Two of this week’s NorCal/SoCal players of the week are Carson Matthews of Capistrano Valley Christian & Mila Rodriguez of Tracy Millennium. Photos: @CVCSBaseball/Twitter.com & Glenn Moore/Tracy Press.
It’s a sad reason why we wanted to pick a softball player from Millennium of Tracy this season, but we’ve got a good one who already has state record book totals for career RBI and career homers. This week’s other honorees are from San Jose, San Juan Capistrano and San Diego.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To find out how your business could benefit by sponsoring these honors each week or to nominate someone by 12 noon on most Mondays, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Kanoa Pagan (Leigh, San Jose) Sr.
While Angel Pagan is no longer playing the San Francisco Giants, there is a Pagan making news in the South Bay.
Two weeks ago, Kanoa pitched his second no-hitter of the season and he has extended his hitless inning streak to 11 after two hitless pitching appearances last week. His hitless streak started with his no-hitter against Lincoln of San Jose as he allowed just one walk with nine strikeouts. Last week, he pitched three innings of perfect baseball with six strikeouts during a 13-0 win over Pioneer and then pitched one hitless inning against the same team two days later during their 7-5 win.
So far this season heading into this week, Pagan had only allowed eight hits in 23 innings pitched.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Mila Rodriguez (Millennium, Tracy) Jr.
We were hoping to choose a player from Millennium for this honor this season after learning that a player from last year’s team at Millennium that reached the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI title game, graduated senior Jayda Jenkins, was killed in a car accident in January in which her vehicle plunged into a swollen creek in Alameda County.
Rodriguez easily fits that bill. In fact, she’s already posted career totals at Millennium in home runs (27) and RBI (147) that put her into the state record book. She began this week for the 12-2 Falcons (yes, that is the school’s nickname, Star Wars fans) with nine homers on the season plus 47 RBI and a .660 batting average.
In her two most recent games, played last week, Rodriguez hit for the cycle and had six RBI in a 24-0 romp past Brookside Christian of Stockton. Earlier, she went 3-for-4 with six RBI (double, triple) to lead the Falcons past Elliot Christian of Lodi, 22-4.
Speaking of Elliot Christian, that school has the current CIF Sac-Joaquin Section career record holder for homers and RBI, Kaila Shull, who finished with 45 homers and 211 RBI in 2006. It’ll be hard for Rodriguez to get that high, but she could get close. She had 61 RBI last year and should surpass that this season.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Carson Matthews (Capistrano Valley Christian, SJ Capistrano) Jr.
Committed to BYU this junior shortstop had a big week as the Eagles as they went 5-0 at the Anaheim Lions Tournament.
For the tournament, Matthews was 12 for 18 with three home runs, four doubles and nine runs batted in during the five games. His biggest performance of the week was against Columbia of Idaho when he went 4 for 4 with two doubles, a home run and three runs batted in.
Last season, Carson hit .429 with 18 runs batted in and two home runs and has already nearly surpassed last season’s totals. He began this week hitting .500 with 15 runs batted in and five home runs through the first 15 games of the season.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Megan Faraimo (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) Jr.
While she did help lead the Dons to a Division II state volleyball championship back in December, it is on the softball field where this junior pitcher is committed to UCLA.
Ranked as one of the top college prospects nationally in the Class of 2018 for a long time, Faraimo got the start against Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista. Although she had her streak of six appearances without allowing an earned run come to an end, Faraimo got the win and struck out a season-high 13 in the 2-1 win. She also went 1-for-2 at the plate.
Faraimo then ended the week with six shutout innings and seven strikeouts during a 10-0 win over Rancho Bernardo of San Diego. In the same game, she also went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. For the season, she has allowed just three earned runs in 47 innings while striking out 71.
Paul Muyskens is the assistant editor at the Stockton office of Cal-Hi Sports. 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
