Sunnyside freshman Alfredo Lopez has been selected to attend a training camp in Florida this summer where he will compete for a spot on the U.S. Soccer under-17 boys national team, Wildcats coach Michael Sosa said.

Lopez will look to follow in the footsteps of Fresno-area players Daniel Flores and Nathan Smith, who have each been a part of the age-group Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla.

Lopez scored four goals last season for a Sunnyside team that was the Central Section Division II runner-up. He is expected to be a starting forward for the Wildcats next season if he is not chosen for the Residency Program.

El Diamante High's softball team climbed one spot to No. 19 in the most recent ESPN Powerade FAB 50 national rankings following a doubleheader sweep last week of perennial Central Section power Clovis that included Sierra Hyland's 19-strikeout effort in Game 1.

Hyland was named one of Cal-Hi Sports' Girls State Stat Stars of the Week for her performance against Clovis.

The Miners (13-0) remained at No. 6 in the Cal-Hi state top 20. They are the only section team in the rankings.

The Fresno State football team held its sixth spring practice today.

*** Fresno State offensive lineman Matt Hunt, a starter last season, was limited in practice Thursday because of an unspecified injury, coach Tim DeRuyter said.

The 6-foot-2, 315-pound Hunt has been practicing with the second team and 6-foot-3, 275-pound Max Devlin has been getting the first-team reps at left guard. Fresno State's depth chart, however, remains in flux.

*** For the second straight practice, the defense seemed to dominate during scrimmage sessions. The offense fumbled a couple of times and had several missed assignments.

"The defense is doing a great job, but we're really our own worst enemy right now," offensive coordinator Dave Schramm said. "We need to learn how to play faster and get lined up right and execute.

"We've got a bunch of good guys, great effort, great attitudes. They just have to learn how to play differently than how they played before. We're not anywhere close where we need to be, but we've got a lot of time before the fall. We'll be fine."

*** Fresno State brought out a officiating crew Thursday, particularly so the offense could get used to operating without a huddle under a time constraint with officials tracking the play clock and eyeing illegal formations.

"Just trying to get them used to playing at tempo and with numerous reps in a row at a high tempo," DeRuyter said. "It's something we have to work toward and get those guys used to, so it's a natural thing. offense is tempo and timing. We weren't in the same rhythm we need to be."

A wrestler-by-wrestler look at the top three contenders for the state team wrestling title, with state rankings by thecaliforniawrestler.com as of Thursday. The CIF State Championships are Friday and Saturday at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena. Clovis is the heavy favorite to win a second straight title and record 10th overall.

Weight: Clovis............................Poway............................Bakersfield
106: Julian Gaytan, 19..............Tirso Lara, 10...................No qualifier
113: Jonas Gaytan, 1.................Colt Doyle, 22...................No qualifier
120: Daniel Gaytan, 2................Josh Miranda, 8...............Oscar Marin, 30
126: Vicente Hernandez, 9........Ralphie Tovar, 16............Bryce Martin, 28
132: Matt Gay, 8........................Victor Lopez, 10..............Micah Cruz, 9
138: Jason Ladd, 8.....................Jesse Taylor, 14..............Natrelle Demison, 2
145: No qualifier.........................No qualifier......................Maxx Ramirez, 8
152: Colby Thompson, 8.............No qualifier......................Coleman Hammond, 4
160: Adrian Salas, 2....................Stevie Cervantes, 19.......Andrew Fierro, 22
170: Zach Nevills, 2.....................Connor King, 5................Silas Nacita, 1
182: Ryan Davies, 5....................Brit Bastow, 10................Kyle Pope, 3
195: Dakota Gordon, 3................Jimmy Moreno, 19..........No qualifier
220: Matt Weiss, 25....................Richard Durr, 5...............No qualifier
285: Nick Nevills, 1.....................Kelly Simmons, 7............No qualifier

Other team contenders:
De La Salle (8 qualifiers, 3 ranked in state top 8)
Vacaville (9 qualifiers, 3 ranked in state top 8)
Gilroy (6 qualifiers, 3 ranked in state top 8)

Clovis High will pursue history with more qualifiers, more returning medalists and more state top-eight ranked wrestlers than any of the 263 schools participating in the CIF State Championships.

The Cougars have wrestlers in 13 of the 14 weight classes (including Zach Nevills, right), six returning medalists and nine individuals ranked among the state's top eight entering the 40th annual tournament, which runs Friday and Saturday at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena.

Defending champion Clovis is seeking to add to its own record with a 10th state title, and established the goal of trying to do so with the most points ever scored by a team in the tournament. Bakersfield set the scoring record with 226.5 in 2002.

Former Bee sports columnist John Branch, now a reporter for the New York Times, has been to a lot of hockey rinks in the past year.

His latest visit was to Selland Arena last month for a little research, which he included in a story that printed on page A1 of the today's Times. Follow the link to read the article; we'll carry it in Wednesday's Bee, too.

Today's article is about the consideration that hockey's major governing bodies for amateur competition are giving to rules that would curb fighting. It follows a series of stories that John wrote last year. The series, "Punched Out," chronicled Derek Boogaard, who rose to fame as one of hockey's most feared fighters before dying at age 28 on May 13. The role of enforcer exposed Boogaard to repeated head trauma, chronic pain and a deadly drug addiction.

Check out the stories and tell us what you think -- is there an issue with fighting in hockey?

From a 2009 Monsters game, Fresno's JR Lafferty, right, takes on Max Bullett of the Bakersfield Condors. Bee file photo by Craig Kohlruss

Eight of the 10 Central Section soccer championship matches are set for Friday, with the other two scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

BOYS
Division I: Liberty-Bakersfield at Buchanan (field between football and baseball stadiums), 3 p.m. Saturday
Division II: Clovis North vs. Sunnyside, 2 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium
Division III: Dinuba at Mt. Whitney (on Pioneers campus field, not Mineral King Bowl), 6 p.m. Friday
Division IV: Delano at Lindsay, 6 p.m. Friday
Division V: Fowler at Woodlake, 6 p.m. Friday

GIRLS
Division I: Buchanan at Stockdale, 6 p.m. Friday
Division II: Garces at Clovis North, 6 p.m. Friday at Tice Park
Division III: Porterville at Highland, 6 p.m. Friday
Division IV: Central Valley Christian at Liberty-Madera Ranchos, 6 p.m. Friday
Division VI: Sierra Pacific at Orange Cove, 6 p.m. Friday

Two championships have already been played. McFarland defeated Tranquility 3-1 in Division VI boys, and Strathmore downed Caruthers 3-1 in Division V girls.

Avenal's Jose Ramirez, right, and six other amateur boxers from the central San Joaquin Valley are entered in the USA Boxing National Championships set for Feb. 26-March 3 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

And for Ramirez -- as well as Fresno's Luis Ambrosio, Moises Maciel and Anthony Smith II, and Tulare's Daniel Valdivia -- it's a chance to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Summer Olympics in London alive.

Those four are competing in divisions where U.S. fighters have yet to earn a spot in the Olympic boxing tournament. A USA Boxing National Championship victory for Ramirez, Ambrosio or Maciel in the lightweight division, for Smith at light welterweight or Valdivia at middleweight would qualify them for the last international Olympic qualifier in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in May.

Other area fighters competing in divisions where U.S. boxers have already qualified for the Olympics include Fresno's Gary Salazar at bantamweight and Mark Hernandez at welterweight.

The only area competitor in the Women's National Championships is Fresno featherweight Shanne Ruelas. That weight class isn't being offered at the Olympics, but a victory would qualify Ruelas for the Women's World Championships.

I'm headed out tonight to watch the North Yosemite League wrestling dual meet between Madera South and Fresno.

And in particular, I'll be featuring Warriors' 220-pounder Arnold Salinas, who has a shot at becoming Fresno's first state medalist in 15 years. Salinas is ranked No. 2 in the Central Section and No. 9 in the state by thecaliforniawrestler.com. The top 8 at the state meet, scheduled for March 2-3 at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena, earn a medal.

Salinas, who went 0-2 at the state meet last year, is looking to peak at the right time with the postseason looming. League tournaments, which begin the postseason process, are set for Feb. 11, with the Yosemite and Sequoia/Sierra Divisional tournaments on Feb. 17-18 and the Masters on Feb. 25.

Good luck to Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow and his three area assistants when it comes time to seed the boys soccer playoffs in two weeks.

After pouring through and analyzing results for three weeks now while compiling The Bee's Central Section rankings, I can't imagine Crichlow and Co. encounter a tougher sport to seed than boys soccer.

Says here there there is not a clear-cut No. 1 seed at this moment in any of the six playoffs divisions.