The 818 Now

Crescenta Valley High girls’ basketball player Cassie Pappas has done plenty throughout  her first three-plus seasons.

The senior guard has earned her share of All-Area, All-Pacific League and All-CIF accolades.

She accomplished one more significant feat Thursday afternoon in helping Crescenta Valley beat St. Paul, 58-32, in the 11th-place game of the Beverly Hills/Harvard-Westlake Tournament at Beverly Hills High.

In the contest, Pappas eclipsed the 1,500-point barrier for her career by scoring 26 points.

Pappas scored 128 points in five tournament games, or 25.6 per game, and earned a spot on the all-tournament squad.

She has 1,501 career points entering next Tuesday’s Pacific League opener against host Burroughs.

With a grueling month’s worth of basketball tournaments now complete, six area high school basketball teams are gearing up for the beginning of Pacific League action.

League play will tip off at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

In boys’ competition, Crescenta Valley will host Burroughs, Hoover will be at Arcadia and Glendale will take on visiting Pasadena.

In girls’ competition, Crescenta Valley will travel to Burroughs, while Hoover will be home for Arcadia and Glendale will be at Pasadena.

The St. Francis High soccer team, which captured the CIF Southern Section Division II Regional Championship last season, is gearing up for the start of Mission League play.

The Golden Knights, who finished fourth in league last season, will begin league play at 5 pm. Wednesday against Harvard-Westlake at Friedman Field.

St. Francis didn’t see things go particularly well for it in December.

It went 2-6, capped by three losses at the prestigious Nike Southern California Classic near San Diego on Monday and Tuesday.

St. Francis scored one total goal in losses against Brophy Prep, San Jose Bellarmine Prep and Rancho Santa Margarita.

With a new calendar year just around the corner, St. Francis Coach Glen Appels said the Golden Knights are looking to turn things around in league.

“We are pretty close to getting better, and the competition from this tournament really helped us,” Appels said. “We need to be better offensively.

“We created some better chances in our game with Santa Margarita. We did do some things better overall. We know that Harvard-Westlake will be a tough one for us.”

With the San Francisco Giants dipping into the free-agent pool to pick up utility player Mark DeRosa on Tuesday (he signed a two-year contract), it will be interesting to see how that might affect former Glendale Community College standout Freddy Sanchez.

San Francisco acquired Sanchez, a three-time all-star, in a trade in July from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Sanchez missed the last week of the season with a knee injury, but reportedly will be ready to go for spring training in February in Arizona.

DeRosa, who played last season with the Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals, can play most infield positions.

Numerous former Crescenta Valley High baseball players were on hand Monday and Tuesday at Stengel Field in Glendale for the 13th annual Crescenta Valley Baseball Camp.

The event provides pointers on the fundamentals of the game, from hitting to fielding to pitching.

Among those in attendance were Trevor Bell, Dustin Emmons, Chad Nacapoy, Aaron McGuinness and Zack Torres.

Emmons, a pitcher, and Nacapoy,  a catcher, formed a formidable battery at Crescenta Valley for several seasons, culminating with the Falcons winning several Pacific League championships.

While Emmons of UC Riverside and Nacapoy of Brigham Young University were there to work with the campers, they talked about an upcoming nonconference series between the two programs to be held Feb. 19-20 at UC Riverside.

“I hope that I will be pitching to him,” Emmons said.

Mark Loretta, a 1989 St. Francis High graduate, remains on the free-agent market.

Loretta, a versatile infielder, helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League West Division crown this season.

He batted .232 (42 for 181) with eight doubles and 25 runs batted in.

Loretta played all four infield positions and had a .989 fielding percentage.

In the postseason, Loretta delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Dodgers pick up a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a division championship series on Oct. 8.

Loretta , a former All-Star, signed as a free agent before last season with the Dodgers after spending the 2008 season with the Houston Astros.

The annual Los Tacos Holiday Festival will take place Monday and Tuesday at the Glendale Sports Complex, 2220 Fern Lane, Glendale.

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Royal,  Highland and Monrovia will be assigned to the Red Bracket, while Santa Maria St. Joseph, Beckman, La Salle and Burbank will be in the Green Bracket.

Flintridge Sacred Heart will participate in a pair of bracket games Monday, starting with Monrovia 10 a.m. and Royal at 2:15 p.m.

On Tuesday, the Tologs will battle Highland at 10 a.m.

The championship match will begin at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The La Cañada New Year’s Ball Tournament, hosted by the La Cañada High girls’ basketball team, will feature Flintridge Prep and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in its latest rendition.

The Rebels and Tologs will be in separate pools.

Flintridge Prep will have Chaminade and Mark Keppel in its pool, while Flintridge Sacred Heart will be pitted with Gardena Serra and Village Christian.

The tournament will start Saturday and resume with games from Dec. 28-31.

Flintridge Sacred Heart will tip-off at 4 p.m. Saturday against Serra, followed by Flintridge Prep against Keppel at 7.

The tournament’s championship contest will be at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 31.

The Flintridge Prep boys’ soccer team will be close by during the holidays.

The Rebels will take part in the 31st annual La Cañada Holiday Classic, which will take place Saturday and Dec. 28-30 at La Cañada High.

Flintridge Prep will kick things off with a pool-play match at 5:30 p.m. against Village Christian.

It will also take part in pool-play matches against La Cañada at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 29 against Canyon.

All pool-play matches will be 35-minute halves, compared to a 40-minute half in a standard match.

The championship match will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 30.

Glendale welterweight boxer Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan will fight Willie Lee in an undercard bout of the Kelly Pavlik-Miguel Espino world title fight at 6 p.m. (PDT) Saturday in Youngstown, Ohio.

Martirosyan, a former Olympian, is 25-0 with 16 knockouts.

Lee is 17-5 with 11 knockouts.

The Holy Family and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy basketball programs will participate in the 13th annual Pioneer Shootout a Providence High.

Holy Family will meet La Reina in the tournament’s first game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by Flintridge Sacred Heart battling Immaculate Heart at 11.

The championship game will begin at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Mark Loretta, a 1989 St. Francis High graduate, is still seeking a new contract.

Loretta, a versatile infielder who helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League’s West Division this season, reportedly signed veteran infielder Jamie Carroll on Wednesday to a two-year contract (pending a physical exam) worth nearly $4 million.

Loretta, who was signed as a free agent last offseason by the Dodgers, became a free agent following the World Series.

With the Carroll signing, it’s not clear if Loretta will return to the Dodgers in 2010.

Most high school athletes don’t get the opportunity to compete under the bright lights of some of the more famous sports facilities around greater Los Angeles.

To get there, a team must advance to a CIF Southern Section final in a sport such as baseball, football or basketball.

For the members of the Glendale Adventist Academy boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, they had the luxury of each playing a nonleague game against Redlands Adventist Academy on Monday afternoon at Staples Center.

For at least one day, the Cougars didn’t have to play inside a cramped gymnasium, instead competing in the cavernous Staples Center.

“It’s a great experience and something we hope we can do again someday,” said Glendale Adventist boys’ Coach Kevin McCloskey, whose team was handed a 55-54 defeat.

Glendale Adventist girls’ coach and athletic director Chris Lindstadt, whose team fell, 29-26, agreed with McCloskey.

“It’s something the players are going to remember forever,” Lindstadt said. “It’s cool because the kids are lucky to get that kind of an opportunity to play here.”

Added Glendale Adventist girls’ sophomore basketball player Chantel Robinson: “It’s a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity and I’d definitely like to come back here again and play.”

Fifteen high school girls’ basketball teams are scheduled to participate in the annual Burroughs High Tournament, which will begin today and run through Saturday.

Crescenta Valley and Glendale are among the teams involved.

Crescenta Valley will have a tough first-round matchup against Los Osos at 4 p.m. today.

The Crescenta Valley-Los Osos winner would then meet Mark Keppel or J.W. North in a winner’s-bracket game at 4 p.m. Wednesday, with the loser competing at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Glendale will play the winner of a Beverly Hills -Golden Valley contest at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, but opens up in an out-of-bracket game on Tuesday at 4 p.m. against the loser.

The championship game will start at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Glendale Community College men’s basketball team began its season on the right note by winning the Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 7.

Now, it will look to win its second hosted event.

The annual Vaquero Classic will run Wednesday through Saturday at the college’s gymnasium, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale.

Glendale college will kick off with a first-round game against L.A. Harbor College at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

El Camino Community College, Rio Hondo College, College of the Canyons, Cerritos College, Moorpark College and Orange Coast College will take part in the tournament, which will conclude with the championship contest beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid, a former football player at Glendale Community College,  signed a three-year contact extension through 2013 on Wednesday.

Additional details of the deal were not unveiled during a press conference Wednesday morning.

Reid, who is the winningest coach in team history (115 victories and a .611 winning percentage), has guided the Eagles to the playoffs seven times.

Since taking over the head-coaching duties in 1999, Reid has piloted the Eagles to five appearances in the NFC title game and one trip to the Super Bowl.

Reid said he understands the lofty expectations put on him by a demanding fan base.

The Eagles have not won a championship since 1960.

“I love Philadelphia, the fans have been unbelievable,” Reid said during a press conference. “They’re fair. If we stink, they let us know. If we’re doing OK, they tell us.”

The inaugural Burbank High Girls’ Water Polo Tournament will kick off Thursday and run through Saturday.

Cross-town rivals Glendale and Hoover will be a part of the event.

In fact, the two teams are in the same bracket and will meet at 6:45 p.m. Friday.

Glendale and Hoover will be joined in a bracket that will also feature Beverly Hills, El Segundo and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

The other bracket will feature Burbank, Burroughs, Monrovia, Alemany and South Pasadena.

Pool-play games will also be played Saturday, followed by championship games.

Hoover and Glendale will meet in a Pacific League match at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at Glendale.

The Flintridge Prep and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy basketball teams will spend te rest of the week competing in the Pasadena Poly Tournament.

The eight-team tournament will feature pool-play games Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and championship round contests Saturday.

Flintridge Prep will face Maranatha, La Salle and San Marino in pool-play games.

Flintridge Sacred Heart will take part in pool-play contests against South Pasadena, Marshall and Pasadena Poly.

The championship game will take place at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Major League Baseball winter meetings started Monday in Indianapolis.

Some former local stars are possibly looking to join new teams, including St. Francis High graduate Mark Loretta and Glendale resident Juan Castro.

Loretta and Castro, who are infielders, helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League’s West Division this season.

St. Francis High graduate Gregg Zaun inked a new deal with the Milwaukee Brewers last week, while former Glendale Community College standout Freddy Sanchez re-signed with the San Francisco Giants earlier this offseason.

The meetings conclude Friday.

Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid, who played on the Glendale Community College football team in the 70s,  is reportedly on the verge of signing a contract extension with the Eagles.

The extension might be signed this week, though Reid declined to comment after Philadelphia posted a 34-7 road victory against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Reid has coached the Eagles since 1999 and guided them to an appearance in the Super Bowl in January, 2005, against the New England Patriots.

His current contract is scheduled to expire at the end of the 2010 season.

Reid improved his career record to 105-66-1 after Sunday’s win.

The Eagles, who are tied for first place in the National Football Conference’s East Division with the Dallas Cowboys, will next travel to East Rutherford, N.J., to meet the division rival New York Giants at 5:20 p.m. PDT Sunday.