La Salle's Victoria Baltazar is a bright spot in rough year for La Salle. (Photo Anne Cypress)
Three weeks left before the playoffs.
Some tight races in and around the area, the most intriguing is the Rio Hondo League.
GETTING CLOSE
This season has been rough for the La Salle Lancers after moving up to Division 3. The Lancers sit in last in the Del Rey.
One spot though that has gone under the radar is at second base where Victoria Baltazar has resided for three years.
This season Baltazar leads the team in hitting with a .482 average and has an outside shot to break the season record in average set by Jenny Bielak.
After this season she will have quietly put herself in the top ten in hits and average as Baltazar improves each season. For her career Baltazar has amassed 81 hits and continues to see the ball well as her batting average went from .258 as a freshman to its current mark.
IMPRESSIVE STREAK
This column maybe looking like an update on La Canada, but no one can deny the impressive run the Spartans have had.
After dropping three of four early in the season to the likes of Glendora and West Ranch to start the season 3-3, all La Canada has done is go 13-0.
The Spartans are 7-0 in league to go along with a 6-0 mark in non-league games.
Recently in the Thousand Oaks tournament, La Canada went 4-0 to win the tourney. They defeated La Reina (Division 3), Oxnard (Ranked #2 in Division 2), Thousand Oaks (Division 1) and Hart (Division 1).
La Canada has outscored its opponents during the winning streak 73-8.
TWO RACES TO WATCH
Buckle up and enjoy the next two weeks in the Rio Hondo League. Presently, La Canada (7-0) holds a 2 1/2 lead over San Marino with five games remaining.
With two games left (4/27, 5/04) against the Titans the league is still up for grabs.
San Marino (4-2) managed to get upset by Monrovia early in league play and still has five of six games remaining against La Canada, Temple City or the Lady Cats. For the second spot it holds a 1 1/2 game lead over the Rams (5/5) which they play one more time.
Temple City (3-4) is 1/2 game better over Monrovia at the moment after its thrilling 11-inning win on Friday afternoon/evening. They face winless South Pasadena twice and hold the tiebreaker over the Lady Cats by winning the season series. The Rams still must face La Canada and San Marino.
Monrovia (2-4) couldn’t have picked a worse time to hit a June swoon dropping two straight this week. The Lady Cats have the toughest road having to face Michelle Floyd twice and Lauren O’Leary once. On the bright side, Monrovia still does have two games against South Pasadena.
The only thing we can say about the Almont is that it is wild at the top. Four teams head into this week with 3-1 league records and only three will head to the playoffs when the season is over.
Montebello will face Keppel on tomorrow on the road. The Oilers will face the Aztecs twice during the remainder of the season.
Alhambra will face Schurr two more times beginning on Tuesday. The Moors look like the dark horse in the Almont especially having to face a Spartans team that went 3-1 in the Spring Jamboree in Las Vegas with its only loss coming on the final day of the tournament.
The Oilers still have Schurr and Alhambra on the road, while the Aztecs benefit from having the Spartans and Moors at home remaining.
Will see how these league races play out.
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