Two of our NorCal/SoCal players of the week are Jordyn Macias of Hanford West and Grant Holman of Chula Vista Eastlake. Grant’s photo from Eastlake Little League is inserted next to him. Photos: Courtesy Macias family & eastlakeathletics.com.
One of our honorees this week blasted a school record three homers in one game while another is a former Little League star for a U.S. championship squad. The four we’ve selected are from Salinas, Hanford, Chula Vista and Oxnard.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To find out how your business could benefit by sponsoring these honors each week or to nominate someone by 12 noon on most Mondays, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
E.Z. Cortez
(Palma, Salinas) Sr.
The Chieftains are off to a 10-0 start this season and he is one of the reasons why as he has made things look easy at the plate and he has had a hit in every game.
Heading into this week, E.Z. was breezing with a .571 batting average and seven runs batted in.
It was more for pitching that he’s a NorCal Player of the Week, however. Cortez pitched seven shutout innings last week during a 5-0 win over Christopher of Gilroy. He allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out two. In three appearances on the mound this season, Cortez has gone 2-0 while allowing just seven hits and four walks with nine strikeouts and no runs allowed in 14 innings.
If you’re paying attention, that’s a 0.00 ERA and a .571 batting average.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Jordyn Macias (Hanford West, Hanford) Jr.
One week after Macias racked up 11 RBI in back-to-back outings against Garces of Bakersfield (six RBI) and Bullard of Fresno (five RBI), she had an even more hard-hitting performance to lead the Huskies past Ridgeview of Bakersfield, 10-0.
In the game, the junior third baseman crushed a school record three home runs, scored four times, knocked in six and went 4-for-5. Entering this week for the season, Macias was batting .571 with five homers and 20 RBI.
Senior teammate Halle Harger also is out to a strong start for Hanford West and the two girls will be teammates in college at Boise State. They have helped the Huskies to a 9-1-1 record, which includes three wins over a Bullard of Fresno squad that last week handed CIF Central Section front-runner Clovis its first loss of the season.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Grant Holman (Eastlake, Chula Vista) Jr.
With the Aztec-Foothiller Classic championship on the line, Holman got the start and put in an impressive performance over previously undefeated Helix of La Mesa. The Titans, who have been ranked as high as No. 5 in the state this season, took home the the title with a 9-0 win. Helix cracked last week’s State Top 20 at No. 14 heading into the game.
During Holman’s complete-game shutout performance, he allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out nine.
As a youngster, Holman was a key member of the Eastlake Little League team back in 2013 that won the Little League World Series United States championship team. He pitched a no-hitter in one game and hit a walk-off grand slam home run in another.
As a sophomore last season, Holman was named to our All-State Baseball Underclass first team.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Alicia Estrada (Rio Mesa, Oxnard) Fr.
This freshman did a bit of everything last week as the undefeated Spartans captured the championship of the TNT tournament in Torrance with a 3-1 win over Coronado of Las Vegas. In the title game, Estrtada allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out 14 batters.
During the tourney, Estrada struck out at least 11 batters in four of Rio Mesa’s five games. In the only game she didn’t, she pitched a four-inning no-hitter with seven strikeouts in a 10-0 semifinal win over Cerritos.
Estrada also set a season-high for strikeouts three different times during the tournament. She struck out 15 during a 3-0 win over Millikan of Long Beach and then struck out 16 the next day during a 7-1 win over Palo Verde of Las Vegas.
On the season, entering this week, Estrada was sitting at 8-0 with a 0.81 ERA and had 94 strikeouts in 52 innings.
Paul Muyskens is the assistant editor at the Stockton office of 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
