Two of this week’s honorees are Chad Kober of Castaic and Karmen Vazquez from Hanford West of Hanford. Photos: Habeba Mostafa / The Signal & Hanford West HS Softball.
It’s bayou time this week for our Northern California Baseball and Softball State Player of the Week award winners, which may seem a bit strange but both of our honorees are committed to LSU for college in Baton Rouge, La. One of the pair is going to grace the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book, and tracking record book entries, along with uncovering talent that might only get local props, are the goals of this feature. This week, the stops are in Castaic and Chula Vista in Southern California and Carmichael and Hanford in Northern California.
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Notes: For these honors, we also 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
Chad Kober (Castaic) Sr.
The far northern edge of the Santa Clarita Valley is where we head in search of the Southern California Baseball Player of the Week and we find ourselves in Castaic and a couple of miles west of where the I-5 splits going north or south and up and over the mountains towards the Grapevine or coming out of the Grapevine.
Our honoree this week is a 4.0 GPA student-athlete who has gotten it done so far for the Coyotes both at the plate and on the mound.
Kober started last week going 2-for-3 at the plate but on the mound errors hurt Castaic as he pitched five innings and with no earned runs in a 9-1 loss to West Ranch of Valencia.
The next day, and in a 19-0 rout of visiting Golden Valley of Santa Clarita, Kober was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. In the home game against Golden Valley two days later, and in a 6-3 victory, Chad hit a solo home run and scored twice after being walked. The final game of the week saw the Coyotes post a 4-0 shutout of Foothill Tech of Ventura. Kober was 3-for-4 in that game with a home run, double, an RBI and two runs scored.
So far this season for 10-4 Castaic and heading into a Wednesday game on the road at Valencia, Kober is batting .483 with four home runs, two doubles, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored. As a pitcher and when not playing third base, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound righthander had made four appearances, and although he doesn’t have any decisions, Chad has a 0.47 ERA with 19 strikeouts and only three walks in 15 innings pitched
Arri Romero and teammate Annalese “Peanut” Garcia give Mater Dei Catholic probably the best 1-2 punch in the CIF San Diego Section. Both can hit and pitch. Photo: Mater Dei Catholic HS / MaxPreps.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Arri Romero
(Mater Dei Catholic, Chula Vista) Soph.
To honor this week’s Southern California Softball Player of the Week we head to the far south and end up in the CIF San Diego Section around 10 miles north of the US/Mexico border and just west of Highway 125, and it’s at at Mater Dei Catholic where we find this week’s honoree who has shown her prowess both at the plate and in the circle.
While the Mater Dei Catholic girls basketball team was playing for a Division III state championship in Sacramento, and to the chagrin of the Crusaders’ fans they lost to Marin Catholic, Romero and the Mater Dei Catholic softball team was starting a winning streak the following day.
The first game on the 3-game streak doesn’t count for this week’s honors since it was two weeks ago, but Romero was instrumental in a 5-4 victory over San Diego Academy of Our Lady of Peace, and in a game the Crusaders rallied from a 4-1 fourth inning deficit. In that game, Arri had two doubles and a run batted in. She also pitched and got the win after coming on for the final four innings and only gave one hit with a walk, five strikeouts, and no runs given up.
Now, for the two games last week that earned her this week’s honors. In an 8-0 victory over La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad, Romero went six innings and only gave up two hits and no walks with six strikeouts. As a batter she had a hit and scored a run. Then, the next day, and in a 10-0 shutout of defending San Diego Section Open Division champion Poway, Arri had two hits, including a double, and drove in three runs.
So far in an 8-1 start for Mater Dei Catholic after a Tuesday 9-5 win over Santee Santana, and in a game where Romero had two hits, including a double and three RBI and a run scored, and where she struggled a bit on the mound, and heading into a matchup on Thursday with Ranch Bernardo of San Diego, Arri is carrying a .385 batting average with one home run, five doubles and 10 RBI. From the circle, Romero is 6-0 with a 0.25 ERA and 32 strikeouts and only one base on balls in 27.2 innings pitched.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Karmen Vazquez (Hanford West, Hanford) Jr.
The CIF Central Section is our destination in search of the Northern California Softball Player of the Week and whenever we visit the Central Section, or “The Valley” as the locals like to call the CIFSS, we remind readers that we consider it Northern California for all weekly player features for both girls and boys, in all sports.
Vazquez has been a highly valued college prospect since her freshman season and she has recently committed to LSU of the Southeastern Conference.
Kamren has had a very solid start for the Huskies this season and her most recent performances are a perfect example and included some long taters.
Vazquez started last week by blasting two home runs and going 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored in a 4-2 triumph vs Bullard of Fresno. Hanford West lost its first game of the season later in the week in a 10-4 loss to Liberty of Madera, however, in that game she had a two-run home run and scored twice after reaching on an error. In the next game, an 11-3 win over Frontier of Bakersfield, Karmen launched two home runs and was 2-for-3 with five RBI and two runs scored.
The Huskies had a game on Monday, a 7-5 win versus Mission Oak of Tulare, and they have a Tuesday late afternoon matchup at Visalia Redwood that likely will be over by the time you see this feature. Kamren was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored in the Monday game.
Heading into Tuesday’s game at Redwood for the 8-1 Huskies, Vazquez was hitting for a .519 average with five home runs, four doubles, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. The five home runs is the top reported mark in the Central Section and is tied for No. 20 in the state, but most of the leaders have played more games.
Junior shortstop Sammy Kane will put his name into the state record book for hitting four doubles in one game last week. Photo: jesuithighschool.org.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Sammy Kane (Jesuit, Carmichael) Jr.
To find the Northern California Baseball Player of the Week award winner we head around eight miles due east of the state capitol and land just north of the American River on the other side of Highway 50 at Jesuit. It’s there where we find a Marauders’ star shortstop who has had a hot bat to help Jesuit off to a 7-1 start and up seven spots to No. 13 in this week’s Cal-Hi Sports state rankings.
Like this week’s honoree from Hanford in softball, Kane has decided he will be headed to Baton Rouge for college at LSU.
He started off last week by contributing a hit in two at-bats of a 2-0 loss to Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills in the lone loss for Jesuit. He then had a run scored in an eight-inning 5-2 victory over Oak Ridge. In the third game of the series, Oak Ridge took Jesuit to extra innings the following day again, only this time Kane had a performance he’ll never forget and it is confirmed that he will etch his name in the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book. In a 10-7 victory that went nine innings, Sammy went 5-for-5 with a home run, one double or four doubles, and had three RBI and four runs scored.
There was a strange twist as this honor was being written and that was that Sammy wasn’t shown with four doubles in the same on Jesuit’s Twitter feed. Head coach Joe Potulny confirmed on Thursday that the four doubles did happen and in fact they happened over two days with three of them last Thursday and then the fourth when the 10-7 game with Oak Ridge had to be continued the next day due to darkness.
The four doubles for Kane will make it into the state record book on the Most Doubles Game (list) and would tie him for the most ever with 43 others, the last time coming last season. Smiley Covarrubias of Patterson is the only other player with four doubles in a game from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. It’s ironic that Kane had a homer instead of a fifth double otherwise he would have set the state record by himself.
Jesuit played a game on Monday and it was a Sierra Foothill League 6-4 victory over Folsom, and Kane had a hit and scored a run. Jesuit has two more games this week with Folsom, including a Tuesday late afternoon game that will likely be over by the time your eyes peruse this feature, but that doesn’t change Sammy’s record performance.
Heading into the Tuesday matchup with Folsom, Kane was hitting .360 with the homer and four doubles, three RBI and seven runs scored. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder has also gotten into five games in short stints as a pitcher. He was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and had seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
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
