Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE ? The chilly air wasn?t the only thing that left the members of the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy softball team cold. The Tologs had a difficult time swinging their bats in a season-opening 3-0 nonleague home loss to Alverno on Friday afternoon. Alverno senior pitcher Michelle Escamilla struck out 13 and limited the Tologs to one hit. Flintridge Sacred Heart, which finished fourth in the Mission League, couldn?t get first-year Coach Kirk Nishiyama a win in his debut.

GLENDALE ? For five straight seasons, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy girls' soccer team has made it to the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs. But is the team Hall of Fame worthy? Apparently so. Previously known as the Big Toe Soccer Holiday Festival, the Tolog-hosted tournament will now be known as the HOFMAG.com Holiday Soccer Festival. It's sponsored by the recently debuted HallofFameMagazine.com (www.hofmag.com), which is an on-line magazine out of New Bedford, Mass.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — After 60 minutes of regulation and another 15 minutes watching penalty shots, the members of the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy soccer team were in a festive mood. They can thank a first-year player, who had already mastered the art of the penalty kick. Freshman forward Savannah Viola converted on a game-winning penalty kick in the sixth round to help lead Flintridge Sacred Heart to a 1-1 (6-5) victory on Tuesday afternoon in the championship match of the annual Los Tacos Holiday Festival at the Glendale Sports Complex.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE ? It's likely there will be a new team atop the CIF Southern Section Division I-A girls' volleyball rankings next week. The Los Alamitos-based CIF office will have plenty to consider ? especially as to who will be the No. 1 team. Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy made a strong case for itself Wednesday after it turned aside top-ranked Harvard-Westlake, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-19 in a key Mission League home match. The Tologs, who entered the week ranked third, got splendid efforts from junior outside hitter Katie Condon and junior setter Sam Orlandini.

GLENDALE ? The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. SACRED HEART IS VOTED NO. 1 TEAM To be the best, you have to beat the best, they say. That's just what the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy volleyball team did last Wednesday when it beat then-No. 1-ranked Harvard-Westlake in four games. The victory propelled the Tologs, who had been ranked third in CIF Southern Section Division I-A, into the top spot of the new rankings, which were released Monday.

GLENDALE — Being the top seed in the playoffs last season didn’t lead to the Crescenta Valley High softball team winning a CIF Southern Section Division III championship. Now, the Falcons are the third seed in the division in their quest to win the program’s first title since 1986. Crescenta Valley, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Flintridge Prep were the three area teams who found out their playoff matchups after they were revealed by the CIF office Monday afternoon.

SAN FERNANDO — Indeed, there are bigger goals and brighter medals that Andrea Kropp is striving for, but after a year away from the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy swimming team, the senior standout returned and on Monday afternoon looked quite comfortable in penning her latest chapter of Mission League prominence. Kropp keyed an overall outstanding day for the Tologs at the Mission League Finals at the San Fernando Regional Pool. Kropp claimed league crowns in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke, combining with fellow senior Madeline Talt, who won the 500 freestyle, to give Sacred Heart three league titles.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — With its sights squarely set on overtaking Alemany High for third place in the Mission League, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy girls' basketball team got the rare opportunity to take a shot directly at the Warriors on its home court Thursday night. But even up close, Alemany proved to be an elusive target, winning, 66-56, and forcing the Tologs to rely on an at-large bid to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division 5AA postseason. "I told the girls before this game that we needed to approach this like it's a playoff game because if we would have won this game it would have put us in a position to still take third place and an automatic bid from Mission League for CIF," said Tologs Coach Gino Pacella, whose team has two league games remaining and is currently ranked eighth in the division.

Michiko Otaki, critically acclaimed concert pianist, will make her long-awaited Los Angeles debut at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 11 at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, under the auspices of The Da Camera Society Chamber Music in Historic Sites. The Japanese-American artist, who was born in Hazu and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, will be joined by the prizewinning Graffe String Quartet from the Czech Republic for its very first performance in North America. Spectacularly sited in the mountains, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy was once called "America's most scenic hotel" and presides over incredible views.

A championship-caliber team needs an enforcer — a strong personality and physical presence that keeps teammates in line and opponents in fear. For the decorated Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy soccer team, that role belongs to Tera Trujillo. "She's probably as tough and as competitive a kid as we've ever had," Sacred Heart co-Coach Frank Pace says of the junior midfielder/defender. "She's got what we call a warrior mentality. She is a warrior. …She defines fun as measuring your best against the other team's best.