Caleb Nguyen
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – CAL Fire SLO crews were on scene of a one-acre brush fire in the Santa Maria riverbed Sunday just after 6:30 p.m.
The fire had a slow rate of spread and CAL Fire SLO issued a warning to drive slowly near the river bridge on Highway 101.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Caleb Nguyen
SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. – CAL Fire SLO crews fought a 100-acre grass fire in Santa Margarita near East Pozo Road on Highway 58 just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Both ground and air personnel helped in the initial attack on the flames, but CAL Fire SLO was still on the scene Sunday morning.
Crews will continue to fight the fire until it is fully under control and more information on the fire will be provided as it becomes available to Your News Channel.
Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. –
CIF-SS Semifinal Boys Volleyball
Division 4:
Santa Barbara 3, Santiago 0
Dons will play Sage Hill in D4 title game next weekend TBA
Division 5:
Esperanza 3, Newbury Park 2
Division 6:
El Toro 3, Laguna Blanca 2
Mike Klan
WALNUT, Calif. – The ‘Fantastic Four’ turned in a mighty performance for San Marcos High School girls swimming.
The Royals had just four swimmers (Sierra Tallman, Taylor Steelman, Sophia Hall and Sophie Yonker) competing in the powerful CIF-Southern Section Division 1 Championships but they managed to still finish in fourth overall place at Mt. San Antonio College.
Coach Chuckie Roth said “Today was one of the best days in the history of San Marcos swimming. Our fabulous four girls battled in unprecedented heat, the deck temperature was over 100 degrees, but the girls rose to the occasion, swimming almost all personal best times and state qualification times. We’re really lucky to have such a great group of young women.”
Senior Sierra Tallman led the way, finishing 4th in both of her individual events. In the 200-yard individual medley, she not only secured a top-four finish but also set a new Channel League record with a time of 2:00.82, which earned her automatic All-American honors. Tallman also lowered her own school record in the 100-yard butterfly, clocking a 55.19 to improve upon her preliminary performance and maintain her 4th-place standing.
(video courtesy Tallman)
Fellow senior Taylor Steelman also impressed on finals day, placing 7th in the 200 freestyle with a personal-best time of 1:49.74, and finishing 5th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:52.53, fast enough to meet the automatic All-American standard.
Junior Sophia Hall wrapped up her breakout meet with a 15th place finish in the 50-yard freestyle. Her finals swim of 24.21 was a new personal best.
The Royals were also a force in the relays. The 200 Medley relay team of Steelman, Tallman, Hall, and Yonker secured a 7th place finish with a time of 1:46.68. In the 4×50 freestyle relay, Steelman, Yonker, Tallman and Hall came together for a outstanding 4th place finish in 1:35.56.
(video courtesy Tallman).
The four swimmers will continue on to the State Championships next weekend in Fresno, California.
Mike Klan
GOLETA, Calif.- Dos Pueblos High School boys lacrosse erased last year’s semifinal nightmare and now the Chargers will try to complete a perfect season by winning a CIF title.
DP overwhelmed Oaks Christian 13-4 in a home CIF-Southern Section Division 2 semifinal.
Last year the Chargers let a late lead slip away in a semifinal heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.
DP wasn’t going to let that happen here in 2025 as they improved to 21-0 on the season.
After trailing Oaks Christian early 2-0, the Chargers finished the first quarter with five consecutive goals to lead 5-2.
Orion Prewarski, Koa Birchim, Jack Finneran, Chase Carlson and Gus Miller all had first quarter goals.
(Jack Finneran gave DP the lead for good at 3-2 with a rebound goal in the first quarter. Entenza Design).
The onslaught continued in the second quarter with Dan Finneran leading the offense and goalie Danny Perez shutting down the Lions as DP led 9-3 at the half.
Dan Finneran had 3 goals in the game for DP while twin Jack Finneran added 2 goals and 4 assists.
(Dan Finneran puts DP up 6-3 early in the second quarter. Entenza Design).
After two early goals, Perez and the Chargers defense allowed just 2 goals the rest of the game.
The championship game is Saturday, May 17 at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange.
DP will play the semifinal winner of Aliso Niguel and San Clemente who are squaring off on Tuesday.
Mike Klan
UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (33-16) brought their big bats to a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon game against Loyola Marymount (24-26), hitting four monster home runs to out-slug the Lions in an 8-5 victory. Isaac Kim, Nate Vargas and Jonathan Mendez each left the yard one after the other for the Gauchos’ first three-homer inning since 2009, and Jack Holman hit a moonshot late on as well. On the mound, the trio of Frank Camarillo, AJ Krodel and Cole Tryba took care of the 27 outs, with Krodel earning the win and Tryba collecting his fifth save of the season.
FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS”It changes the lineup when you have a couple of power threats in the lineup who can hit it over the fence and are scary,” Checketts said. “We’re starting to get healthier and some of those injured guys are starting to get back. Isaac Kim, who has been back in the lineup but it’s hard when you’ve been hurt, you’re out, you miss all those practice reps, it takes a little bit of time to get your timing back, and it seems like he’s starting to get on it a little bit. Holman’s coming back from that oblique injury, we had to sit him, and he’s finally been homering the last couple weeks, which was back. Having those guys in the middle of the lineup, being able to get their swings off and take the quality of at bats that we know they can take changes our lineup.”
HOW IT HAPPENEDIt was actually the visiting Lions who hit the first home run of the day, a two-run shot that put them on top, 2-0, in the first inning. But the Gauchos bounced back in their half of the first. LeTrey McCollum led off with a single, then Kim cracked a two-run homer to left, basically a mirror image of LMU’s homer in the top of the first. But the home run party did not stop there. Three pitches later, Vargas snuck a line-drive homer just inside the foul pole down the right field line, and three pitches after that, Mendez launched a towering fly ball into the trees beyond the left field fence, making it 4-2 Gauchos. It was the first time that Santa Barbara has hit three home runs in an inning since May of 2009, when they did it against UC Irvine.
The Gauchos kept pouring on the runs in the bottom of the second, with Corey Nunez and Liam Barrett both hitting singles before McCollum found the left-center gap for an RBI double, scoring Nunez. Barrett scored on Holman’s groundout, then McCollum did the same on Kim’s groundout, making it three runs in three pitches and a 7-2 lead for Santa Barbara.
On the mound, the Gaucho starter Camarillo bounced back from the home run in the first inning with a one, two, three second inning and was perfect again in the third, picking up a pair of strikeouts. He surrendered a run after a lead-off double in the top of the fourth but finished that inning with two more punchouts. The Lions got two more runs back in the top of the fifth with another two-run homer, which ended Camarillo’s day. Krodel relieved him and finished the inning with a pair of strikeouts either side of a single, which ended up being the only hit Krodel allowed on the day.
The Gauchos got back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, Holman clobbering a no-doubt home run to right field which nearly hit his face on the videoboard behind the fence.
Tryba took the ball for the top of the eighth and worked a perfect frame, striking out the first two Lions he faced. He was back out for the ninth to attempt the six-out save and nailed it, punctuating a perfect outing with his third strikeout of the day.
FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETESMcCollum on the keys to his success at the plate: “I’ve been trying to build a good approach all season and it’s been working out,” McCollum said. “I’ve just been trying to go up there and commit to a couple pitches and it has to be in the zone for me to swing and get a good swing off. I’ve been sticking to that plan and it’s been working pretty well, so I’m happy about it.”
BY THE NUMBERSSaturday was the Gauchos’ first four-home run game of the season; they had previously hit as many as three in a game, doing so on April 8 against Pepperdine, Feb. 25 at Pepperdine, Feb. 23 against California Baptist and Feb. 15 against Campbell. Prior to Saturday night, Santa Barbara’s last four-homer game was on May 24, 2024 against UC Riverside.The Gauchos’ three-homer first inning was their first inning with three home runs since May 23, 2009, when Mark Haddow, Brian Gump and Ryan Cavan all left the yard in the third inning against UC Irvine. Kim and Vargas became the first Gauchos to go back-to-back since Jordan Sprinkle and Cole Cummings did it against Cal Poly on April 30, 2021, only for Vargas and Mendez to take that title immediately after.Vargas and Mendez’s first-inning home runs were their 10th each this season, tied for the team lead. This is the fourth season in a row that the Gauchos have had at least two players hit double-digit homers in the same season.Also in the first inning, McCollum’s lead-off single tied him with Christian Kirtley for the longest on-base streak in program history at 45 consecutive games reaching safely. It also extended his hitting streak to 21 games, the longest on the team this season.
UP NEXTSanta Barbara will complete this three-game series against LMU, and with it the season series, on Sunday, May 11 at 1 p.m. Following the conclusion of Sunday’s game, kids in attendance will have the opportunity to run the bases at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets, and all kids sixth grade and under get in free with the Yardi Youth Pass.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
Mike Klan
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -Cal Poly’s five-game winning streak ended Saturday afternoon at Robert J. Hiegert Field as CSUN overcame 1-0 and 4-2 deficits with 11 runs in the middle innings en route to an 11-6 victory.
Despite the setback, Coach Larry Lee’s Mustangs remain in second place in the Big West with a 19-7 mark, three games behind frontrunner UC Irvine (22-4), a 7-3 winner at Cal State Bakersfield. Cal State Fullerton (17-9) is two games back of Cal Poly in third place following its 9-1 win over Hawai’i.
Cal Poly (33-16 overall) jumped in front 1-0 in the fourth inning on Jack Collins’ 12th home run of the season. After CSUN (14-31 overall, 9-17 Big West) answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, Dante Vachini opened the fifth frame with his third home run of the year and Collins added a two-run double for a 4-2 Mustang advantage.
The Matadors turned the game around with a six spot in the fifth and added three more in the sixth for an 11-5 cushion on their way to evening the series at a game apiece. The rubber game is set for Sunday at 1 o’clock.
Diego Gutierrez (3-6) allowed five runs and 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings for the win with no walks and six strikeouts. Ryan Halamicek, normally the Sunday starter for CSUN, earned a 10-out save, his second of the year, by giving up just one run and two hits.
Sophomore lefty Josh Volmerding (5-4) suffered the loss, surrendering season highs of eight runs and 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings. Josh Morano, also a southpaw, struck out two and scattered three hits over 2 1/3 scoreless frames in relief.
Cal Poly collected 13 hits — reaching double figures for the 30th time in its last 42 games — but stranded nine runners on the basepaths. Zach Daudet and Ryan Fenn both had three hits while Collins and Vachini each added two hits.
Daudet is 9-for-20 over his last four games with a pair of three-hit contests and a two-hit game. Fenn extended his hitting streak to nine games and is 16-for-36 (.444) over the stretch with a trio of three-hit games, a two-hit contest and seven RBIs.
Vachini is 7-for-13 over his last four games while Collins has hit safely in four of his last five games with six RBIs and leads the Mustangs with 12 homers and 54 RBIs. He is second with his 15 doubles.
Garza’s streak of seven consecutive multiple-hit games came to an end but he did single with two outs in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to eight games. He has hit safely in 28 of his last 29 games and leads the club with 29 multiple-hit games this season, five shy of the school record set by Scott Kidd in 1997.
Center fielder Roberto Gonzalez went 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and a single while left fielder Andrew Becker and right fielder Andrew Gauna each had three hits for CSUN.
Freshman southpaw Luke Kalfsbeek (3-0, 5.92 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Cal Poly on Sunday, facing CSUN senior right-hander Dante Zamudio (1-0, 9.00 ERA).
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).
Tracy Lehr
SANTA PAULA, Calif. – Engineers and scientists of the future tested underwater robots.
The students from the Santa Paula Unified School District are taking part in a pilot program called SeaPerch pre-engineering program with Cal State University Channel Islands.
College students served as mentors at the Santa Paula High School pool this week.
If the younger students complete a pre-engineering program in high school, they are automatically admitted to Cal State Channel Islands in Camarillo.
The SeaPerch’s coordinator comes from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Port Hueneme.
The program is a collaboration between the Navy, the school district, the university, and Ventura College.
For more information visit https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2025-seaperch-program.htm
Tracy Lehr
OXNARD, Calif. – More and more people are donating their old cars to a variety of charities.
Vehicle donation programs arrange for free pickups. Donated cars are either sold to recycling centers or auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the nonprofit of the owner’s choice.
Anacapa Towing recently picked up an SUV with 319,000 miles on the odometer. It’s being donated to National Public Radio’s KCLU station, which serves the Central Coast.
Anacapa Towing’s Daniel Mejia said it’s easier for owners to say goodbye to an old car when they know it’s going to a good cause.
“It feels good because we are helping people out. We help people out, and that is the point of the job right here,” said Mejia. “Sometimes people don’t want to let go of their cars, but sometimes they’ve got to go.”
Cars, motorcycles, and RVs can be donated whether they run or not. Donations are also eligible for a tax deduction.
For more information visit https://kclu.careasy.org/home
Mike Klan
FULLERTON, Calif. – For the first time in program history, the UC Santa Babara Softball team (34-24, 17-10 Big West) is coming back to Isla Vista with some hardware. The Gauchos staved off elimination six times to claim their first and The Big West’s first Postseason Championship.
GAME ONE: GAUCHOS 8, MATADORS 2Like they had in three of their previous five games of the Big West Championship tournament, the Gauchos scored in the first inning. Not only that, but they scored three on Elicia Acosta’s opposite-field homer, taking a 3-0 lead before CSUN even came to bat.
For the next three full innings, the teams combined for just two hits, a walk, and a hit by pitch. The Matadors led off with two singles in the bottom of the fourth before a line out double play erased the threat.
In the next half inning, Santa Barbara fully flipped the momentum in their favor. For the second time of the day, Acosta drilled a three-run homer to increase the Gaucho lead to six. Two batters later, Bella Fuentes added another run with a solo shot. When the inning finally ended, it was 7-0 Gauchos.
Fuentes then made it 8-0 with a two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh. With CSUN down to their last out, an error, walk and two-run single prevented Malaya Johnson from pitching a shutout, but she settled with a zero-earned-run complete game win. More importantly, the comfortable 8-2 victory—the team’s fifth consecutive in elimination games—pushed the Gauchos one win away from their first conference championship in program history.
GAME TWO: GAUCHOS 7, MATADORS 5To start the winner take all Championship Final, UC Santa Barbara opened the game with a single run in the first inning continuing their momentum from the first game. Giselle Mejia doubled and advanced to third on a sacrifice before scoring unearned on an error by Northridge. The Matadors were unable to respond, leaving the Gauchos leading 1-0 after the first.
In the second inning, Northridge took control with a three-run frame. An RBI-double followed by two RBI-singles drove in the three runs. The Gauchos did not go away quietly. The Blue and Gold responded in the third inning. Tehya Banks and Bella Fuentes scored, the latter on a double by Delaina Ma’ae, evening the score at 3-3.
The fourth inning saw the Gauchos regain the lead. Elicia Acosta’s RBI single, her seventh RBI of the day, and Sams’ two-RBI double contributed to a three-run inning, putting UC Santa Barbara ahead 6-4.
The Gauchos added another run in the sixth inning. Sams scored on a triple by Bella Fuentes, extending their lead to 7-4.
Northridge managed to score once more in the seventh inning, but UC Santa Barbara maintained their advantage. The game concluded with a 7-5 win for the Gauchos, securing the victory with 13 hits and taking advantage of two Matadors errors to claim the first ever Big West Championship for the Gaucho softball program.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
The Gauchos won six straight elimination games to claim their first ever Big West Championship. The six straight wins ties their season long winning streak.With the Championship the Gauchos will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in since 2007.The 34 overall wins are tied for the most ever in a single season by the program. The most recent occurrence was during the 2014 season.Giselle Mejia is now the single-season doubles record holder with 20 doubles on the season. Mejia also raised her team-leading batting average by 37 points to 0.391.The Gauchos have now scored the most runs, ever in a single season.UP NEXTThe Gauchos will await their destination for the NCAA Tournament as it will be known tomorrow during the selection show that starts at 4 p.m. Pacific time and will be shown on ESPN2.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
