NorCal/SoCal Players of the Week

Two of this week’s featured players are Riley Laygo of Whittier Christian (La Habra) and Marcus Maeder of Colfax. Photos: Twitter.com & Jordan Georgeson / Gold Country Media.

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Notes: 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

Marcus Maeder (Colfax) Sr.

When we last checked in at the school located just off I-80 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains foothills which is a great stop on the way between Sacramento and Reno it was for girls basketball. The Falcons had reached the CIF D3 state finals where they fell to Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga.

Now, Colfax hits the spotlight for Maeder. He’s a 6-foot-4 pitcher who is having a great season. Last week in a 3-0 win over Marysville, Marcus made the opposing hitters look silly as he threw his second straight no-hitter and struck out 11. His first no-hitter came in his previous start in five innings against Wheatland. He had 11 strikeouts in that one as well.

Like many small school standouts, Maeder also can hit. Although Colfax also suffered a 7-6 loss to Marysville that prevented the team from winning an outright Pioneer Valley League title, Maeder had a two-run homer and single. Still, the Falcons enter this week at 20-4 overall and will be in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D5 playoffs.

For the season, Marcus has a 0.14 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings. He also has a 3.6 GPA.

Jasmine Whorley, a junior from Alameda High, ranks as one of top junior pitchers in Northern California. Photo: Twitter.com.

Jasmine Whorley (Alameda) Jr.

We head from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section to the CIF North Coast Section to find our NorCal softball choice for this week. More specifically, it’s at Alameda near the San Francisco Bay and it’s for a player who first gained notice for a huge outing in early April.

Whorley is a pitcher/hitter for the Hornets and that game in question was a 10-inning 1-0 victory over San Ramon Valley of Danville. She struck out 16 batters in that outing, which was followed a few days later by SRV going all the way to the title game of the prestigious Livermore Stampede.

Since then, Whorley has continued to resemble a whirling dervish. She had a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts two weeks ago in a 3-2 win vs Arroyo of San Lorenzo.

For last week’s games, Jasmine was more of a two-way threat. In a 5-4 win over Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland, she went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and had six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Then in a 12-2 win vs Berkeley, Whorley went 2-for-4 with one RBI and had nine strikeouts in four innings.

For her season stats for the 15-4 Hornets (who also began this week 10-0 in league), Whorley has a 10-1 record with a 0.64 ERA plus a .415 batting average.

Another recent highlight for Jasmine was her selection to play this summer for the Japan 18-under team at the TCS International Challenge.

Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week

Riley Laygo (Whittier Christian, La Habra) Sr.

Our first stop for SoCal this week is at an Orange County school that hasn’t exactly dropped off the face of the prep softball world with the graduation of 2022 all-state first team Brooklyn Carreon.

One of the reasons for that is how Riley Laygo has been playing. The senior who has committed to the University of Rochester in New York ranks among the reported state RBI leaders and had a strong outing in last week’s 8-4 win over South of Torrance in the CIF Southern Section D2 playoffs. Laygo finished 3-for-4 with two RBI in that game and pushed her season RBI total to 52.

It’s when looking over Laygo’s previous four games is what made the difference in honoring her for this week. The streak began when she went 3-for-4 with three RBI in a 14-2 win vs Valley Christian (Cerritos). Next it was 2-for-4 with two homers and five RBI in a 12-2 win vs Valley Christian. In the next game after that, Riley notched a 2-or-4 line with a double, triple and two RBI as the Heralds beat Heritage Christian, 13-1. Then to end the regular season it was Laygo going 3-for-4 with two doubles in a 12-2 win vs Valley Christian.

Laygo and her team have a tough matchup coming on Tuesday in the second round of those CIFSS D2 playoffs against state-ranked Rio Mesa of Oxnard. She enters that game batting .541 on the season and her team is 19-3 overall.

Ty DePerno is going to the U.S. Naval Academy after graduating from West Ranch. Photo: westranchbaseball.com.

Ty DePerno (West Ranch, Valencia) Sr.

We head back up north from La Habra in Orange County for our final stop of this week in the Santa Clarita Valley. It’s at West Ranch where we want to tell you about an impressive young man who will be heading to the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall and who has been a multi-sport athlete for the Wildcats.

DePerno is collecting this honor for the game he had for West Ranch in its 6-5 victory over Royal of Simi Valley in the first round of the CIF Southern Section D2 playoffs. The Wildcats needed every one of his five RBI in the one-run win. Plus, Ty went deep twice for homers and he had another single.

Power isn’t usually what Ty does best, but he does have four homers and a .372 batting average entering Tuesday’s second round matchup with Tesoro of Las Flores. Scoring runs is what he does best as he had 31 runs scored after the big day vs Royal.

The three-year varsity baseball player also has been a key football player at West Ranch. Last fall, DePerno helped the team win the Foothill League title by rushing for 514 yards and scoring five touchdowns. The Wildcats came up one win short of the league title in baseball, but in the CIFSS playoffs it’s always about getting hot at the right time.

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