Two of this week’s honorees are Michael Hobbs of Corona and Alexis Orozco of San Marcos. Photos: coronapanthersbaseball.net & socalathleticssoftball.com.
We went with two small school kids for NorCal this week, one who led his team to its second straight section title. The two SoCal choices both are underclass players, one who threw a no-hitter against the champion of one of the state’s best leagues and the other who is setting school records as a sophomore.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we also are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
To nominate a player for next week, email markjtennis@gmail.com by Monday at 12 noon and be sure to include a photo that we can use (which means it’s not from the local newspaper or from another web site).
It’s also a great time to sign up for our Gold Club to see all of our great content. The yearly rate has gone up, but you can now see all of our info, including state record book items for $9.99 covering three months. For details, CLICK HERE.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Greg Creamer
(Winters) Jr.
For the second week in a row, we’re going to the CIF Northern Section. After Sutter’s Brendan Nelson, it’s Creamer’s turn. It is the last time we can pick a Northern Section player, however, since the season in that section is already done.
Creamer has led Winters in most offensive categories all season and he has been one of the team’s top two pitchers. In last week’s 12-3 win over Mt. Shasta in the Division IV section semifinals, Creamer pitched 4 2/3 innings with one earned run allowed while at the plate he went 2-for-3 with three RBI, including a double and homer. In Saturday’s title game, a 14-1 win over Durham that was shortened to 5 ½ innings, Creamer had three hits, including two doubles.
For the season, Creamer (who has been on the Warriors’ varsity since he was a freshman and is a three-sport athlete at the school) led the team in batting average (nearly .450) with six homers and 50 RBI.
Winters (22-6-1) captured its second D4 section title in a row and the 12th in 19 section final appearances under longtime head coach Jeff Ingles, the winningest baseball coach in the Northern Section who earlier this spring won his 500th game.
Look for details soon on exciting, new way for every stat star, player of the week and all-state player to be able to order their own highlight video.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Teanne Edens
(Cloverdale) Sr.
While she didn’t throw her third no-hitter in a four-game span, Edens did have yet another dominant start last week when she allowed just three hits while striking out 10 during five innings of a 16-0 win over Kelseyville that also saw her hit two doubles, a homer and drive in three runs.
Two weeks ago, Edens had two no-hitters in the same week to give three no-hitters and two perfect games this season. She also began this week at 16-3 with a 0.70 ERA and in 110.1 innings she had 209 strikeouts.
No slouch at the plate, she started this week hitting .563 with six home runs and 32 runs batted in.
A member of our Cal-Hi Sports All-State Small Schools Second Team last season, Edens has signed to play next season at Northeast Community College.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Michael Hobbs
(Corona) Jr.
With the Panthers starting the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs on the road, they handed the ball to this 6-foot-2 junior right-hander and he made sure their season would continue.
Hobbs pitched his first no-hitter of the season with eight strikeouts during an 8-0 win over Marina of Huntington Beach. Marina, many may recall, was the team that swept Huntington Beach in a Sunset League three-game series not long after the Oilers won the National High School Invitational. In other words, this wasn’t some ordinary team that Hobbs no-hit.
After the effort, Hobbs improved to 7-6 with a 1.76 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 63.2 innings. Doing more than just pitching, he was also hitting .376 with 44 runs batted in, which includes a game last month that saw him drive in seven runs during a 14-4 win over Norco.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Alexis Orozco
(San Marcos) Soph.
While she did not add to her school record home run total last week, Orozco did go 2 for 3 with a double in both games last week as the Knights defeated Cathedral Catholic of San Diego 6-3 and Ramona 3-2 in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division playoffs.
The Cathedral Catholic win also was huge since it came against the section’s top-ranked team that also had climbed to No. 7 in the state.
Just a sophomore, Orozco hit four home runs last season and already has 10 home runs this year, which surpasses the previous program record for career home runs that was 12 set back in 1988 by Kendra Leffler. She has twice hit two home runs in a game this season, including a two homer game against Mission Hills of San Marcos that saw her drive in a season-best eight runs. For the season, entering this week, Orozco was hitting .446 with 39 runs batted in.
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
