RV’s Bal takes TCC tennis title
River Valley High freshman Luvdeep Bal improved his record to 22-0 on the year and was crowned TriCounty Conference champion with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Inderkum’s Archie Ghasami in the final match of the TCC singles tournament on Thursday at Rancho Cortez in Yuba City.
Bal advanced to the title match after winning two matches on Tuesday and has yet to drop a set all season.
“He’s been just so dominant. He’s a freshman and he still has room to grow, but he’s been phenomenal,” said River Valley coach Gabe Ramirez. “He’s really developed over the last year and has grown with his maturity. He’s something else to see out there.
“He wants to be my assistant coach and he wants to help others, too. I really appreciate that. He’s always helpful with teammates.”
Two of those teammates also turned in a strong performances on Thursday, as the doubles duo of Jimmy Sallaberry and Sameer Gupta won two matches before falling to a team from River City in the finals.
With their top finishes, all three will advance to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II singles and doubles tournament on May 15-16 at the Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville.
River Valley isn’t done as a team, either. The section released its playoff brackets on Thursday and the Falcons will begin their postseason push in Division III on Wednesday at Manteca. River Valley is the third-place team from the TCC, while Manteca is the Valley Oak League champion.
SOFTBALL Lindhurst 9, Dixon 2 In Dixon – The Blazers recorded 14 hits, including three each from Danika Martin, Hailee Sutton and Marissa Tracey, to earn a Golden Empire League victory over the Rams.
Martin and Sutton both finished with three RBIs, while Tracey doubled and scored twice. Martin also pitched and had 11 strikeouts to record the win.
Also, Tayler Barnes was 2 for 2 with a double and three runs scored, and Alexis Steele was 2 for 3 with an RBI.
Lindhurst (9-11, 6-1 GEL) continues league play on Monday at West Campus before hosting rival Marysville on Tuesday.
Pioneer 3, Yuba City 1 In Yuba City – The Honkers saw their slim hopes for a TCC title come to an end with a loss to the first-place Patriots at home.
Corrine Belser went 2 for 3, and Lexi Delozier, Briana Pope and Taylor Birkholz added a single each to account for Yuba City’s five hits. Delozier also stole three bases while Pope swiped one bag and scored the Honkers’ lone run.
Blake Craft struck out eight and allowed four hits to take the loss for Yuba City (15-5-1, 7-3), which hosts River Valley on Tuesday.
In the junior varsity game, the Honkers lost to Pioneer, 22-13. Alyssa Richebacher went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two runs scored, and Sophie Afato and Lily Marshall smacked two doubles each for Yuba City (156, 7-3).
Inderkum 12, River Valley 0 In Yuba City – The Falcons committed six errors and recorded six hits in a TCC loss to the Tigers.
Holly Brennan went 3 for 4, Laci Miller finished 2 for 3 with a double, Morgan Myers singled and Caylee Mae Williams walked three times to lead the offense for River Valley (3-18-1, 2-8).
Sutter 5, Orland 0 In Sutter – Hailey Peterson struck out nine and allowed only one hit while tossing her eighth shutout of the season, and the Huskies beat the Trojans to remain unbeaten in Butte View League play.
Sutter was limited to only three hits offensively, singles by Juliana Capaul, Sam Anderson and Julia Tarke. Capaul also drove in a run.
The Huskies (17-5-1, 7-0) continue their BVL slate on Tuesday with a home game against Gridley.
In the JV contest, Emma McConville and Kat Jackman both finished 3 for 4 to lead Sutter to an 11-1 win in five innings. McConville doubled and drove in three runs, Jackman hit a double and a triple and had two RBI, and Hailey Schamanski went 2 for 3 with a double, triple and one RBI.
Reagan Ford struck out three to earn the win for the Huskies (19-1, 6-1).
Colusa 11, Pierce 0, 5 inn. In Colusa – The RedHawks put up crooked numbers in every inning and shut out the Bears for the second time in three days to keep their perfect in Sacramento Valley League record intact.
Sidney Lay launched a three-run home run and hit a double, Dyanna Santana went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Josie Garofalo and Gracie Myers both recorded doubles to lead Colusa at the plate.
Lay, Addie Taylor and Hanna Schneider combined in the circle to throw a one-hitter.
After the game, the RedHawks (22-1, 6-0) headed to Susanville for the Lassen Tournament, where they will play two games today against the host Grizzlies and West Valley.
Jocelyn Gonzales doubled to account for the lone hit for Pierce (7-15-1, 2-5-1), which resumes SVL play at Willows on May 4. Buckingham Charter 18, Faith Christian 4, 6 inn.
In Yuba City – The Knights broke open a tight game by scoring 15 runs over the final two innings to hand the Lions a Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League loss.
Isabella Malan knocked in a pair of runs to lead the way for Faith Christian (2-9, 2-7).
BASEBALL Gridley 9, Wheatland 1 In Gridley – The Bulldogs scored four runs in the third and five more in the sixth to earn a BVL win over the Pirates.
Wyatt Swinney was 2 for 3 with two RBI and both Randy Miller and Jared Kopp had doubles. Ty Cota didn’t allow an earned run for the Bulldogs, going all seven innings and recording 11 strikeouts while tossing a twohitter. Gridley (11-8, 4-3) plays Tuesday at Sutter. No information was provided by Wheatland (1-18-1, 0-8).
Colusa 8, Pierce 4 In Colusa – In a rivalry game featuring two of Colusa County’s best pitchers, the RedHawks rallied back in the fifth inning to take the SVL game from the Bears and sweep the season series..
Colusa sophomore Christian Lyss and Pierce senior Tim English dueled each other over five innings before English, who stuck out eight, reached his pitch limit.
The Bears took a 3-2 lead into the fifth before the hard-throwing English allowed a leadoff single to Alec Bailey and issued a walk to Nan Rodriguez. With 110 pitches in the book, English moved to shortstop and the RedHawks took advantage.
Clayton Angus was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Blake Steidlmayer, who put the RedHawks in front for good when he knocked in two runs with a single.
A sacrifice fly from Zach Dillard plated Angus, and Steidlmayer scored on an error to cap the scoring in the fifth.
Ethan Rakela drove in two more for the RedHawks in the sixth, before Lyss and Raymond Frias closed out the Bears in the top of the seventh.
Alex Richins finished 2 for 4 with an RBI while Bryce Alonso and Chris Muniz each added RBI singles for Pierce (5-18, 2-5), which closes out the regular season on May 8 at Willows.
Lyss struck out seven over 6 ⁄ innings to earn the win for the RedHawks (19-6, 5-1), who continue SVL play on Tuesday at home against Live Oak.
BOYS GOLF Marysville 260, Lindhurst 338 In Olivehurst – The Indians improved to 52 against GEL competition with a win over the Blazers at Plumas Lake Golf & Country Club.
Chase Call shot a 43, Rex Rollins carded a 47, Luke Mathews and Taylor Lake both finished with 55s and Logan McMartin added a 60 to complete the scoring five for Marysville.
TRACK & FIELD Indians take 1st again In Linda – After wrapping up the league title last week, Marysville’s varsity boys team finished first again at the third GEL meet of the season on Wednesday at Yuba College.
Leading the top performers for the Indians was Parker Jenks, who took first in both the shot put (54 feel, 1 ⁄ inches) and the discus (145-7). Mikah Bernal placed first in the 400 (51.36 seconds) and third in the 200 (23.32), David Kerstan won the 1,600 (4 minutes, 50.68 seconds) and Ethan Maycroft finished first in the pole vault (10-0).
Tim Spence took second to Jenks in both the shot put (39-8 ⁄ ) and the discus (126-5), and Ivan Gale finished second to Maycroft in the pole vault (9-0). Taking third for Marysville were Gary Walker in the 100 (11.84), Cornell Greenwood in the 110 hurdles (17.64) and Pierce Desmond in the 800 (2:14.17).
Marysville’s varsity girls squad placed fourth as a team and was led by Katrina Lane’s first-place finish in the pole vault (76). Victoria Escheman took second in the pole vault (7-0) and Sydney Shrader was third (6-6) to give the Indians the top three places.
In frosh-soph boys competition, Marysville finished second as a team thanks to strong performances from John Garrison and Joey Henry. Garrison took first in the 110 hurdles (18.97), and second in the both the 300 hurdles (48.12) and the high jump (5-2), while Henry finished first in the 1,600 (5:09.98), second in the 800 (2:22.09) and third in the 400 (59.20).
Also placing first for the Indians was Anthony Meyer in the 3,200 (11:41.90).
Daniel Burdick took second in the 110 hurdles (19.07) and third in the 300 hurdles (51.05), James Phillips was second in the 400 (57.72), Cameron Dillon placed second in the 3,200 (11:53.52) and Eric Jansenn finished third in the shot put (34-1) to round out the leaders.