Lady Highlanders earn their crown with key late run, free throws

In perhaps the most physical game in this year’s Lady Highlanders Classic tournament, free throws made the difference as La Habra defeated Thousand Oaks 60-53 in the tournament’s championship game.

A key 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter gave the Lady Highlanders the lead for good and La Habra made 25-of-35 free throws to earn what Head Coach Jim Bohn believes is the team’s first championship in it’s home tournament.

“The free throws were huge, in the last couple of games our free throw shooting has been off,” said Jim Bohn, La Habra head coach. “Amy [Wilbourn] stepped up and made some huge free throws for us when we needed them and I know she was exhausted at the end, but I couldn’t be more proud of these seniors.”

Amy Wilbourn led all scorers with 25 points and her aggressiveness on offense led to a 14-of-21 night from the free throw line, with most of the missed shots coming toward the end of the fourth quarter as fatigue set in.

Allyson O’Brien provided the support with 21 points, 17 of which were scored in the second half. She hit 9-of-10 free throws.

Through the first three quarters, neither team gained a sizable advantage as Thousand Oaks held two point leads after the first quarter and at halftime and a one-point lead after the third quarter.

La Habra, which had already suffered one loss in a tournament championship game this season, came out with a flurry to start the fourth quarter and scored seven points off turnovers thanks to an intense full-court pressure.

“I knew they had gas in the tank coming out for the fourth quarter,” Bohn said. “So I told them if they win the first two minutes, we win the game. It could have gone either way, but they put their hands up on defense and got the job done.”

From then on, both teams were in foul trouble, but while La Habra started to fade at the free throw line, the Lady Lancers struggled from the floor, shooting just 3-of-13 in the fourth quarter. They also shot 0-of-6 from three-point range.

Jessica Sager led Thousand Oaks with 17 points, with eight points coming in the first quarter as she often found open looks on the baseline.

Wilbourn countered that scoring early on by driving to the basket. Though she made just one basket on those drives, she drained four free throws the help keep La Habra’s deficit at 15-13.

In the second quarter, both teams became more physical as the referees continued to let them play.

Through it all, Wilbourn put up five more points, while Sydney Perry scored six for Thousand Oaks on a three-pointer and on a three-point play as she was fouled on the shot.

The referees’ lack of calls in the first half led to more physical play in the third quarter.

However, the officials began to make calls and O’Brien benefited by making all six of her free throw attempts in the third quarter.

However, Sager was strong for the Lady Lancers with seven points, preserving a 42-41 lead heading into the final quarter.

After the 9-0 run, the Lady Highlanders defense picked up. As Thousand Oaks started to gain steam late in the fourth, Kaili Peko came up with a block on a three-point attempt by Hilary Chuh.

But fouls would continue late in the quarter as Sager and Carolyn Ruffino both fouled out for Thousand Oaks, while Cyrena Gonzalez hit five fouls for La Habra.

“This was good for us, because this is the type of game that we’re going to see against our rivals in league play,” Bohn said. “Thousand Oaks is a great team, they were able to move the ball around and they had a good scheme on Allyson defensively.”

La Habra’s struggles with defensive rebounding continued against Thousand Oaks, as the Lady Lancers came away with nine offensive rebounds.

Katherine Reaves grabbed 13 total rebounds for Thousand Oaks, four on the offensive side.

Bohn said he plans to focus on rebounding with the team while it prepares for it’s upcoming nonleague schedule.

“We’ve got a week now to get in the gym before our next game,” Bohn said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of rebounding drills, we’re giving teams way too many second chance opportunities.”

However, despite the rebounding struggles, La Habra’s scrappy play and continued front court pressure played pivotal roles in their championship run.

Three different players led the team in scoring during this week’s games, and others, like Peko, stepped up with tough defense, which Bohn believes is a sign of the depth on this year’s team.

“This is a confidence boost for us, I told them to remember what happened against Arcadia and they didn’t want to feel like that twice,” Bohn said. “They were able to draw from that and we had some unsung heroes step up. They learned from that experience and moving forward that has to be a big confidence builder.”

La Habra’s season, streak both end in the desert

In the game of softball, or baseball for that matter, mistakes happen, no one is perfect.

However, if the timing of those mistakes isn’t right, it can cost a team everything.

Such was the case for the La Habra softball team as a possibly ill-advised throw to first base by Shanin Thomas sailed wide of Leslie Halte and found it’s way near the right field corner, allowing Thalia Ortiz to score the game winning run in the eighth inning for La Quinta, who moved on to the semifinals with a 2-1 extra-inning win.

Before the game, La Quinta Head Coach DeDe Grutz said that she was hoping for an exciting game that didn’t end by a mistake. She got one of her two wishes, although she’ll take the victory.

For La Habra, which had been so good defensively during its nine-game win streak, it was the worst possible timing for a spot of bad luck.

After battling to a deadlocked 1-1 score after seven innings, La Quinta got back-to-back base hits from Ortiz and Lexy Dominguez to start the bottom of the eighth inning.

Senior Erin Cox then tried to bunt the runners over, but popped it up. After making a spectacular running catch on the attempt, Thomas first looked to second to try to double off Ortiz, but seeing no one covering the bag, turned and fired to first base to get Dominguez.

The base runner reached the bag simultaneously with the ball, perhaps blocking Halte from making the catch as the ball flew by her right side, which gave Ortiz plenty of time to score the run.

After the game, a stunned and devastated Thomas couldn’t bring herself to talk with the team, but credit must be given for her aggressiveness in the situation as she tried to help make the inning easier for pitcher Kayla Klein.

However, the game cannot solely be blamed on Thomas. Offensively, the Lady Highlanders left 11 runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the fourth inning.

Both pitchers, Klein and Melanie Rodriguez of La Quinta, struggled to keep runners off the base paths, but both defenses stepped up and made big plays even with big gusts of wind coming in from the outfield.

Both pitchers also had to deal with inconsistencies behind the plate, especially Klein, who’s outside pitches were called for strikes at one point and balls the next.

Taylor Pierce put La Habra on the board first in the fourth inning when she singled home Halte one play after La Quinta’s Ortiz applied a very hard tag on pinch runner Camille Manzo at third base which knocked her head on the dirt and caused her to exit the contest.

But much like the Buena contest, La Quinta answered immediately with two outs in the fifth inning when a triple by Ortiz brought home Sidney Halbeisen from first base. Halbeisen, a freshman, drew a two-out walk, which kept the inning alive.

La Habra’s best chance to score came in the seventh inning when Maleena Esparza and Cami Jacob led off with back-to-back singles.

However, a fielder’s choice retired Jacob at third and Esparza was thrown out at home after relief pitcher Jessica Melcher was able to reach up and field a high chopper by Thomas.

The Lady Highlanders end their season with a 23-7 overall record, which to most would be a very good season. Knowing La Habra, however, it’s understood that this team knew they could reach higher and they had the determination of a team that could have made a serious championship run.

For Chelsea Sciacca, Leslie Halte, Kayla Klein, Torey Milan and Julie Talancon, it was the final game in a La Habra uniform as the five will be graduating and moving on to bigger and better things in the near future.

ARCHIVE LINK:

CIF-SS Ford Softball Championships: Division 4, Quarterfinals – La Habra vs. La Quinta

Patience pays off, sends La Habra to Quarterfinals

After a defensive battle consumed the first four-and-a-half innings of play, it was the patience of Torey Milan with the bases loaded that scored the eventual game-winning run in La Habra’s 5-1 victory over Buena High in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs this afternoon.

Milan’s walk brought home Maleena Esparza and gave La Habra a 2-1 lead. That’s all the Lady Highlanders would need, but thanks to three consecutive hits, they added a cushion in the sixth inning.

The victory moves La Habra’s softball team to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2004.

Both pitchers, La Habra’s Kayla Klein and Buena’s Anneliese Lopez, engaged in a pitcher’s duel, aided heavily by their defenses, for the first four innings of the contest.

The Lady Highlanders struck first, in the bottom of the second inning, when freshman Taylor Pierce singled home Hope Kelly from second base.

However, in the top of the third inning, Klein would give up her first hit to Makayla Webster who ripped a shot to deep left center for a leadoff double.

Then things got a little weird. The Bulldogs’ Sabrina Cerda attempted to bunt, but popped it up over Milan. As the senior first baseman was running back for the ball, it bounced off her arm before going in foul territory and her flip to Leslie Halte went above the glove into right field.

All the while, Webster snuck around third and headed for home, sliding in just a hair ahead of the tag and tying the score at 1-1.

Between then and the fifth inning, both teams showed great awareness defensively. Both recorded outs at second base on sacrifice bunt attempts, both were right there to back up teammates and make throws back and applied tags, preventing any offensive threats.

Finally, it seemed that Lopez started to break down a little in the bottom of the fifth inning. The sophomore pitcher started to miss her spots and allowed Esparza to reach on a walk. After retiring Cami Jacob, she then allowed a single to Chelsea Sciacca, and hit Shanin Thomas with a pitch before allowing a five-pitch walk to Milan to bring in Esparza.

However, Lopez came back and struck out Hope Kelly to end the threat with the bases still loaded.

In the sixth inning, La Habra continued it’s offensive momentum as the first three batters all reached with base hits, Halte and Sammie Klein with singles, followed by a Pierce double that scored Halte.

Relief pitcher Val Centeno struggled later in the sixth inning and was called twice for a balk, the first of which scored Klein from third base, the second brought Pierce home.

The Bulldogs possess a very young team (only one senior) and making it to the second round was very impressive. It would be surprising not to see them come back and do better in the playoffs next season.

As for the Lady Highlanders, they’re still alive and await a road challenge at La Quinta High School in La Quinta this Thursday.

As always, those who don’t wish to travel the 111 miles from La Habra High to La Quinta High, we will have the game for you live at 3:15 p.m., Thursday, on SportsNetUSA.net!

RELIVE THE GAME HERE:

CIF-SS Ford Softball Championships: Division 4, Round 2 – Buena vs. La Habra

Lady Highlanders waste no time in big first round win

The La Habra softball team has made a habit of putting up runs in the first inning and made no exception against Palm Springs before routing the Indians 15-1 in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs this afternoon.

Last week, the Lady Highlanders scored two runs in each of the first innings against Troy and Sunny Hills, which led to a third consecutive Freeway League Championship.

This time around, they were looking for more.

After sending eight batters to the plate in the first inning, La Habra had four runs, five hits and already a commanding lead over a Palm Springs team that had to travel nearly 100 miles just to get to the field.

The early leads have done wonders in allowing pitcher Kayla Klein the luxury of just challenging the batters, and that she did again this afternoon, picking up her 12th win of the season after throwing five innings, allowing one run, giving up four hits and striking out four batters.

Klein struggled with her command a bit in the fifth inning however, allowing three runners on two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Pitcher Vanessa Ciacotto came on to close out the final two innings.

La Habra wasn’t anywhere close to done after the first inning, putting up two more runs in the second inning, six runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth inning. In fact, the third inning was the only one in which the Lady Highlanders failed to score.

Chelsea Sciacca led the charge with a 2-for-2 performance, including a RBI-triple and a RBI-double. The senior reached base all four times she went to the plate and scored three times.

Freshman Hope Kelly drove home two runs on a single and a double, Leslie Halte went 3-for-4 and Taylor Pierce went 3-for-4 out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order.

Palm Springs starter Nicole Clements, who had been so stellar throughout the season, struggled early and often against the potent La Habra lineup and tried to use the rise ball to record strikeouts.

However, the Lady Highlanders, who have been coached heavily by Frank McCarroll not to ever swing at the rise ball, recognized the tactic and used it to their advantage, drawing multiple walks after a 3-2 rise ball.

The Indians scored their lone run in the third inning after Brittany Shaw led off the inning with a walk and Jenn Rogers singled her home.

Palm Springs, who defeated Serrano in the Wild Card Round 9-5, ended its season with a 14-10 overall record to go along with a fourth place finish in the tough Desert Valley League. The Indians will graduate five seniors on the team, so the majority of the squad should still be intact for the 2012 season.

The Lady Highlanders will now set their sights on Buena High, who defeated Northview High 1-0 in the first round. La Habra will once again have the luxury of a home game due to a coin flip that took place before the first round.

The game will take place at La Habra High at 3:15 p.m. next Tuesday.

As always, if you cannot make the game, keep those laptops and smartphones handy, as we will once again be broadcasting the game live on SportsNetUSA.net.

Other Freeway League scores in CIF-SS Division 4 First Round:

Troy 7, Rancho Alamitos 2

Whittier Christian 3, Sunny Hills 1

Fullerton 10, Village Christian 3

Lady Highlanders hoping win streak reaches 12 games

The La Habra softball team posted a seven-game win streak to end its regular season as the Freeway League champions, but didn’t celebrate at all after clinching the league crown after a 4-1 victory over Sunny Hills last Thursday.

That’s because not only did the Lady Highlanders have the confidence that they could win the outright league title, they think they can stretch it into a CIF-SS Division 4 championship as well and if you look at the team as they take the field, you won’t see any celebrations until the Clan claims that title.

It would take five more victories, stretching an already impressive seven-game win streak to 12 games and proving that La Habra can match up well with anyone. They’ve proven that in tournament play earlier this season.

La Habra’s first round matchup takes place at home on Thursday and it will be decided in a matter of hours whether the Lady Highlanders will host Serrano High (15-11, 6-6 in the Mojave River League) or Palm Springs High (13-9, 6-6 in the Desert Valley League).

The wild card matchup is being hosted by Serrano High, which means an 84-mile one way trip for Palm Springs. Should Palm Springs win, they would have an even greater distance (94 miles) to make it to La Habra, whereas Serrano’s 63 mile trip would be a little more bearable.

Either way, the home field advantage looks to work out well for La Habra, which has only lost once at home this season (to city rival Sonora, 5-2 on April 19).

La Habra’s second round matchup will be either Buena High or Northview High, both of which finished in second place in their respective leagues. The Lady Highlanders will travel to Northview High if they win and a coin flip will determine the home team should Buena High win.

The Lady Highlanders, after a tough final week in which they went 2-0, locked up the No. 3 seed in the Division 4 playoffs and look to be one of the more dangerous teams in the bracket.

Not only that, Head Coach Frank McCarroll says that he believes the team still has not reached it’s peak in terms of potential. If they can continue to improve during the course of the playoffs, with the determination and focus they’ve been displaying on during the win streak, there are plenty of reasons to believe that this year is the one where La Habra can win it all.

If you cannot make any of the playoff games, not to worry. We’ll be broadcasting the games on http://www.sportsnetusa.net for your convenience. Each game will begin live just before the scheduled 3:15 p.m. start time and they will be archived at the same website address for free downloading anytime, anywhere.

It all begins in the first round, Thursday at La Habra High School at 3:15 p.m.: SportsNetUSA.net – Just click on the link for La Habra Softball!

La Habra scores early, takes Freeway League crown

The La Habra softball team used a familiar formula in clinching a third straight Freeway League championship after a 4-1 road win over Sunny Hills, Thursday.

Both teams came in with 7-2 Freeway League records, ensuring that only one of them would leave the champion. For La Habra Head Coach Frank McCarroll, the victory was his first road win at Sunny Hills in his now four-year tenure with the team.

Chelsea Sciacca, Shanin Thomas and Torey Milan recorded consecutive base hits in the first inning, the latter two driving home one run each as the Lady Highlanders took a 2-0 lead before pitcher Kayla Klein even entered the pitcher’s circle.

The early lead proved vital, as Klein had to battle out of trouble with runners on first and second base in the first and third innings.

But like every other trouble spot the senior pitcher has found herself in during this seven game win streak, she battled and made it out unscathed, recording two crucial strikeouts to end both innings.

Thomas stretched the lead to 3-0 in the top half of the third inning after launching a Riley Nahrwold offering over the left-center field fence for a solo home run.

Knowing the Freeway League title was on the line, Sunny Hills kept coming and finally crossed the plate in the fifth inning when junior Jeanette Griggs singled home Marjani Knighten with two outs.

However, that’s all Klein and the defense would allow. The Lady Lancers put together one final push in the seventh inning and had runners on first and second base with one out.

Griggs followed with a fielder’s choice ground out that could have been the game-ending double play, but the Lancers’ Madi Cruse tripped up Leslie Halte at second base, preventing the double play.

Klein induced another ground ball from the ensuing batter, Lexy Ontiveros, over to Halte, who made the flip to first base to retire the final out and secure La Habra’s third consecutive Freeway League championship and second outright championship in the last three years.

In the first inning, Griggs couldn’t react quickly enough to a Thomas double, allowing Sciacca to score the first run of the game. Milan’s line drive bounced off the glove of center fielder Emily Gonzalez, allowing Thomas to cross the plate.

After the game was completed, there was not much of a celebration from the La Habra side, perhaps a sign that they are focusing on a bigger picture past the league championship.

That bigger picture would be the CIF Playoffs, which for La Habra would most likely start next Thursday.

A preview of La Habra vs. Sunny Hills for the Freeway League title

It’s hard to even contemplate how things will play out in today’s Freeway League Championship game between La Habra and Sunny Hills.

Both teams head into today’s game at Sunny Hills High School with identical 7-2 league records and, with third-place Troy two games behind heading into the final game, have secured the top two spots in the Freeway League.

So who has the greater chance of coming out on top? Who should be considered the favorite?

Well, La Habra is coming in on a six game winning streak after starting Freeway League play with a 1-2 record, the team just had it’s best overall defensive effort in Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Troy and the offense has shown that it has plenty of power and ability to drive in runs if need be, even more so in later innings.

Sunny Hills has plenty of momentum in its favor after a walk-off, come-from-behind 5-4 victory over Troy a week ago, followed by a nine-inning 6-5 win over Fullerton on Tuesday. Needless to say, this team has had it’s fair share of drama recently just to hang on to a share of the league lead.

However, one pattern that is present ever since Frank McCarroll took over head coaching duties at La Habra before the 2008 season, is the fact that these two teams have split their two game series’ in each of McCarroll’s three full seasons as head coach.

Even more glaring is the fact that the home team has won all seven games played thus far, including La Habra’s 3-2 come-from-behind win at home over the Lady Lancers a few weeks ago.

So in that instance, Sunny Hills may hold a slight edge, but with the way the Lady Highlanders have been playing, it’s hard to fathom an easy victory in either direction.

Of the last seven meetings between the two schools, only one contest was decided by more than three runs and that was back in 2009, a 6-1 victory for the Lady Highlanders.

Four of those seven meetings have been one-run ball games, including each of the last three contests dating back to last season. Both teams have won two of those games.

So maybe all that is needed to determine a favorite is home-field advantage. It’s worked out for these two teams in each of the previous three seasons and there’s no reason to believe it’s not a possibility here.

One thing is for certain: this year’s Freeway League championship will not be shared like it was last season and this game is highly likely to come down to the seventh inning, or even later, and it has all the makings of a game of the year.

Can Coach McCarroll and his squad carry the momentum and take a victory and an outright league title at Sunny Hills? Or will the Lady Lancers continue the pattern and take their first outright title since 2006?

We’re all going to find out at 3:15pm and if you can’t make the game live, tune in and listen to a live broadcast here:

SportsNetUSA.net – Just click on the logo for La Habra Softball!

Lady Highlanders come together for two big wins

The La Habra softball team found itself right back in the midst of the Freeway League championship race after arguably it’s toughest back-to-back games of the season.

They certainly made fans worry for a moment about whether that would still be a possibility after heading into the bottom of the seventh inning with a 2-0 deficit against league-leading Sunny Hills on Tuesday.

However, Maleena Esparza connected on Lancers’ pitcher Riley Nahrwold’s offering and crushed a solo home run to give her team a much needed boost.

The seniors responded by refusing to get out, Cami Jacob singled before Chelsea Sciacca grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out.

After Shanin Thomas was hit by a pitch, Leslie Halte tied the game with a RBI-single up the middle and, with runners on second and third bases, Torey Milan put a charge into another Nahrwold offering, crushing a pitch that bounced off the top of the outfield fence for a game-winning RBI double, completing the comeback and keeping the Lady Highlander’s title hopes alive.

Before the seventh inning, Nahrwold had kept La Habra off-balance and pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning, and another with two base runners on in the fifth inning.

Torey Milan was the only one who could consistently figure out Nahrwold, batting 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk.

For Sunny Hills, Jeanette Griggs scored both of the Lancers’ runs. The first run came in the fourth inning when she walked to lead off, and was brought home on a double by Marisa Escobedo.

Griggs scored again in the sixth inning when Jacob’s pickoff attempt to third base got under the glove of Thomas and rolled into left field.

Fueled by the seventh inning comeback against league-leading Sunny Hills, the Lady Highlanders softball team got off to a quicker start against Fullerton, downing the Indians 7-1 at home, Thursday.

Esparza hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning and scored all three times she reached base.

Milan opened up a five-run fourth inning with a solo home run, while Jacob drove in a run with a sacrifice fly ball and Sciacca brought home another with a double. The final two runs would score on errors by the left side of the infield.

Esparza scored in the third inning on an error after being hit by a pitch and singled to third base by Jacob.

“We worked on some things in practice, tried to keep pitcher [Jessica Leitner] in our zone and not swing at bad pitches,” said Frank McCarroll, La Habra head coach. “Last time she got us to swing at some pitches we shouldn’t have and we were more disciplined at the plate today.”

Kayla Klein pitched a complete game for her seventh win of the season, showing a little more velocity on her pitches despite the fact that the Indians were able to get ahead of them and foul many of them off to the left side.

However, Klein limited Fullerton’s base runners and again, the defense bailed her out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth inning and caught the Indians in a bad baserunning situation to end the first inning.

“We made too many mistakes running the bases,” said Mark Takkinen, Fullerton head coach. “They played good defense and we didn’t, that’s what won them the game. We just have to compete every inning…now we have to have help from everyone else in order to win a league title.”

“Last time we played Fullerton it was Kayla’s second game of the year,” McCarroll said. “This time around she’s back to where she needs to be and the defense played great behind her.”

The victory for La Habra avenged an earlier loss to the Indians, 2-1, back on April 5. Furthermore, it kept the Clan’s hopes for a Freeway League championship alive as the Lady Highlanders kept themselves within a game of Sunny Hills in the standings.

La Habra will play a third consecutive game at home against Buena Park on Tuesday, followed by a city clash with Sonora on the road next Thursday.

“Sonora beat us last time, but playing Buena Park on Tuesday is like playing Fullerton today, we have to play focused,” McCarroll said. “They haven’t won a league game in some time and I’m hoping that their first one isn’t against us.”

RELIVE THE GAMES HERE:

Sunny Hills @ La Habra (Tue. Apr. 26)

Fullerton @ La Habra (Thu. Apr. 28)

Late heroics by freshman lift Indians over La Habra

The La Habra softball team couldn’t hang on to a tie ball game in the seventh inning, dropping its first league game of the season to Fullerton, 2-1 this afternoon at Fullerton High School.

With one out and runners on first and second base, freshman leadoff hitter Savannah Rojas laced a Kayla Klein pitch to left field, driving home Micayla Beltran, the lone senior on the team, for the game-winning run.

La Habra first baseman Torey Milan cut off the throw from left field by Taylor Pierce, which allowed Beltran enough time to slide in safely. The debate is whether Beltran would have been thrown out had Milan let the ball pass.

Regardless, the walkoff hit produced the only earned run of the game and La Habra (8-4, 0-1) suffered a similar fate to its first meeting with Fullerton last season.

Pitching and defense dominated the majority of the game, as both teams had opportunities slip through their fingers from inning to inning.

The Lady Highlanders left a runner stranded in scoring position in three of the first four innings before finally tying the game in the fifth inning thanks to two errors by Indians’ shortstop Taylor Browne.

Rojas scored Fullerton’s first run in the third inning on an error by Leslie Halte when a groundball by Monique Martinez slipped underneath the second baseman’s glove, allowing Rojas to score from second base.

Fullerton’s seventh inning heroics offset a bad call by the field umpire, who called the Indians’ Vanessa Montano out at second base on a stolen base when she clearly beat the throw.

The Indians (9-8, 1-0) bounced back with a single by Beltran and a full count walk by Alexia Meza before Rojas’ walkoff hit.

Before the seventh inning, La Habra’s Klein had only allowed one hit. Fullerton collected three in the seventh inning alone.

Jessica Leitner picked up the win for Fullerton, dominating with her curve ball in a complete game which the only run given up was unearned on two hits with one strikeout, two walks and two hit batters.

The Lady Highlanders will have to try and reverse their fortunes against Buena Park on the road on Thursday.

Relive the game here: La Habra @ Fullerton (Freeway League opener)