The Scoop on:

The basics:

-- 5-foot- 11, 170 pounds
-- Senior
-- Left fielder
-- Right-handed hitter

Stat line (through the first 20 games): .438 batting average, .500 on-base percentage, .757 slugging percentage, 28 hits, 10 doubles, 3 home runs, 16 RBIs, 13 runs, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts. (Click here to go to Newman's bio page.) 

Tools: The guy can hit.

“He keeps his weight back; he’s compact,” Valencia coach Mike Scheetz said. “And he doesn’t get cheated. He takes a very aggressive hack.”

His approach would drive seamheadscrazy. “I want to hit,” Newman said. “I’m not looking to walk. I’m not looking to do anything else. I just want a line drive up the middle every time. … You can’t take too many fastballs in this league.”

But Scheetz makes sure to note, “He’s disciplined. He’s not going to chase pitches out of the strike zone.”

Colorful character: “He wears the most bizarre colored clothing,” Scheetz said. “Yellow jeans, aqua jeans, purple jeans, red. … I think that would be the most flamboyant thing about him.”

Teammates let it slide.

Coaches don’t.

“I asked him if he was wearing his mom’s pants,” Scheetz said.

Newman's batting gloves / JONATHAN KAY, OCVarsity.com

Wear and tear: Newman keeps to one superstition – he never changes batting gloves during a season.

“It’s just something that kind of happened, and I’ve stuck with it because it seems to be working for me,” he said.

Holding up his current pair (see picture at right), he said, “These don’t really cover my hands anymore. … I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.”

Hearing about this for the first time, Scheetz said, “I’m not surprised. That’s part of the game, and he knows the game.”

The work: “I’m always looking to perfect my swing,” Newman said.

He gives much of the credit to his father, Larry. Though not a baseball player, Larry has spent countless hours in the front yard with Mike, soft-tossing balls that Mike hits into a net. They’ve been doing it for years.

Newman never consulted a private batting coach on any sort of regular basis. Instead, “If I hit a slump, I’m out there (in the front yard) grooving my swing.”

The outlook: Newman’s a second-year captain, as voted by teammates. That respect comes, in part, from his work ethic. His steady attitude also plays a role.

“He doesn’t get any highs and lows,” Scheetz said. “There are times when he hits the ball on the screws right at someone. But he understands the game. He knows he’ll dink one later. He’s very mature for his age.”

But luck doesn’t always even itself out in one season. Last season, Newman hit .306, relatively low for a No. 3 hitter on a 21-win team.

“This year, they’re finding holes,” Newman said of his barrage of hard line drives and ground balls. “It’s the same approach. I’m putting the same amount of work in.”

April 3 brought Newman’s first multi-homer game at any level, when he hit two against Loara.

“It’s just from being stronger,” he said. “I’m never looking to hit home runs. I’m just looking for line drives.”
 
Bloodlines: Troy Newman, Mike’s cousin, plays third base for Esperanza.

The big decision: Option one -- “Focus on baseball, play at a junior college, then transfer to a bigger school.”

Option two -- “Focus on academics.”

The academic route includes going to Chapman and playing both football, where he’s a strong safety, and baseball. He has a similar offer from Redlands.

The baseball route could send him to Cypress or Irvine Valley College. He was scheduled to take a tour of Irvine Valley on Thursday, and Cypress coaches have asked him to visit.

Football, Newman said, “has always been a hobby, so that’d just be a bonus. … The hope for me is to keep playing the game I love for as long as possible.”

-- JONATHAN KAY, Special to OCVarsity.com

Former Magnolia High student Cesar Silva came up just a bit short of earning a spot on a Major League Soccer youth team. Silva, one of 12 finalists in the Sueno MLS competition (out of nearly 2,000 entrants) spent the weekend participating in skills competitions at the Home Depot Center. Illinois native Alberto Lopez, 17, won the contest, earning a tryout with the Chicago Fire.

Canyon 26, Ocean View 25 at halftime

For Canyon, Braden Priest has 11 points and Chris Anderson has scored 9.

For Ocean View, Mason Jones has 14 and Billy Keller has 6.

The Seahawks were led by 21 points from Anthony Brown, 20 from Avery Johnson and 18 from Mason Jones. Ocean View jumped out to an 18-4 lead and never let up the rest of the way.

Click here for the full story and slide show.

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Division IV-AA

ORANGE LUTHERAN (25-3) VS. NOTRE DAME OF SHERMAN OAKS (25-6)

Site, time: Mater Dei High, 8:15 p.m.

Tickets: $9-$5

How they got there: Orange Lutheran, the Trinity League's No. 2 team, defeated El Segundo, 73-46; Banning, 56-50; Yucca Valley, 63-43; and Rosary, 67-37. Notre Dame, the Mission League champion, defeated Littlerock, 56-31; Ocean View,62-28 ; La Canada, 47-38; and Bishop Montgomery, 55-53.

Probable starters: Orange Lutheran: Skye Atchley (5-8, F, Sr., 9.5 ppg), McKinleigh Cordova (5-7, Sr., G, 8.5 ppg), Krissy Karr (5-5, So., G, 7.5 ppg), Savannah King (6-1, So., C, 5.9 ppg), Natalie Luzar (5-8, So., G, 11.2 ppg). Notre Dame: Liza Avancena (5-5, Sr., G, 4.1 ppg), Kigozi Bre (5-7, Sr., G, 8.1 ppg), Kody Burke (6-1, Jr., F, 21.8 ppg), Sydney Hubbard (5-9, Jr., F, 6.4 ppg), Courtney Vendetti (5-7, So., G, 4.6 ppg).

Outlook: This is the Lancers' first CIF-SS championship appearance since 1981. Their only losses this season have come to O.C. No. 1 Mater Dei (twice) and Santa Margarita. Notre Dame had not made it past the second round since 2006. The Knights have not lost since Jan. 16, against Division IV-A finalist Harvard-Westlake.

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Division III-A

FOOTHILL (28-1) VS. INGLEWOOD (16-15)

Site, time: Mater Dei High, 6:30 p.m.

Tickets: $9-$5

How they got there: Foothill, the Sea View League champion, defeated Cerritos, 64-24; Sonora, 57-35; and Monrovia, 78-69. Inglewood, the Ocean League champion, defeated Rosemead, 71-23; Barstow, 62-46; and Muir, 48-45.

Probable starters: Foothill: Laurel Fiddler (5-7, Jr., G, 3.0 ppg), Makenzie Hirz (6-1, Sr., F, 11.2 ppg), Christina Marinacci (6-1, Sr., F, 18.9 ppg), Blair Shinoda (5-10, Sr., F, 10.1 ppg), Paulina Solis (5-4, So., G, 6.1 ppg). Inglewood: Bailey Barbour (6-3, Sr., C, 4.6 ppg), Makeda Beadle (5-9, Sr., G, 8.9 ppg), Tayler Champion (6-1, Sr., F, 13.8 ppg), Renee Golliday (5-8, Sr., G, 8.6 ppg), Hazel Ramirez (5-5, Jr., G, 10.2 ppg).

Outlook: After forfeiting its first 14 games (11 retroactively), Inglewood's only loss came to league rival Santa Monica. Foothill's sole defeat came in overtime, 71-59, to Brea Olinda on Jan. 10. Both teams lost in the quarterfinals last season.

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Here's what they had to say about her, in an e-mail to reporters:

Alexandra Palmer, 5-7 S, Laguna Beach (CA) -- The daughter of a
doctor, Palmer expects to follow in his shoes when she enrolls at
Santa Clara in the fall. Possessing a 4.5 GPA, which ranks her in the
top five percent of her class at Laguna Beach, Palmy has won the
scholar-athlete award every year in high school and excels in
physics. She also brings a surgeon's touch to the volleyball court,
where her high school teams have advanced to state championship
matches and her club teams have won national championships. All area
and all CIF-Southern Section, the A comes first in this Senior Ace.

Here is how the Web site's John Tawa described his decision-making in an e-mail to media around the country:

Agony & ecstasy. There simply is no other way to describe the process of selecting high school All Americans. That's why I think I'll be repeating these lines to introduce this story every year. On the one hand, we are thrilled to recognize 150 deserving players from 41 states as 2008 PrepVolleyball.com All Americans. On the other, there are always too many talented kids and not enough spots for all of them. Tough choices had to be made.

How was the All American list developed? I started formulating the list back in October and November as I was working on the Gatorade Player of the Year awards for the 49 states that play volleyball (sorry, Vermont) plus the District of Columbia. Then, in December, I sent multiple e-mails to high school coaches and posted on the Girls Volleyball Message Board that I was seeking nominees for High School All American, making clear the following:

To be a High School All-American, you must have made a massive impact on your high school team. "Massive" is subjective, but at a minimum requires that you be the best player on your team and one of the top 3-5 players in your state regardless of class, except for volleyball hotbeds like California, Texas, Indiana and Illinois, where you must be among the 10 best HIGH SCHOOL players regardless of
class.

The nominations poured in, each advancing the cause of one player or another. They all had accomplished great things during the high school year and were worthy of recognition. But, alas, I could only choose the 150 players I thought made the greatest impact on their teams and their states. I created a massive list of those nominated and added about a hundred more from All-State and All-Area lists that were published in newspapers or on coaches association websites. States that don't pick All-State teams made my job in those states, like California, much tougher.

Then, I picked those players that absolutely had to be on the list, giving deference to class year (seniors got preference over juniors who got preference over sophomores, etc.) and to the choices made by the local sportswriters (in consultation with area coaches) or coaches associations, and giving weight to team success. If decisions were made at the state or local level to prefer one player to another, I usually did not substitute my judgment even if I would have liked to based on my information or personal observation.

After narrowing the list to 190 or so must-be All Americans, I sent out several e-mails to coaches whose opinions I valued in areas where I wasn't totally sure about my choices. Phone calls were made,
journalists were consulted, all in an effort to make the All-American list the best it could be.

Finally, after agonizing over the selections, we got down to 150. Below you will find the breakdown of our selections by class year and state. For you conspiracy theorists out there, at no time until after the list was determined did I look to see what the breakdown was. I picked the players I thought made the greatest impact in 2008 and let the chips fall where they may.

I have felt pressure in the past few years to expand the All American list beyond 150 players. There are certainly more than that number who had great fall seasons. But the more the list expands, the less
meaningful the distinction becomes. So, it shall remain at 150 in perpetuity.

Thank you to all the coaches who contributed their views and provided data to help compile this list. And congratulations to the All-Americans for their great seasons and to everyone else who plays
this great game.