Two of this week’s SoCal/NorCal Players of the Week are Cameron Kim of Norco & Sadie Leonard from Redwood of Larkspur. Photos: pressportsapp.com & sportsrecruits.com.
Recent weather throughout the state is perfect to get out and watch some high school baseball and softball, and if you’re in the area of one of this week’s four honorees, there’s still time this week to get out and watch them live in action. For this week, our two stops in Southern California are in the Inland Empire at Norco and Upland, and in Northern California we hit Soledad in the Salinas Valley and Larkspur in the Redwood Empire.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Cameron Kim (Norco) Jr.
The Inland Empire is our destination in search of the Southern California Baseball Player of the Week. We land in Norco, and while more often than not in the past decade it’s been the Cougars’ softball team getting the props and winning two State Team of the Year titles since 2012, and are currently ranked No. 18 in the latest state rankings, the baseball team is making some noise this season, and you guessed, Kim has been a big part of the winning formula that has Norco at No. 27 in the most recent rankings.
Last week, in three victories over neighboring Corona Santiago in Big VIII League action, Kim had a hand in all three wins.
Kim, who has been chosen for the Milwaukee Brewers Underclass Area Code Team, started off going 2-for-3 with a run scored in the Cougars’ 7-2 victory. He followed that up by going 3-for-3 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, two doubles, three RBI and three runs scored in a 15-4 victory. He didn’t have as big a role in a 7-4 victory that gave Norco the sweep, but he still had an RBI single, reached on an error, and scored both times.
So far this season for the 11-2 Cougars, and heading into a Wednesday showdown with 14-1 and No. 16 ranked Arlington of Riverside, Kim, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound shortstop who has committed to UCLA, was hitting .605 with two home runs, 16 RBI, and 15 runs scored. The .605 average is the No. 34 mark in the state but perusing the players above him it appears to be one of it not the highest averages by a player from a state-ranked team.
Amelia Weber didn’t have a no-hitter, but her two-hit shutout last week was arguably much more impressive considering the opponent. Photo: sportsrecruits.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Amelia Weber (Western Christian, Upland) Sr.
Just like the destination we visited for our baseball honor, we’re back in the Inland Empire and land in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains and the city of Upland to find our Southern California Softball Player of the Week.
At Western Christian is where we find Weber, and recently she had a performance that hadn’t been duplicated in quite awhile.
Because of it, Amelia gets to add a statewide honor along with being named the Press Enterprise Inland girls athlete of the week.
In a 3-0 win last week over Aquinas of San Bernardino that got the Fighting Lancers to 10-3 and 4-0 in the Ambassador League, Weber was cooking with gas after tossing a two-hitter with seven strikeouts. Weber, who is committed to Howard University, became the first pitcher to shut out Aquinas in a league game in eight years. With bat in hand, Weber also was 2-for-3 and drove in the only run she needed.
The shutout of Aquinas was her second of the week. In a 12-0 victory over Riverside Woodside Christian, Weber pitched a 5-inning one-hitter with 13 strikeouts. She was also 2-for-3 and scored twice.
By the time your eyes peruse this feature, the game with 0-5 Desert Christian Academy (Bermuda Dunes) will be concluded.
Prior to the Desert Christian game, Weber was 5-1 with a 0.78 ERA in eight appearances with only Bonita of La Verne getting any earned runs off of her. In 36 innings pitched Amelia had 58 strikeouts and had only given up 11 hits. At the plate, Weber was hitting .633 with a triple, five doubles, eight RBI, 11 runs scored and she had not struck out. She was also a perfect 1.000 in the field.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Sadie Leonard (Redwood, Larkspur) Sr.
The Redwood Empire portion of the CIF North Coast Section and the shadows of majestic Mt. Tamalpais is where we find our Northern California Softball Player of the Week and our honoree has been mowing down opposing batters from the circle and doing some work at the plate as a batter as well.
Last week, in a 3-1 victory over Rodriquez of Fairfield, the Williams College-bound Leonard was really on fire from the circle after pitching a one-hitter with 17 strikeouts. As a batter, she was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Sadie came back on Monday of this week to toss another one-hitter with 16 strikeouts in a 13-0 win over Tamalpais of Mill Valley in a full 7-inning game since the Marin County Athletic League does not have a mercy rule.
In a tough schedule so far this season that includes losses to No. 20 ranked Del Oro (Loomis) and a loss to formerly state-ranked Livermore, Leonard is 6-2 with a 1.57 ERA and 110 strikeouts and a measly eight bases on balls in 49 innings pitched.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Eric Segura (Soledad) Jr.
For our Northern California Baseball Player of the Week honor, we head to the Salinas Valley around 25 miles south of Salinas on Highway 101 where we land in Soledad.
Soledad may be known as the home of a state prison, but last week in a 10-0 victory over nearby King City it was Segura who was taking no prisoners. All the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Oregon State-committed junior right-hander did was toss a 5-inning perfect game with eight batters fanned in the 15 he faced. At the plate he had an RBI single and scored a run.
The Aztecs lost a heartbreaker to King City, 6-5, in the home and away series, but Eric was quick with his bat after going 3-for-4 with a run scored.
Segura pitched two innings on Monday and struck out five batters in an 18-1 rout of San Jose Independence. He also had an RBI and a run scored in the game.
Not including Wednesday’s game with 0-4 North Salinas that will be concluded by the time this feature runs, Segura was 4-2 in seven appearances with a 0.81 ERA and 35 strikeouts and only five walks in 26 innings pitched. Eric also led the team with a .519 batting average and in the field he was 1.000 in 23 total chances.
The best evidence of Segura’s promise down the road, of course, has nothing to do with the high school numbers. The junior fireballer has committed to Oregon State, a program with national titles plus a No. 1 overall MLB draft pick in recent years.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
