Two of this week’s SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week are Kendall Burnett of San Diego Francis Parker (USC commit) and Mariah Mazon of Tulare Mission Oak (Oregon State commit). Photos: Courtesy family & Twitter.com.
Promising sophomore Kendall Burnett of San Diego Francis Parker notches second straight no-hitter to earn top honors for SoCal baseball. This week’s other honorees are from Charter Oak (West Covina), Sutter and Mission Oak (Tulare). One of them used to be a bull rider in rodeos.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we also 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
Kendall Burnett
(Francis Parker, San Diego) Soph.
A sophomore who already has committed to USC, Burnett has put his name into the state record book by throwing back-to-back no-hitters.
The second of those no-hitters took place last Saturday when the Lancers defeated Bonita Vista of Chula Vista 2-1. Burnett only threw 76 pitches in the seven-inning game.
Burnett’s first no-hitter, and the first one since 1985 at Francis Parker, came the week before in a 1-0 triumph vs. league rival Horizon Christian of San Diego.
The next start for Burnett, who only struck out three in each of his no-hitters, will be in the CIF San Diego Section playoffs.
Cal-HI Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Marissa Chavez
(Charter Oak, West Covina) Jr.
Slugging just three home runs last year during her sophomore season, Marissa has put on a home run showcase this season, especially over the last few weeks.
Although wins last week over Walnut (10-0) and West Covina (7-1) were not enough to get Charter Oak into the CIF Southern Section playoffs, Chavez ended the season by homering in six of her last seven games.
Chavez homered and drove in three runs against Walnut before extending her home run streak with another one and getting two more RBI vs. West Covina.
Just a few weeks ago, Chavez also had a streak that saw her homer in three straight games, including a two-homer game against Walnut that saw her drive in six runs. On the year, she batted .455 with 11 home runs and 31 runs batted in.
Brendon Nelson of Sutter gets ready to rip in recent game. Photo: Courtesy family.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Brendon Nelson
(Sutter) Sr.
A former bull rider for five years, Nelson has been on quite a ride the last few weeks for Sutter’s baseball team.
In last weekend’s CIF Northern Section Division III semifinals, which was a best-of-three series format, Nelson led the Huskies past University Prep of Redding 17-0 and 10-0 in a doubleheader sweep.
Nelson went 2-for-2 with a double and four RBI in the first game, then went 2-for-3 a double, homer and four RBI in the second game.
Prior to that sweep, Sutter and Nelson also won a CIF Northern Section playoff game last week, 12-5, over Central Valley of Shasta Lake. He went 3-for-5 in that game with a double, homer and six RBI and pitched four innings.
Heading into this week’s section final against Gridley, Nelson has a .510 batting average with 41 RBI. Sutter is going for its fifth straight section title.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Mariah Mazon
(Mission Oak, Tulare) Jr.
Mazon and been amazin’ so far this season and just had one of the most impressive weeks of her high school career.
In the circle, Mazon now surpassed the 17 wins she had during her freshman season when she improved to 19-3 with a 0.63 ERA on the season after a six-inning perfect game with nine strikeouts in a 10-0 win last week over Tulare Union of Tulare.
Now with 217 strikeouts in 145.1 innings pitched, she also swings a big bat as she homered during her perfect game and also hit a grand slam home run later in the week while driving in six runs during a 12-0 win over Delano.
With still her senior season to come, Mazon is hitting .502 for her career with 25 home runs. As a pitcher, she’s 50-18 with a 0.76 ERA and 593 strikeouts. Named last season as the 2015 Visalia Times-Delta/Advance-Register softball player of the year, she is committed to Oregon State.
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
