Foothill leaves no doubt about top ranking
Rain postponed the final day of the Livermore Stampede softball tournament Friday, but much was learned in two days of play.
First, Chronicle No. 1 Foothill-Pleasanton is no joke. The Falcons (10-0) rolled Reno power Bishop Manogue 9-0 to win Pool D.
MaxPreps preseason All-America pitcher Nicole May struck out eight, gave up four hits and walked none while mowing through a lineup that featured five future D1 players, including Oregon State-bound Bailey McLaughlin, who had the only hit that got out of the infield.
Hailey Hayes, Hope Alley and Lauren Hermes all hit home runs for the Falcons and May was 2-for-2.
“It’s great to have a team behind me that makes all the plays,” May told Prep2Prep writer Harold Abend.
Said coach Matt Sweeney: “I wasn’t sure Nicole could hold them like she did. We took the pressure off her (with the runs) and she was dealing.”
Freedom-Oakley won Pool B, improving to 9-0 with wins over California-San Ramon (2-1) and Alhambra-Martinez (9-3) behind Southern Utah commit Vanessa Strong, The Chronicle’s 2016 Metro Player of the Year.
Mitty (6-3) — behind pitchers Hannah Edwards and Savanna Smith — won Pool A by defeating Arroyo-San Lorenzo (6-0), Livermore (8-0) and Dougherty Valley-San Ramon (6-2).
The pool winners, along with St. Mary’s-Stockton (8-1), will play in the semifinals April 21, when the tournament is scheduled to return at the Ernie Rodrigues Sports Fields. Arcadia results: With four individual titles, the region showed well at Saturday’s 51st Arcadia Invitational, one of the top track and field meets in the country.
Defending state 800-meter champions Jett Charvet (Heritage-Brentwood) and Alyssa Brewer (California-San Ramon) each won, with Brewer finishing almost two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in 2:09.81.
Charvet, who surprised many by winning the state title in 1:51.07, won Saturday in 1:52.60, the nation’s fifthbest time this year. He beat Tesoro-Rancho Santa Margarita senior Ryan Bush (1:53.55) and Bellarmine senior Alex Scales (1:53.71), the state runner-up last year.
Amador Valley-Pleasanton junior Chinyere Okoro won the girls 200 in 24.08, the third-best mark in the country. She also took third in the 100 (11.63).
St. Mary’s-Berkeley senior Kali Hatcher, the state runner-up in the triple jump last year, won with a mark of 42 feet, 3¼ inches, the secondbest mark in the country this year.
Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland senior Tierra Robinson-Jones was edged at the line by Marietta (Ga.) senior Sterling Lester in the girls 400. Both clocked in at 53.37, the nation’s third-best time.
In the boys long jump, CJ Stevenson of Great Oak-Temecula (24-3) beat St. Mary’s-Berkeley sophomore Malcolm Clemons (23-10½) and St. Ignatius senior Alex Enos (23-8¾). All-Metro adds: Three deserving girls basketball players were left off the All-Metro San Francisco honorablemention list: Bay Counties League West co-Players of the Year Courtney Resch (University, Sr.) and Rain Sheh (Urban, Sr.) and BCL MVP Vida Hasson-Kennedy (International, Jr). SFIAC banquet: Coaches Bob Drucker (basketball) and Ernie Feibusch (soccer) will be honored at the second annual San Francisco Italian Athletic Club High School Awards Banquet on May 14 at the organization’s North Beach Clubhouse (1630 Stockton St.).
Both will receive Benedetti Lifetime Coaching awards.
Another coach, the late Vince Tringali, also will be honored, and the football trophy given annually to the top player will be named after him. The Galileo and USF alum led St. Ignatius to a 54-14-1 record as a coach in the 1960s.
The rest of the evening will honor San Francisco’s best players, coaches and teams. Last year’s event raised more than $5,000 for high school sports.
Tickets can be purchased through the SFIAC website, www.sfiac.org. Click on the “buy tickets” tab.