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Well, the media circus is in town, reporters are hovering around the locals, wanting their opinions on all the recent coverage that's been in all the papers. But I guess that's what happens when your high school girls soccer team reaches the CIF semi-finals. That's right the Griffins are in the semis for the eighth time in school history. The big event is Tuesday afternoon -- when Aliso Niguel takes on the Los Al Griffins at Laurel School. Game time is 3 pm. As an experiment, we are working with a company called Vootage.com for a live internet broadcast of the the game -- on their website as well as GoLosAl.com and the LAHS girls soccer booster website. A couple things still have
to fall in place, but we're trying to do this as a trial that could
lead to further broadcasts of other local events -- sports and
non-sports. A couple details still have to fall into place, but check all the sites.
Los Al spring sports start getting serious about their sports this week -- with baseball kicking into action with the Loara Tournament on Friday and softball taking part in the Foothill Roundtable Tournament.
Los Al alums in sports and non-sports events had good weeks last week, including bringing in some Oscar hardware. That's all down below, as is the obligatory reference to the big Los Alamitos email hubbub.
FREE PLUGS DEPARTMENT: In an attempt to make this easier to read, the free plugs department is listed further below. But as a sneak preview, they include: On to the good stuff...
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LAHS GIRLS SOCCER: Girls edge MD in PKs, play Division I semi-finals against Aliso Niguel at home on Tuesday
 They're living on the edge, but the Los Al Girls Soccer squad is still alive in CIF Division I playoffs, recording a 1-0 win over Temecula Valley last Tuesday and then edging Mater Dei in penalty kicks last Thursday afternoon.
With the wins, the Griffins advance to a CIF semi-final matchup with Aliso Niguel High School on Tuesday at Laurel High. Game time is 3pm.
[As mentioned above, we are working with Vootage.com for a live internet broadcast of the game. A couple things still have to fall in place, but we're trying to do this as a trial that could lead to further broadcasts of other local events -- sports and non-sports. It could be available on their website or GoLosAl.com and the LAHS girls soccer booster website. So check all the sites. ]
Taylor Vargo scored the lone goal against Temecula Valley off a nice flick assist from Callie Taylor. A little video highlight can be seen here.
Against Mater Dei, the Griffins kept their playoff shutout streak intact at three games, with regulation play and two ten minute sudden death overtimes ending in a 0-0 tie. That set up the second shootout win for Los Al in their three playoff games. Senior goalkeeper Amanda McDonough (who the week before knocked down Huntington Beach's fifth shootout kick to preserve a Griffin shootout win) blocked the fourth Mater Dei kick which again allowed Kelsey Salcido (shown above) to put the game away with a beautiful kick into the corner of the net.
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OTHER LAHS CIF PLAYOFFS: Griffins Boys BB, Boys Soccer, Girls WP all fall by one point.
It was close but no bubble gum cigar for three Los Al teams in last week's CIF playoff action.
The Los Al Boys basketball team suffered only its second loss of
the season, but it unfortunately was a season-ending one as Lynwood edged the Griffins 70-69 in the second round of CIF Division I-AA
action. It was Los Al's first loss since Dec. 5. They finish the season
with a 27-2 record, tying it for the school's best-ever.
Griffins Boys Soccer couldn't convert its early chances and paid the price when Newbury Park scored a late goal andf eliminated the Griffins in their first round match-up. The soccer ballers finish the season with a 15-6-7 record.
Los Al junior Kaley Dodson scored three goals for the Griffins Girls Water Polo team
(24-6) and younger sister Cory had two goals but it wasn't enough
as Foothill edged Los Al 7-6 in a CIF Division I playoff second
round loss at Beckman High School.
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LAHS SPORTS: Griffin girls win titles in JV Basketball, and frosh-soph soccer
Far be it for us to overlook the accomplishments of some of the younger Los Al teams. Trust us, it's not on purpose.
 First off, for the first time in as long as I can recall, the girls JV Basketball team (shown right) finished the season with a share of the Sunset League championship. The squad, coached by former Boys Freshman basketball coach Frank Lopez, ended the season with a
league record of 9-1.
 The Frosh-Soph girls soccer team (shown right) also brought home a league title -- winning their last eight games of the season to finish with a 8-1-1 Sunset League record and a 14-5-2 overall mark (with three of thos losses coming to JV squads).
The JV girls soccer team came up just short in their bid for a title, finishing the season in second place with a 6-2-2 mark (14-3-6 overall),
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ALUMNI BASKETBALL: Fields scores 16 for Stanford against UCLA
Landry Fields (LAHS '06) scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds but the Stanford Cardinal
dropped a tough 76-71 loss to 22nd-ranked UCLA
Thursday night in a Pac-10 contest.
ALUMNI SOFTBALL: Nelsons adds another Player of Week honor to her resume; Khalil starts college career with 3-for-4 game
 Right-hander
Stacey Nelson (LAHS '05) went 4-0 with two shutouts and one save last week en route to earning another Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week honor. In five appearances, Nelson recorded a season-high 12 strikeouts in the win over USF on
Feb. 27 while not allowing a walk or a run. The senior registered a 0.00 ERA
over 24.0 innings, striking out 33 and walking only two. Nelson also held
opponents to a .134 batting average through the seven days.
Florida opens the SEC schedule on
Saturday, March 7 in Columbia, S.C., as the Gators take on the Gamecocks in the
three-game series starting with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
Molly Khalil (LAHS '08) went 3-4 and with four runs to help Dartmouth defeat Bryant, 8-3 in the first game of the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament on February 27.
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LAHS ALUMNI (NON-SPORTS): Good media weeks for ex-Grifs Busenkell and Carbone
 Hey, former Griffins are making noise in areas besides sports. In fact, few could top ex-Griffin Ruth Busenkell, (LAHS '85 ), a VP of marketing and premieres for Fox Searchight Films, whose little production of Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at the Oscars last week - bringing home 8 big boys. Busenkell, who also had a hand in the roll-out of Juno last year, is the daughter of retired Los Al HS English teacher Ann Busenkell.
Lots of local former Griffins are in the radio business. Former basketball standout Steve Carbone (LAHS '93) is in Dallas, working with his dad's manufacturing company but also doing sports news on Dallas sportsradio station The Ticket -- and he is also building up a reputation for his insightful postings on some Bachelorette bombshell endings on his reality TV blog -- Realitysteve.com.
 Sisanie Reategui (LAHS '03) is hosting the follow-up show to Ryan Seacrest on KIIS-FM and sister stations in San Francisco... former Griffin high jumper Chelsey Mauck (LAHS '02 -- sort of -- her parents moved to Carmel her junior year) is working behind the scenes for Clear Channel Radio (they are the biggie in the industry) up in San Francisco. It's not just ex-Griffins who are in the the radio biz. Rossmoor rez John Ryan is the big cheez in ad sales at Jack-FM (and the former boss of Sporting News Radio) and another Rossmooravian Matt "Money" Smith is the afternoon drive-time host with Petros Papadakis on KLAC.
 Suzanne (Linskey) Davis (LAHS '76, and former Griffin Omega Girl -- that was the drill team for you yung 'uns) has opened up a new restaurant in that part of Garden Grove just south of Disneyland. Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Company. A perfect place to eat after a day at Disneyland, or an even longer day of youth volleyball or basketball at the American Sports Center in Anaheim. And with over 40 television screens, it's not a bad place to watch your favorite sporting event. It's got Stella Artois on tap, so I'm biased, but here's some un-biased third-party reviews.
Almost 1100 Griffin alums have now befriended our Griffin facebook page -- Los Al Griffin
-- it's a great way to track down your old school buds.
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Los Alamitos Race at the Base Results
Frank Higuera of Bellflower turned in the fastest time at the 28th Los Alamitos 5K/10K (now called the race at the Base) held on february 21.
The 18-year old Higuera's 10K time of 36:13 was 33 seconds faster than the runner-up, 47-year old Margaro Morales of Anaheim.
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LOS ALAMITOS REC DEPARTMENT
Online Scores & Results
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LOCAL PEOPLE: Griffin student Chris Lounsbury gets ABC's cool kid honor
LAHS student Chris Lounsbury culinary talents raise spirits - ABC7 News
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FOOD: Jim Dandy BBQ in Los Al gets good write-up in LB Gazettes
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FREE PLUGS DEPARTMENT:
LAHS GRAD NIGHT: Workshops for the 2009 Grad Night ("Passport to Paradise") are workers are wanted. NO TALENT is required. Workshops
are held every Thursday and Friday morning from 9:00-12:00 noon. Future
Saturday workshop dates TBA. Check out the Grad Night website for more details.
SEAL BEACH 5K-10K: The 35th annual Seal Beach 5K-10K Run/Walk takes place April 9th. Over 4,000 runners participated last year and the proceeds benefit many local causes, including Los Al HS Track and Field, and the new scoreboard in the Griffin gymnasium.
The Los Alamitos Jazz Band Class Notes fundraising concert wil be held March 7. Two shows at 6 pm and 8pm. Ticket info can be seen here. The event features trumpeter Wayne Bergeron's big band. Bergeron earned a 2004 Grammy nomination for his solo work on "You
Call This A Living?" .HOLD THE DATE: Two golf tournaments are on the fundraising calendar. The Los Al Boys football boosters annual tournament and silent auction at Old Ranch later this month.
Also, the Los Al Chamber of Commerce is holding their 27th Annual Silver Cup Challenge Golf Tournament on April 20th -- also at Old Ranch. The Chamber is letting the Los Al track boosters host the silent auction and all monies from that will go to the team's all-weather track fund. (If the above link doesn't work, go to www.losalchamber.org and click the golf tournament banner on the right.
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Shameless sales pitch for advertisers
 Call Local Sports (562) 431-7001 or click ad for rates |
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COMMUNITY: Los Al mayor's message puts proper email
protocol discussions on front burner
In case you may have missed it on the early morning,
mid-morning, mid-day or 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, or 11 o'clock
news, Los Al's been in the news recently for its civic
light opera production of "When emails go bad." As always,
we at Local Sports try to duck the big issues and pretend
we're Switzerland (or an ostrich). Plus, because
we live in Rossmoor where we not only vote to avoid
city councils (probably for this very reason), but we
also pretend to have have a long-standing policy of
not interfering with the internal affairs of sovereign
foreign nations like Los Alamitos. But in the
interests of serving the overall community, here are
links to stories that provide the basics of the story.
Despite Mayor Grose's resignation,
something tells me, this story is only just starting.
Anyway, let's set ill-advised, obviously insensitive
e-mails aside -- and get back to the normal small-town
community news of budget crises, embezzlements, and
folksy heroin busts.
OTHER
LOS ALAMITOS STUFF
HBO
donates $10,000 to group at Los Al 5K/10K event
Nothing
apparently happened in Rossmoor last week.
Considering what's been going on elsewhere, we
look at this as a good thing.
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That's all for this issue.
See you on the fields (or the courts, the pitch, etc.)
Sincerely,
Larry & Nancy Strawther
Big Kahuna & Boss Kahuna, Local Sports
Phone: (562) 431-7001
Fax: (562) 431-7001
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