Two of this week’s honorees are Kate Penberthy from Hart of Newhall and Carson Revay from Bear Creek of Stockton. Photos: Chris Torres / signalscv.com & Twitter.com.
Our two stops in Northern California are in the Port City of Stockton and then way south in Bakersfield. In Southern California, we visit Gardena and Newhall. In a bit of an anomaly and an odd twist, both the Northern and Southern California softball honorees are committed to Cal Baptist University in Riverside.
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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 Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Carson Revay (Bear Creek, Stockton) Sr.
The Port City of Stockton is where we land in search of our Northern California Baseball Player of the Week. At Bear Creek and at a Lodi Unified school, we find a 6-foot-4, 195-pound left-handed pitcher who has been bearing down in his first four starts. They say all good things must come to an end but certainly hope we don’t put the kibosh on Carson with this statewide award after a perfect start this season.
Revay only had one start last week but it was a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and one walk in a 7-0 victory over visiting Heritage of Brentwood.
In four starts this season the Bear Creek fans are reveling in Revay as he’s 4-0 and all four have been two-hit shutouts. The first two-hitter came in a 1-0 victory over a pretty decent Bellarmine (San Jose) in a game in which he fanned 10 and walked none. Next was Sacramento Christian Brothers where he struck out 14 with no bases on balls in a 6-0 victory. Two weeks ago in a 2-0 win over Berkeley, Carson struck out eight with one walk.
The Bruins came into this week at 10-2, and besides being 4-0 Revay has an obvious 0.00 ERA. He’s also struck out 41 batters with only two bases on balls in 28 innings pitched. Opposing batters are hitting a paltry .089 against Revay with a miniscule .118 on-base percentage.
Carson can handle the bat as well and is an excellent fielder on the mound and when he plays first base when not spinning mid to high 80s fastballs. So far this season, he was batting a team-leading .452 and was leading the Bruins with 15 RBI and 14 hits. In the field, he was a perfect 1.000 in 44 total chances. The Bear Creek coaches even occasionally turn him loose on the base paths where Revay has three steals in four attempts.
Presley Hosick from Liberty of Bakersfield has signed with Cal Baptist of Riverside. Our SoCal player of the week has committed to the same program. Photo: Twitter.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Presley Hosick (Liberty, Bakersfield) Sr.
We head to the far southern reaches on “The Valley” as the locals call the CIF Central Section, and in doing so we remind readers that for this feature and all our Player of the Week features for girls and boys in all sports, the Central Section is considered Northern California.
In Bakersfield at Liberty is where we find our Northern California softball award winner and what a doozy. A member of the Liberty team that went 19-1 last season before losing to Clovis North in the CIFCS Division I championship, Hosick has been off to a great start for Cal-Hi Sports No. 21 ranked Liberty, although both she and Liberty had a bump in the road on Tuesday. Still, Presley was already picked for what she did last week and she’s a deserving choice.
In a 4-0 shutout last week of crosstown Centennial, Hosick gave up six hits against a solid Golden Hawks team but she struck out 11 and didn’t walk anyone. Presley followed that up with a no-hitter with only a base-on-balls keeping her from a perfecto in a 5-0 win over crosstown Frontier in a 5-0 victory.
Hosick can hit as well. Even in the 2-1 loss on Tuesday to Bakersfield Stockdale, the California Baptist University-committed right-hander had a hit and stole two bases, one of which put her in a position to score the lone Liberty run.
Including the Tuesday game and heading into a Thursday game with visiting Bakersfield, Hosick is 11-2 with a 0.62 ERA and five shutouts, the one no-hitter, and 105 strikeouts and only nine walks in 90 innings pitched. Opposing batters are hitting .135 with a .168 on-base percentage against Presley.
As you may have suspected, Hosick also is the team’s best hitter. She led the team in average at .524, hits, triples, doubles and runs scored with 22, three, 10 and 14, respectively. Presley also has stolen eight bases in nine attempts.
So far in her varsity career Hosick, is 22-4 with a 0.46 ERA and 185 strikeouts with only 10 walks in 167 innings pitched. Presley also has a .502 career batting average. A 2-1 loss to a good team on Tuesday isn’t going to spoil too much.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Kate Penberthy (Hart, Newhall) Jr.
The Santa Clarita Valley is where we land in search of the Southern California Softball Award winner and at Hart we find a junior infielder named Penberthy that more than worthy of the honor.
In fact, Penberthy has recently been smacking that yellow ball around so well that when Kate steps to the plate opposing pitchers pretty much know their fate, and last week was a perfect example.
Penberthy started last week with a hit in a 7-5 win over neighboring West Ranch of Valencia.
It must have gotten her charged up because two days later Kate blasted three home runs in four at-bats that accounted for eight RBI and three runs scored in a 15-3 victory over nearby Canyon Country Canyon. Two days after that, Penberthy launched two long taters and went 3-for-4 again with four RBI and three runs scored in a 11-1 rout of Pasadena.
Add it all up and that’s five round-trippers with 12 RBI and six runs scored in eight at-bats in two consecutive games. She must have been a little tired because in Saturday’s second game, a 3-1 win over Brea-Olinda of Brea, Kate was only 1-for-3 with a runs scored, a pretty decent day for most girls but not Penberthy and the kind of numbers she had been been posting.
So far this season for the 13-4 Indians, Penberthy, who like our Northern California softball honoree is committed to Cal Baptist University, was leading the team in just about every statistical category except average where her .518 is second to the .566 of fellow junior Tenley Sweet. Her 10 home runs and 33 RBI are way higher than any other Hart players, she’s tied with Sweet and second to her with three triples and 23 runs, respectively.
As for statistical leaders beyond the team, the 10 home runs is the No. 3 reported mark in the CIF Southern Section and the state, and the 33 RBI is No. 10 in the CIFSS and the state (all according to MaxPreps.com).
Nigel Buckley scores the most runs for Serra of Gardena, which isn’t what you’d expect since he’s 6-2, 220. Photo: snap-raise.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Nigel Buckley (Serra, Gardena) Jr.
We head to the South Bay portion of Los Angeles County to find our Southern California Baseball Player of the Week and our destination is Gardena. At Serra, we find Buckley, a junior catcher who makes opposing pitches knees buckle when he steps into the batter’s box.
Last week, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Buckley was bucking like a bronco in home and away wins for the Cavaliers over St. Paul of Santa Fe Springs, and that’s just been a snapshot of what he’s been doing all season and part of his winning this week’s SoCal baseball honor is for his overall body of work this season.
In the first game last week, a 5-2 victory over St. Paul, Nigel was 2-for-4 with a run scored. He followed that up by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored in a 10-3 victory over St. Paul.
So far this season for the 11-3 Cavaliers, Buckley was leading the team in hitting (.574), hits (39), doubles (six) and is by far the leader with 16 runs scored. He also was tied for the home run lead with three. The big fella likes to swing the bat, but has only walked twice with just three times in which he has struck out.
Buckley now adds a statewide honor to being named the South Bay Daily Breeze Athlete of the Week.
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
