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Facing Rancho Cucamonga's athletic defense will be scary for many offensive coordinators this fall.

Senior-to-be Chris Hawkins, a cornerback who has already committed to USC, did not participate in Saturday's 12-team passing league tournament at Rancho Cucamonga due to track obligations, but the Cougars still had enough defensive talent to come out on top. The Cougars proved they're one of the Inland Empire's fastest teams, beating Chino Hills and standout receiver Jack Austin in a thrilling tournament final.

Rancho Cucamonga allowed under 17 points per game last season and finished 11-2, losing to powerhouse Corona Centennial in the playoffs.

"For the defense, my expectations are 10 times higher than they were last year," said safety Tahaan Goodman, a national-level recruit who has scholarship offers from the likes of Louisiana State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, as well as eight Pac-12 schools, including locals USC and UCLA.

And that statement alone could leave Baseline League offensive coordinators feeling woozy.

WEST COVINA -- An electric right arm. A compact swing. A keenness for high-stress situations.

Senior Ty France of South Hills put all of his skills on display Thursday afternoon, leading the Huskies to a 4-0 victory against visiting Upland in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 baseball playoffs. France, a San Diego State signee, struck out 11 in a complete-game effort and also drove in three runs.

By the way France looked, you'd never guess it was only his second start of the season.

"I didn't expect him to go seven innings and shut them out. It's just a great effort on his part," South Hills head coach Kevin Smith said. "He's a bulldog. I wish I had 15 of him."

France has been on varsity for four years, experiencing sudden success as a freshman on a South Hills squad that captured the section title. He's a known commodity in the San Gabriel Valley, a slick-fielding shortstop who doubles as his team's closer. Smith, though, wanted his best curveball thrower on the mound against an Upland lineup that scored 22 runs in the wild-card round earlier in the week.

"I love pitching," France said. "I love getting out there and controlling the game."

France did that and more, scattering six hits and walking only two, one of them intentional. He helped his own cause at the plate with a pair of two-out RBI singles, putting South Hills (18-7) up early. UCLA signee Daniel Robertson had half of Upland's hits in his final high school game.

"Getting those two early runs helped a lot," France said.

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The two teams from the Marmonte League won their wild-card games in the CIF Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs.

The two teams from the Foothill League lost.

Moorpark shut out Milikan, 3-0, in their wild-card game and advanced to the next round against top-seeded Orange Lutheran.

Simi Valley eliminated Hart, 7-4. Spencer Dubaich had four strikeouts and no walks for Simi Valley, which plays Esperanza next.

Valencia lost to Corona, 3-0. Corona starter Daniel Pena tossed a two-hitter and struck out six. The Panthers play Camarillo on Friday.

Here is a look at the wild-card results in the Southern Section baseball playoffs:

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VALENCIA -- Corona starter Daniel Pena showed no fear going up against Valencia, one of the best-hitting clubs in high school baseball.

Pena tossed a two-hitter and held the top-four hitters in the Valencia lineup to one walk and no hits in a 3-0 shutout in the wild-card round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs on Tuesday.

Trey Williams, Keston Hiura, Brian Mundell and AJ Balta combined to go 0-for-11 with four strikeouts against Pena.

“We have a ton of respect for those guys,” Corona coach Andy Wise said. “Coming in, we knew what we were dealing with. At the same time, Pena has outstanding stuff. It’s not like we were going pitch around these guys, try to trick them or anything. We were going to come right after them and challenge them with Pena’s stuff. It worked out in our favor. He put it to them a little bit.”

Balta was the only one of the four to reach base against Pena. He drew a lead-off walk in the second inning. Designated hitter Kyle Sanchez followed with a bunt single to put runners on first and second with no outs. But Valencia (19-9) squandered the scoring opportunity and Pena struck out Cody McAfee and Johnny Ives to end the threat.

“Baseball’s not a forgiving game,” Valencia coach Jared Snyder said. “We didn’t have many chances. That kid pitched so well, we didn’t have many chances. The chances that we did have, we just did not execute. We didn’t execute.”

Corona scored all three of its runs in the third inning. Cole Young delivered a two-run, two-out single. Adrian Marmolejo put Corona on the board with a run-scoring single.

Valencia starter JD Busfield gave up only four hits and had five strikeouts in five innings. Chris Gimenez came in to relieve Busfield in the sixth and pitched two shutout innings. But they were no match for Pena.

“The kid just three pitches for strikes all game long,” Snyder said. “What do you do? The kid threw a two-hitter. He would have two-hit anybody today. I’m proud of my two pitchers. My two pitchers pitched great too.”

Corona (15-14) will play Camarillo on Friday, another long road trip for the Panthers.

“We’ve been fantastic on the road,” Wise said. “We’ve struggled mightily at home and we’ve done great on the road. We were actually happy to come on the road today. Not that we were looking forward to playing Valencia, they are a quality program and we knew we were going to have our hands full, but we really like going on the road. We’re really looking forward to going out to Camarillo.”

The Southern Section released its baseball playoff brackets Monday and defending champion J.W. North was seeded third in Division 1.

The Huskies will host the winner of the wild-card game between Edison and Chaparral in Friday's first round. They finished 24-5 in the regular season, including 12-2 in Big VIII League play to earn their second consecutive championship.

Wild-card games in all seven divisions are scheduled to begin Tuesday, with first-round games in even-numbered divisions beginning Friday, and odd-numbered on Thursday.

Orange Lutheran was seeded No. 1 in Division 1 and Trinity Division rival Mater Dei was No. 2.

Orange Lutheran will meet the winner of M.L. King and Vista Murrieta in the second round. M.L. King finished runner-up in the Big VIII League, handing J.W. North one of its two losses. Vista Murrieta finished second to Temecula Valley in the Southwestern League.

Palm Desert, which reached the Division 4 championship game last season, is top seeded in that division.

Elsinore is seeded fourth in Division 3.

The brackets for each division can be found here.

The CIF Southern Section boys volleyball playoffs begin on Tuesday and it looks like there might be a new champion in Division I.

Mater Dei won the Division I championship in a five-game match over Santa Margarita last year.

Servite won the Trinity League championship this year and enter the Division I playoffs as the No. 4 seed. Mater Dei was second in the Trinity League, followed by Santa Margarita in third.

Loyola has the top seed in the Division I playoffs and awaits the winner of the Simi Valley vs. San Marcos wild-card match.

Esperanza is the No. 2 seed and opens against St. Francis. Mira Costa is the No. 3 seed and plays Newbury Park in the first round.

Servite plays Long Beach Wilson in the first round.

Teams from the L.A. North Region dominate Division II. Oak Park is the top seed and has a bye in the first round. Valencia is the No. 4 seed and plays Knight from Lancaster in the first round.

Corona del Mar is the No. 2 seed and has a bye in the first round. Laguna Beach is the third seed and plays Malibu to open the playoffs.

Corona del Mar won the Division II championship in four games against Laguna Beach last year.

Here is a look at the first-round matches in the CIF Southern Section playoffs:

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1. Kyree King of Colony ran the state’s fastest time of the season in the boys’ 100 meters Saturday at the Sacramento Meet of Champions at American River College. King, a senior, finished in a wind-legal 10.54 seconds, which equals the time Khalfani Muhammad of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame produced earlier this month at the Maurice Green Invitational at Oaks Christian. King came back to lose a photo finish to Andre McBride of San Leandro in the 200, but both were credited with a time of 21.21, which also represents the top time in the state this season. The state meets is six weeks away.

2. The Inland Empire has a new single-season home run record in softball after Sierra Romero of Vista Murrieta clubbed three more Saturday at the Corona Santiago Spring Fling tournament. Romero, a senior who has signed with Michigan, hit her 15^th round tripper of the season in a 7-5 victory against Carson to tie the record held by former teammate Taylor Edwards and Lauren Sweet of Santiago. She hit two more later that day in a 9-7 loss to Saugus. Her 42 career home runs are also an I.E. record.

3. The J.W. North baseball team improved to 10-0 in Big VIII League play Friday with an 11-4 victory against Riverside Poly. The Huskies, ranked fifth in the state by CalHiSports and seeking their second consecutive Division 1 title, were led by catcher Andrew Saucedo, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Gabe Franca, Justin Gheorghe, Jack Johnson and Robert Ortega contributed two hits each. J.W. North can clinch the title outright this week with victories Wednesday against visiting Roosevelt and Friday at Corona Santiago.

4. The Baseline League baseball race is wide open again after Glendora lost its third straight game last week to fall into second place, a game behind Alta Loma. Upland, one of the preseason favorites to win league, bounced back from a 1-4 start to beat Glendora twice last week to move into fourth, three games back of Alta Loma (15-5, 8-3). The Highlanders close out the season next week with two games against the Braves. Also in the mix is third-place Los Osos at 6-5 in league. The Grizzlies play Upland twice this week.

5. The Yucaipa baseball team swept two games from Redlands last week to move into first place in the Citrus Belt League. The second win was a 1-0 victory Friday at Redlands. Tyler Sapp went the distance, allowing four hits and striking out seven with one intentional walk. The Thunderbirds gave Sapp (6-2) all the runs he would need in the first inning on a lead-off double by Greg Espinosa, followed by an RBI-single by Alec Morabito. Yucaipa (15-8, 9-2) sits a half game ahead of Redlands East Valley (15-6, 8-2), which the Thunderbirds play two times next week in the final stretch of the regular season.

The CIF Southern Section Council voted Wednesday morning to pass a proposal that aims to revise the state's transfer rules. Under the proposed new rule, transfers would sit out 30 days as opposed to a full academic year. It passed by the slimmest of margins, 41-40.

The proposal still must pass at the state level next week for it to go into effect this summer.

Highly touted football prospect Su'a Cravens of Vista Murrieta plans to announce his college choice June 6, his mother's birthday, he wrote Wednesday on his Twitter account.

Cravens, ranked 15th on ESPN's list of the nation's top 150 players in the class of 2013, is being pursued by dozens of top programs, including USC, UCLA, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma.

Cravens, who plays strong safety, running back and wide receiver, said in an interview last fall that he planned to take his five official visits and announce his college choice following his senior football season. National signing day is in early February.

His decision to move up his announcement is a good sign for USC, which has a limited number of scholarships to offer due to sanctions as a result of the Reggie Bush scandal. The Trojans have already landed commitments from two other I.E. recruits, Rancho Cucamonga cornerback Chris Hawkins, No. 69 on ESPN's top 150, and Redlands East Valley defensive end Kylie Fitts, who is No. 90.

Seven players from Inland Empire schools made the initial ESPN 150 football recruiting rankings, led by the Southland's most coveted prospect Su'a Cravens of Vista Murrieta.

Cravens, a safety, is ranked 15th overall nationally, but first in the state and first at his position. Rancho Cucamonga defensive backs Chris Hawkins (69th overall) and Tahaan Goodman (128th), Moreno Valley Rancho Verde receiver Demorea Stringfellow (74), Redlands East Valley defensive end Kylie Fitts (90), Upland defensive end Joe Mathis (120) and J.W. North tight end Marcus Baugh (127) are the other Inland Empire representatives.

Mission Viejo safety Max Redfield, ranked 31st overall, is the only Orange County player listed.

Alemany receiver Steven Mitchell (136) and Westlake defensive back Dashon Hunt (140) are considered to be the top recruits in the L.A. North region, while Santa Monica receiver Sebastian Larue checks in at 149th overall and is the only rep from the L.A. South.

Hawkins and Fitts have already committed to USC, Hunt is committed to UCLA and Baugh recently pledged for Ohio State.

Click here for the complete ESPN 150 rankings:

1. A third football player from the Inland Empire committed to a major college program over the weekend. Kylie Fitts, a defensive lineman who will be a senior at Redlands East Valley next fall, committed to USC following the spring game on Saturday at the Coliseum. Fitts, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound pass rusher, had 8 ½ sacks last season and two caused fumbles for the 11-1 Wildcats. He’s the second I.E. recruit to commit to the Trojans this spring. Two weeks ago, Rancho Cucamonga cornerback Chris Hawkins committed to USC, and last week J.W. North tight end Marcus Baugh committed to Ohio State.

2. Paul Martinez continues to string together a sensational senior season for the Arlington baseball team. Through 15 games, the Oregon State-bound shortstop is hitting .627 (32-for-51) with 21 runs scored and just two strikeouts in 59 plate appearances. His batting average is fourth-best in the Southern Section, according to MaxPreps. He had two hits or more in 10 games. Martinez is one of three I.E. players who signed with the Beavers in the fall. J.W. North first baseman Gabriel Clark and Canyon Springs middle infielder Dennis Banks are also headed to Corvalis.

3. The Redlands baseball team remained undefeated in Citrus Belt League play after squeaking out a 6-5 victory Saturday against Fontana in a rain make-up game. Roman Cross, who has taken over at catcher after Jacob Nottingham went down with a season-ending knee injury, drove in the eventual winning run with a run-scoring ground out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Fontana put the Terriers in an early hole by scoring three runs in the top of the first, but Redlands answered with three in the bottom of the inning. The Terriers (17-1, 6-0) face a key home-and-home series this week against Redlands East Valley (11-5, 4-1).

4. The Riverside City track and field championships were held Saturday at M.L. King High School and a couple of meet records went by the wayside. La Sierra senior Edgar Cobian won the “Marshall Mile” in 4 minutes 21.70 seconds to establish a new meet record. The Marshall Mile is named after former J.W. North track coach Earl Marshall. Cobian, a two-time state qualifier, also won the 800 in 1:57.14. Zach Lewis of Ramona, a state finalist in the 300 hurdles last season, set meet records in both hurdle events. He won the 110s in 15 seconds flat and the 300s in 38.13, the sixth-fastest time in the state this season. The other meet record was established in the girls’ shot put. Tanya Sapa of La Sierra finished first with a mark of 45 feet 1 ½ inches.

5. Santiago girls’ basketball coach John Perez told the Riverside Press-Enterprise he’s hanging up the whistle after leading the Sharks to a 108-13 record the last four seasons. The rest of the Big VIII League coaches will be glad to see him go. His teams went undefeated all four years in league play and reached the Division 1AA semifinals last season. The Sharks should be in good shape for the new coach. They’ll return four starters, including Division 1AA first-team selections Chrishae Rowe and Monique Billings. Perez also coaches the softball team at Santiago and plans to remain at the helm, at least through this season, he said.

The class of 2013 continues to develop into the best in Inland Empire history, as J.W. North tight end Marcus Baugh committed to Ohio State on Tuesday.

Baugh, at 6 feet 4, 215 pounds, caught 30 passes for 528 yards and seven touchdowns while helping the Huskies to a 10-2 record last fall. He also recorded seven sacks as a defensive end.

The Buckeyes aren’t known for recruiting out West, but that could change with Urban Meyer now at the helm. While at Utah in 2003-04, Meyer stacked his team with West Coast talent.

Ohio State had one player from the West Coast on its 2011 roster, walk-on wide receiver Donald Senegal, who played quarterback at Monroe High School in L.A., and then spent a season at Moorpark College in 2008.

In its most recent recruiting class, former Woodland Hills Taft wide receiver Michael Thomas, who spent a season at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia before signing with Ohio State, was the only recruit with West Coast ties.

Last month, Rancho Cucamonga cornerback Chris Hawkins committed to USC.

The most prized recruit from the I.E. remains Vista Murrieta strong safety/running back Su’a Cravens, who has offers from approximately 40 schools, including USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Alabama, but Upland defensive lineman Joe Mathis is drawing offers from many of the same schools.

1. For the second consecutive season, the Corona Santiago baseball team won the Darryl Kile tournament championship at Norco High. That Sharks (10-6-1) pushed across a run in the top of the eighth inning Saturday night on Cody Bruder’s RBI single and held on to beat Norco, 8-7, for their seventh consecutive victory. The tournament was named in honor of Norco graduate Darryl Kile, a Major League pitcher who died of a heart attack in 2002 while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. Santiago resumes Big VIII League play Wednesday with a key game at J.W. North.

2. Another tournament championship needed extra innings last week after the San Jacinto baseball team scored four runs in the top of the seventh Wednesday to take a 9-8 lead against Elsinore at the Tahquitz tournament in Hemet. The Tigers rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh, then won it in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off single by Matt Herring. It was a fitting finish for Herring, who finished 4-for-5, including a 375-foot blast in the bottom of the sixth that extended Elsinore’s lead to 8-5. The Tigers had rallied back from a 5-0 deficit after the third inning.

3. The Redlands baseball team is off to a 16-1 start but their hopes of winning a section title took a blow last week when it was confirmed that junior catcher Jacob Nottingham will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, the Riverside Press-Telegram reported. Nottingham, who has already committed to Oklahoma, was injured two weeks earlier while trying to beat out a throw to first base in a 5-4 victory against Citrus Belt League rival Redlands East Valley. He was hitting .341 with 16 RBIs. Roman Cross has taken Nottingham’s spot behind the plate and is hitting .469 with 14 RBIs.

4. Peter Chapman of Murrieta Valley set a Riverside County record while winning the boys’ pole vault Saturday at the Arcadia Invitational. Chapman, a senior who shared the previous county mark of 16 feet, cleared 16-6 ½ to win the prestigious title. The Vista Murrieta boys’ team also captured the distance medley relay, as sophomore Tyler Dain, juniors Omar Solis and Porter Reddish and senior Kevin Gonzalez combined to win in 10:08.52, less than a half-second ahead of Las Vegas Centennial. In the girls’ long jump, Redlands freshman Margaux Jones had the top mark of the meet at 19 feet.

5. The Norco softball team, which entered last week ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN, suffered its first blemish when it lost to Orange Lutheran, 2-1, in the second round of the Michelle Carew Memorial Classic at Peralta Canyon Park in Anaheim. After the Lancers scored an unearned run in the first inning Thursday, Norco tied the score in the sixth on a home run by sophomore Ashley Goodwin. Orange Lutheran, which entered the week ranked No. 15 in the nation, scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on the fourth error of the game by the Cougars.

LONG BEACH -- For under-the-radar players like Alex Kline, Saturday's Nike SPARQ Combine was about opportunity. The rising senior tailback out of Cerritos Gahr had nothing else on his mind.

"It can put you on the map," Kline said. "It can get you the looks you never thought you were going to get."

Kline made the most of it, posting impressive numbers in the annual event held at Veterans Stadium. He ranked fifth among 1,290 attendees with a 41-foot power ball toss, 24th with a 33.6-inch vertical jump and eighth with an overall rating of 100.41 -- a number that takes into account an athlete's speed, power, agility, reactions and quickness.

Kline, who has been contacted by San Diego State, Tennessee and Missouri, was the overall leader for much of the five-hour combine.

One of the bigger names to participate was Sherman Oaks Notre Dame running back Khalfani Muhammad, a local standout who has offers from UCLA, Oregon State and Washington. He finished 12th with a rating of 98.64.

"My name has gotten a little bit bigger than it used to be," Muhammad said. "Right now I do not have any favorite [schools]. I want to get a feel for what fits me best."

Alemany receiver Steven Mitchell, competing in his first SPARQ combine, finished 19th with a 94.62. Jordan Robinson, a running back at Chino Hills Ayala, was tops among all Southland athletes with a rating of 102.30.

"I feel like I did very well," said Mitchell, who already has 10 scholarship offers. "My group was a very competitive group, so that drove me to do even better."

1. Chris Hawkins of Rancho Cucamonga became the first I.E. football recruit from the class of 2013 to commit to a major college program. Hawkins, a lock-down cornerback, pledged to USC during the L.A. Nike Camp on Sunday at Cerritos College. Hawkins, who earned MVP among the defensive backs during the camp, chose the Trojans over Stanford, but his recruiting doesn’t figure to slow down, especially with schools such as LSU and Penn State extending offers in recent weeks. The most dominant lineman at the camp also hails from the I.E., Upland defensive end Joe Mathis, who is being recruited by many of the same schools as Hawkins. His latest offer came via a phone call last week from Nick Saban, coach of the defending BCS champion Alabama.

2. The J.W. North baseball team came into last week ranked No. 1 in the state by ESPN HS, but the Huskies will surely drop after losing their first two games Saturday at the Anaheim Lions tournament. The Huskies were shut down by Aliso Niguel freshman pitcher Kyle Molnar in the opener. Molnar allowed two unearned runs in 6 2/3 innings of the 3-2 victory. J.W. North still had a chance to win after taking a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh. Aliso Niguel stormed back, winning on a two-run base hit by sophomore Anthony Sommer, who also recorded the final out of the seventh to earn the victory. J.W. North came back Saturday afternoon and lost to JSerra, 7-6.

3. If there was any doubt which Inland Empire baseball team has the deepest pitching, Alta Loma put that to rest in the last 10 days. The Braves received three straight masterful pitching performances, beginning with a three-hitter by senior right-hander Nolan Sheridan in a 5-1 victory March 24 against Palm Desert, the top-ranked team in Division 4. Four days later, senior right-hander Cortland Cox fired a five-hitter in a 3-0 win at Etiwanda in a Baseline League game. Finally, senior left-hander Bryan Conant tossed another complete game in a 6-1 victory Thursday at Upland, moving the Braves to 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the league play. They face another tough road test Tuesday at Los Osos.

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