Santa Ana

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Orange Coast 61, Santa Ana 44 COSTA MESA — Jenna Arnett led three Pirates in double figures in the Orange Empire Conference clash at OCC Wednesday. Arnett had 13 points, while Anna Bartel had 12 and Ashley Engeln added 11 for the winners (9-10, 1-1 in conference). Michelle Angel had seven points, six assists and four rebounds for OCC, which led, 35-18, at halftime. Santa Ana (4-13, 0-3), coached by former OCC star Flo Luppani, had 26 turnovers.

A bit of luck along with some opportune pitching provided the Costa Mesa High softball team with a 2-1 Golden West League victory over visiting Santa Ana Friday. Sophomore Uyen Mai was credited with what proved to be the game-winning RBI on her fly ball to center field in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two out, the score tied, 1-1, and senior Jennifer Jordan on third base, Mai popped the ball to center. There was confusion over who would catch it and the ball fell, Costa Mesa Coach Rick Buonarigo said.

SANTA ANA - The Orange Coast College softball team had its offense shut down by Santa Ana in Wednesday's 1-0 Orange Empire Conference loss. Monica Ortega threw a complete-game three-hitter for OCC (10-17, 4-14 in conference), but allowed the game's only run in the fourth inning. OCC will host Saddleback on Friday at 3 p.m. ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE Santa Ana 1, Orange Coast 0Orange Coast 000 000 0 - 0 4 1 Santa Ana 000 100 x - 1 3 1 Ortega and Snyder; Kralich and Kendrick.

Bryce Alderton The Orange Coast College men's soccer team faced two battles on its home turf in Tuesday's Orange Empire Conference showdown with first-place and undefeated Santa Ana. The Pirates dueled the team a game ahead of them in the conference standings while struggling, along with the Dons, to keep their emotions on an even keel during the physical contest. After two hours, Orange Coast found itself no better or worse in the standings, but confident it had given Santa Ana a scare following a 3-3 tie. The Pirates' three goals were the most the Dons, who had outscored their previous opponents, 15-4, had allowed this season.

SANTA ANA - Newport Harbor High was a 1-0 winner over host Santa Ana Tuesday in Sunset League field hockey, the winning edge provided by a goal from Caitlin Farrell in the first minute of play. Amanda Wittman got the shutout with six saves, two of the diving stop variety. Athena Vasquez was outstanding at center-midfielder for the Tars, now 1-1-0. Santa Ana falls to 0-1-1. A price was paid in the form of Carlin Schneider, who took a nasty stick to the head in the second half and, with a considerable loss of blood, was taken to a hospital, said a concerned Coach Sharon Wolfe.

The Orange Coast College baseball team trailed, 10-1, after two innings, and went on to lose, 14-1, to Orange Empire Conference host Santa Ana Thursday. Santa Ana (19-8, 8-4 in the OEC) scored six runs in the second inning, which featured a grand slam by Kenny Lane, whose home run blast traveled 385 feet over the left field wall. That gave the Dons the 10-1 lead. OCC (12-12-1, 4-8) went scoreless through the final eight innings and finished with six hits.

Orange Coast College freshman Robby Rossy banged home a loose ball in front of the Santa Ana net in the waning seconds of time added on to help ninth-ranked Orange Coast tie the top-ranked Dons, 2-2, in Orange Empire Conference men's soccer play Tuesday on the OCC campus. A third straight corner kick was sent in by Bobby Dulle and after a flurry in front of the goal, Rossy sent it home. "It was a fight to the end," said Rossy, who picked the right time for his first collegiate goal.

Tony Altobelli SANTA ANA - It was a battle between Southern California's top two teams and in the end, the No. 2 Orange Coast College men's soccer team fell short at Santa Ana, 3-1, Friday afternoon. For the Dons, their unbeaten streak is now at 64 (58-0-6) with the Orange Empire Conference victory, while OCC is just another victim in Santa Ana's roll of supremacy. "Santa Ana is a team that capitalizes on the other team's mistakes and they did just that today," Pirates assistant coach Kevin Smith said.

Today's 5 p.m. clash between host Orange Coast College and Santa Ana is a noteworthy Mission Conference National Division game. For the Pirates (5-2, 0-2 in the division), ranked No. 9 in Southern California, it could also become a sales brochure. "It's important that we win, because I think it'll give us an opportunity to be in a playoff bowl," Pirates Coach Mike Taylor said. "That's what our players want to do." The top eight teams in Southern California play in what amounts to a Southern California tournament, the winner of which advances to the state title game against the top team from the North.

A Newport Beach man's female relative accidentally stumbled upon child pornography on disks she thought were blank, court records allege. But instead of Alex Bassinne's disks being usable, she found two videos on them - one depicting a girl believed to be between 10 and 12 who was performing oral sex - according to a search warrant affidavit. Bassinne, 50, faces up to nine years and four months in state prison for the three felonies of which he stands accused, including possession of child pornography and lewd acts with a child, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

A Newport Beach man who taught at Santa Ana schools was arrested Thursday for allegedly molesting two teenage girls and possessing child pornography, authorities said. Alex Bassinne, 50, is accused of touching the buttocks of a 15-year-old girl during a class trip in 2009, and looking down the shirt of a 13-year-old girl in 2010, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Prosecutors said when the 13-year-old tried to move her shirt away so Bassinne couldn't see down it, Bassinne allegedly grabbed the shirt and positioned it so he could see down it again.

A Santa Ana man stole a decorative dagger from Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan's restaurant and bar, police said Monday. Conner Craig Schryver, 24, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of three felony charges of burglary, felony possession of stolen property and felony vandalism related to an incident at Skosh Monahan's. He is being held on $50,000 bail at the Orange County Jail, according to a Police Department news release. Schryver is also suspected of a residential garage burglary in the 2000 block of Marian Way and a vehicle burglary in the 2000 block of Orange Avenue, according to a preliminary investigation.

Gloria Zigner, Douglas Rankin and Elizabeth Turk move in different worlds but have, in their own ways, made a mark on the Orange County arts scene. Come September, all three will be recognized at the 13th annual O.C. Arts Awards in Costa Mesa as recipients of the Helena Modjeska Award, a lifetime achievement handed out by Santa Ana-based nonprofit Arts Orange County, the ceremony's host whose mission is to promote the arts countywide. "It is our premier award," said Richard Stein, Arts O.C. executive director.

The gold crucifix and rosary studded with Colombian emeralds is known as "The Atocha Cross. " In 1986 — 364 years after the Nuestra Señora de Atocha ("Our Lady of Atocha") went down during a hurricane in the waters off what is now Key West, Fla. — a treasure-hunting expedition recovered the cross and rosary from the Spanish ship's sunken cargo. The glistening artifact now belongs to a private collector, but it's about to make a public appearance at the Bowers Museum as an appendage to a larger exhibition titled "Sacred Gold: Pre-Hispanic Art of Colombia.

Costa Mesa police arrested a man Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping and assaulting his ex-wife's boyfriend. Carmen Mendez-Silva, 34, of Santa Ana and a second man beat the victim with a pipe or bat Wednesday and threatened him with further harm if he did not move out of his Costa Mesa apartment, police said. The victim was then allegedly placed in the trunk of a car and driven to Huntington Beach, where he was released. Police were initially called to the Fillmore Way home of Mendez-Silva's ex-wife on a child custody issue.

ORANGE - The Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted Monday to strike the proposed 19th Street Bridge from the county's master plan. The move effectively ends decades of studies and controversy about the potential bridge that would have linked Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach over the Santa Ana River. Environmentalists and 19th Street residents pleaded Monday to eliminate the bridge, as Huntington Beach Mayor and OCTA Director Don Hansen ushered through the unusual vote to change the county's long-standing master plan.

SANTA ANA - The Orange Coast College baseball team almost went the entire month of February without losing a game. On the last Friday of the month, the Pirates lost for the first time. Six days into March, the Pirates seemed on the brink of dropping their second game of the season. This one was a critical Orange Empire Conference game at Santa Ana College on Tuesday. Coach John Altobelli believed his Pirates tried to do too much in the first two innings because of the magnitude of the game between the top two ranked teams in Southern California.

Newport Beach firefighters extinguished a fire Friday morning that had fully engulfed a motor home, authorities said. The 27-foot rig was ablaze when firefighters arrived at the scene on Southwest Cypress Street in Santa Ana Heights about 9:22 a.m. Initial reports said horses in a nearby corral were endangered by the fire. Firefighters found one horse in a corral at the rear of the property, but the animal escaped uninjured and was moved by neighbors, the Newport Beach Fire Department said.

NEWPORT COAST — The weather was perfect and the sun was shining — an ideal day to spend in the garden. Sage Hill School senior Spenser Apramian stood over a raised planter showing a third-grade student how to use a small stick to plant seeds. "In each you're going to put a little seed with some water," the 18-year-old said, "and eventually they're going to grow. " About 200 third-graders from Costa Mesa's Killybrooke Elementary School, the Edward B. Cole Sr. Academy and El Sol Science and Arts Academy, both in Santa Ana, took a field trip to the private Newport Coast high school for a lesson at the school's new organic teaching garden.