Competition to Start in L.A. Games

Palos Verdes soccer Coach Alan King, who lost 12 players to graduation, will get a look at some of his upcoming talent Saturday when competition begins in the 23rd annual Los Angeles Summer Games.

More than 10,000 high school athletes will be competing in 12 sports at sites across the Los Angeles area.

Palos Verdes meets St. Francis in the first weekend of the games’ soccer tournament at Torrance High at 10 a.m.

The 32 teams in the boys soccer competition will play at two sites Saturday and Sunday, with three flights of eight teams each beginning at 8 a.m. at South Torrance High, and a fourth flight playing at Torrance High.

The final for boys and girls soccer draws are scheduled for July 1 at El Camino College.

Defending L.A. Games champion Hawthorne heads the 16-team girls soccer field, which begins at 8 a.m. Saturday at El Camino.

North Torrance High will be the site of 32 first- and second-round games in the passing league football competition Saturday.

Seven South Bay teams, headed by City Section contender Westchester, are entered in the 48-team bracket. Play continues Sunday and concludes July 1 at noon.

Mira Costa is one of 30 teams entered in the boys volleyball competition--split into six pools of five teams--which begins at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at Torrance and North Torrance High.

The girls competition, also featuring a pool play format, will be played Saturday at the same sites, beginning at 7:30 a.m. The only local team in the 37-team field is the host team, North.

Morningside High will usher in the post-Lisa Leslie era Saturday at 1 p.m., when the Monarchs meet Santa Ynez in the first round of the girls basketball tournament at Los Angeles High.

Morningside is one of seven South Bay teams in the girls competition, which will be played at four sites in the L.A. area.

The boys basketball competition is spread across eight sites, including four in the South Bay--Westchester and Banning High, and two gyms at El Camino. Play begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at each site.

Fifteen teams in the 128-team boys draw are from the South Bay area, headed by 10th-seeeded Morningside. Westchester is seeded 12th, St. Bernard 13th and Carson 21st.

Baseball competition will begin Saturday at three South Bay sites--El Camino, Harbor College, and Redondo High.

Six area schools, headed by West Torrance High, are entered in the softball tournament which begins Saturday at 9 a.m. at El Camino.

Four South Bay teams--Chadwick School, Mira Costa, Miraleste and Rolling Hills--are entered in the water polo competition at Harvard High, which begins Saturday at 8:30 a.m.

Individual tennis competition, featuring 100 participants, will be held both weekends at El Camino.