Two of this week’s honorees are Sandra Rodriguez from Knight of Palmdale and Blake Rutherford of West Hills Chaminade. Photos: Courtesy school & mlb.com.
We do not have a hitting streak to jinx like last week (apologies to Glendale’s Sammy Fabian), but are honoring another softball hitter, Sandra Rodriguez of Palmdale Knight, who going into the state record book after she hit two grand slams and drove in 11 runs in one game. This week’s other players of the week are from West Hills, Los Altos and Modesto.
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
Kevin Duffy
(Beyer, Modesto) Sr.
He hasn’t pitched a ton this season, but when he has late in the season Duffy has been impressive.
The Patriots’ standout pitched his second no-hitter of the season last week and allowed just two walks while striking out 12 in a five-inning 10-0 win over Johansen of Modesto.
In fact, it was Duffy’s second no-hitter in three starts. He also pitched a five-inning no-hitter in a 12-0 win over Grace Davis of Modesto. In that one, he walked three and struck out 12.
In between the no-hitters, Duffy pitched seven shutout innings while allowing just two hits during a 5-0 win over Modesto.
After the three starts, for this season, Duffy was 5-1 with a 0.98 ERA and had 72 strikeouts in 42.2 innings pitched.
At Los Altos, it’s been better with Beutter the last four seasons. Photo: stingsoftball.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Lizzy Beutter
(Los Altos) Sr.
Beutter was another player who not long after we decided to select on Monday afternoon actually went out and had a big game on the same day.
For what she did last week, Beutter pitched a pair of shutouts, including a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a 2-0 win over Wilcox of Santa Clara. She also pitched a five-inning shutout against Monta Vista of Cupertino while contributing at the plate with a home run and three runs batted in.
In her game on Monday of this week, Beutter allowed just three hits and one unearned run while striking out 19 in nine-innings of a 1-0 loss to Los Gatos.
Beutter, who is headed to UC San Diego, has been a four-year varsity standout for the Eagles. She started this week with a 0.87 ERA on the season and had 183 strikeouts in 137 innings.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Blake Rutherford
(Chaminade, West Hills) Sr.
A name that is well known and is expected to be announced early on during the next Major League Baseball Draft in June, Rutherford had two games last week where he doubled twice while scoring a total of five runs in two 6-4 wins over Alemany of Mission Hills.
One of the highest regarded seniors in the nation, Rutherford improved his season total to 13 doubles and raised his batting average to .539 while facing some of the top competition anywhere.
Already in a game on Monday of this week, Rutherford helped the Eagles remain in contention for the Mission League championship as he hit a two-run home run in a 7-0 win over Crespi of Encino.
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 Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Sandra Rodriguez
(Knight, Palmdale) Sr.
Superlatives were flying after Rodriguez blasted a pair of grand slams, had three homers overall and knocked in 11 runs during a 19-1 win in five innings by the Hawks over Palmdale.
“I’ve been coaching 22 years and I’ve never seen that either,” Knight head coach Tammy Zimmardi told the Antelope Valley Press.
Rodriguez, a senior honors candidate for a team that improved to 22-3 and 12-0 in the Golden League, will go into the Cal-Hi Sports state records for most grand slams in a game (state record tie) and for RBI in a game (the state record is 14). She also went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored when Knight defeated Palmdale 10-0 in five innings earlier in the week.
Rodriguez is committed to Goshen College on a 95 percent scholarship, according to the nomination we received about her performance.
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
2 Comments
Way to go Sandra!! #beast
Congrats Sandra!!! keep working hard !!!!!!!!! BEAST MODE!!!!!!!!!!