Prep Rally: This local high school baseball team could be more dominant than the Dodgers

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. Southern California isn’t just home to best baseball team in pro baseball. It also has the best high school team in the Corona High Panthers. The season begins this week.

Corona is team to beat

Corona’s outstanding infielders: Second baseman Trey Ebel (left), shortstop Billy Carlson, third baseman Brady Ebel.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Corona won the Southern Section Division 1 championship last season and could be even stronger this season. The Panthers are everyone’s No. 1 team. Here’s a look at what will make Corona so challenging to beat and the Dodgers of high school baseball.

It’s another outstanding season for individual talent. Here’s a look at players to watch.

Here’s the preseason top 25 rankings by The Times.

Boys basketball

Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth scored 30 points, including this dunk, in win over Cleveland.

(Craig Weston)

Chatsworth and Westchester are seeded No. 1 and No. 2 for the City Section Open Division playoffs that begin this week. The City Section extended its regular season by a week after the Palisades fires and will catch up leading to its championship Feb. 28. Here’s the pairings for boys and girls.

There were some upsets in the Southern Section Open Division last week, with No. 3 St. John Bosco and No. 4 Santa Margarita losing. Harvard-Westlake and Eastvale Roosevelt remain on a path to winning their pools but face top opponents this week. Here’s a look last week’s developments.

Nick Welch Jr., a 6-foot-9 sophomore center, has Rolling Hills Prep in the Division 1 quarterfinals. Here’s a look at his development.

Teams filled with neighborhood kids remain live: Irvine, Camarillo and Los Alamitos. Here’s the schedule for this week.

Girls basketball

Sophomore Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian launches a shot against Etiwada defenders from a November game.

(Craig Weston)

The showdown games in Southern Section Open Division girls basketball are set for Saturday to decide the champions of pool play. It will be Sierra Canyon at Ontario Christian and Mater Dei at Etiwanda. The two winners will play for the title on March 1 at Toyota Center in Ontario. Here’s a look from Saturday’s results.

Sierra Canyon remains the mystery team at 26-1. The Trailblazers will get their first big test in weeks against 26-1 Ontario Christian. Jerzy Robinson scored 35 points in an Open Division playoff win Saturday.

Hamilton received the No. 1 seed for the City Section Open Division playoffs over defending champion Birmingham. Here are the pairings.

Softball

Pitcher Addison Moorman of Granada Hills.

(Craig Weston)

Murrieta Mesa starts out as the No. 1-ranked team in Southern California in the preseason rankings for The Times by Mark Tennis of CalHiSports.com.

The Rams were 28-4 last season and return Tennessee commit Taelyn Holley, who had 11 home runs and a .598 batting average. Pitcher Lillly Hauser had an 0.63 ERA and is an Arizona commit.

The rankings:

1. MURRIETA VALLEY

2. ANAHEIM CANYON

3. NORCO

4. ORANGE LUTHERAN

5. JSERRA

6. GARDEN GROVE PACIFICA

7. ETIWANDA

8. LA MIRADA

9. LOS ALAMITOS

10. EL MODENA

11. OAKS CHRISTIAN

12. VALLEY VIEW

13. WHITTIER CALIFORNIA

14. SANTA MARGARITA

15. VALENCIA

16. GAHR

17. GRANADA HILLS

18. MATER DEI

19. WEST TORRANCE

20. HUNTINGTON BEACH

Wrestling

Bimirngham junior Henry Aslikyan wraps up San Fernando’s Matthew Gonzalez in the 113-pound City Section final.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Birmingham dominated the City Section champonships, winning boys and girls. But one star was Steven Perez of Banning. The City Section player of the year in football won the 215-pound division. Here’s a report from the action.

Fountain Valley and Temecula Valley won divisional team titles in boys. Marina won in girls.

Mayfair senior Kaydee Cartee pulled off one of the big upsets in winning the 215-pound title at the Coastal Division final. The Masters Meet will be held on Saturday at Sonora High to decide which individuals advance to the state championships in Bakersfield.

Soccer

Loyola senior Diego Ayala-Martinez was cut when he tried out for freshman soccer team. Now he’s starting on varsity.

(Beyoona Fahid)

As the Southern Section soccer playoffs continue, let’s not forget the story of Diego Ayala-Martinez, a standout defender for Loyola. He was cut from the freshman team, made the JV team as a sophomore, hardly played on varsity as a junior, then earned a starting spot and starring role this season. Let’s understand how he persevered.

Loyola improved to 18-0-4 and advanced to the Open Division semifinals by eliminating Mater Dei on penalty kicks 6-5. The Cubs will face the winner of Monday’s game between Mira Costa and Hart. Here’s the complete boys pairings.

Santa Margarita continues to be the team to beat in girls soccer. Here’s the updated pairings.

The City Section boys and girls pairings will be announced Monday.

In the boys, El Camino Real and Birmingham are considered the favorites in the first Open Division playoffs, with South East also a contender. El Camino Real coach Ian Kogan missed his team’s games last week while walking on the picket line. Teachers are on strike at El Camino Real. Negotiations were going on last weekend trying to end the strike.

Lacrosse

Loyola is on a trip to Florida to begin the boys lacrosse season and is 1-1 so far heading into a match in Palm Beach.

Matt Fine and Cash Ginsburg have played well on offense for the Cubs.

Foothill girls and St. Margaret’s boys are top teams in Orange County for the coming season.

Notes . . .

Ben McEnroe has resigned as football coach at Thousand Oaks to become head coach at Heritage Christian, which has rarely invested money its football program. Apparently times are changing. . . .

Destiny Melton has resigned as girls basketball coach at Calabasas. . . .

St. John Bosco’s new baseball field won’t be available until April 1 at the earliest, athletic director Vince Brown said. The team will play road games until then. . . .

Junior defensive end Andrew Williams of Fremont has committed to USC. He had nine sacks this season. . . .

Evan Noonan of Dana Hills was selected the Gatorade state runner of the year in cross country. . . .

Derek Benton said he has been dismissed as football coach at L.A. Jordan. He was head coach since 2018. He said he learned about it when the administration started advertising for a head football coach. He guided Jordan to the City Section Division II title in 2023. . . .

Alex Arellano is the new football coach at Chino High. He’s a Chino graduate and has been receivers coach at the University of La Verne. . . .

Curtis Johnson is out as football coach at Fremont. . . .

Orange Lutheran’s Makena Cook, the top flag football quarterback, suffered a broken leg during soccer practice. She’s a sophomore. . . .

Andrew Mabry, the boys and girls volleyball coach at Newport Harbor, has resigned to become an assistant coach for Kansas State women’s volleyball. Matthew Johnson, a former Servite player, has been named interim coach. . . .

The football transfer portal continues to increase, with Santa Margarita and Bishop Montgomery the two most active schools in players arriving. Here’s the link. . . .

Terrance Smith is the new football coach at Ayala. . . .

Manuel Guevara has rescinded his resignation as football coach at Contreras after the school reversed itself and will allow offseason workouts. Here’s the report.

From the archives: Clark Slajchert

Clark Slajchert of Oak Park in 2019.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Former Oak Park guard Clark Slajchert is spending his final season of college basketball playing for USC after previously being at Pennyslvania.

He’s averaging four points a game for the Trojans. He was the second-leading scorer in Ventura County history during his high school days at Oak Park. He averaged 31.0 points as a senior.

Here’s a story from 2019 when he began his season with a 39-point performance.

Here’s a look in 2020 when he made The Times’ 10-member all-star team.

Recommendations

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson being called up for the U.S. women’s soccer team.

From On3.com, a story on a proposal to allow a one-time free transfer in Kentucky.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the CIF being investigated by the Department of Education.

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