West Ranch opened the Valley Invitational Baseball League with a 5-2 win over Royal and the sound of wood bats smacking balls around the West Ranch High baseball field.

The Valley Invitational Baseball League is using wood bats instead of metal bats for the first time in league history.

The wood bats didn’t affect the West Ranch hitters too much. The team collected eight hits. Aaron Smirnoff had two doubles and drove in a run against Royal.

The Hart baseball team beat Taft, 5-1, in the Valley Invitational Baseball League opener for both teams. Thomas Bilbo hit a two-run home run and Dallas Bacon went 2-for-3 and scored a run for Hart.

Golden Valley beat Montclair Prep, 8-3, in Valley Invitational Baseball League play. Golden Valley scored six runs in the fifth inning capped by a two-run single by catcher Rocky Sherwood.

The UCLA Bruins softball team won the College World Series with the help of a pair of Hart High graduates. UCLA beat Arizona, 15-9, to win its 11^th national championship in softball.

Outfielder Devon Lindvall and pitcher Destiny Rodino, both freshmen at UCLA and graduates of Hart, saw limited action in the team’s College World Series run. Lindvall entered the championship game as a defensive replacement in centerfield in the sixth inning.

UCLA finished with a 50-11 record and won its first College World Series since 2004.

Saugus High graduate Victoria Kemp made two plate appearances for Arizona in the championship game. She was hit by a pitch, drew and walk and scored a run.

The Lakers regained home-court advantage and beat the Boston Celtics, 91-84, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 29 points. But it was Derek Fisher’s 16 points and fourth-quarter hustle that proved to be the difference.

Another glaring difference in Game 3 was the play of Celtics guard Ray Allen. He was 0-for-13 from the field and scored only two points. Allen set an NBA Finals record with eight 3-pointers in Game 2. In Game 3, he missed all eight of his 3-point attempts.

The Lakers lead the series two games to one. Game 4 is Thursday in Boston.

Two baseball players with Santa Clarita ties were selected in the Major League Baseball draft.

Second baseman Casey Stevenson, a Saugus High graduate and UC Irvine senior, was picked in the 27^th round by the New York Yankees.

The Master’s College pitcher Joe Zeller was selected in the 28^th round by the Chicago Cubs. The draft concludes today.

The Dodgers got seven shut-out innings from Hiroki Kuroda and squeaked past the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0, at Dodger Stadium.

Manny Ramirez drove in Rafael Furcal with a double in the bottom of the eighth inning for the game’s only run.

Cardinals’ starter Chris Carpenter matched Kuroda with seven shut-out innings of his own. Reliever Trever Miller gave up the game-wining hit to Ramirez.

The Dodgers will look to complete the sweep of the Cardinals tonight at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the Dodgers. He is in search of his sixth win of the season. The Cardinals will counter with Adam Wainwright.

Pregame starts at 6:30 on AM 1220, KHTS.