sport world

PARIS — Serena Williams is still haunted by her struggles en route to winning last year’s French Open title.

After getting the flu early in the touament, Williams was in major trouble during her three-set semifinal win over Timea Bacsinszky, wrapping herself in ice towels during changeovers, breathing heavily between points, the strain etched on her face.

“I think about it a lot, and I still don’t know how I got through it,” Williams said Friday after the draw for this year’s touament. “My eyes were glassy, and I was just not doing well.”

After getting through that ordeal, she skipped practice on the eve of the final, preferring to sleep until the afteoon at her Paris apartment. It proved to be good choice as Williams overcame a mid-match slump to beat Lucie Safarova in three sets and clinch her 20th major title.

Bidding for her fourth Roland Garros title this year, the 34-year-old American will open against 76th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, then could meet Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Angelique Kerber in the semifinals.

In a bid to avoid similar physical woes this year, Williams has made a firm pledge to take “Vitamin C every night” and to “regulate my temperature.”

That is because the weather in Paris has been overcast and somewhat chilly the past few days, and Williams — who joked that the warm weather only arrives at Roland Garros in time for the semifinals — said she put her tracksuit hood up following one practice session because she felt the cold on her ears.

Her victory in Paris last year followed successes in 2002 and 2013, and she then followed up with the Wimbledon title in July.

Williams was then surprisingly beaten by Roberta Vinci — an Italian ranked 43rd — in the semifinals of the U.S. Open and lost this year’s Australian Open final to Kerber.

It leaves Williams still needing one more major to equal Steffi Graf’s record for the Open era, which began in 1968, and three more to match Margaret Smith Court’s all-time mark of 24 majors.

The French Open is the only major Williams never has won back-to-back and she enters the touament following a confidence-boosting win at the Italian Open last weekend.

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“I got the match play that I needed in Rome,” she said.

Although it was her 70th career title, it was her first anywhere in nine months.

“Four touaments and three finals is not bad for everyone else, but I’m not everyone else,” Williams said. “I want to win more than most people — ever.”

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PARIS — In his quest to complete a career Grand Slam, Novak Djokovic could have to beat nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals.

Djokovic, who will face 100th-ranked Lu Yen-hsun in the first round, was put in the same side of the draw as Nadal on Friday. The top-ranked Serb beat Nadal in the quarterfinals last year, the Spaniard’s second loss of his career at Roland Garros.

Defending champion Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray could meet in the other semifinal match.

In the women’s draw, Serena Williams’ attempt to equal Steffi Graf’s professional era record of 22 major titles includes a possible quarterfinal match against Victoria Azarenka.

Djokovic has lost in the final on the red clay in three of the last four years. But winning the French Open would give him four consecutive major championships, something no man has achieved since Rod Laver won a true Grand Slam in 1969.

He arrives in the French capital with a 37-3 record, but on the back of a loss to Murray in the Italian Open final.

Murray is seeded second for the first time at Roland Garros and will face a qualifier in his first match.

“It’s only two days out from the start of the touament and I don’t know who I’m playing against yet,” Murray said about playing a qualifier. “So you don’t have as much time to start preparing for it and that’s what makes it tricky.

“The positives are that often a lot of the qualifiers maybe have not played on the bigger courts and stuff and maybe you can capitalize a bit on that at the beginning if they are a little bit nervous.”

Because of Roger Federer’s withdrawal, Nadal has been seeded No. 4, avoiding a possible quarterfinal rematch against Djokovic. Chasing his first major title since winning in Paris two years ago, Nadal takes on big server Sam Groth in the first round.

“I need to be ready to suffer a little bit during the match, because I know it’s going to be difficult to have breaks,” Nadal said.

Djokovic should have few problems before the fourth round, where 14th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut could be waiting.

Williams, the defending champion in Paris, will open against 76th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova.

Before a potential quarterfinal match against Azarenka, the top-ranked American might also have to face Kristina Mladenovic and former champion Ana Ivanovic. In the semifinals, Williams could then be pitted against third-seeded Angelique Kerber, who beat her in the Australian Open final in January to win her first Grand Slam title.

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Williams, who won her first title in nine months in Rome, has played only four touaments this season.

“Four touaments, three finals isn’t bad for everyone else, but then again I’m not everyone else,” said Williams, who lost to Azarenka in the Indian Wells final in March.

Margaret Smith Court (24) and Graf are the only players with more Grand Slam singles titles than Williams, who has never won back-to-back titles at Roland Garros.

In the bottom half of the draw, second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska will start her bid for a first major title against Bojana Jovanovski.

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BEVERLY HILLS — Kobe Bryant is getting advice from Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams and Jerry Bruckheimer as he redirects his competitive drive from professional basketball to his publishing and production company.

One month after retiring from the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers star has a new daily routine. “I get up early and I train and I work out. Then I go to the office,” Bryant said in an interview.

He spends much of his day “kicking around ideas” with his staff of 10 full-time employees at Newport Beach, Califoia-based Kobe Inc. — and calls up those Hollywood heavyweights for guidance.

“I mean those are like unfair advantages,” Bryant said, laughing. “I can pick up the phone and speak to them and ask them questions: ‘What do you think about the story? What is this missing?’ And they’ll nitpick every single detail and I love it.”

“They respect and appreciate what I’ve done for 20 years as I respect and appreciate what they’ve done over the years. And we understand that there is a unifying force between those two things,” Bryant said. “Even though the disciplines are different, the commitment, attention to detail is absolutely the same. So even though Steven Spielberg can start speaking in film language and I won’t understand a damn thing, I understand the core, the essence of what he’s saying.”

Bryant said his Kobe Studios also includes seven more people who have been working on a project for the past two years, and another team of five writers starting a new project shortly.

The company is now making a three-to-five minute film based on the “Dear Basketball” poem that Bryant used to announce his retirement, led by longtime Disney animator Glen Keane and featuring music from John Williams.

“You have to be true to who you are,” Bryant said while making an appearance Wednesday for a watch.

“Throughout my career, I’ve been able to take dark times and dark emotions and channel those feelings to create something better,” he said. “It’s not something that I shy away from. We all have things that motivate us. Sometimes you can push those things to the side, make it fester within you. Or you can choose to use them to create something better.”

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After a season full of injuries and players stepping up to contribute, it was appropriate for Los Alamitos High School to defeat visiting Long Beach Wilson, 7-3, in the first round of the CIF Southe Section Division 1 softball playoffs on Thursday, thanks in large part to a relief pitching performance.

Los Alamitos will be at Chino High on Tuesday for the second round.

The Bruins (14-14) took advantage of a wild starting pitcher and grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. However, sophomore Brianna Jewett came out of the bullpen for Los Alamitos (24-2) and stopped the bleeding while the Griffins offense came alive late.

“I had no problem bringing (Jewett) into the game because she’s been stepping up for us all year,” Los Alamitos head coach Rob Weil said. “We didn’t play up to our potential today, but we found a way to win.”

Jewett pitched six innings and scattered six hits while striking out three batters and not issuing any walks. No Bruin runner reached second base after the third inning.

Los Alamitos, the No. 3 seed, tied the game in the second inning on an RBI triple from Caitlin Ladd. But Wilson countered to go up 3-1 lead in the third inning on singles from Julia Juarez, Amanda Castro and Katelyn Howard.

The Griffins took the lead for good in the bottom of the third when back to back singles from Ariana Belarde and Jenna Holcomb set up Jenna Kean for a two-run triple. She scored on a sacrifice fly from Andrea Gonzalez for a 4-3 lead.

Wilson sophomore Joette Vega pitched well and limited Los Alamitos to just five hits before the sixth inning when the Griffins padded their lead. Catcher Mary Iakopo led off with a home run and hits from Cami Sellers, Alexa Schultz and Jade Loe gave Los Alamitos three insurance runs.

-JJ Fiddler

LAKEWOOD 2, ROOSEVELT 1 >> The Lancers opened the Division 1 playoffs at home and came up with hits in some key situations to pull out the win.

Lakewood will be at Edison in the second round on Tuesday.

“Good teams find a way to win,” said Lakewood coach Andy Miramontes. “The first one is the hardest, but our girls battled today.”

Roosevelt got out of some big innings and used that momentum to get on the board first in the top of the fifth. A Lakewood error put a runner on first base and Roosevelt’s No. 9 hitter had a triple to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. In the early innings,

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The Lancers rallied the sixth inning. Karina Ibarra led off with a single and she stole second base to get into scoring position. Senior Montana Dixon moved her to third base with a groundball to right side and Taylor Pack followed with a RBI base hit to tie the game up at 1. After a ground ball moved Pack to second base, senior Jaci Sanchez poked one to right field to give the Lancers a 2-1 lead that they would not give back. -Paul Slater

WARREN 8. LA SERNA 3 >> Jocelyn Heandez picked up the win, Ashley Machado went 2 for 4 with an RBI double and Nina Garcia hit a three-run homer in the first inning to lead the Bears to a CIF-SS Division 3 first round win.

ST. ANTHONY 11, RIO HONDO PREP 1 >> The Saints rolled in their Division 6 opener as Angelica Ponce had 10 strikeouts and was also 2 for 3 at the plate.

Amanda McCalip (2 for 3, three runs scored), Fiona Mutu (three RBIs), Ari Santana (four RBIs) and Fayth McQueary (home run) also came up big for the offense.

Up next for St. Anthony will be Oxford Academy at Pan Am Park on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.

Baseball

Santa Barbara 1, Bellflower 0 >>With the tying run on third, a failed squeeze play ended the game in the seventh inning for the Buccaneers in the first round of a CIF Southe Section Division 1 game.

The game was a pitchers’ duel throughout as the Buccaneers’ Ricky Ramos battled the Don’s Kevin Gowdey, UCLA commit and expected MLB first round pick, for five innings as both pitchers exchanged scoreless innings.

Sophomore Tyler Wright had the first hit for the Buccaneers (17-6) with a single to left field in the fourth inning, but he was stranded as Gowdey struck out Jorge Rodriguez and induced Aaron Orozco to ground out.

In the top of the sixth inning, Ramos found himself in trouble after he hit Lucas Grandcolas with a pitch and allowed a single to Caleb Norton. Joe Firestone delivered the game-winning run with a two-out RBI single to right field that allowed Grandcolas to score.

Bellflower had a shot in the bottom of the sixth after David Izarrez walked and then stole second. He advanced to third on a fly out by Joseph Borges.

Gowdey finished with the shutout, allowing two hits while striking out 11 and walking two.

Ramos ended his day allowing three hits, one run, while striking out two.

In the bottom half of the seventh, the Buccaneers found themselves with another chance after Anthony Garcia singled to center and then stole second and advanced to third on an error.

That brought up Ramos with a chance to tie the game. He put down a bunt for a squeeze play, but Garcia got off to a little bit of a slow start and was thrown out at home and Ramos was tagged out to end the game and Bellflower’s season.

-Matt Simon

Boys golf

Wilson took first place at the CIF-SS Team Qualifier with an overall score of 372 at Mission Lakes Country Club.

The top four teams of 14 competitors advance to the CIF State Regional on Thursday at Brookside Golf Course, beginning with the Bruins, which will move on alongside Westlake (372), Palm Desert (375) and Servite (378). Andrew Feandes paced Wilson with a 1-under 70, while Hunter Epson and Tyler Schafer each shot 74s.

La Mirada finished 12th with a 409.

There were also 60 individuals in the field competing for 28 individual spots in the CIF State Regional and Ellis Tirado of Los Alamitos (72) and Poly’s Jericho Betts (75) qualified.

sport world...

The most powerful sports league in the world has landed in a region already rich in entertainment, celebrity and championships.

Arrival in the Los Angeles market - and construction of a $2.66 billion complex soon to occupy 300 acres in Inglewood - doubled the value of Stan Kroenke’s NFL franchise, by Forbes’ estimate.

Kroenke’s Rams, in tu, filled a gaping hole in an otherwise dynamic Southe Califoia sports landscape.

Kroenke, the real estate titan worth an estimated $7.9 billion, makes his grand entrance into the Southland as the most powerful sports figure in Southe Califoia, beating out Wasserman sports and entertainment agency founder and L.A. 2024 Olympic bid committee chairman Casey Wasserman and AEG chairman, Kings and Galaxy owner, Philip Anschutz.

The 50 Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports, a collection of luminaries ranging from franchise owners and media personalities to skateboarding pioneers and Esports ambassadors, has a new No. 1 this year.

• PHOTOS: 50 Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports

There is no better launching pad for a career in sports than the entertainment capital of the world, whose embarrassment of riches among personalities populating nine professional sports franchises, two Pac-12 Conference universities, sports agencies and media conglomerates provides perpetual of fodder for our list.

The arrival of the NFL significantly altered the list of the 50 Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports thanks to Kroenke departing St. Louis with the NFL’s 28th most valuable franchise only to land in L.A. with one worth an estimated $3 billion, according to Forbes’ Michael Ozanian, the third-highest value in the league. Moving from the 21st to the second-largest TV market in the country, where he will build the most expensive stadium in the world, made the Rams Kroenke’s single largest asset.

The Rams’ owner proved that he deserved to win the hotly contested race to L.A. by crafting a plan that took full advantage of Southe Califoia’s power.

“It’s about showing that the Southland is a place that any sports league, federation can’t afford not to be in,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “It wasn’t just about a team and a stadium, it was about the NFL’s West Coast headquarters. That’s why you have ESPN doing Sportscenter here. ... People realize this is the place where sports, entertainment, community as well as globalism all intersect.”

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The changes in the Southe Califoia sports landscape run deep with the addition of Kroenke and the Rams.

Inglewood will be transformed with a privately financed, 80,000-seat stadium, the centerpiece of a complex that will include a 300-room hotel, 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space, 2,500 homes and 25 acres of parks.

One of four finalists for the 2024 Olympic bid, L.A.’s consideration can’t help but be enhanced by the 2019 arrival of the most expensive, technologically advanced stadium on the planet.

Considering its collection of professional sports teams and the potential to be the only city aside from London to host three Olympics, Los Angeles now lands squarely in the conversation of the best sports cities in the world, something seemingly impossible without an NFL presence.

“There hasn’t been a real opportunity to move an NFL team in a long time,” Associate Director of the USC Marshall School of Business Courtney Brunious said. “To couple that with an Olympic bid, the odds of that happening for one city are, well, slim.”

Bids have already been submitted for the Inglewood stadium to host Super Bowls in 2020 and 2021 and a Final Four in 2022 that would be the city’s first in 50 years.

Staples Center was recently awarded the 2017 NHL All-Star game and a record sixth NBA All-Star game in 2018.

The 2024 Olympic finalist cities Rome, Paris and Budapest have their work cut out to compete against a city with sports credentials difficult to match anywhere in the world.

As the region continues to make leaps noticed around the world, the inteal competition in the Southe Califoia sports scene only becomes more fierce.

The Rams carry the NFL shield into town, but in tow are nine consecutive losing seasons. Where will the newest Los Angeles franchise be slotted among storied brands like the Dodgers and Lakers?

“They could be right up there with them,” Forbes’ Ozanian said. “They have an opportunity like that in L.A. whereas they wouldn’t have in St. Louis. It’s just going to depend on the execution, the sponsorships they land and the business partnerships they form. But they’ve already traded up to get the No. 1 quarterback. They’ve already given people more reason to come, because nobody goes to see the star tackle play.”

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ANAHEIM >>For all the gaps in payroll, TV exposure and farm-system raves, maybe the Angels and Dodgers might not be that different after all.

Both are dependent on their generational talents (Mike Trout in Anaheim, Clayton Kershaw up the road in Los Angeles). Both have pitching staffs with thin spots as obvious as those on a balding man. And both could have long relationships with a .500 record this summer.

The Angels beat the Dodgers again Thursday night, 7-4, to take three of four in the interleague meeting and have now won six of seven since a winless homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals.

Trout drove in three of the runs, once by beating out the back end of a potential inning-ending double play, scored twice, hit his 10th home run of the season, stole a base and continued to be, you know, Mike Trout.

“You look at his numbers every year. They’re off the charts,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “But when you see him every day – beat out a double-play ball and get an RBI, you see him steal a base, you see the plays he makes in center field.

“His talent shows up regularly every night on the field, whether it’s his legs, his arm, at the plate in the batter’s box or on the basepaths. Mike’s always doing things that are helping us win.”

The Dodgers, meanwhile, could only pitch Kershaw once in the series. His masterful performance Tuesday was their only victory in the four games as his team slumped back to .500 (21-21) for the sixth time in the month of May. More disturbingly for the Dodgers, this is becoming the strongest strain running through their season. They once again looked like the sub-.500 team they have been whenever Kershaw doesn’t pitch (13-20).

Like the heartthrob paired with a cranky veteran in a buddy cop movie, Trout and Albert Pujols combined to go 13 for 29 (.448) with two doubles, two home runs (both by Trout), seven walks, 10 RBI and eight runs scored in the series. The only time they were held in check was Kershaw’s start, when Pujols had the duo’s only hit. Trout scored at least one run in each of the other games.

“I played with them and their great guys, great competitors,” Dodgers infielder Howie Kendrick said. “They were the guys who happened to beat us. I wish it wasn’t that way. But they’re big guys in this league for a reason.”

No Dodgers starter other than Kershaw even completed five innings in the Freeway Series. The unexpectedly-potent Angels lineup battered Kenta Maeda, Mike Bolsinger and Ross Stripling for 12 runs on 19 hits in their combined 13 innings.

“It’s tough on a team. It’s tough on a ‘pen and it’s tough to sustain winning ballgames,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the short starts. “When you’ve got to cover four-plus innings every night, it’s tough.”

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Stripling held it together into the fifth inning, allowing an RBI single and a solo home run to Trout but taking a 4-2 lead into the fifth thanks to the Dodgers’ success against a familiar face, former Rockie Jhoulys Chacin. Kendrick had a two-run triple and Chase Utley scored three times in the first five innings against Chacin, who didn’t make it through five either.

Stripling’s trouble started there with a leadoff single by Gregorio Petit and back-to-back one-out walks to Kole Calhoun and Trout, loading the bases for Pujols. Stripling got Pujols on a called strike three – a call that Pujols disputed – but then hit C.J. Cron with an 0-and-1 fastball, forcing in a run.

Cron was the first batter Stripling has hit with a pitch in 278 innings as a professional.

“Just another frustrating game,” Stripling said. “It seems like I was always battling, couldn’t get the first guy out in an inning. I felt like I was always pitching from the stretch.

“Another outing where the best player hurt me. Matt Kemp got me. (Giancarlo) Stanton and now Trout tonight. I’ve got to find a way to get through the lineup more than twice and keep the big guys from hurting me.”

Stripling was done after the Cron pitch. But going to the bullpen has only rarely led to good things for Roberts.

Thursday was not one of those nights.

Chris Hatcher gave up a two-run single to the first batter he faced, Johnny Giavotella, and a leadoff home run to Carlos Perez in the sixth inning followed by a Petit double. Petit eventually scored on a Trout forceout, his third RBI of the night.

In stark contrast, the Angels’ bullpen rolled through the Dodgers’ lineup. Four relievers combined on 42/3 hitless innings – thanks in part to Rafael Ortega’s diving catch along the left-field line.

sport world...

Eric Garcetti knows well the labyrinth of rules goveing interaction with Inteational Olympic Committee members.

A slick way to pilfer some extra face-to-face when the largest gathering of Olympic officials in the U.S. since 1996 occurred in October was to expedite them through customs.

When Dr. Robin Mitchell arrived in Washington D.C., Garcetti made sure he escorted the longtime IOC member door to door.

“I surprised him and as he came off the plane, there was the mayor to greet him,” Garcetti said. “I walked him through, marvelous guy, and I didn’t try to sell our bid because that’s not the place but I just wanted to say, ‘Hey, we’re glad you’re here. What are your thoughts on the future of the Olympic movement?’”

• PHOTOS: 50 Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports

After initially being beaten out by Boston for the U.S. 2024 Olympic bid, Garcetti’s touch has maneuvered L.A. into position as a co-favorite with Paris to host the Games. That is just one of two historic sports distinctions for the city in less than three years under the youngest mayor of L.A. in a century.

In the past 10 months alone, Garcetti helped end L.A.’s 21-year drought without the NFL and L.A. is within a step of joining London as the only cities in the world to have hosted three Olympic Games. For his efforts in the past year, Garcetti has moved up to No. 6 on the list of Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports.

Proof that the Mayor makes sports ventures a priority goes far beyond the amount of sports paraphealia populating his caveous city hall office.

Readying for a picture, Garcetti raids his shelves of signed basketballs and autographed hats to display in the background. He disappears into a closet, emerging with a UCLA basketball signed by the 1995 championship team, but is miffed to discover he left his 2014 L.A. Kings championship hat at home.

Garcetti is at once an everyman - he is revered by hockey fans for raising a beer at the podium and dropping a celebratory profanity at the Kings’ championship rally two years ago - and an erudite diplomat ready to charm the upper crust.

Garcetti has expertly haessed the mash of creativity, technology and social prowess of his city, pushing “the new L.A., a city made of 100 nations, thousands of startups, and 18 million hard-dreaming people working to reinvent the city,” as stated in the LA2024 video announcing the Olympic bid.

On his first day in office, Garcetti foreshadowed his affinity for sport by sending his first official letter as Mayor to the United States Olympic Committee, making known his desire for L.A. to host another Olympics.

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Neither landing the most inteationally lauded sporting event nor moving an NFL team for the first time in 19 years were high percentage plays, but only Paris, Rome and Budapest stand between L.A. achieving both under Garcetti’s leadership.

“I hope I can look back and tell my kids about what happened this year,” Garcetti said. “If we’re lucky enough to get the Olympics, my daughter would be 13 years old like I was in 1984, in 2024. And I dream of taking her there and saying - I won’t be mayor - but saying ‘Hey, daddy helped bring this for you and your generation.’”

Garcetti grew up a Rams fan in the San Feando Valley. The son of former Los Angeles District Attoey Gil Garcetti attended the Rams’ first Super Bowl, a 1980 loss to the Steelers at the Rose Bowl. The painful memory of John Stallworth hauling in the game-winning 73-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, “that robbed us of our victory,” is still vivid.

When it began to appear realistic the NFL would retu to L.A., Garcetti was suddenly a popular resource.

Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis both met with Garcetti as the competition heated up last year, picking his brain for optimal methods to ea the favor of the L.A. community.

Shortly before the fateful NFL owner’s meeting in Houston where the final vote for the Rams was cast in January, Garcetti was called upon by the highest of NFL authorities. It wasn’t the first time Roger Goodell had consulted Garcetti, but the commissioner wanted to hear from a credible source if proper support for NFL football existed in L.A.

“I said ‘Absolutely, because there’s a real hunger,’” Garcetti said. “This is a great sports town and everybody thinks - and these are great places too - Boston or Cleveland or Philadelphia are great sports towns, but L.A., ‘They’re too conceed with Hollywood. They’re too conceed with being a big city.’

“B.S. We have the best fans here. We have hunger for football coming back and I just let him know that, as the owners were meeting, no matter what decision the owners made, that team would be embraced.”

Garcetti will be at the Coliseum to see the fruits of his labor when the Rams open the 2016 season. He may be there again in eight years for the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics.

sport world...

CIF Playoff Schedule and Results

Thursday

Baseball, First Round

Division 2

Gahr XX, Buena XX

La Mirada 1, Ayala 0

Santa Barbara 1, Bellflower 0

Paramount XX, Moorpark XX

Cerritos XX, Rio Mesa XX

Mayfair XX, South Hills XX

Downey XX, Mission Viejo XX

Division 6

Foothill Technology 3, St. Anthony 2

Softball, First Round

Division 1

Los Alamitos 7, Wilson 3

Lakewood 2, Roosevelt 1

Huntington Beach 5, Millikan 4

Pacifica 8, LB Poly 0

Division 3

Gahr XX, Harvard-Westlake XX

La Mirada XX, Chaminade XX

Warren 8, La Sea 3

Norwalk XX, Palos Verdes XX

Mayfair 11, Beaumont 0

Redondo Union 1, St. Joseph 0

Bishop Amat 8, Paramount 0

Cerritos XX, Don Lugo XX

Division 6

Calvary Chapel 11, Crossroads 0

St. Anthony 11, Rio Hondo Prep 1

Division 7

Avalon XX, Hawthoe XX

Friday

Baseball, First Round, 3 p.m.

Division 1

Millikan vs. Hart

Wilson at Oaks Christian

Lakewood at Murrieta Mesa

Division 7

Avalon at Hillcrest

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sport world...

Sports isn’t the most friendly profession when it comes to longevity and such is the case with the 50 Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports. In keeping with a trend familiar in Hollywood, there was plenty of tuover from last year’s list for a variety of reasons. Here are the 15 members of the 2015 version who did not ea a spot in 2016.

• PHOTOS: 50 Most Powerful in Southe Califoia Sports

14. Pat Haden, 63, USC Athletic Director

After nearly six years on the job, the former Trojans quarterback is stepping down in June on the heels of a rocky final year for USC football, which has cycled through two head coaches and two interim coaches in the last three years. Haden’s health has reportedly been declining and was cited as the primary reason for his retirement.

19. Mike White, 63, DirecTV Chairman, CEO and President

When DirecTV merged with AT&T last year, White decided to retire, officially removing himself from the messy negotiations with Time Waer over SportsNetLA, the Dodgers TV network. For a third consecutive baseball season, the two sides have failed to agree on a price, leaving DirecTV customers without Dodgers coverage.

20. The Rose Bowl

The most iconic stadium in the greater Los Angeles area will have more competition when Rams owner Stan Kroenke begins construction in August on the NFL’s most expensive stadium, a privately funded sports and entertainment complex set to open in 2019.

24. Eric Shanks, 44, Fox Sports President, COO and Executive Producer

Fox continues its steady climb, but Shanks has allowed President Jamie Horowitz, formerly of ESPN, to take the lead on splashy talent acquisition for FS1, including Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless.

30. Yasiel Puig, 25, Dodgers Outfielder

After putting the league on notice with a spectacular arrival in 2014, the Cuban’s 2015 season was compromised by hamstring injuries. He remains an immense talent with star potential on and off the field, but Puig has yet to deliver consistent results.

34. Tommy Trojan

The USC brand suffered last year when football coach Steve Sarkisian was fired mid-season amid allegations of alcohol abuse. Athletic Director Pat Haden later announced that he would step down at the end of the school year.

36. Bill Simmons, Multimedia Sports Personality

Simmons has been off the radar since an abrupt departure from longtime employer ESPN in 2015, but he has a loyal following, a podcast and could be on his way to building a new empire with an HBO talk show launching in June and new website, The Ringer.

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37. Gillian Zucker, 46, Clippers President of Business Operations

Tied to new Clippers jerseys and a new mascot that made underwhelming debuts this season, Zucker made the most headlines during her year and a half with the Clippers for an alleged rift with coach Doc Rivers this season that was never confirmed.

38. Long Beach Poly High School

The boys basketball team reached the state championship game, but one of the most storied athletic programs in the country uncharacteristically dropped off in football with a 4-6 record in 2015 while the girls track team finished 63rd in the state following last year’s state title.

39. Casey Close, 52, Sports Agent

Matching the $700 million in contracts he negotiated during the previous offseason, a baseball record, seemed an impossible task this year. But Close did land pitcher Zack Greinke a $206 million deal in December, just not in L.A. with fellow client Clayton Kershaw.

42. Robbie Keane, 35, Galaxy Striker

Keane followed an MLS MVP campaign and the Galaxy’s league-leading fifth championship in 2014 with a career-high 20 goals in 2015, but the Irishman’s touches continue to decline and his position was significantly altered this season as the Galaxy continue to re-tool.

43. Kathryn Schloessman, 53, L.A. Sports and Entertainment Commission President

Schloessman is still is attempting to land Dodger Stadium its first all-star game since 1980, but L.A. has secured the NHL all-star game in 2017 and record sixth NBA all-star game in 2018.

45. Darryl Sutter, 57, L.A. Kings Head Coach

Despite a talented roster with young coerstones, Sutter hasn’t followed championships in 2012 and 2014 they way the hockey world thought he might as the Kings missed the playoffs in 2015 and exited in the first round this season.

46. Patrick Soon-Shiong, 63, Doctor and Lakers Minority Owner

The billionaire is one of the most obvious candidates to purchase a professional sports team in L.A., were one to come available - he bid on the Dodgers and AEG when both were recently up for sale - but when that will happen is anyone’s guess.

47. John Force, 66, NHRA Driver

The 16-time NHRA champion has lost some sponsors and switched from Ford to Chevy in the last two years, but retirement is not his vocabulary, despite the fact that he tus 67 in May.

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CIF Playoff Schedule and Results

Thursday

Baseball, First Round

Division 2

Gahr XX, Buena XX

La Mirada XX, Ayala XX

Santa Barbara 1, Bellflower 0

Paramount XX, Moorpark XX

Cerritos XX, Rio Mesa XX

Mayfair XX, South Hills XX

Downey XX, Mission Viejo XX

Division 6

Foothill Technology 3, St. Anthony 2

Softball, First Round

Division 1

Los Alamitos 7, Wilson 3

Lakewood 2, Roosevelt 1

Huntington Beach 5, Millikan 4

Pacifica 8, LB Poly 0

Division 3

Gahr XX, Harvard-Westlake XX

La Mirada XX, Chaminade XX

Warren 8, La Sea 3

Norwalk XX, Palos Verdes XX

Mayfair 11, Beaumont 0

Redondo Union 1, St. Joseph 0

Bishop Amat 8, Paramount 0

Cerritos XX, Don Lugo XX

Division 6

Calvary Chapel 11, Crossroads 0

St. Anthony 11, Rio Hondo Prep 1

Division 7

Avalon XX, Hawthoe XX

Friday

Baseball, First Round, 3 p.m.

Division 1

Millikan vs. Hart

Wilson at Oaks Christian

Lakewood at Murrieta Mesa

Division 7

Avalon at Hillcrest

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