At left, Cal recruit Jared Horn from Vintage of Napa holds National Football Foundation Hall of Fame scholar-athlete award. At right, Noemi Farfan from Calvary Christian Academy gets ready for game. Photos: @VHSATHLETICS/Twitter.com & ncsasports.org.
It’s the first time ever that El Capitan of Merced, a school that was once open from 1959 to 1962 and reopened in 2013, has had an athlete honored or team ranked by Cal-Hi Sports with softball standout Cassie Gasper snagging this week’s NorCal honor. This week’s other recipients are from Napa, La Mirada and Chula Vista. One of them was on a CIF state title team in football.
Note:For purposes of this feature, we are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
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Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
R.J. Lan (La Mirada) Jr.
Swinging the big bat in the Matadors’ 12-0 win over Cerritos, he hit two home runs and drove in seven runs.
Just a junior, R.J. also had big hits during the football season as a safety and had 76 total tackles and four interceptions on defense for a La Mirada team that defeated Campolindo of Moraga in the CIF Division III-AA state bowl game.
In his third year playing varsity baseball, Lan started this week hitting .464 with four home runs and 17 runs batted in. He also has raised career totals to 11 homers and 56 RBI.
Cal-HI Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Noemi Farfan (Calvary Christian Academy, Chula Vista) Jr.
Following up her freshman year that saw her hit .753 with a reported 93 runs batted in and seven home runs, she’s on her way to an even better sophomore year after hitting three home runs and driving in 20 runs in three games last week.
In a 17-1 win over Escondido Adventist Academy of Escondido, Farfan fell one single shy of the cycle as she doubled, tripled and homered while driving in a season-high eight runs. She then had a double and two triples with six runs batted in during a 16-2 win over Foothills Christian of El Cajon and then had a triple and two home runs with six runs batted in during a 9-5 win over Southwest of San Diego.
Entering this week for the season, Farfan is reported hitting .794 with 49 runs batted in, nine doubles, 10 triples and five home runs.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Jared Horn (Vintage, Napa) Sr.
One of the top pitcher-hitters in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section, Horn was sensational in leading the Crushers to a 3-0 win last week over arch-rival Napa.
On the mound, Horn gave up four hits in the shutout and also went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
So far this season, the University of California recruit has been nearly untouchable as a pitcher. Entering this week, Horn had a 6-0 record with a 0.17 ERA and had 76 strikeouts.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder, who also played quarterback for Vintage’s football team last fall, participated in last summer’s Area Code Games. Last season for the Crushers, he batted .319 with 20 RBI and went 2-1 pitching with a 1.50 ERA, including two saves.
Gasper gets a ride from teammate. Photo: Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Cassie Gasper (El Capitan, Merced) Jr.
Her school had never before earned a ranking or an honor from us until now, but Gasper has dominated in the circle all season long allowing just one earned run over 105.1 innings pitched.
Last week, she pitched a pair of one-hitters and had a season-high 20 strikeouts in a 6-1 win over Livingston and then 13 strikeouts in a 3-2 win over Downey of Modesto.
The lone earned run Cassie gave up was in her second start of the season and she has now gone 14 straight games without giving up an earned run. On the year entering this week, the Dominican University commit was 11-3 with a 0.07 ERA and 171 strikeouts.
Paul Muyskens is the Stockton office assistant editor for Cal-Hi Sports. Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
