Reds

Their goal was to "hit it out of the park. " The 2011 Pink Tie Ball, produced by the Orange County affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, recently took place at Angel Stadium. The benefit event drew nearly 400 guests and netted $310,000, earmarked for breast health services for underserved Orange County women. The unusual pink-tie evening at the Anaheim ballpark was created by more than 160 volunteers donating their time and resources to make one of the spring social season's events an enormous success.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — UC Santa Barbara middle blocker Dylan Davis, a Corona del Mar High product, has led the Gauchos men's volleyball team to the brink of history. Davis had a career-high 15 kills and set a tournament hitting record Thursday night as the No. 4-seeded Gauchos stunned top-seeded USC, 29-27, 24-26, 25-15, 25-18, in an NCAA Tournament semifinal at Penn State. UC Santa Barbara will play Ohio State on Saturday in the NCAA championship match. The Gauchos (18-14)

NEWPORT BEACH — The opening night of the Newport Beach Film Festival, featuring the world premiere of "East Fifth Bliss," was marked by high-profile celebrities and a packed theater at the Edwards Big Newport Cinemas. Actors Michael C. Hall and Peter Fonda were among the television and film celebrities who showed up for the red carpet gala for the film about an emotionally dysfunctional man who wants to travel, but has no money and no job, and finds himself involved in an odd relationship with a former classmate's daughter.

The red carpet rolls out at Edwards Big Newport Cinemas on Thursday night for the opening of the 2011 Newport Beach Film Festival and the world premiere of "East Fifth Bliss. " The film, starring Michael C. Hall of Showtime's "Dexter," along with other television and film celebrities Lucy Liu, Peter Fonda, Chris Messina, Brie Larson, Brad William Henke and Sarah Shahi, is a comedy about a middle-aged man with dreams of traveling but no prospects who finds himself in an old relationship with a former classmate's daughter.

COSTA MESA — On the eve of the wedding between Kate Middleton and Prince William, Carrie von Hemert-Eyre will pull off her own event of royal proportions. Von Hemert Interiors, a 25,000-square-foot Costa Mesa interior design store will host a Royal Wedding event April 28 with music, food, prizes and designs from local fashion and jewelry designers inspired by the royal nuptials, said Hemert-Eyre. A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Australian surfer Josh Kerr, who surfs for Rusty, the Irvine-based surfboard and surfwear company, appeared at Wednesday night's red carpet screening in Newport Beach of Kerr's new surf film, "Kerrazy Kronicles. " The event at the Lido Theater drew some 500 people, organizers said. VIP guests included Kerr, fellow Rusty surfer Damien Fahrenfort, and Rusty Preisendorfer, the legendary surfboard shaper and founder of Rusty. "Kerrazy Kronicles" followed Kerr and other surfers to surfing locations all over the world, and one of the surfing scenes was shot in Newport Beach, said Rusty's publicist Kevin Burke.

BOYS' SOCCER Woodbridge 2, Corona del Mar 1 IRVINE — The host Warriors scored on a penalty kick late in the first half to stay in outright first place in the Pacific Coast League Wednesday at Alton Park. Corona del Mar junior goalie Connor Gaal was issued a red card for making contact with a Woodbridge player's face after that player knocked Gaal down, CdM senior midfielder Brian Ford said. Gaal's mother, Heidi Neal, said in an e-mail that it's Connor's second red card of the season and he will miss the remainder of the season, including the CIF playoffs.

We've been through a lot of them, no? We've seen lots of Christmases and the stories that go with them on these pages over the years, and in just a few days, another one will be upon us. Happens every year just about this time and every year, I try to come up with something inspiring for you, something uplifting, one of those stories that makes you teary-eyed and reminds you of why we are here and what the real meaning of Christmas is. I couldn't...

More than 100 of St. Nick's helpers — all disguised in their best Santa outfits — descended on the Balboa Peninsula on Saturday for the fifth annual Santa Pub Crawl to benefit a local charity for the third consecutive year. Locals dressed as Santa, Mrs. Claus, jolly elves and even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer joined with Project Access, a nonprofit that provides gifts and holiday meals to needy families, and raised about $1,800 from the single night event. Organized by Newport Beach residents Christopher Pope and Robert Weiner, partners in a local import-export business, participants purchased a wrist band for a donation of $10 to $20, which qualified them for discount specials at participating restaurants: Newport Landing, Balboa Saloon, Shore House Cafe and Cabo Cantina.

COSTA MESA — Many of the 600 Costa Mesa Middle School students wore red shirts Thursday in recognition of Red Ribbon Week, an anti-drug movement born in the Just Say No 1980s. The annual demonstration fell days before voters will decide on Proposition 19, which would decriminalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults older than 21. "They can legalize it," said Nabeel Salamen, 12, a seventh-grader, "but it's going to be people's choice then to [make] their life worse.