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La Canada pitcher Lauren Cox struck out 20 batters and tossed a one-hit, 7-0, shutout against Mary Star of the Sea in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 softball playoffs on Thursday.

La Canada coach KC Mathews said he was not sure if Cox’s 20-strikeout performance was a school record, but he can’t imagine a pitcher striking out 21 batters in a seven-inning game.

“It’s her personal best,” Mathews said. “I don’t think we’ve ever come close to 20 strikeouts.”

Cox walked three and hit one batter.

Selina Mohr went 3-for-4 and reached on an error. She scored three runs for La Canada. Katy Lee had two hits, walked twice and scored two runs. She drove in a run on a squeeze bunt.

Catherine Horner was 2-for-5 with a double and scored a run.

Jessica Ogden drove in two runs with a double in the first inning.

La Canada will play Nipomo in the semifinals at La Canada High on Tuesday.

SAN FERNANDO – Armando Gomez decided to gamble a bit in the first round of the City Section Division I baseball playoffs against Granada Hills.

The coach of the San Fernando baseball team, the reigning City Section champion, went with his No. 2 starter, Kevin Martinez, opting to save his ace, Alonzo Garcia, for the second round.

The gamble paid off as Martinez pitched a six-hit shutout and San Fernando eliminated Granada Hills, 3-0, at San Fernando High School on Tuesday.

“He’s quieted the critics now,” Gomez said. “I don’t want to get to Thursday and not have our No. 1. Kevin’s been great in big games. It didn’t bug him at all.”

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For those in Orange County looking for the best game on Tuesday in the second round of the playoffs—in baseball or softball—might we suggest filling the gas tank and heading to Simi Valley? Garden Grove Pacifica, ranked No. 2 in the nation by ESPN in softball, will play Simi Valley Royal, which is ranked No. 25.

Statewide, It's No. 2 vs. No. 8.

And, we remind you, this is a second-round game in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

The Mariners, who were ranked No. 1 in the nation before losing their Empire League finale to Cypress, got three home runs in a 7-0 victory over Fullerton Rosary in the first round. It was the first time this season that Rosary had been shut out, but the Royals were unable to score against the pitching combo of Kaley Winegarner and Kaylee Carlson.

But unlike Rosary, Royal counters with one of the Southland's outstanding pitchers, Nancy Bowling, who has committed to Arizona. Bowling (25-2) has 240 strikeouts in 156 innings, and her 0.36 earned-run average is lower than both Winegarner's and Carlson's.

Not that Bowling is going to have an easy time of it. In Pacifica, Bowling is facing a team that bats a collective .348 and has 30 home runs, led by Nicole DeWitt's eight.

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The Palisades boys volleyball team swept Granada Hills in three close games, 25-19, 26-24, 25-23, to win the City Section Division I championship at Venice High School on Saturday night.

Palisades won its first boys volleyball title since 2008 after reaching the championship match the past two years. The Dolphins lost to Woodland Hills Taft and Granada Hills in consecutive years. It was the 12th City Section championship for Palisades.

Connor Nasch had 10 kills to lead Palisades. Nick Wittbrodt recorded 37 assists and Matt Comisar had 15 digs.

Billy De La Espriella and Jino Labao each had 10 kills for Granada Hills.

Los Angeles Jordan swept Verdugo Hills in the City Section Division II championship match at Venice High School. Verdugo Hills had a 19-match winning streak snapped.

C.J. Suarez set the Verdugo Hills record for kills. He had 25 kills against Jordan and set the school mark with 748 kills over his career.

Jordan won the Division II championship for the second year in a row.

Northridge Academy won the small schools championship in four games over Elizabeth Learning Center. Justin Bates had 22 kills for Northridge Academy, which won its third title in the past six seasons.

AGOURA HILLS -- Agoura’s Justin Cana was sick, both literally and figuratively, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs against Brea Olinda.

After leading off the game with a triple and scoring on a wild pitch, Cana puked in the dugout. He collected two more hits, a double and another triple, drove in three runs and led Agoura to a 6-1 win over visiting Brea Olinda on Friday.

“Apparently he was sick all day today,” Agoura coach Mike Cordero said. “He was throwing up in the second inning. He comes in and hits a lead-off triple, goes and throws up, hits a double, then he came out with another triple. Pretty impressive I think.”

Agoura starter Jordan Shulman was equally ill on the mound, tossing a complete-game and scattering nine hits.

More importantly, Shulman provided the pitching staff with a prescription for success saving the Agoura arms for future playoff games.

“He has no idea how big this is,” Cordero said. “Everyone wants to get a complete game in CIF playoffs. That’s something he’ll remember, a complete game. We have our whole staff intact. We’re in pretty good shape.”

Agoura (24-4-1) blew open an otherwise tight game scoring four runs in the sixth inning. Cana capped the rally with a two-run triple. Drew Lutzke, who was 2-for-3, added a run-scoring single in the inning.

Agoura took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Brea Olinda tied the score in the second inning. The score remained tied until the fifth inning when Cana knocked in his first run with a one-out double. Cordero said it was nice to see Cana swing the bat so well in the first game of the playoffs.

“I think the week-and-a-half off really did him some good,” Cordero said. “He’s rejuvenated and he finds a way to do it for us. He’s swinging the bat better than he has all year.”

Shulman, meanwhile, held Brea Olinda at bay. He wiggled out of trouble throughout the game. His defense turned two double plays, and nearly had a third on a lineout to shortstop in the third inning.

Shulman struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. But he only sent the Brea Olinda batters down in order once.

Jacob McFarland was 1-for-3 with a stolen base and scored the lone run for Brea Olinda (16-14-1). Kyle Kasser was 2-for-3, a pair of singles, and stole a base.

Agoura will play Corona, a surprise 4-2 winner over Camarillo, in the second round of the Division I playoffs on Tuesday.

Here are the results from the CIF Division I first round playoff games:

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El Camino Real is the top seed in the City Section Division I baseball playoffs. San Fernando, the reigning City Section champion, is the No. 3 seed.

El Camino Real and Chatsworth shared the West Valley League championship. The Conquistadores won a coin flip last week to determine the top seed in the baseball playoffs. Chatsworth is the No. 2 seed.

Eight teams earned wild-card bids, including Arleta, Granada Hills and Sylmar. The wild-cards games will be played Friday. The first round of the Division I playoffs begin on Tuesday. The championship game will be at Dodger Stadium on June 2.

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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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The Granada Hills boys volleyball team swept Woodland Hills Taft in three games and will play for the City Section Division I championship on Saturday.

Palisades had a bit tougher time with West Adams, but still swept its way to the championship match.

Granada Hills and Palisades will play at Venice High School on Saturday at 5.

Los Angeles Jordan plays Verdugo Hills in the Division II championship match at Venice High School. Northridge plays Elizabeth in the small schools championship at noon.

In the CIF Southern Section boys volleyball playoffs, top-seeded Loyola plays third-seeded Mira Costa in the Division I championship match at Cypress College on Saturday.

Top-seeded Oak Park plays second-seeded Corona del Mar in the Division II championship match at Cypress College.

No. 1 seed Warren plays No. 2 South Torrance in the Division III championship match.

No. 1 Cathedral plays No. 3 Santa Monica in the Division IV championship match. No. 4 Viewpoint plays No. 1 Chadwick in the Division V championship match.

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 La Canada softball team is the No. 1 team in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs, but coach K.C. Mathews said he isn’t too concerned about rankings in the middle of May.

“We talk about setting goals and we want to be playing late in May,” Mathews said. “Our goal is to be playing softball in June. We want to come out and play the best softball we can each and every day.”

La Canada will play the winner of the wild-card game between Lompoc and Gladstone.

With senior Lauren Cox in the circle, the Spartans (21-4-1) have been nearly unbeatable. Cox (19-3) has 15 shutouts, a 0.63 ERA and 254 strikeouts in 156 1/3 innings. Teams are hitting .099 against her.

“The pitching that we have, we have a chance against everybody,” Mathews said. “Our lineup, somebody different is getting it done every game.”

La Canada is hitting .312 as a team. Catcher Catherine Horner and infielder Alyssa Stolmack lead the team with four home runs apiece. Horner is hitting .450 with 28 RBIs. Stolmack, who has a 2-1 record as a pitcher, is hitting .305 with 17 RBIs.

Annie Monroe is batting .349 with nine stolen bases and has scored 17 runs.

In the Division 1 softball playoffs, Norco earned the top seed.

West Ranch, the Foothill League champion, is the No. 7 team in the Division 1 poll and opens the playoffs against El Modena on Thursday.

Simi Valley opens playoffs against the winner of the wild-card game between Riverside Poly and Foothill.

Saugus plays La Palma Kennedy in the first round.

In the Division 2 playoffs, Mission Viejo is the No. 1 seed. Camarillo is the No. 2 seed and will play the winner of the wild-card game between Diamond Bar and Rialto.

Click here for the rest of the CIF Southern Section softball playoff brackets.

The Agoura baseball team will open the CIF Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs against the winner of the wild-card game between JSerra and Brea Olinda.

Agoura, the surprise winner of the Marmonte League, is the No. 5 team in the latest Division 1 poll. Orange Lutheran is the No. 1 seed in the Division 1 playoffs. Mater Dei from Santa Ana is No. 2, followed by JW North at No. 3 and Long Beach Wilson at No. 4.

West Ranch, the champion of the Foothill League, will play the winner of the wild-card game between Canyon of Anaheim and Riverside Poly.

Twenty teams are in the wild-card round for the Division 1 playoffs. Some of the more interesting games include Milikan vs. Moorpark, Pacifica of Oxnard vs. Capistrano Valley, Corona vs. Valencia and Hart vs. Simi Valley.

The wild-card games are scheduled for Tuesday. The first round of the playoffs begin on Friday.

In the Southern Section Division 2 playoffs, Harvard-Westlake earned the top seed and will play the winner of the wild-card game between Ventura and Burroughs of Burbank.

Alemany is the No. 3 seed giving the Mission League two of the top three teams in the Division 2 playoff bracket.

Paraclete from Lancaster earned the top seed in the Division 5. Hillcrest Christian from Granada Hills is the top seed in the Division 7 playoffs.

The Santa Margarita boys golf team won the CIF Southern Section team golf championship at Rancho San Marcos in Santa Barbara on Thursday.

Beau Hossler shot a 7-under 65 to lead Santa Margarita to a 363 team score. Long Beach Wilson was second at 370. Andrew Morgan and Chase Nicolai each shot 2-under 70s for Long Beach Wilson.

Great Oak was third at 373. Santa Barbara finished fourth at 374.

The top four teams at the Southern Section team championship advance to the CIF/SCGA regional at Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena next week.

Three swimmers are within a second of the CIF Southern Section Division I meet record in the girls 50-yard freestyle.

The leader of the trio is a freshman at Saugus High School, a relative newcomer to swimming who is headed to the U.S. Olympic Trials in June to compete in two events.

Abbey Weitzeil is the top seed in the 50 freestyle for the Southern Section Division I meet at Riverside City College. Her top time is 23.38 seconds.

The record is 22.75 seconds set by Courtney Cashion of Irvine High in 2004. Lynrea Baudino from Los Alamitos and Kaitlyn Albertoli from JSerra are within a second of Cashion’s record. La Canada’s Sarah Olson is the fourth seed in the 50 freestyle at 23.80 seconds.

Weitzeil, who is also qualified in the 100 freestyle for the Division I championships, is making quite a splash in the high school swim scene. She didn’t start swimming at the club level until she was in the seventh grade. She has competed at the national level for less than a year.

Her coach said Weitzeil is far from flawless in the 50 freestyle. But she is extremely talented and that helps her overcome a lot of mistakes.

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Newbury Park pitcher Luke Eubank threw his third no-hitter of the season and it couldn't have come at a more crucial time.

Eubank no-hit Agoura and Newbury Park won, 4-0. The senior right-hander had six strikeouts and no walks. Newbury Park is a game behind Agoura in the Marmonte League standings with one game to play.

Eubank also threw no-hitters against Loyola and Calabasas earlier in the season. The recent Cal State Los Angeles commit improved to 8-0.

Newbury Park is home against Agoura today.

Some other recruiting notes:

Westlake defensive back Dashon Hunt picked up another scholarship offer from Hawaii. He has verbally committed to UCLA, but is fielding offers from other schools.

Alemany guard Max Guercy is going to Rice to play basketball. Guercy led Alemany to the CIF State Division III championship.

The Westlake golf team won the CIF Southern Section Northern Team Divisional championship by three strokes over Oaks Christian at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai.

Michael Dansey shot a 1-under 71 to lead five Westlake golfers in the 70s at Soule Park. Brandon Shaw was even-par at 72. Sean Crocker was 2-over at 74. Blake Wing shot a 75 and Jake Andl shot a 76.

Oaks Christian's Peter Griffith shot the low round of the match, a 6-under 66. Teammate Victor Ponte was even-par at 72.

Moorpark finished in third place. Thomas Lim was 4-under at 68 on the day to lead Moorpark.

Westlake, Oaks Christian and Moorpark advance to the Southern Section team finals at Rancho San Marcos in Santa Barbara next week.

Santa Barbara won the Central Coast Division championship at Cypress Ridge Golf Course. Arroyo Grande was second, followed by Dos Pueblos in third. All three teams advance to the Southern Section team final in Santa Barbara.