Shooting suspect Joshua Chi — Vallejo Police Department

It’s just the latest case of youth sports parents gone bad, but it’s a particularly disturbing one: A man is accused of shooting at the father of a California Little League t-ball division player as he attempted to drive away from the field.

As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, 23-year-old Vallejo resident Joshua Chi was arrested on Thursday and charged with attempted murder and violation of his probation.

The newspaper gave no indication as to what caused the argument between Chi and the intended victim, nor did it disclose what Chi had earned a probation for, but the incident understandably sent shock waves throughout the Northern California youth sports scene, with the North Vallejo Little League canceling games for a number of days following the shooting.

"It is our every intention to remain strong and vigilant against any negative influence within our fences," North Vallejo Little League wrote on its Facebook page. "Even though we know we will sometimes disagree, we will strive to maintain calm, mutual respect and self-dignity while resolving all conflicts."

According to the Chronicle, the two men began arguing in the parking lot adjacent to the North Vallejo Little League complex. As the argument began to become more heated, the father in question quickly retreated to his car and attempted to drive away, only to allegedly be fired upon by Chi.

Student managers hold a special place in the heart of American prep sports. They are the dedicated athletes who don’t compete, those who are relegated to handing out towels and dealing with Gatorade cups willingly, all while their classmates receive the willing adulation of their peers in the crowd.

Yet it has become a tradition across the country for programs to flip the script for at least a game, having student managers compete in at least one varsity game as a homage to their dedication to the program. Never has that symbolic gesture been more moving than in Fairfax Virginia, where the Fairfax (Va.) High baseball program pulled out all the stops to ensure that student manager Drew Bonner could have a varsity at-bat against Fairfax (Va.) Madison High.

As reported by the Washington Post, Bonner’s appearance required plenty of special plans because the teen suffers from a condition called Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Bonner was able to participate in normal activities like baseball until the age of 11, when his Duchenne advanced to a point where it became debilitating for his general movement. He continued to walk until age 14, when Bonner had to give in and use a wheelchair.

That’s still how the Fairfax senior gets around, and is how he rolled to the plate in the bottom of the first inning against Madison. After making his way to the plate, Bonner watched four pitches from Madison pitcher Nick Brady sail by, granting him a free pass to first base.

That’s when things went from being memorable to truly special. Before Bonner’s teammates could reach him to celebrate, the Madison squad had already surrounded the wheelchair-bound teen to congratulate him enthusiastically on reaching base, all to a cacophonous backdrop of “D-Bo” chants.

“It was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories from when I used to play,” Bonner told the Post. “I wasn’t nervous, but I was pretty excited. I can remember playing baseball all my life and it’s just one of the things that I really love to do.

“I was kind of ready for anything. If [the pitches] were close enough in, I would have taken a poke.”

Hey, he was wearing eye black, so why not?

Student manager Drew Bonner took his lone varsity at-bat in a wheelchair — YouTube

For Bonner, the opponent was as important as his place on the Fairfax squad. Madison is a perennial state power, so giving up a ceremonial walk holds a bit of extra relevance, but Madison is also particularly important for Bonner because it was where he began as a student manager. The Eagle Scout first became a student manager in seventh grade at Madison before eventually transferring to Fairfax for high school.

That’s where Bonner has flourished, motor skills be damned. In addition to earning his Eagle Scout rank, Bonner has served as the student manager for three Fairfax varsity sports teams and was named as a member of the school’s homecoming court. In recent months he capped those achievements with an academic scholarship to study computer science at the University of Virginia.

Bob Ladoucer, the legendary coach whose role is being filled by Jim Caviziel — AP

Bob Ladouceur is a high school coaching legend. A 34-year veteran of the sidelines at Concord (Cal.) De La Salle High, the recently-retired Ladouceur is among the nation’s winningest and most revered coaches. By his career’s end, Ladouceur racked up a 399-25-3 record, including a remarkable 151-game win streak that spanned 11 seasons.

Ladouceur was such a significant figure in the prep coaching scene that one California prep sports writer was moved to pen a full book based on Ladouceur’s life and legacy. That writer, former Contra Costa Times turned Chicago Sun Times columnist Neil Hayes, completed “When the Game Stands Tall” in 2003, with the book receiving significant critical acclaim and a 2005 re-issue since.

Now filming has begun on a cinematic version of “When the Game Stands Tall,” in New Orleans, with a figure no less than Jesus Christ himself taking on the role of Ladouceur. Well, not literally Jesus Christ, just the man who played him most recently, with Jim Caveizel leading a cast that also include The Shield’s Michael Chiklis and Academy Award nominee Laura Dern.

There is a unique sports entertainment B-celebrity tie in the directorial credits, too: The movie’s director is Thomas Carter. If that names sounds familiar, it may be from his director turn with “Coach Carter,” or it could be from his more distant past, when Carter was the character “Hayward” on the basketball drama “The White Shadow.”

Yup, Hayward from The White Shadow is a major feature director now. Who knew?

When he was tearing apart defenses for the Philadelphia Eagles, it was easy to daydream about how his athleticism might carry over, either to his future progeny or other members of the extended McNabb family. Now we can all rest assured that the athleticism really was in the family, even when it had to be expressed on a different surface. Like ice.

Darnell Nurse is Donovan McNabb's nephew and a top NHL draft prospect — Getty

As noted by the Cherry Hill Courier Post, McNabb’s nephew, Darnell Nurse, has emerged as one of the top NHL draft prospects while starring for the Sault Saint Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, the famed Canadian junior circuit. Nurse plays as a steady skating defenseman with a particular penchant for delivering offensive results to complement tough defense. The 18-year-old has scored 12 goals and 29 assists in 68 OHL games in a final tuneup before the NHL.

While Nurse’s natural physical development has been a key catalyst to his rising star, so has his famous uncle, whom the teen credited with having a profound impact on his ability to cope with a competitive athletic schedule.

“No matter what the question is or no matter what I’m going through, he’s always been available,” Nurse told the Courier-Post. “If I can’t get a hold of him at 10 o’clock in the morning, he’ll call me back at 10:30. It’s a relationship where we’re always in touch and we always know what’s going on in each other’s lives. He’s been someone that I’ve been real lucky to have.”

Nurse has spent summers training with his uncle since he was just entering his teenage years, with those conditioning workouts forming the basis of a devotion to the sport that continues to flourish. Now that McNabb’s professional football career has come to a close, the former Pro Bowler has taken an even more active role in mentoring Nurse.

In return, Nurse has tutored McNabb on hockey so he can speak more intelligently about the sport during his radio and television appearances.

A high school girls basketball coach in Florida was fired after being charged with soliciting sexual favors from a student at the school at which he worked.

As reported by Orlando Fox affiliate WFTV and CBS affiliate WKMG, 27-year-old Bryan Lockley was fired from his position as girls basketball coach and teacher at Kissimmee (Fl.) Liberty High after he was charged with soliciting sex from one of his female students via a series of text messages.

WFTV reported that Lockley reportedly sent inappropriate pictures of himself to a teenage girl whom he tried to befriend by asking her to have lunch with him in his classroom. The teen in question mentioned the text messages to a close friend and discovered that Lockley had sent her a similar text message, with the duo then encouraged to contact officials.

Perhaps most disturbing are the rather direct text messages Lockley used to solicit sex from the teens, as noted in the basketball coach’s arrest warrant.

"When do you turn 18 so you can come to my side of town and party with me?"

Lockley allegedly invited her to stay in his Daytona Beach hotel room on spring break and explained, "No one would know because it was in Daytona."

Prep Rally isn't entirely sure why we love this story so much, but it's great. Maybe because it's small town high school culture at its best. Sell worms, rent a beach house. Smart. Simple. Special.

Students at California's little Big Pine High sell worms to pay for their senior trip -- L.A. Times

In a long-standing tradition, the senior class at little Big Pine (Calif.) High sells worms to fishermen flocking to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes for opening day of Inyo County's trout season. The ritual that has spanned five decades is chronicled in a great L.A. Times post.

What makes this custom even more spectacular is the fact that Big Pine's current senior class includes all of 12 students -- most of whom are student-athletes. How a school that houses only 36 students in all even fields sports teams is a matter for another post, but remarkable nonetheless.

Yet, Eric Sondheimer, who publishes the great Varsity Times Insider blog, quotes members of the school's softball squad and 8-man football team. Those teams require a quarter of the school's entire enrollment just to put enough athletes on the field.

Somehow, Big Pine's boys and girls hoops teams each recorded wins this winter. That, in itself, is an accomplishment. But this school's students are used to working as a team.

Madeira star Andrew Benintendi set a new Ohio record for career runs — Madeira City Schools

It’s one record down, one to go for Ohio slugger Andrew Benintendi.

Benintendi, a five-tool player for Madeira (Oh.) High, set a new Ohio state record for career runs when he scored three times against Cincinnati (Oh.) St. Bernard School in a 16-1 rout. According to MaxPreps, Benintendi’s three runs pushed his career total to 174 runs, two more than the prior record set by Jeromesville (Oh.) Hillsdale star Doug Paullin between 2007 and 2010.

"It came as a surprise and I'm pretty happy about it,” Benintendi told MaxPreps. “You can't do it all by yourself. There have been a lot of good players hitting behind me. Before this year I had an idea how many hits I would need. I think I'm 10 hits away from tying it."

Benintendi alluded to the Ohio state record for career hits, another mark he is nearing. Though his calculation that puts him 10 hits behind the current state record of 200 has yet to be verified by official sources, it’s believed that he is within striking distance of that mark.

The Madeira senior, who also starred for his school’s football team, is a 5-foot-10 speedster who is a phenomenal contact hitter. Benintendi has hit better than .500 throughout his high school career, a talent which his coach said has garnered plenty of attention from pro scouts.

The Gale sisters, identical twins, are the top two contenders for a pole vault state title — Instagram

Emily Gale is one of the nation’s top pole vaulters. The senior at Miami (Fl.) Calvary Christian School is the reigning Florida Class 1A state champion in the event. Throughout her senior year, she has dominated at competitions across the state. In short, she should be a shoo-in to repeat. There’s just one catch, and that catch happens to look, speak and act just like her. In fact, it even shares her birthday.

No, Prep Rally isn’t using a cheesy metaphor about how Gale is her own biggest competitor here. Rather, Gale’s biggest foe is her identical twin sister, Amanda Gale, who finished as the Class 1A runner up in 2012. And in 2013, she absolutely wants to usurp her sister’s spot on the throne.

As noted by the Miami Herald, for the first time Amanda Gale has topped her sister in regular season competition. At two meets during the 2012 campaign, Amanda has won a jump-off to snatch a title from her sister, including the recent District 15-1A meet.

While Emily was the only sister to have cleared 11-feet entering their senior outdoor season, Amanda has surpassed her sister in the final campaign. They enter the state meet with Amanda ranked No. 2 across all divisions in the state with a vault of 12-feet and Emily not far behind with a vault of 11-feet. In past seasons, Emily has cleared a height of 11-foot-11.

The Gale sisters between rounds at a recent meet — Instagram

“In some ways it’s hard because Amanda is my sister and I want her to win it,” Emily Gale told the Herald. “It almost makes me less competitive and I wish it made me more competitive. If I am going to win it, I would rather beat somebody else than Amanda. Our goal is be first and second.”

The twins have never let their own competitiveness get in the way of their friendship, calling themselves best friends and nearly inseparable. They won’t be escaping their friendly rivalry in college either, with the pair committing to compete for the University of Louisiana Lafayette together.

That tight bond has been forged in the crucible of a debilitating and rare disease. As reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, both sisters suffer from a disease called Common Variable Immune Deficiency, a very rare condition marked by low levels of serum immunoglobulins. In other words, the sisters have a rare case of antibody deficiency. The condition led to serious health concerns for both sisters, with Emily requiring surgery for a hole in her heart following her sophomore year and Amanda requiring advanced treatment that included antibody infusions and antibiotic therapy three times per week.

The paid has also become closer over dinner tables and, often, baking in the kitchen. The pair has an Instagram account called Twin Bakers (@twinbakers) and has more than enough talent to make a go of opening up a pastry shop once they’re done with school, if that’s what they decide they’d like to do.