Cal Softball Sweeps, Again

Lindsey Ziegenhirt, after stroking
a two-run homer Sunday

Cal’s softball team will likely win 50 games this season. The Bears swept Oregon State this past weekend in a three-game set to go 48-3 on the season, 19-2 in the Pac 12. There’s one more conference series this next weekend, against Arizona State, and the NCAA regionals begin the following weekend. 

Sheldon’s Jolene Henderson has shared the pitching duties with Valerie Arioto, who stands to be the NCAA player of the year with the kind of season she is having.  A senior from Pleasanton, Arioto is batting .396 with 21 home runs and 55 RBI’s, plus an amazing slugging percentage of 1.006. She leads Cal in all those categories. On the mound she is 19-2 with a 1.29 ERA.

Henderson, who was a first-team All-American a year ago, will likely repeat this season with the kind of numbers she has on the mound. She’s 29-1 with a 1.10 ERA. She has struck out 226 batters in 190.2 innings pitched.

Her Sheldon teammate, Lindsey Ziegenhirt, homered in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Oregon State. She has been catching most of the games this season for Cal. She has not committed an error this season in 226 chances.

Freshman Danielle Henderson, Jolene’s younger sister, has started 49 of Cal’s 50 games, mostly at third base and is batting .300 with 14 home runs. 

DVC/DRL Baseball Set For Interesting Conclusions

This coming week has the word "interesting" written all over it when it comes to local high school baseball.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Jesuit and Pleasant Grove face off for the Delta River League championship in a three game set. Oak Ridge has landed the #3 seed for the post-season out of the the DRL.

In the Delta Valley Conference Davis plays Franklin on Monday and Wednesday. The Wildcats (10-3) could win a share of the conference title  if Franklin sweeps the Blue Devils this week, assuming Elk Grove (also 10-3) wins both of its games against Grant, too.

Davis (11-2) will win the DVC outright and the #1 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section's Division I North tournament if they sweep Franklin. A split would mean Davis and Elk Grove would share the DVC championship, again, assuming the Herd beats Grant twice this week. If this happens, Davis would still have the #1 seed and Elk Grove #2 because the Blue Devils took two of the three contests against the Herd.

Friday's 15-10 win over Elk Grove not only was ugly but revealed some pitching weaknesses on this year's Herd team. Rowdy Tellez pitched six pretty strong innings and Elk Grove had a 10-8 lead going into the top of the seventh inning. Jordan Koch, Mikey Wright and Mason Crump then gave up seven runs on only one hit to Davis. Walks, hit batsmen and misplayed balls abounded for the Herd in a dreadful half-inning.

For the game, the Blue Devils got just five hits and the Herd committed seven errors.

New CIF Transfer Rule Passes

Citing growing number of school transfer requests and mounting litigation costs, the California Interscholastic Federation Friday passed a new regulation that addressed eligibility of student/athletes who switch schools.

The CIF, which governs high school athletics in California, voted 114-21 to allow an athlete to transfer schools but the student would be ineligible for the first 30 days of their season. According the language of the new rule,  fall sport athletes would become eligible Oct. 1, winter sport athletes on Dec. 31 and the athlete participating in a spring sport could participate in games beginning April 1.

The new rule is to overcome the subjectivity of hardship cases, according to Elk Grove Unified School District athletic director Jim Smrekar. Plus, he added, there would no longer be a "one free pass" transfer after the student/athlete's freshman year.

In the past, CIF rules stated a student/athlete would be ineligible in their sport for one full year if they transferred schools without changing residences.

Smrekar also said the participant would be fully eligible for play in the sport if there is a legitimate change-of-residence.

According to CIF officials, the number of transfers has increased by 38% in the past four years.

DRL Softball Race Yet To Be Determined

It will all come down to Wednesday. Four Delta River League softball teams vying for three spots in the Sac-Joaquin Section's Division I playoffs.

On Friday, Ponderosa pitcher Paris Hallums tossed a 3-0 shutout at Sheldon. That combined with wins by St. Francis and Pleasant Grove means everything rides on Wednesday's outcome. Ponderosa, at 7-2, is in first place and can win the title outright when it takes on 6-3 St. Francis at the Troubadour's field.

Sheldon (6-3) will face Pleasant Grove (6-3) Wednesday with the winner in the playoffs and the loser possibly out.

There are lots of interesting scenarios but, let's look at who would be in and who would be out:

Ponderosa: Win - DRL champions, #1 seed
                   Lose - still in because the Sheldon/Pleasant Grove loser will be 6-4
Sheldon: Win-in the playoffs, possibly the #1 seed if Ponderosa loses to St. Francis
                Lose - out if St. Francis beat Ponderosa, in if Ponderosa beats St. Francis
St. Francis: Win - in the playoffs, possibly a #1 seed if Pleasant Grove beats Sheldon
                   Lose - out if Pleasant Grove beats Sheldon, if Sheldon beats the Eagles, it may be a coin flip between the Troubadours and Pleasant Grove to decide the DRL #3 seed because they split in the two head-to-head games.
Pleasant Grove: Win - in the playoffs, but split with St. Francis and Pondo so likely a #2 seed.
                           Lose - out if St. Francis beats Ponderosa, if the Bruins win, they'd have to win the coin flip with the Troubadours.

** I hope the DRL allows Pleasant Grove to play St. Francis in a one-game elimination contest. Coin flips stink, especially for the loser.

Thursday Scoreboard

Before I get to the scores, read Bill Patterson's story in the Bee about the possibility the CIF will look at a different rule, much more liberal, in dealing with athletes who transfer from one school to another.

With open enrollment in Elk Grove, we're finding a "bunching" of the top baseball players in about three EGUSD schools, softball players are pretty much in about three schools. All the wrestlers seem to attend Elk Grove. Basketball players are moving into the city to attend Sheldon.

Bill's story talks about how CIF is now saying short of a legitimate change of residence, there will be a 30-day ineligibility for any athlete who does transfer. This means no more "free passes" for the athlete who goes in-between their freshman and sophomore years to a new school.

Now to yesterday's scores:

Wednesday's Scoreboard

This was a big day for both baseball and softball around Elk Grove. Here's the scores I've had reported as of 9:30 p.m.:

Baseball:

Laguna Creek 5, Grant 4 (8 inns.) - sophomore Anthony Poindexter doubled off Grant ace Cameron Avila-Leeper to lead off the 8th and scored on Zachary Smart's double.

Franklin 12, Monterey Trail 1 - (6 inns.)

Elk Grove 16, Davis 2 - Rowdy Tellez had a grand slam and Derek Hill stroked two homers, and almost a third, off Blue Devils' ace Ben Eckels. Read about it in the Davis Enterprise. The Herd is now tied with Davis for first place.

Softball:

Delta River League had a three way tie for first between St. Francis, Sheldon and Ponderosa going into today's games.

Ponderosa 10, Folsom 1

Sorry, no report yet from St. Francis vs. Sheldon

EG Win DVC Golf Title

Delta Valley Conference

18 holes at The Reserve, par 72

Team results: Elk Grove 419, Davis 426, Franklin 447, Monterey Trail 484, Grant forfeit, Laguna Creek forfeit.

Individual results:  Patrick Levin, EG, 77; Tam, F, 79; Klein, D, 80; Scott, EG, 80; Chen, D, 82; Cain, EG, 82

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/02/4458590/tuesdays-high-school-scoreboard.html#storylink=cpy

Stilwell - "I've pitched better"

His coach, Rob Rinaldi, told him in his 29 years of coaching, he’s never witnessed nor heard of a 21-up, 21-down pitching gem in this area. Zack Stilwell, Pleasant Grove’s left-handed ace, needed only 77 pitches to strike out 14 batters and mow down the Ponderosa lineup for a 4-0 win on Monday. Believe it or not, he said he’s pitched better in other games. 

“I try to hold myself to a higher standard and I’m pretty hard on myself, especially when it comes to pitching because I know what I can do,” he said. “Yes, I have pitched better before.”

He went to a three-ball count to batters twice in the game. The closest Ponderosa came to getting a hit came in the second inning.

“I threw a change-up to a guy that rolled over on him and he hit a slow chopper between the five- and six-hole, JQ (Folena) came out of nowhere, back-handed it and threw the guy out,” Stilwell said.

As the game was nearing the final couple innings, Stilwell said none of his teammates talked about what was happening on the mound.

“I was hoping no one would be talking about it,” Stilwell said. “They didn’t. I was up on the (dugout) fence with them, just like normal. As I went out (to the mound) I just didn’t think about it. I just went about my game and threw a perfect game.”

Elk Grove’s Eric Otterson threw a no-hitter during the 2005 playoffs against Yuba City, but no one seems to remember a perfect game ever thrown by a local prepster.

Mon. Scoreboard/Stilwell Tosses Perfect Game

Baseball:

Pleasant Grove 4, Ponderosa 0 - Zack Stilwell threw a perfect game, the season's first no-hitter by a local pitcher. He fanned 14 batters. JQ Folena and Michael Yanez each homered in the DRL win.

Zack Stilwell, Pleasant Grove pitcher

No one around seems to know who last threw a full seven-inning perfect game in a high school contest locally.

Jesuit 5, Sheldon 3 - The Marauders scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning off Sheldon pitcher Jake Lorigan. Louis Mejia homered for Jesuit.

Franklin 7, Grant 2 - Brandon Keup picked up the win as Kyle Zanzi homered for the Wildcats.

Davis 10, Monterey Trail 0 (5 inns.) - The Blue Devils remain atop the DVC standings at 10-1.

Softball:

Sheldon 3, Elk Grove 2 - Alexis Cooper threw a three-hitter and went four-for-four at the plate.

Golf:

Delta River League Tournament
18 holes at Ancil Hoffman, par 72

Team results: Jesuit 390, Pleasant Grove 403, Oak Ridge 406; Folsom 416, Ponderosa 427, Sheldon 483.

Individual results: Pereira, P, 70; Grenz, PG, 71; Vander Dussen, PG, 74; Burke, J, 76.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/01/4454985/mondays-college-and-high-school.html#storylink=cpy

EG Sweeps Series With Laguna Creek, Now It's Davis

Elk Grove took the third and final game of its baseball series with Laguna Creek Monday, 13-2 in six innings, sweeping the season series.

EGHS pitcher Jordan Koch

Jordan Koch, who came on in relief in the first inning of Elk Grove starter Thomas Wisdom, picked up the win by pitching four and 1/3 innings.

"We could have come out complacent, looking forward to a big series (against Davis that starts Wednesday)," Elk Grove head coach Jeff Carlson said. "You don't want to do that. Laguna is having a good year and (Josh Lex) has done a good job over here. Today we saw a pretty good arm (in Malik Pruitt) on the mound. It was nice to see our guys compete and make the adjustment to him, especially the second and third time around."

The Cardinals also committed five errors to let Elk Grove dominate the game. Dom Nunez had a two-run triple in the second inning. Rowdy Tellez cleared the bases with a three-RBI double in the 5th inning. He added another RBI on a single in the sixth.

Elk Grove is now 9-2 in the league, 15-6 overall, and will travel to Davis Wednesday to face the first-place Blue Devils. Those two teams play again Friday at EGHS.

One concern Carlson has with just over a week remaining in the regular season is that a couple of his main players are hurt.

"Andrew Horne wasn't here today. He's got the flu," Carlson said. "Dom has a shoulder issue going on so we're going to hold him out the next two weeks and keep him from throwing. He'll (bat as the designated hitter)."

The Herd concludes the year next Monday and Wednesday with games against Grant. The Sac-Joaquin Section's North Division playoffs begin Monday, May 14.

Locals Shine At Meet of Champions

Esther Higgwe and her teammates on the Monterey Trail track and field team were the stars of Saturday's Meet of Champions, the largest track and field event thus far this spring. The event is usually at Hughes Stadium, but because of the construction of a new track and football field there, it was moved to American River College.

Higgwe won both the girls' 100 and 200 meters. She and the Mustangs' relay team also took first place in the 4x100 meters and the 4x400 meters.

Here are the Elk Grove-area competitors who finished in the top ten Saturday:

Friday's Stuff/ CRC Wins Big 8

First, a congratulations to Cosumnes River College and coach Tony Bloomfield as the Hawks have won the Big 8 championship in baseball. They defeated Santa Rosa CC, 4-0, in the first game of a twin bill yesterday. Former Pleasant Grove infielder Garrett Heisinger has a key RBI double to lead CRC.

The Hawks played the game at American River College and have had to play all home games at other sites because a new sports facility is under construction on the CRC campus. I have a story with Bloomfield and the CRC team coming out in next Tuesday's Citizen ...

Did you see the story about the Sierra Foothill League being moved this next school year to Division I? It's about time, really. Those schools (Granite Bay, Rocklin, Roseville, Nevada Union, etc.) are just as large in enrollment as the Elk Grove schools and have dominated Division II the past few years.

Quinnine Signs With Xavier (La.) Univ.

This news release came from Xavier University of Louisiana:

NEW ORLEANS — Andraquay Quinnine of Elk Grove, Calif., has signed a women's basketball scholarship with Xavier University of Louisiana. She averaged 13.9 points per game and made 108 3-pointers during the past two seasons.      Quinnine, a 5-foot-9 guard, is the Gold Nuggets' second signee for 2012-13. Guard Whitney Gathright of New Orleans signed a week ago.      Quinnine averaged 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 29 games for Consumes River College of Sacramento, Calif., this past season and was a California Community College Athletic Association second-team selection in the northern half of the state. Quinnine scored 40 points, including six 3-pointers and 10-of-11 free throws, in the Hawks' 72-64 victory at Diablo Valley on Feb. 7.

     As a freshman at Consumnes River in 2010-11, Quinnine averaged 13.3 points in 26 games. In two seasons at the junior college she made 35.8 percent of her 3-pointers (108-of-302) and 80.7 percent of her free throws (130-of-161).
     Quinnine is a 2010 graduate of Franklin High School in Elk Grove and helped the Wildcats reach the semifinals of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Division I section playoffs each of her final two seasons.
     Quinnine will be a junior on the Nuggets' roster next season.
     Xavier was 26-9 in 2011-12, won Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and, for the second consecutive year, reached the second round of the NAIA Division I National Championship. The GCAC Tournament title was the Nuggets' third in a row.

Carmazzi Resigns At Jesuit, Joins CB

Dan Carmazzi, the dean of high school football coaches who has been the head man at Jesuit for 31 years, resigned Wednesday and will become the athletic director of Christian Brothers, the school he graduated from in 1971.

In a prepared release, Carmazi said : “I would like to thank Lorcan Barnes and Mary Hesser for extending to me the opportunity to return to Christian Brothers. I will always have tremendous respect for, and be grateful to, the Jesuit High School community for educating my sons and giving me the opportunity to teach and coach these past 35 years.  But, a part of me has always wanted to return to Christian Brothers.  Christian Brothers provided me with an excellent education and athletic experience under the guidance of  such outstanding teacher coaches as  Dick Sperbeck, Ron Limeberger, Jack Witry, Dave Hoskins, Mel Fontes, John Zupan and Ralph Villanueva. This is a good time for me personally to make this transition and affords me the opportunity to give back to the school.”


He'll finish out this school year at Jesuit.

Wednesday's Scoreboard

Baseball:

Franklin 9, Elk Grove 7 (6 inns.) - The Wildcats, down 6-1, scored eight runs off Herd starter Rowdy Tellez to win a rain-shortened game. Ryan Sarginson had three RBI's. Tyler Blake had a key RBI single and Connor Adams a big double in a five-run fourth inning. Adams picked up the win in relief. Josh Pigg looked good pitching the final two innings for Franklin. Plus, the Wildcats survived two really bad calls by umpires, one was one of the worse missed-calls I've ever seen.

What was interesting about this game was that the umpires allowed the game to go into the seventh inning, despite a steady rain. Elk Grove scored three runs to take the lead, 10-9, had runners on second and third with two outs, then the umpires called the game.

The coaches, umpires and fans all got emotionally into a discussion about what was going to happen. EG fans wanted the game to continue or resume the next day at the same place of the game. Franklin fans said it was a rain-shortened game and the score should revert to the end of the previous inning.

EGUSD athletic director Jim Smrekar phoned me the next day to say NHSA rule 3.6 reads that in the case of an official game (4 1/2 innings played) if the game is stopped in the middle of an inning by umpires due to the weather the final score shall be taken from the end of the previous full inning.

The loss by EG put them a game behind Davis in the DVC. Franklin is a game behind the Herd in third place.

Davis 10, Laguna Creek 5 - Trask gets the win for the Blue Devils. Malik Pruitt got an RBI double for the Cardinals.

Monterey Trail 1, Grant 0 - Congrats to the Mustangs on their first DVC win of the year.

Softball:

Pleasant Grove 6, Ponderosa 4 - This is big because the win puts the Eagles in a tie with the Bruins for first place in the DRL. Kaylen Minnatee had a home run for PG.

Golf:

PLEASANT GROVE 214, SHELDON 253

9 holes at Rancho Murieta,  par 36

Low scorers: Kelly, PG, 41; Grenz, PG, 41; Thompson, S, 46.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/26/4443653/wednesdays-high-school-scoreboard.html#storylink=cpy

Dan Carmazzi, Jesuit's football coach since the 80's, has resigned. He'll be the AD at Christian Brothers. More later.

Tuesday Night Stuff

• Franklin boys volleyball defeated Elk Grove tonight in three games.  Set scores were 25-15, 25-17, 25-14.  Kameron Tinsley & Kyle Belvins both had 12 kills for the Wildcats. ...
• Josh Crabtree, Sheldon's football coach, announced today he will be taking one year off from his coaching duties. He wants to spend more time with his ailing father. Herbie Berry, his offensive coordinator, will take over during Crabtree's one year absence. ..
• I just finished the "Five Thoughts" column for the Citizen this evening. It's my first attempt at writing the weekly feature. Read it online at EGCitizen.Com Thursday afternoon. ....
• Sheldon's softball team defeated Oak Ridge, 4-0, as Alexis Cooper tossed a one-hitter.  The Huskies need to win out the rest of the year for any hope at a repeat Delta River League championship
• I have never heard of ESPN awarding anything like an "Elite Athlete" honor, but this email came in today:  As the youngest female sprinter and jumper on the (Franklin) Varsity team, Jorden E. O’Neal is determined to make it to the Olympics in the years to come. At barely fourteen years of age, she jumped an astounding 18-02.25 in the women's long jump at the UC Berkeley’s All Comers Meet on February 18. Since the start of the high school track season in late February, she has competed in multiple events including the 4 x 100 relay, 4 x 200 relay, the Sprint medley, the 4 x 400 relay, 100 meters, and 200 meters. Her recent long jump of 17.15 at the Thunder Invitational on April 14^th in Rocklin placed her on the ESPN HS, Top 100 US Elite Athletes list.

• On April 28, Jorden will compete in the girl’s varsity long jump and the girl’s 4 x 100 meter relay at Sacramento’s Meet of Champions.

Good Hitting, Franklin Mistakes Help Herd

The wind was blowing out at Wackman Field at Elk Grove High School Monday and it might have made a bit of a difference with balls hit up in the air, but Franklin's defense made anything in the outfield an adventure as the Herd ran away with a comfortable 10-4 win.

Rowdy Tellez was three-for-three but two balls really should have been caught. One was a major league high popup in the infield that plopped to the ground between three Wildcat infielders. In the first inning, Tellez was gifted an RBI double when a high fly to deep center ended up five feet behind the Franklin center fielder who thought he had it.

In the third inning Matt Aday had a line-drive single that could have been caught, but it bounced over the outfielder's head and rolled to the fence for a two-base error. Andrew Horne scored on that play. Cameron Childs stroked a double to left to score Aday for a 6-1 lead.

Franklin starter Brandon Keup had control problems that hurt him in the second inning. He walked two and hit one batter only to then give up a bases-clearing triple to Dom Nunez.

Another outfield gaffe on Jacob Heingardner's line drive to center in the fifth inning, that put the junior DH on third, gave the Herd another run when Childs hit another RBI single.

"I'm not worried. It was just one of those days," Franklin head coach Bryan Kilby said of his team's lackluster performance. The Wildcats had three errors but at least four other balls should have been caught that led to E.G. runs.

David Smith picked up the win for the Herd pitching six innings. He allowed three runs on two hits. The two clubs play again Wednesday at Franklin.

Weekend Stuff

Here’s how our local minor leaguers are fairing roughly two weeks into the baseball season:

Dwight Childs (Elk Grove H.S./Arizona Univ.) - He’s catching for the Carolina Mudcats in the Advanced-A Carolina League. Childs plays roughly every third game, batting .200 with two home runs in five games.

Casey Weathers

Casey Weathers (Laguna Creek H.S./Vanderbilt Univ.) – He’s a late inning reliever for the Tennesee Smokies of the Double-A Southern League. Weathers has a 1-0 record with a 4.15 ERA in four games for the Chicago Cubs’ affiliate. 

David Freitas (Elk Grove H.S./Univ. of Hawaii) – Off to a hot start for the Potomac Nationals of the Advanced-A Carolina League. The catcher is batting .324 with two home runs and eight RBI’s in 11 games.

Cory Vaughn (Jesuit H.S./San Diego State) – He’s playing for the Mets’ Advanced-A affiliate in St. Lucie, Fla. The Elk Grove resident is batting .302 with a home run in the Mets’ first 12 games in the Florida State League.

Cory Vaughn

Raymond Hernandez (Elk Grove H.S./Fullerton St.) – He’s made the jump to the Advanced-A California League in just his second season of pro ball. In three appearances and one start for the Visalia Rawhide, Hernandez is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA.

Kyle Castro (Pleasant Grove H.S.) – He’s on the roster of the Texas Rangers’ Rookie League team in Arizona.

Brady Dragmire (Bradshaw Christian H.S.) – Playing with the Toronto Blue Jays’ Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League.

Kyle Devore (Pleasant Grove H.S./Sacramento City College) – He’s playing for the Rangers’ Advanced-A club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Brandon Pinckney (Elk Grove H.S.) – Will be playing for the Worchester (Mass.) Tornadoes of the Can-Am Independent League. His season doesn’t start until mid-May.

Brad Kilby (Laguna Creek H.S./San Jose State) – Still working out and hoping for a mid-May return to pro baseball. He’s a free agent after spending five seasons in the Oakland A’s organization. In the meantime, he’s been the pitching coach at Franklin High School.  ….

Not to forget about the Elk Grove’s only major leaguer, Arizona pitcher David Hernandez; He’s made eight appearances thus far, all in late-inning relief and has a 0-1 record with a 3.38 ERA. He’s struck out 11 batters in 7 1/3 innings and has walked only two. Saturday in an inning of relief against Atlanta he struck out the side.  …

The nation’s top-ranked college softball team, Cal, won two of three games this past weekend at Oregon. The Ducks, ranked 13^th in the country, handed the Bears only its third loss of the season, 1-0, on Saturday. The Bears, now 42-3 overall and 13-2 in the Pac-12, bounced back Sunday with a 10-0 win over Oregon.

Sheldon’s sister pair of Jolene and Danielle Henderson each had two RBI’s Sunday. Jolene threw a three-hitter and struck out six. She raised her pitching record to 24-1 and has a 1.15 ERA. This weekend they host UCLA and former Pleasant Grove nemesis Ally Carda in a three-game series beginning Friday. …

PG Shutouts Sheldon, 4-0

Three Sheldon errors, all in the 7th inning, allowed Pleasant Grove to score four times to break open a scoreless dual and take a 4-0 Delta River League win.

Friday's loss combined with Tuesday's 7-0 defeat at Ponderosa has dropped the Lady Huskies to 3-2 in the DRL, tied with the Lady Eagles for second place.

It also marked the first time in more than eight years that Sheldon has lost two league games in a row.

The first six innings was a pitching dual pitting senior Alexis Cooper of Sheldon against Celina Matthias of Pleasant Grove. Matthias proved to have the edge by striking out seven and allowed four hits.

Thursday's Scoreboard

Baseball:

Great game at P.G. with the Eagles defeating Oak Ridge, 4-3 to win the season series, 2-1.

Matt Stafford with the distance on the mound and added a double. Home Runs by JQ Folena and Zack Stilwell.

Softball:

Monterey Trail 11, Laguna Creek 4
St. Francis 4, Ponderosa 1 (first league loss for the Bruins)
Davis 12, Franklin 8
Elk Grove 18, Grant 1

**Today I am covering the Pleasant Grove/Sheldon game. Watch for my tweets.

Wednesday's Scoreboard

Let me say that I suffered through the Elk Grove/Monterey Trail baseball game yesterday, which the Herd won easily, 10-0 in five innings. MT's Jordan Vartanian can play for any Division I team in the area, but the rest of the team frankly lacks overall in basic baseball skills.

I love baseball. That's why it bothers me to watch high school teams with players that lack basic fundamental skills. Many Mustang players just plain looked like this is their first year of baseball when compared to the finely-honed skills of a Dom Nunez, Trey Hicks or Derek Hill.

Does the City of Elk Grove, known for its fine baseball teams, really lack coaches that know what they are doing at the lower levels? Or do all the kids that take baseball seriously attend Elk Grove, Franklin, Laguna Creek, Sheldon, Pleasant Grove and Bradshaw Christian?

Think about that one ...

Here's the scores:

Baseball:

Elk Grove 10, Monterey Trail 0 - A kid who deserves more playing time, Trey Hicks, got a bases-loaded double. He plays at a higher speed than most kids. And, may I add that Dom Nunez played catcher, showing that he could play any position on the field and play it really well. In one at-bat he was thrown a curveball at chest level and he put it on a one-bounce to the right centerfield fence. I am campaigning for him to be the area player of the year.

Franklin 6, Laguna Creek 5 (9) - If Laguna can steal the rematch on Friday, then get a win over Elk Grove or Davis, they just might threaten to get into the playoffs. Good to see Kyle VonRuden, who has been injured, pitch a couple innings for Franklin.

Davis 15, Grant 1 (5)

Softball:

(here's a shocker) Ponderosa 9, Sheldon 0 - Paris Hallums threw a four-hitter at the Lady Huskies. I've got to make certain this isn't a mis-print.....No it isn't.

Hallums is the real deal, 6-0, four complete-game shutouts this season and the Lady Bruins are atop the DRL with a 4-0 record.

Pleasant Grove 12, Folsom 2 - The Eagles play at Sheldon Friday. I'm covering that one for the Citizen.

Tuesday Baseball and Pope Update

Lots of games Tuesday ....

Baseball:

Davis 5, Elk Grove 4 ... The Herd (4-1 DVC) scored a pair in the seventh but a fluke double play spoiled Elk Grove's comeback attempt. Ben Eckels can throw bee bees (for Davis, also 4-1).

Pleasant Grove 7, Oak Ridge 6 ... as sad as losing Monday to the Trojans was to him, Rob Rinaldi sounded upbeat in talking about winning this one in El Dorado Hills. Nico Toni and Michael Yanez each had three hits and PG (4-1 DRL) scored four times in the seventh inning to pull this one out.

Franklin 4, Monterey Trail 1 ... This is two wins in a row for the Wildcats (3-2 DVC).

Waiting word on Ponderosa/Sheldon and Laguna Creek/Grant.

Another note:
I talked today to Malik Pope, the outstanding sophomore basketball player who last week suddenly left Luther Burbank and enrolled at Laguna Creek High School. I had heard from two sources at the time, including his older brother, that the family moved to Elk Grove so that he could enroll at Sheldon.

He didn't say why he ended up enrolling at Laguna instead of Sheldon. Rather I asked if he was looking forward to playing next season for the Cardinals. He said, "I didn't want to leave (Burbank). I wanted to stay. We moved."

He was in a hurry at the time and couldn't talk long, but I wished him the best at Laguna Creek and he said he was looking forward to playing for coach Paul Casey.

Monday's Scoreboard

Baseball:


Elk Grove 7, Grant 1 - Derek Hill went three-for-four with a triple. Robert Ortega stroked a pair of doubles in backing Craig Dowell, the winning pitcher. The Herd is now in first place by itself in the DVC.


Franklin 7, Davis 3 - A much-needed win for the Wildcats as Brandon Keup picked up the win. Hank LoForte got a pair of hits for Franklin.


Sheldon 2, Ponderosa 0 - Jake Lorigan tossed a two-hit shutout. First DRL win for the Huskies.

Pleasant Grove coach Rob Rinaldi and 2nd baseman
Bronson Grubbs (#4)

Oak Ridge 5, Pleasant Grove 4 - (see story below) 


Golf:


Delta Valley Conference Tournament

18 holes at Wildhawk, par 72

Teams: Davis 399, Elk Grove 408, Franklin 426, Monterey Trail 454, Grant 585.

Individual results: Reede, MT, 72; Tam, F, 74; Klein, D, 75; Levin, EG, 75; Espino, D, 78.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/17/4419481/mondays-college-community-college.html#storylink=cpy

Oak Ridge Holds On, Beats P.G., 5-4

Oak Ridge relief pitcher Jason Ross battled out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the Trojans to a 5-4 Delta River League win over Pleasant Grove Monday.

The loss was the Eagles' first league defeat this season after sweeping three games from Sheldon last week. Oak Ridge is now 2-2 in the DRL. The two teams play again Tuesday in El Dorado Hills.


The Trojans got three runs off Eagle ace Zack Stilwell (4-1) in the fourth inning. Oak Ridge loaded the bases with one out. After Stilwell struck out Cody Uharriet, Alex Fitchett dribbled an slow roller that shortstop JQ Folena couldn't make a play on. Jason Ross followed with a line drive off Folena's outstretched mitt and two more runs scored.


Eagle bats were frustrated by Trojan sophomore pitcher Austin Root for six innings, but threatened to win the game in the final frame. Josh Adams led off with a single and was sent to third on Matt Stafford's hit down the right field line. After Stilwell walked to load the bases, Nico Toni knocked in Adams on a ground ball out to narrow the margin to 5-4, Oak Ridge.


Coach Rob Rinaldi thought about squeezing in Stafford from third with one out and Austin Friello.


"Those guys can't bunt," Rinaldi said of his next two batters. So, Ross struck out Friello and Bronson Grubbs to end the game.


In giving up five hits to Pleasant Grove, Root picked up his fourth win of the year, pitching six innings, striking out three and walking none. That was his third complete game win.


Stilwell struck out eight batters, but walked two, gave up nine hits and two earned runs.


After Tuesday game, the two clubs play for a third and final time this season Thursday at Pleasant Grove.

Sport Stacking -A Cup Stacking Sport Of Speed

As a kid we all loved playing with blocks. We’d make a big stack of them, just to knock them all down. We did the same thing with drinking cups, usually making a tall pyramid with the cup facing downward. The slightest wind and then all came crashing down.

This kids’ pastime, believe or not, has now progressed into a sport, one that recently gained sanction by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). In fact, sport stacking, as it is now called, will be a part of the AAU’s Junior Olympics in Houston, Texas, this July. 

Locally, a team of 21 sport stacking competitors between the ages of six and 16 are practicing about four times a week to compete in the event this summer.

Kerry Anderson, a retired school teacher at John Ehrhardt Elementary in Elk Grove, is an adult coaching this team, which goes by the moniker, “Stack It – Sacramento.”

PG Sweeps Sheldon, Has DRL Lead

Week one of baseball in the Delta River League is over and Pleasant Grove is in first place with a 3-0 mark. Saturday, the Eagles finished a three-game sweep of Sheldon by defeating the Huskies, 4-2. Matt Stafford went the distance on the mound, throwing a five-hitter. Brandon Langan took the loss for Sheldon.

At the plate, Pleasant Grove was led by Zack Stilwell who was two-for-three.

After starting the season 8-0, Sheldon has now lost five in a row. They sit at the bottom of the DRL with a 0-3 record.  This week they'll have an opportunity to bounce back with a three-game set against Ponderosa Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Pleasant Grove will face Oak Ridge, who went 1-2 this past week against Jesuit, in a three-game set.

In the Delta Valley Conference, Elk Grove has first place with a 3-0 mark. They play Grant in a home game Monday, then hosts Davis Tuesday in a make-up of Friday's rainout. The Blue Devils are also 3-0 in the DVC.

Franklin, now 1-2 in conference play, will be at Davis Monday in a very important game for the Wildcats.

Hurdler Martinez Out For Season

Nick Martinez, running in SJS D-1 Meet last season

A sad note out of the Elk Grove High School track and field team. Their outstanding hurdler Nick Martinez will have surgery in June on a torn ACL in his right knee. That according to assistant track coach Dallas Broussard. He injured the knee about a month ago. 

Last season Martinez placed third in the 300 meter hurdles at the California High School Track and Field Championships. He was the Sac-Joaquin Section champion in that event, plus the 110 meter hurdles.

Martinez has been accepted at Sacramento State and may run track for the Hornets next season, according to Broussard.