Reading wins the ECHL kelly cup, 6-0 over Stockton, wins series 4-1

EG Wins D-I North Over Franklin, 4-2

The Elk Grove Thundering Herd for the ninth time has won the Sac-Joaquin Section's Division I North baseball championship. Friday night they defeated Franklin, its Delta Valley Conference rival, for the fifth time in as many games this season, by the score of 4-2.

Once again, it was another strong pitching performance by the Herd's Mikey Wright who threw a complete-game eight-hitter.

The difference was a key fifth inning rally when the Herd scored three times on only one hit. They drew five bases-on-balls in that frame alone, twice with the bases loaded.

Afterwards, I talked with Herd shortstop Nick Madrigal who had a key run in the fifth and a double in the seventh. He made the game-ending catch on a running, over-the-shoulder grab in leftfield.


Elk Grove will now take on three-time defending champion St. Mary's for the Section championship May 31 and June 1, also at Sacramento City College. That will be a best two-out-of-three series.

Elk Grove last won the Division I North championship in 2010. It's last Section title came in 2007.

Day One - SJS Masters' Track and Field

There were several EGUSD student/athletes who advanced to Friday's finals of the Sac-Joaquin Section's Masters' Track and Field Meet at Elk Grove High School. Here is a list of the athletes advancing in Thursday's preliminary races/events:

Girls' 4x100 Meter Relay
Monterey Trail
Cosumnes Oaks
Sheldon
Franklin

Girls' 100 Meter Hurdles
Ciara Levy (M.T.)
Fiyin Olusola (C.0.)

Boys' 400 Meter Dash
Elijah Whitmore (C.O.)
Armando Martinez (E.G.)
Cameron Stone (SH.)

Girls' 100 Meter Dash
Natsumi Mcgee (C.O.)
Chinyere Dike (Fr.)

Boys' 800 Meter Run
Ben Garcia (P.G.)

Girls' 300 Meter Hurdles
Makayla Webb (Valley)
Ciara Levy (M.T.)

Girls' 200 Meter Dash
Natsumi Mcgee (C.O.)
Chinyere Dike (Fr.)
Daijah Joe-Smith (Florin)

Girls' 4X400 Meter Relay
Elk Grove

There were a few of the field events which staged its finals on Thursday. In the boys' triple jump, Romin Gieger of Monterey Trail placed third with a leap of 46 ft., 6.5 in. He became the first local athlete to qualify for the State Track and Field Meet in Clovis at Buchanan High School next week.

Tais Marinho-Gomez of Cosumnes Oaks and Tiara Webb of Monterey Trail both qualified for the state meet in the shot put. Marinho-Gomez was third in the event with a toss of 38 ft., 10 in. Webb's throw of 38 ft., 7 in. placed her fourth at the Masters, but was long enough to give her an at-large berth in Clovis next week.

There was one Section Masters record set by Center's Xavier Howell. He cleared the high jump bar at seven feet even, bettering the old record of 10 ft., 11.5 in. set in 1980 by Johnson High School's Ivan Morris.

EG Beats PG, 5-0, To Advance To D-I North Championship

Elk Grove has ridden the back of ace pitcher David Smith all the way to the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division I North baseball championship game.

The senior righthander has appeared in all four of the Herd’s playoff games, winning three of them. Two of those wins came in relief. 

Tuesday night was Smith’s most impressive outing thus far as he got the starting nod against Delta River League champion Pleasant Grove in the North Division I semi-final game at Sacramento City College. 

EGHS pitcher Dave Smith, who picked up third playoff
win with complete game shutout Tuesday.

Smith gave the Eagles a textbook lesson in pitching by throwing a complete-game four-hit shutout and Elk Grove defeated Pleasant Grove, 5-0. Smith had a season-high 13 strikeouts, walked no one, but did hit three batters. None of the Eagles reached third base.

In a bit of revenge for a stinging 11-1 loss to the Eagles and lefthander Josh Adams in the Northern California championship of the Boras Baseball Classic in March, Elk Grove this time took advantage of a pair of key errors in scoring three runs in the first inning and two more in the third.

Just like Elk Grove did in the loss to the Eagles in March, Pleasant Grove committed five errors Tuesday night.

All of the Herd runs came with two out. In the first frame, Dom Nunez reached first on a throwing error by Pleasant Grove shortstop Bronson Grubbs. Rowdy Tellez then chopped a ball into the dirt in front of the plate, but Eagle catcher Nico Toni misplayed it and the Herd had runners on first and second.

After Derek Hill walked, Mikey Wright lined a ball to deep right. Eagle outfielder Nick Doyich seemed to get his legs tangled as he backpedaled, lost his footing and the ball ticked off his glove. The bases cleared and Wright ended up on third with what was ruled as a triple.

In the third inning Tellez’ fly ball to center was dropped. Hill followed with a sharp ground ball that Eagle third baseman Matthew Stafford tried to backhand but whiffed. That put runners at second and third. Wright then delivered again, this time with a single to center to drive in both Elk Grove runners.

Herd's Mikey Wright, 5 RBI's Tuesday, likely
starter in Friday's championship game

Wright ended up driving in all five Herd runs Tuesday.

Elk Grove threatened to score more that inning by loading the bases with one out so Eagle coach Rob Rinaldi went to the bullpen and replaced Adams with Andrew Cisneros. He got Nick Madrigal to hit into an inning-ending double play.

After Smith retired the first ten Pleasant Grove batters in a row, Adams and Toni hit back-to-back singles in the fourth inning, but Smith coaxed Beau Boyle into an infield pop-up and struck out Austin Friello to end the threat.

The Eagles tried again to get on the scoreboard in the sixth inning. Grubbs and Adams were both hit by Smith pitches to open that frame, but Toni flew out to right field and both Boyle and Friello struck out to end the inning.

The loss means that the Eagles now must play Franklin, 12-3 winners over Davis Monday, on Thursday night at Union Stadium. The winner will play Elk Grove Friday at 4 p.m. If that team beats the Herd, a second game in the double-elimination tournament will follow at 7 p.m.

It is likely Wright will start for Elk Grove in Friday's first game.

The last time Elk Grove was in the North Division I championship game was in 2010. That year, coming out of the losers’ bracket, the Herd beat Jesuit, 4-1 and 11-0, to win the North.

With a team that featured J.D. Davis (Fullerton State), Jake Rodriguez (Oregon State), Will Soto (Sacramento State) and Colby Brenner (Long Beach State), Elk Grove went on to the championship series but dropped two in a row to St. Mary’s of Stockton. Nunez and Tellez were both freshmen on that club.

St. Mary’s has won the last three Division I baseball championships. A year ago they defeated Franklin in two games.

The last Section championship won by Elk Grove was in 2007.

Franklin Scores Seven Times in 7th, Beats Davis

In the Division I North Sac-Joaquin Section championship's losers' bracket, Franklin used a seven-run seventh inning to defeat Delta Valley Conference champion Davis, 12-3.

The loss ends the season for the Blue Devils while the Wildcats, after beating Davis for the first time in four games this year, will advance to Thursday night where they will take on the loser of Pleasant Grove and Elk Grove. That winners' bracket game will be played at City College Tuesday night at  7 p.m.

Nick Frei drilled a solo homer to give Franklin the lead for good at 5-3 in the sixth inning.

Congrats to the Wildcat soccer team for winning the SJS D-1 championship with a 4-3 shootout on Saturday over Davis!!

In Div.1 South action Monday, Turlock stayed alive by eliminating Buhach Colony, 5-4, on a suicide squeeze bunt with two outs in the bottom of the 7th.

In the South winners' bracket, Pitman scored early then St. Mary's rallied to take a 8-6 win. This means Pitman will face Turlock Tuesday in the losers' bracket. The winner will then take on the Rams Wednesday for the South Section championship.

The Rams are the three-time defending SJS D-1 champions and have played in five of the last six SJS baseball championships.

In Div. 6 baseball, Bradshaw qualified for the championship best-two-out-of-three series by beating Ripon Christian, 7-0.

Div I Softball -

Vintage High School came into the post-season with a very rare undefeated record. That all ended Monday night when Pleasant Grove defeated the Crushers, 3-1. Catcher Amber Murray had a first-inning home run and then drove in another run with a single in the fifth inning.

The Crushers came back later Monday  to defeat Tracy, 8-0.

Rocklin rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Elk Grove, 4-3, in the winners' bracket of the Division I softball tournament at the Sacramento Softball Complex.

That means the Eagles take on the Thunder in the section semi-finals Tuesday night.

Late Monday, Elk Grove remained alive by one-hitting Enochs, 8-0. They will face Vintage Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a losers' bracket game.

Worth Listening To -

Joe Davidson and Mike Finnerty interviewed Section Commissioner Pete Saco Saturday morning on the "Surewest Sports Radio Show" on ESPN 1320. It was a great interview and worth listening to because Saco talked about the realistic possibility that the CIF may in a couple years start limiting the length of practice time for each sport.

He's concerned about the number of student athletes playing club sports on top of the high school team sports and thinks it's beginning to burn out some kids and adds to the number of injuries.

C.Oaks Girls Win 3rd Straight D-IV Track Title

Cosumnes Oaks High School’s girls’ track and field team needed only eight athletes, two of them seniors, to win the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division IV championship for the third year in a row.

Once again it came down to the 4X400 meter relay for the Wolfpack to claim the team title with 74 points. Vista del Lago was second at 70 points while Oakdale was a distant third with 57 points.

The event was held at Sierra High School last Thursday.  

The Cosumnes Oaks H.S. Girls' Track team

The Wolfpack team of Natsumi McGee, Fiyin Olusola, Amor Howard and Lexi Becker finished third in the event, about a second behind Vista del Lago’s team, but the six points earned was enough to outdistance their Sierra Valley Conference rival for the Section banner.

The star for the Wolfpack was McGee who picked up wins in the 100 and 200 meters and was a part of the first-place 4X100 meters relay team. She’ll compete this week in the Section Masters’ Track and Field Championship in four events. 

The meet will take place Thursday and Friday at Elk Grove High School.

According to Cosumnes Oaks’ track coach Jeff Adams, McGee’s time of 12.34 seconds in the 100 meters will seed her number one overall.

At the Section Masters, the top qualifiers of all divisions compete for the right to advance to the California State Track and Field Meet, May 31 and June 1, at Buchanan High School.

Another member of the Wolfpack relay teams, Olusola, won the 100 meter hurdles with a season best of 15.09 seconds and was second in the 300 meter hurdles, again with a season-best of 46.77 seconds.

In the field events, Cosumnes Oaks was led by Mishaye Venerable who was first in the long jump (17 ft., 1.25 in.).

Tais Marinho-Gomez added a second place finish in the triple jump (36 ft. 2 in.) to round out the team scoring. 

There will be quite a number of other local athletes competing this week at the Section Masters, thanks to several good performances last Friday at the Division I meet held at Elk Grove High School.

Mico, Tellez, Smith Lead EG To Win Over Franklin

DJ Mico has been a very typical role player for the Elk Grove Thundering Herd. He usually bats eighth or ninth in the lineup, is generally the first guy out of the dugout at the beginning of each inning to take his place in left field, the position he plays the most.

With a very talented group of baseball players new to the varsity squad this year, Mico, a senior, has seen the bench more than he probably likes, but he hasn’t complained.

“I’m not worrying about that this year,” he said. “I’m doing what I can to help the team win a championship right now.”

But, thus far in the playoffs, Herd head coach Jeff Carlson has started Mico in left and he’s delivered. Mico’s two-RBI triple in the fourth inning Saturday gave Elk Grove a 5-4 lead as the Herd came from behind to defeat crosstown rival Franklin, 9-6, in a game played at Sacramento City College.

“I got the opportunity to go out here and swing the bat,” Mico said. “It was a great experience.”

The win put Elk Grove into Tuesday’s semi-finals of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division I North playoffs. All games are played at Union Stadium on the SCC campus.

Mico also drove in another run with a sacrifice flyball in the fifth inning giving Elk Grove some much needed hit support from the bottom part of the lineup.

Meanwhile the top of the Herd lineup continued its fierce hitting as Rowdy Tellez pounded his second home run in as many post-season games to lead off the fifth inning. Plus, he drove in an insurance run in the sixth inning on a single.

Dom Nunez had an RBI triple in the first inning. Mikey Wright also drove in a pair of runs.

For the third straight playoff game, Dave Smith came out of the bullpen. He picked up the win Saturday by retiring the first ten batters he faced after relieving starter Ty Madrigal with one out in the third inning.

At the time Elk Grove trailed, 4-3, and Franklin was threatening to add more.

Franklin had scored three runs in the first inning and added a fourth run in the second inning, but pitchers Trent Spallas and Cameron Keup couldn’t stop the Elk Grove bats.

The loss meant Franklin has to face the loser of Pleasant Grove and Davis, the late Saturday game at City College, on Monday night in the losers’ bracket.