Two of this week’s picks are Kyle Nicol of Burroughs (Burbank) & Nerissa Eason of Bear River (Lake of the Pines). Photos: Twitter.com & statesmanjournal.com.
For the first set of honorees for the spring, dominating softball pitchers Nerissa Eason from Bear River (Lake of the Pines) and Katie Barbarick from Righetti (Santa Maria) get put into the spotlight. Baseball’s first two choices, meanwhile, are from San Ramon Valley (Danville) and Burroughs (Burbank).
Note:For purposes of this feature, we 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
Joey Spears (San Ramon Valley, Danville) Sr.
Not only did Spears hit his first home run of the season during a 14-10 win over Reno but he hit his second home run as well, finishing with two homers and three RBI in the win for the undefeated Wolves.
Through his first five games, the senior second basemen was hitting .750 with three doubles and the two home runs. Back in November, he signed a letter of intent to play baseball in college at Stony Brook University.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Nerissa Eason (Bear River, Lake of the Pines) Sr.
Bear River has been one of the state’s top small schools in softball for many years under head coach Duane Zauner and this year the Bruins have one of the top pitchers (at any level) with Eason.
The senior signed a letter of intent last November with Oregon State and has been ranked among the top 100 prospects nationally for the Class of 2016 by FloSportsSoftball.
In a 1-0 victory last week over a very solid Oakmont of Roseville squad, Eason pitched a no-hitter and struck out 17. She also went 1-for-2 at the plate and scored the only run of the game.
Last season, Eason posted a 17-5 record with a 0.74 ERA and struck out 203 batters in 132.2 innings.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Kyle Nicol (Burroughs, Burbank) Sr.
His unique pitching motion has caused chaos for hitters trying to hit him as he is off to a 2-0 start to the season after allowing just one hit and striking out 14 during a 1-0 win over Harvard-Westlake in the championship game of the Easton Tournament.
Holding the previously undefeated Wolverines to just two hits, this submarine throwing right hander began this week having pitched 13 scoreless innings this season with 18 strikeouts.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Katie Barbarick (Righetti, Santa Maria) Sr.
This senior captain had a busy day last Saturday but it was more than productive as she pitched back-to-back no-hitters against South Gate and Mira Monte of Bakersfield on the same day.
Against the Rams, Barbarick allowed just two walks while striking out 10 in a narrow 1-0 win before allowing just one walk and striking out 12 in the 8-0 win over the Lions.
On the season, she was shown at the beginning of the week at 3-1 with a 1.08 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched.
Barbarick told the Santa Maria Times that she feels more mature this year after not playing basketball so she could focus more on softball and that certainly looks early on like that has paid off for her.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Paul Muyskens is the Stockton office assistant editor and contributed to this post. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
