Two of this week’s players of the week are Casey Carr of Turlock and Olivia Maglalang from Mira Loma of Sacramento. Photos: Candy Padilla / Turlock Journal & Courtesy Family.
It’s that tricky time of the season for Players of the Week where we try to avoid players from teams who may be playing in their final games of the season on the same Tuesday in which we’re releasing these weekly honors. We were successful this week in finding worthy honorees from the L.A. City Section (softball) and San Diego Section (baseball). Our four honorees this week are from Turlock, El Cajon, Sacramento and Wilmington.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate someone by 12 noon on most Mondays, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Casey Carr (Turlock) Sr.
He hasn’t pitched that many innings, but Carr turned heads last week with a seven-inning no-hitter in an outing in which he also struck out 15 to lead the Bulldogs past Downey of Modesto, 8-0.
The senior first-baseman also had an RBI single in the game he pitched and had a double with a run scored in another win against Downey last week. Turlock stayed clinched the title in the Central California Athletic League (14-1) and entered this week 21-6 overall.
For the season, Carr has not allowed an earned run in 35 innings and he has a 5-0 record with 49 strikeouts. He also recently had a 3-for-3 outing at the plate with a double and triple in a non-league win against Escalon.
Carr, who also has not committed an error on defense this season, will play next at Cal-State Stanislaus.
Ingrassia is shown delivering a pitch during his sophomore season. Photo: EastCountySports.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Joseph Ingrassia
(Valhalla, El Cajon) Jr.
Despite a game we’re using from Monday of this week to honor him, we had to go with Joe as our SoCal Baseball Player of the Week.
Part of the reason is the game-winning double he cracked on Monday in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Valhalla a 1-0 win over Steele Canyon of Spring Valley that also enabled the Norsemen to clinch their third straight Grossmont Valley League title.
Ingrassia’s hit also kept alive Valhalla’s remarkable streak of winning extra-inning games. The team won for the seventh time in seven extra-inning games this season and now has a streak of 11 straight wins in extra-inning games (which we believe is a state record).
Ingrassia was not the winning pitcher in the 1-0 game (teammate Riley O’Sullivan was) but he pitched a three-hitter over six innings and struck out 12 batters. He generated headlines in his East County region of San Diego County earlier this season by throwing his second career no-hitter with 14 strikeouts in a 2-0 win vs. Mt. Miguel (Spring Valley). Ingrassia is only the second player in Valhalla history with two career no-hitters.
Season stats both on the mound and at the plate have been impressive for Ingrassia as well. He entered this week with 98 strikeouts in 54 innings and he also had a .383 batting average with seven doubles and six triples.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Olivia Maglalang (Mira Loma, Sacramento) Jr.
We know Mira Loma well since the Matadors way back in the day were the rival school where we went to high school (long-time closed La Sierra of Carmichael).
It’s a school known for academics and not much these days for sports but Maglalang is leading a revival of sorts in softball. The team had not had a winning season since 2006, but improved to 10-6-1 last week with Golden Empire League victories against Mesa Verde of Citrus Heights (3-1) and Pioneer of Woodland (8-1). In those wins, Maglalang went 5-for-7 at the plate, including a two-run homer that gave the Matadors some separation in the game vs. Pioneer. She also had three runs scored, three RBI and three stolen bases.
For the season, Olivia, who is the daughter of head coach Mike Maglalang, is leading the Golden Empire League in batting average (.618), hits (42), runs scored (23) and has only struck out twice in 71 plate appearances through 17 games. Defensively, she has not made an error at shortstop in 56 total chances.
As one might expect with a Mira Loma student-athlete, Maglalang is a star in the classroom as well with a 4.1 GPA in the school’s highly respected International Baccalaureate program.
Banning players, with SoCal Player of the Week in there somewhere, celebrated last week after clinching 10-0 mark in Marine League. Photo: @BanningHSPilots / Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Angelina Devoe
(Banning, Wilmington) Jr.
The L.A. port region of Wilmington is where we go to find out about Devoe, who is a very rare softball standout with the unique skills of being a shutdown pitcher plus an effective leadoff hitter on offense.
One month ago, Devoe, who hasn’t let her lack of size (5-foot, 1-inch) slow her down, was voted the SoCal Varsity SoCal Athlete of the Week after she pitched two perfect games in one week.
This time, Devoe gets the SoCal Player of the Week honor from us mainly for what she did in leading the Pilots past arch-rival Carson 4-0 that helped them complete a perfect run (10-0) in the Marine League standings. Devoe pitched a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts in the shutout win while at the plate she went 3-for-4 with a double. In addition to that game last week, Angelina also went 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBI in a 14-2 romp past Rancho Dominguez.
Season stats also reveal Devoe’s unique abilities. In the circle, she enters the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division playoffs with 175 strikeouts in 149 innings combined with a .512 batting average with 13 doubles and six triples.
With Devoe leading the way, Banning starts those L.A. City Section Open Division playoffs as the No. 3 seed.
Mark Tennis is the editor and publisher of Cal-Hi Sports. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
