Wednesday, June 30, 2010

District 20 Tournament Updates on the blog

Starting today, updates on all age groups in the Little League District 20 Tournament will be posted on the blog as well as upcoming games. Claremont has 5 all-star teams competing in the tournament, including the 8-9 Year-Old team, 9-10 Year-Old team, 10-11 Year-Old team, 11-12 Year-Old team and the Juniors team.

District 20 Tournament Latest Results
Tuesday, June 29
11-12 Year-Old Division - First Round
Claremont 17, Pomona American 7

Upcoming District 20 Tournament Games
Wednesday, June 30 (Today)
8-9 Year-Old Division - Bracket Play
Claremont National @ La Verne, 5 p.m. (Ralph Welch Park)

10-11 Year-Old Division - Semifinals
Claremont @ La Verne, 5:30 p.m. (Marchant Park)

Juniors Division - 2nd Round
Claremont @ Pomona Ted Greene, 7 p.m. (Pomona Jaycees Community Park)

Tuesday, July 6
9-10 Year-Old Division - 2nd Round
Winner of Glendora/San Dimas @ Claremont, 5:30 p.m.

For more information including brackets and park locations, visit the Claremont Little League website by clicking HERE.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Many awards given at CHS Volleyball Banquet

The Claremont High School boys volleyball squad recently held its end-of-the-year banquet, resulting in an award-studded night for the Pacific League champions.

This season was one of the best in the history of the program as the Wolfpack advanced all the way to the CIF Southern Section Division II semifinals before falling to top-seeded Westlake in a 5-game heartbreaker. CHS had a chance to finish Westlake in the 4th game with multiple game points.

Here's the list of CHS awards from this season:

All-CIF
1st Team: Geoff Powell
2nd Team: Andrew Zetterberg
3rd Team: Patrick Stalwick

All-Pacific League
MVP: Geoff Powell
1st Team: Andrew Zetterberg, Patrick Stalwick
2nd Team: Steven Kirkpatrick, Jack Reeder
Honorable Mention: Stephen Zetterberg

Team Awards
MVP: Geoff Powell
Best Offensive: Geoff Powell
Best Defensive: Patrick Stalwick
All Around: Andrew Zetterberg
Most Improved: Steven Kirkpatrick
Most Inspirational: Chris Collins
Coach's Award: TJ Frank

CHS Senior Co-Athlete of the Year: Geoff Powell
Volleyball Magazine USA Top 50 Senior: Geoff Powell

'Futbolito' comes to Claremont

Padua Park will play host to Major League Soccer's (MLS) Futbolito event starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. Players from the L.A. Galaxy are scheduled to appear.

The event features 4-on-4 soccer tournament action that will run throughout the day with chances to for those in attendance to win prizes including an MLS match ticket. The Adult Premier Division winning team will receive $2000 while the 2nd place finisher will win $1000.

For more information on tomorrow's event, contact Sid Patel at spatel@lagalaxy.com or call 310-630-2236.

Regas named to rugby All-American team

Claremont Colleges Men's Rugby standout Nick Regas was recently named by USA Rugby scouts as an All-American for the 2010 season. The honor puts Regas among many other Division I players though the Pasadena native competed for a Division II team this past season.

“It’s been a dream season for me,” said Regas, whose team also won the Division II championship this past season. “It’s an honor to be a part of this select group of players.”

Look in Saturday's edition of the COURIER for a more in-depth story about the All-American.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Prentice wins first ever Claremont Little League Home Run Derby


By hitting 20 home runs in the final 2 rounds of the inaugural Claremont Little League Home Run Derby last Saturday, Cole Prentice became the league's first ever home run derby king.

A total of 16 players competed in the event with Prentice (Phillies), Kyle Scalmanini (Angels), Johnny Villa (Dodgers), Tyler Roebuck (Red Sox), Kyle Delcampo (Dodgers) and Ricky Conti (Rays) all qualifying for the finals. Prentice sealed the win by sending the ball over the fence 10 times in the final round.

More than 100 home runs were recorded in Claremont Little League this season. The league also had 11 over-the-fence grand slams and 2 inside-the-park grand slams.

Claremont Little League/Fastpitch teams clean house

The Red Sox (Majors Division), Angels (JV Division) and D-Backs (Minors Division) of Claremont Little League, along with the 10U Gold, 12U Gold and 14U teams of Claremont Fastpitch all took home championship trophies in their respective tournaments last weekend.

Claremont Little League's season came to a close last Saturday with closing ceremonies after the championship games of the City Tournament. The Claremont Fastpitch teams are already in all-star mode and played cities such as Santa Fe Springs, Hacienda Heights and Chino Hills in last weekend's City of Trees Tournament.

Look for more information and coverage of the weekend's events in tomorrow's edition of the COURIER.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Phillies upset Angels, Rays vs Red Sox tonight

Though the Angels finished in first place in the Claremont Little League Majors Division this season, the team lost its chance to place first in the ongoing City Tournament on Tuesday.

After defeating the Phillies 4 times this season, the Angels were unable to overcome their opposition for a 5th time as the Phillies toppled the Angels in the City Tournament semifinals, 4-1.

The Rays and Red Sox will play in the other semifinal game tonight at College Park at 6 p.m. The Red Sox won 3 of the 4 regular season encounters with the other game ending in a 7-7 tie.

Friday, June 4, 2010

A game that could have been perfect

It's now been 2 days since Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of what would have been his first perfect game of his career. And Major League Baseball isn't doing anything to fix it.

The MLB has been neck deep in scandals and controversy, especially in the last decade. Wednesday night's scenario (watch video below) presented MLB Commissioner Bud Selig with the opportunity to take a public stand for integrity and fairness. He chose neither.

It's not every day that you have an umpire brought to tears by a mistake he made. Jim Joyce indeed made the wrong call, but showed an immeasurable amount of class by admitting that he missed a big call. His humility is an excellent example of the way an official should be in the world of sports and if he had the ability to make the decision, I'm convinced he would overturn his ruling.

The problem is that Joyce is the one who has maintained integrity more that the MLB commissioner. Every angle of every replay has clearly shown that Detroit recorded the 3rd out to preserve the perfect game. If Selig were to overturn the call, he has very strong grounds to do so for the evidence is irrefutable. This is not a typical situation.

If the issue is following a rulebook, then it is time to change that rulebook because when a 100 percent inaccurate call has been made, players and managers should have the opportunity to appeal in order to have the ruling overturned. It's amazing that while Selig wants to be firm on not overturning the ruling in Galarraga's situation, he is not equally as firm when it comes to the steroid issue. How is it that players who have admitted using steroids during their greatest seasons do not have an asterisk by their stats and yet a young pitcher who legitimately pitches a perfect game has it wrongfully nullified? Is the MLB really about what's right and what's fair?

Only 20 pitchers in history have thrown a perfect game. There should be 21. Selig still has time to make the right choice. Yet if he still chooses to decline, it just adds another black eye to the sport that has been long touted as "America's Game." One of Superman's most well-known lines is that he fights for "truth, justice and the American way." The catch is that truth and justice are supposed to be the American way. Apparently not for the MLB.

The MLB needs a spark. With declining attendance, declining ethics and declining popularity, the league needs a clean-up hitter. Selig was recently up to bat but just swung and missed for Strike Three. Maybe next time.



With baseball being one of the most popular sports in Claremont, feel free to post your thoughts about this particular story.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wolfpack claims 2nd straight title

The Claremont High School boys tennis team has done it again. The Wolfpack won its 2nd consecutive CIF Southern Section Division III championship with a 12-6 victory over Placentia Valencia on Wednesday at the Claremont Club.

Clarke Spinosa and the duo of Frank Liu/Scott Donaldson enjoyed sweeps in singles and doubles respectively. Stay tuned to Saturday's issue of the COURIER for complete coverage of the championship match.

CIF Championship today!

The wait is finally over as the Claremont High School boys tennis team will finally get its shot win its 2nd consecutive CIF Southern Section Division III championship starting at 12:30 p.m. against Placentia Valencia at the Claremont Club.

The 2 teams met each other in the championship match last season. The Wolfpack defeated the Tigers, 13-5, to win its first CIF championship in the history of the boys tennis program.

In CIF Individual Sectionals, Clarke Spinosa took 2nd place, his highest finish in the event. Today will be the last match in a CHS uniform for him and several other seniors such as Trevor James, Scott Donaldson, Frank Liu and David Standerfer.

Results of today's match will be posted on the blog later tonight.