The St. Anthony Saints will play Sierra Canyon for the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 softball title on June 3 after defeating 3-1, over Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks 3-1 in the semifinals on May 30.
Coached by Adrian Ponce, St. Anthony (23-7 on the year) will be the only Catholic school competing for a softball or baseball title after the other remaining Catholic school teams were eliminated in the semis. The championship game begins at 9:30 a.m. June 3 at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine.
The Saints, who this year won their third straight Camino Real League championship, ended the regular season ranked third in Division 6, with Sierra Canyon (25-5) at No. 1 and Notre Dame (17-10) at No. 3.
In other softball semifinal action, St. Lucy’s lost its Division 2 game to Camarillo, 1-0, after beating Villa Park 4-0 in the quarterfinals. In Division 4, St. Joseph/Lakewood lost 5-0 to Buena, following an 11-0 quarterfinal win over Rubidoux.
In other quarterfinal games May 25, Santa Margarita lost 3-1 to Poly/Riverside (Division 2); Alemany was edged 3-2 by Godinez (Division 5); Notre Dame beat Schurr 5-2, while St. Anthony toppled Culver City 11-4 (Division 6); and Cornelia Connelly suffered its first loss of the year at Santa Ynez (Division 7).
Baseball
The four Catholic school baseball teams left in the CIF-Southern Section baseball playoffs were eliminated in the May 30 semifinals following quarterfinal victories on May 26.
Division 1: Mater Dei lost 3-0 to El Toro, after beating Redlands East Valley 8-4 in the quarterfinals.
Division 2: St. John Bosco lost 5-2 to Etiwanda after winning a 3-2 quarterfinal thriller against Glendora..
Division 3: Paraclete lost 1-0 to Righetti after eking out a 4-3 win over Don Lugo.
Division 7: Bishop Diego lost 5-0 to Faith Baptist, following a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Carnegie/Riverside.
Volleyball
Loyola avenged its CIF-Southern Section title match loss by defeating Corona del Mar in straight sets May 27 to win the Division 1 Southern California Regional Championship in boys’ volleyball.
Coached by Michael Boehle, the Cubs (30-2) earned the state’s number one ranking after the 25-23, 25-20, 25-19 victory, just a week after Corona del Mar had stopped Loyola’s 19-match winning streak in the CIF-SS Division 1 title contest. The So Cal Regional match was the third time the two schools had met this season, with Loyola winning a non-conference match in April in five sets.
