The Griffins, who improved their record to 17-2, were led by senior Keaton Otake and sophomore Grace Schmidt-Beck who each scored four goals.  Soph Haley Fessenden added three.

Los Al now advances to the US Lacrosse Southern Section Championship on Saturday, playing the winner of the Mira Costa-Peninsula contest.

The Dons won the last two games to pull out a dramatic 18-25, 25-10, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14 victory.

In the final set, with the score tied at 14-14, Santa Barbara scored on a Los Alamitos foot fault violation and then blocked the final point to end the Griffins season.  The Griffins also led in the fifth set 5-3 and had a point point taken away when the down ref called a net violation against Santa Barbara but the head ref overruled him (a rare occurrence in volleyball) and called a replay.

Outside hitter Austin Arcala led Los Al with 19 kills, but he was supported by middle blockers Zach Radner and Matt Schnitzer who combined for 27 kills.  Schnitzer had 15 and Radner put away 12.

Los Alamitos ends its season with a 20-9 record.  Santa Barbara improves to 20-7 and will face defending division champ Mater Dei on Friday.

• Dons Go the Distance to defeat Los Al (PresidioSports.com)

The win improved the Griffins record to 11-3 and clinched at least a tie for the Sunset league championship, and the No. 1 slot in the CIF Playoffs.  Los Al is one game ahead of Marina with a 10-4 record.  A Griffin win on Thursday at Edison would give sole possession of the Sunset League championship.  Even if they lose, and Marina wins, the Griffins advantage over the Vikings in head to head competition will give them the league’s No. 1 spot going into the playoffs,.

The Griffin offense was led by Dan Austin (left) with a double and 3 RBI, but he was supported by Michael Farris (3-4, RBI) and Mick Schroeder (2-3, 2 runs scored.

• Press-Telegram:  Los Alamitos Clinches League Championship

LOS ALAMITOS 8, EDISON 2

Griffin Senior Halle Humphrey picks up her 13th win against four losses, all coming since stepping in for ace Andie Formby  who injured her foot in the early part of the season.  Los Al had fallen to Fountain Valley in the first round — a loss that actually may have paid dividends.  It got the Los Al team pumped for their next game, a first round showdown with Edison two days later and gave them a revenge motivation going into today’s contest.

Of course, Edison will have the same revenge attitude on Thursday when the two teams meet in the league finale.

With Humphrey holding the Barons at bay for all seven of their at bats, Griffin catcher Rachel Sellers started the bottom half of the frame off with a lead-off single.   After Alex Finie popped out, Kaylee Ellebracht popped a bunted.  The 3rd baseman rushed in to make the catch but couldn’t hold on to the ball and it rolled down the line, giving the Griffins runners at first and second, one out.  Ali Medina walked to load the bases, bringing up the #9 hitter, Trejo.  She worked the pitcher for a 3-1 count before drawing ball four to force in Sellers with the winning run.

Los Al while improved it record to 21-6 overall, and 9-1 in the Sunset League, can win the title outright with a victory over second place Edison, assuming the Chargers (8-1) hold on to its 1-0 lead over Marina.  That game was in the 10th inning as this article was published.  If Marina comes back to win, the Griffins will clinch an outright title.

Tryouts and a parent/player  introductory meeting this Monday May 14, 2012 at at the Rinks Westminster Ice for anyone that is interested. The full flyer can be seen here.  The program is currently in the process of hiring a coaching staff from a list of candidates provided by the Anaheim Ducks, including former NHL players.

Local skaters have skated in combinations with teams from other schools over the past years, but that usually involved long and frequent driving — and with the prices of gas these days, come on the sport is already expensive enough as it is.  With all the difficulties, the majority of local hockey players chose to go the roller hockey route.

The new Los Al program will not be funded by the Los Alamitos Unified School District.   This is similar to the school’s initial arrangement with Lacrosse.   And like lacrosse, hockey will not start as a CIF recognized sport.  Lacrosse is still not a CIF sport — its games and playoffs are sponsored and operated under the U.S. Lacrosse Association, an arrangement which has not hurt its growth or popularity at all.  The bulk of funding for hockey’s the first few years will come from the Anaheim Ducks, with help from parents.  Hockey Tron, the ice sports outfitter,  will provide some sponsorship assistance as well

The new Griffin squad will play in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League as the 14^th team in a league that started in 2008 with just three teams. This year, the league is adding Los Alamitos, Corona Del Mar, Huntington Beach and Corona-Norco teams.

Over the years, Southern California has supplied a number of players to East Coast colleges and more recently to the NHL, including Ducks’ rookie and Long Beach native Emerson Etem and star forward Bobby Ryan. There are already two players drafted by the NHL from the Seal Beach (Mitch Wahl) and Rossmoor (Rocco Grimaldi drafted 33^rd overall last year by the Florida Panthers).   Grimaldi, who is currently playing for the University of North Dakota)  was on the US National Youth team and participated in the World Championships last season.  Two other locals playing college hockey right now are  Matt Leitner who plays for the Minnesota State Mavericks, andn his brother Richard Leitner (American International).

They host Santa Margarita this afternoon.

Overall, the six Griffins boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams have started strong, with a cumulative 24-9-1 record heading into this week.

Los Al and the Sunset League may be dropping out of the Pac-5 football division, the most competitive in California, and drop down to the Southwest Division under a proposed re-leaguing plan  just issued by the CIF-Southern Section.

Every three years the CIF re-leagues its playoff teams to try to make competitive divisions for all sports, but football gets the most attention.

In that sport, the Griffins — and the Sunset League — have had little post-season success over the past six years.  Los Al has not made it out of the first round the in four years and missed the playoffs altogether in the other two years.  Only Edison, among the Sunset league teams, has had any real post-season success in that same time.

Under the new proposal, the Sunset League would drop to the Southwest Division for football and join the Century, Empire, Freeway and Sea View Leagues. It does set up a renewed possibility of facing long-time rival Esperanza in post-season play.

The Griffins would remain in Division I in baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

The Griffins, who are now 4-0 on the young season, next take on Pacifica at 11:30 (Mountain time) Friday morning.

After playing to a 7-inning 0-0 tie, the Griffins started the eighth inning with a runner on second base.   Megan Geer drew a walk, and then both Griffin runners advanced on a bobbled ball by the Aliso catcher.

Junior Alex Finie then drilled a single up the middle to drive in two runs.

Sophomore pitcher Andie Formby earned her third win of the season, striking out 12.

The win improved the No. 1 ranked Griffins’ record to 3-0.

Andie Formby and Halle Humphrey combined for a three hit shut-out.

Crissman was helped at the plate by junior Megan Geer who had two singles, two runs scored and two walks.

The Griffins next travel to Lake Mohave to play Aliso Niguel in the always tough MaxPreps Tournament of Champions which begins play on Thursday.

 LOS ALAMITOS 11, KENNEDY 0,