Quartz Hill

LA CRESCENTA - Shortly before the season began, each player on the Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball team met individually with the coaching staff. When it came time for Nick Springer to congregate with the coaches, Springer was assigned multiple roles as one of the returning players from last season's team that reached the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals and advanced to the state tournament. So far, the junior guard has proven to be up to meeting expectations.

The Crescenta Valley boys' varsity baseball team led a 5-0 lead get away from them and wound up losing 7-6 to Quartz Hill at Stengel Field in the 39th Babe Herman Tournament on April 7. The Falcons finished tournament play with a 2-2 record. They are 8-6 overall and 4-1 in Pacific League competition. CV scored five runs in the top of the first inning to go up 5-0. Quartz Hill responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. The Falcons added another run in the top of the fourth to go up 6-2, but that was the end of the scoring for them.

Erik Boal For a team that trailed for a combined two innings in its first five postseason contests, the Crescenta Valley Major Baseball All-Star squad found itself in a rather unfamiliar position Sunday night against Quartz Hill. The defending Little League Section 2 champion fell behind by three runs after one inning and was staring a four-run deficit in the face entering the top of the fifth in its winner's-bracket semifinal at Millham Field.

MONTROSE ? At least they will have the chance to reverse course following a lopsided loss. That?s the approach the members of the Crescenta Valley 10- and 11-year-old All-Star Softball team will take if they want to keep their season alive. Crescenta Valley suffered a 19-7 loss to Quartz Hill in the championship contest of the Section 2 Tournament on Friday night at Montrose Park. Crescenta Valley, the District 16 champion, will meet Quartz Hill, which captured the District 51 crown, in the tournament?

MONTROSE — For much of the first 3 1/2 innings of Saturday’s 10-11-year old Softball Section 2 Tournament ‘if necessary’ championship game at Montrose Park, Crescenta Valley Little League could seemingly do no wrong. But once Quartz Hill’s bats heated up and momentum began to noticeably switch sides, both the offense and defense that came so easily to Crescenta Valley in the early going suddenly became difficult. Over the final three innings Crescenta Valley saw all of an eight-run lead dissipate before Quartz Hill finally scored the winning run on a pair of errors to take the championship with a 9-8 victory.

LA CRESCENTA — Brentwood High once again had Crescenta Valley’s number on Saturday, defeating the Falcons boys’ volleyball team, 25-18, 25-20, in the Gold playoff bracket fifth-place match of the Crescenta Valley Varsity Tournament. The Falcons got five kills from Nico Alegria and two kills and an ace from Anthony Shapiro, but couldn’t fend off the second sweep in as many days at the hands of the Eagles, who defeated Crescenta Valley, 27-25, 25-19 in Friday’s pool-play round.

BURBANK — With a nine-day break in between games, the members of the Crescenta Valley High girls’ basketball team were afforded the rare opportunity to fix some parts of their game. It gave the Falcons time to practice boxing out and grasping the basic fundamentals that will be needed in order to prepare for league and possibly the playoffs. The practice sessions appear to have done a world of good. Refreshed Crescenta Valley had three players score in double-digits Monday afternoon en route to a 59-38 victory against Quartz Hill in an opening round game of the Burroughs Magnolia Park Optimist Tournament at Burroughs High.

GLENDALE — In the budding rivalry between the 10-11 Foothill All-Stars and their Quartz Hill counterparts, every game has been close, but every contest has ended with Foothill on the wrong end of it. It was true once more on Monday evening, as District 16 champion Foothill fell, 1-0, to Quartz Hill in the Section 2 Tournament title game at El Dorado Park in Lancaster. "It was a great softball game, we just came out on the wrong end of it," said Foothill Manager Tyson Howard.

SAN MARINO — Standing in the third-base coaching box, Crescenta Valley 9-10 All-Star softball Coach Dan Abboud could see his players brimming with confidence after each base hit. Abboud figured it was a good sign. "For us, it's about one base at a time because you never know what can spark them," Abboud said Monday night after Crescenta Valley posted a 12-7 win against Quartz Hill in the Section 2 championship contest at San Marino Little League Field. "Once you see them starting to hit, you can see how they feed off each other.

GLENDALE — While it didn't seem all that important at first, the last run scored by the Crescenta Valley Major baseball team on Monday night proved to loom large. In being able to narrowly hold on to an eight-run deficit, Crescenta Valley kept its season alive along with its bid to win a championship. Crescenta Valley got early home runs from Jake Whisenant and Robert Giese, then held on for a 14-13 victory against Quartz Hill in an elimination game of the Section 2 Tournament at Encino Little League Fields.

LA CRESCENTA - Shortly before the season began, each player on the Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball team met individually with the coaching staff. When it came time for Nick Springer to congregate with the coaches, Springer was assigned multiple roles as one of the returning players from last season's team that reached the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals and advanced to the state tournament. So far, the junior guard has proven to be up to meeting expectations.

LANCASTER - For a second straight evening, the brute strength of the Quartz Hill Major Baseball All-Star team proved both impressive and unbeatable, much to the chagrin of Crescenta Valley. Host Quartz Hill homered three times, including two shots from No. 3 hitter Alex DeShields, in rallying for a devastating 5-4 victory in Wednesday evening's winner-take-all Section 2 championship game at Gilbert Memorial Field in Lancaster. With the defeat, District 16 champion Crescenta Valley, which was gunning for its first sectional title since 2007, concludes its dual-tournament record at 5-2. District 51 champion Quartz Hill, which captured its first sectional crown in three years and forced a deciding game by defeating Crescenta Valley, 15-4, on Tuesday with four homers, advances to Saturday's Division III North Tournament at Ladera Little League Field in Los Angeles.

LANCASTER - A quick three-run lead was exactly what the members of the Crescenta Valley Major Baseball All-Star team wanted. Unfortunately for Crescenta Valley, it couldn't enjoy the advantage for too long. Crescenta Valley surrendered four home runs and suffered a 15-4 loss against host Quartz Hill in the Section 2 championship contest at El Dorado Park on Tuesday night. The game was called in the fourth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule. The teams will meet in the tournament's if-necessary championship game at 8 p.m. today at the same venue.

With a berth in the Section 2 Major Baseball All-Stars championship on the line and revenge to be had, Crescenta Valley faced off with Quartz Hill on Sunday evening. “They were excited to get them in a rematch,” Crescenta Valley Coach Mike Vinceri said. “They played really, calm solid ball.” At the plate, Scott Vinceri belted a second-inning grand slam that paved the way for CV's 9-4 win over Quartz Hill on Sunday evening at El Dorado Little League. “Scott's grand slam was huge in the sense that it was against their ace pitcher,” Mike Vinceri said.

GLENDALE — Crescenta Valley 10-11 All-Star baseball Coach David Mulcahey couldn't have been more pleased with what he saw in the first inning. It was the kind of start Mulcahey had hoped for, ultimately helping his team relax and focus on reaching the championship contest of the Section 2 Tournament. "We came in focused and we scored six runs in the first inning," Mulcahey said after Crescenta Valley posted a 17-6 win against Quartz Hill in an elimination game called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule Monday night at El Dorado Little League Fields in Lancaster.

GLENDALE — While it didn't seem all that important at first, the last run scored by the Crescenta Valley Major baseball team on Monday night proved to loom large. In being able to narrowly hold on to an eight-run deficit, Crescenta Valley kept its season alive along with its bid to win a championship. Crescenta Valley got early home runs from Jake Whisenant and Robert Giese, then held on for a 14-13 victory against Quartz Hill in an elimination game of the Section 2 Tournament at Encino Little League Fields.

GLENDALE — While focusing on the District 16 Junior Softball All-Star Tournament, Will Thayer couldn't help but look ahead at sizing up the competition for the Section 2 Tournament in case Crescenta Valley advanced. Thayer, the Crescenta Valley coach, made road trips to the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys to get a better grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of future opposition from those respective districts. Now that Crescenta Valley has advanced to the Section 2 Tournament, Thayer is looking for his breakdown analysis to be helpful for his squad when it opens the four-team tournament at 8 p.m. today against District 51 champion Quartz Hill at Monte Vista Little League Field in Lancaster.

ENCINO — The adage, "practice makes perfect" has rung true for the Crescenta Valley Major Baseball All-Star team so far this season. The squad has worked on its offense all season and it continued to pay off, as Crescenta Valley routed Quartz Hill, 14-2, in the first round of the Section 2 Tournament at Encino Little League Saturday morning. "We work very hard on hitting with two strikes, that's one of the things we focus on in practice and do a lot of drills on — putting the ball in play with two strikes — and it's been paying off for us," said Drew Arredondo, Crescenta Valley's coach, who saw his team put the 10-run mercy rule into effect after five innings.

GLENDALE — It's been rare for the Crescenta Valley 10-11 All-Star baseball team to surrender runs of late. In fact, it's happened only once in its last three contests. "One of the things that's set us apart from the opposition is our ability to throw strikes and play strong defense," said Crescenta Valley Coach Dave Mulcahey, whose team recently won the District 16 championship and will begin play in the Section 2 Tournament with an opening-round contest against District 40 representative Northridge at 5 p.m. today at El Dorado Little League Fields in Lancaster.

GLENDALE — The Crescenta Valley 9-10 Softball All-Stars have had but a day to celebrate their Section 2 title. Now it's time to get back to business and get ready to try and win some more hardware. Exactly what awaits the local All-Stars at Ribbons Little League Field in Victorville, where the team opens its Southern California State Championships tournament run against the Section 5 champion at 6 p.m. today, remains mostly a mystery to Crescenta Valley Coach Dan Abboud. The vast geographic area the tournament draws sectional qualifiers from makes advance scouting all but impossible, so other than doing some last-minute scouting of teams from an earlier game and holding a morning practice to get used to the field today, Abboud will ask his team to prepare the same way it has throughout its District 16 and Section 2 runs.