Claremont High School boys tennis capped off a winning season by defeating the visiting Bonita Bearcats, 12-6, in the final match of the season.

The Pack moves into this week’s Palomares League finals as the second-place team with a record of 8-2. Both losses were to first-place Diamond Bar.

The doubles team of Naveen Mohideen and Eric Davis swept the competition, even though Bonita attempted to stack the deck by substituting their top singles player Matthew Diamond for the usual doubles line-up.

The tactic almost worked as Diamond and Daanyaal Kuma broke Mohideen and Davis’ serve early on to go ahead 2-1. The Pack came back and won the next two games only to give up the sixth, tying the score. At first, Davis’ serve was a bit off, but as he regained control helping the team eventually win the match 6-3.

Singles first-seed junior Andrew Leahy easily handled Bonita’s number-two and -three players to finish a nearly perfect season. Leahy faced Matthew Diamond’s brother Zach Diamond and Danny Aljamal, but neither was able to match his powerful serve as he defeated both 6-0.

Leahy will have to bring his A-game to the finals, as the competition will be tougher than in past years. “He will have to stay on his toes. There are a number of good players, any one of whom could win,” said his father Alan J. Leahy

Leahy’s brother, former Claremont standout Alan Leahy—now a sophomore at Azusa Pacific University—is headed to the NCAA Division II National Tournament on May 12 in Surprise, Arizona.

Claremont’s number-two player, Layton Bohren, a freshman who is developing into a top competitor, also easily handled two players from Bonita, winning his first match 6-0 and his second 6-2. In an interesting twist, his father Mark Bohren is Alan Leahy’s coach at Azusa Pacific. At number-three, Christian Settles also defeated both of his competitors 6-0.

The boys would normally have played three games, but coach Clint Rees subbed out his top players to save their energy for the finals and to give other team members a chance to play in the final match.

The two teams shared a high camaraderie, mingling easily between matches.

“You don’t always see two teams mixing together talking about tennis,” said Bonita coach Randy Bell. “They will call each other up and say, ‘Let’s go hit.’”

The Palomares League finals finished up Thursday, after the COURIER print deadline. Look for the latest updated results on claremont-courier.com.

SWIMMING

CHS swimming had a good start to their post-season, qualifying several swimmers for the league finals.

Notable swims during the meet included sophomore Katrina Strash, who seeded first in the 50-meter freestyle and third in the 100-meter freestyle; junior Samantha Duran seeded third in both of her events, 100-meter fly and 500-meter free; freshman Emily Marks seeded fourth in the 100-meter backstroke; and Ben Eagleton, who seeded fourth in the 50-meter freestyle.

GOLF

The golf team participated in the Palomares League prelims last Thursday at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills. On the par 72 course, Jonathan Yoo shot a 77 and was the only Claremont player to make the cut at 82 strokes. Other performances came from Matt Stanford and Tyler Yang, who both shot 87. Rounding out the team was Paul Yu at 91 and Andrew Im at 93.

On Monday, Yoo advanced to the finals at Whispering Lakes Golf Course in Ontario, where he shot an 80 for a two-day total of 157 and an eighth-place finish.

On Wednesday, JV had their league finals at Los Serranos where Spencer Sharp had a good day shooting a 92 for seventh place. Other scores included Matt Lach at 102, Rick Meguerditchian at 105, Elijah Song at 105, Kristian Sjoberg at 106 and Ian Treat at 106.

SOFTBALL

Softball lost a heartbreaker Wednesday against Diamond Bar, 4-3. The Pack scored first in the second inning and added two more in the sixth, but the Brahmas had a big inning in the sixth with four runs and the win.

The girls also lost their home game against Ayala last Friday, 3-2. Ayala scored first, but Claremont came back in the third to tie the game. The score stayed even until the seventh inning, when the Bulldogs got the winning run. Both teams had eight hits. The girls are now 9-8 overall, 2-5 in league play.

BASEBALL

Claremont High School baseball played a long 2-2 stalemate with South Hills on Wednesday at CHS. The teams battled it out for 12 innings before the umpire called the game due to darkness.

There was no shortage of hitting, as Claremont had seven and South Hills had eight, but both teams had a hard time scoring runs. Special recognition goes to Cole Prentice who knocked in both runs with an RBI single in the third inning. Trent Troncone and Jake Gentry each had a hit and scored a run. Jeremiah Maldonado had two hits including a double.

Tyler Witt pitched just over seven innings, giving up seven hits and two runs, but only walked one and struck out five. Reliever Travis Moffat was on the mound for four innings giving up one hit, no runs, walking one and striking out two.  Fielding highlights included Chandler Boldig at first base with 13 putouts, including one double play.

CHS had a disappointing game last Friday, losing to Glendora 10-1 in Glendora. The Tartans outplayed the Pack from the very start, scoring in four of the seven innings. Claremont prevented the shutout in the seventh when Isaiah Montoya scored.

Starter Noah Song pitched just three innings, giving up seven hits and seven runs. He also walked two and struck out four. Travis Moffatt pitched two innings, giving up five hits and three runs while walking one and striking out three.

The boys’ record is now 8-11-1 overall and 3-8-1 in league.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com