded Saturday afternoon, the final four consisted of Foothill mainstays Hart, Valencia and Saugus and Arcadia, which shared the Pacific League title last season. Hart bested Valencia, 30-24, in the championship round.

ARCADIA — Having played the Apaches already this season, the Pasadena Poly boys' tennis team entered Friday's CIF Southern Section Division II second-round match armed with some firsthand experience against unbeaten Arcadia High. In the end it served less as a scouting report and more as a tool of prediction, as the Panthers fell by an identical 12-6 score the second time around on the third-seeded Apaches' home courts. "We were missing a couple players today, but the kids who played very well," said Poly Coach Howie Farer, who was without two of his starting doubles players due to family commitments.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - Technically speaking, Crescenta Valley High's baseball team assured itself a share of its first Pacific League title since 2008 on Tuesday afternoon with a lopsided win over last-place Muir. But Friday night was truly the Falcons' night. After a league-title drought and a seven-game losing streak against archrival Arcadia, Friday was most assuredly still circled on the Falcons' calendar, having clinched a share of league or not. And thanks to seven brilliant innings from Kyle Murray, plenty of timely hitting and a cavalcade of CV momentum, the Falcons wrapped up the league crown all for themselves with a resounding 7-0 win over the Apaches at Stengel Field.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - They admitted that they thought about it. They said that they thought about the fact that they were essentially in a tie for first place in the Pacific League. They noted that they thought about the final game of the regular season in which they might play in a winner-take-all championship game against their rival. But they also knew that in order to play for the title, they had to take it "one game at a time. " The members of the Crescenta Valley High baseball team knew the news that previously league-unbeaten Arcadia was upset on Wednesday, giving the Falcons and Apaches each one loss in league.

LA CRESCENTA - When the Crescenta Valley and Arcadia high boys' volleyball teams meet, there's usually something at stake. In past years, they've battled for the Pacific League championship. Other times, they've fought solely for bragging rights. This year, the Falcons and Apaches contested for the third-place slot in league. CV's Vincent Van Hoek made sure that the Falcons secured third place. Van Hoek recorded 13 kills and eight assists to lead the Falcons to a 25-17, 25-21, 25-17 home victory against the Apaches.

GIRLS' LACROSSE Glendale 10, Birmingham 5: The Nitros won their first round Southern Section North playoff game on the road Monday, thanks to a three-goal performance from Jenna Nance and Elena Pierce, who also had an assist. Ahuixchel Lopez-Engelman anchored Glendale (9-10) on defense and also had three draw controls. Glendale continues in the second round of the postseason at 6 p.m. today against Agoura. SOFTBALL Arcadia 10, Hoover 2: Kaitlyn Williams and Lilly Rivera both knocked in a run for Hoover, which fell to 6-10, 2-6 in league at home Tuesday.

BOYS' SWIMMING Crescenta Valley 86, Hart 84: Tied at 78 entering the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Falcons won Friday's nonleague meet at the Santa Clarita Aquatics Center on the strength of a first-place finish from the team of Young Tae Seo, Edmond Yi, Harrison Thai and Louis Wojciechowski in 3 minutes 10.98 seconds. The Falcons (9-1) won nine of 11 races, sweeping all three relays and getting two individual wins apiece from Seo, Thai and Wojciechowski, but the depth of Hart (6-1)

LA CRESCENTA - It was all hands on the pool deck for the Crescenta Valley High boys' swimming team for Wednesday afternoon's Pacific League home dual-meet finale against Arcadia. While the trio of Young Tae Seo, Harrison Thai and Louis Wojciechowski are widely expected to lead the Falcons to contention for a CIF Southern Section Division II title in May, seeing all three competing simultaneously at a regular-season meet has been a rarity. All of them put aside club swimming, training and other commitments to give Crescenta Valley a full-strength attack that showed in a 117.5-52.5 win that clinched at least a share of the Falcons' 20th straight league crown.

ARCADIA - As expected, the Crescenta Valley High and Arcadia baseball teams found themselves involved in another close game with first place on the line. What transpired over the final two innings in the crucial Pacific League contest probably wasn't expected. A well-executed squeeze bunt by Arcadia's Erik Trask brought home the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to lift Arcadia to a 1-0 victory. Then things took an odd turn with the Falcons down to their last several at-bats.

LA CRESCENTA - When her first-inning drive to deep left-center field hit off the top of the outfield fence for a double, Crescenta Valley High center fielder Hannah Cookson missed a three-run home run by mere inches. By the end of the Falcons' five-inning 18-7 Pacific League win over Arcadia, that near home run was the only thing the Falcons No. 3 hitter had missed. Crescenta Valley's 17-hit offensive explosion was keyed by an absolute monster day from Cookson, who hit two grand slams in the 12-run third inning to cap a three-for-three performance that included 10 runs batted in, three runs scored and 11 total bases.