Author Archives: Harold Abend
Mini-Stampede Hits Livermore
State No. 1 St. Francis of Mountain View and its state-ranked rivals from Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) both won twice on Saturday in a hastily-arranged doubleheader with Livermore schools. When the Livermore Recreation and Parks Department deemed the field at Robertson Park unplayable on both Thursday and Friday, it spelled doom for the 30th Annual […]
SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week
While we don’t have any entries for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book to track this week, we do have some exceptional talent that we’ve uncovered for statewide recognition that usually might only get local props, and that’s the other important function of this feature. This week our stops are in Costa Mesa and South […]
St. Francis MV, Norco Co-Champs
This year’s Michelle Carew Classic had four of the top five teams from the state and six of the top 10, but rain wiped out Saturday’s schedule so there was no No. 1 vs No. 2 championship in the Gold Bracket. There were still big developments as No. 1 Pacifica (Garden Grove) lost twice, the […]
State Coach of the Year: Anna Almeida
The highest girls hoops coaching honor in California, the one that now goes back 53 years, lands in the small town of Caruthers. It can be difficult to build a hugely successful program in a place like that, but it came together for 20-year head coach Anna Almeida with a CIF state title. She won […]
NorCal/SoCal Players of the Week
Both of our Northern California honorees this week are known more for one thing — pitching in one case and hitting for another — but our two Southern California featured players do both almost equally well. Our stops are in Brentwood and Roseville up north and then it’s down to Calabasas and Aliso Viejo for […]
FINAL Girls BB State TOP 40 Rankings
For these final expanded rankings we obviously had a change at the top with Etiwanda defeating Archbishop Mitty for the CIF Open Division state championship, but after that only nine of the next 23 teams in the Top 25 held onto the same spot they had in the last rankings. Seven of the next 10...
NorCal/SoCal Players of the Week
For our second week of honoring baseball and softball players we alsomost fulfill two of the purposes of this feature, which is to find hidden talent that might only get local recognition, and to track potential entries for the Cal-Hi Sports online state records. One of our honorees will make the record book and another […]
Girls BB Saturday CIF State Finals
State No. 2 Etiwanda puts itself into the all-time conversation with a one-sided win over previously unbeaten national No. 1 Archbishop Mitty in the CIF Open Division state championship. It is also a second straight Open Division title for the Eagles. Other big winners at the Golden 1 Center were Harvard-Westlake of Studio City (Girls […]
Girls BB CIF State Previews & Picks
It was sub-par year for us doing predictions of state finals last year at 9-3 after a 11-1 showing from 2022. It’s time to take a crack at the 2024 lineup of games for girls basketball that will be played this weekend at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. We do this with respect to […]
SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week
Despite the fact it’s the most important week in high school basketball in California, we have traditionally switched from the hardwood to the baseball and softball fields this week. Many of the basketball players still going are going to eventually receive all-state recognition. We don’t have any state record book entries this week but certainly […]
