Two of this week’s honorees are junior Reyna Carranco of Oxnard and senior Kyle Hatton of Norco. Photos: softballshowcase.com & bigleaguefuturesplus.net.
This week’s SoCal softball honoree also has slugged her way to a listing in the state record book. Our other three selections are from Lincoln, Fortuna and Norco.
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). Please feel free to call at 209-463-9050 as well both for nominations or to see if your business or small company would like to become a sponsor for this weekly content.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Isaiah Garcia (Lincoln) Sr.
The Fighting Zebras are No. 10 in our Division III state rankings and this four-year varsity standout and senior captain who plays the infield is a big reason why.
Entering this week, Garcia was hitting over .600 with 12 doubles, five home runs and 31 runs batted in after going 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI during a 7-6 win over Rosemont of Sacramento to open up CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs. In his next game, Garcia was 2 for 2 with a triple during an 8-2 win over Ceres.
Isaiah is the oldest of seven children and will be playing next year at Cal State Northridge.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Kyle Hatton (Norco) Sr.
With a chance for the Cougars to capture the Big VIII League championship last Thursday, Hatton did it all as he pitched a complete game on the mound and hit a grand slam home run during an 8-2 win over Centennial of Corona.
Because of trying to get the game in before it rained, the Centennial-Norco contest was played at 1 p.m. and according to tweets from Kyle Glaser of the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Hatton’s entire 5th period econ class along with his dad (who teaches the class) headed to the diamond and they were all up cheering quickly with his first inning grand slam.
Hatton, who is committed to UCSB, was named co-MVP of the league as a junior and seems like a solid bet to be the only MVP as a senior.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Hailey Dolcini (Fortuna) Soph.
Standing 6-foot tall, Dolcini has been an intimidating force at the plate and in the circle for the Tigers this season.
Entering this week, she was 18-4 with a 0.45 ERA while striking out 268 batters in 139.1 innings while also hitting .474 with six doubles and 13 runs batted in for the Huskies.
Dolcini’s first home run of the season came last week during a 9-0 win over Eureka as she went 4 for 5 with the homer and two runs batted in while also pitching the complete game shutout allowing just four hits and striking out 14. In her previous game, Dolcini went 4-for-5 with four RBI (including a double and triple) against Arcata. Allowing just 25 walks all season, she has now gone seven straight games without allowing a walk while striking out a total of 84 during those games.
Last season as a freshman, she was 16-3 with a 0.44 ERA with 202 strikeouts and if she continues her success over the next two years she could find herself getting her name in our state record book in several categories.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Reyna Carranco (Oxnard) Jr.
Not only did she get named by the Ventura County Star as one of its athletes of the week but she will also earn a regional honor from us as well.
The junior second baseman collected four hits in four at-bats with a double and two solo home runs during a 3-0 win against Rio Mesa of Oxnard.
The win clinched a share of the Pacific View League championship and was the fourth time this season that Reyna has hit multiple home runs in a game, which also includes the game before that also saw her hit two home runs and drive in four runs during a 14-2 win over Hueneme of Oxnard.
“I wasn’t really thinking about hitting home runs. I was just thinking about hitting the ball hard and it went over,” she told the VC Star.
In addition, Carranco has now homered in six straight games starting this week and ranks among the state leaders with 16 homers and 53 RBI. Note: MaxPreps’ totals don’t include some players in the state with more homers and RBI.
Paul Muyskens is the Stockton office assistant editor for CalHiSports.com. 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
