Two of this week’s NorCal/SoCal Players of the Week are Tanner Tweedt (left) of Red Bluff and Ruby Salzman of Chatsworth. Photos: RedBluffDailyNews.com & Kevin Meyer.
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Note: For these honors, we consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate someone by 12 noon on most Mondays, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Nick Seamons
(Rancho Bernardo, San Diego) Sr.
Longtime head coach Sam Blalock has retired as No. 2 all-time according to the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book with 946 career coaching wins, and as the only coach Rancho Bernardo knew before this season. However, the tradition of excellence is continuing under first-year head coach Jeff Baumback, and Seamons has been one of the main reasons the Broncos are 24-6 and jumped five spots to No. 13 in this week’s State Top 20 heading into a CIF San Diego Section Open Division showdown with new state No. 20 San Marcos.
Seamons wasn’t the only player to launch a home run in the Broncos 5-2 victory last week over Poway that secured the Palomar, as teammates Miles Cook and Bruce Franks also blasted home runs, but the decision was made to honor Seamons who is probably the team’s best all around player, but we’re sure Nick will be quick to acknowledge his Broncos mates.
Prior to last week, the Nevada-bound Seamons had a bit of a rough stretch where his teammates held him up, but it appears he has heated up at just the right time. He was 2-for-3 with the round-tripper and an RBI and run scored against Poway, and in the game before that in a blowout of San Diego Mt. Carmel, Seamons was also 2-for-3 with a triple, an RBI, a run scored and three stolen bases. He also pitched and tossed a 1-hitter in the Mt. Carmel victory to get his record on the mound to 8-1 this season.
For Broncos’ players with over 100 plate appearances, Seamons is second on the team with a .323 batting average. He’s tied with Franks and Mason Pelio for the team lead with six home runs and 20 RBI, and he’s second to Franks with 24 runs scored.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Ruby Salzman
(Chatsworth) Sr.
To say Ruby has been a gem for the Chancellors this season would be a bit of an understatement.
Last week’s Los Angeles Daily News Player of the Week and SoCal Prep Legends Southern California Girls Athlete of the Week for the second time this season now adds the Southern California Softball Player of the Week Award to her collection.
Salzman is certainly no one girl wrecking crew, as head coach John Forgerson has some strong bats in the lineup, including freshman Amber Toven, but down the stretch it’s been Ruby that’s been heavy duty with bat in hand in leading Chatsworth to its first ever Los Angeles City Section Open Division championship.
In the title game 4-1 victory over San Pedro, the 22-5 Chancellors’ 18th straight win, Salzman hit her 10th home run to cap a great performance in the playoffs. In an opening round 7-4 victory over San Fernando, Ruby was a real beauty with a three-run home run and two-run long fly for five RBI and three runs scored while going 3-for-3 with a stolen base.
In the semifinals last Tuesday, she had a home run in a 4-2 victory over El Camino Real of Woodland Hills. With three home runs combined in the two games before the playoffs added to the four round-trippers she blasted against LA City Section Open competition, means Ruby had seven of her 10 home runs in the last five games of the season.
Jordan Schuring delivers for St. Francis. Photo: sfhsathletics.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Jordan Schuring
(St. Francis, Mountain View) Jr.
We go to the West Catholic Athletic League for the second time this season to honor a pitcher as our NorCal softball honoree who can do it both in the circle and at the plate for former Lancers outstanding baseball head coach Mike Oakland, now in his second season at the helm of the softball team.
Schuring has taken her lumps this season against a schedule of very strong teams but down the stretch and in the quarterfinals of the CIF Central Coast Section in particular she has given Oakland and her Lancers’ teammates everything she’s got.
Last Saturday against WCAL league and playoff champion Valley Christian, Schuring fired a two-hitter with seven strikeouts in a 6-1 quarterfinal victory. That made her 2-1 against Valley Christian this season. Earlier she had a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts in a 2-0 victory, and she lost 1-0 on a five-hitter to the Warriors.
Now, Schuring gets a chance to avenge another one of her losses on a 20-5 record for the 21-6 and second-seeded Lancers when she faces No. 3 seed Watsonville in the semifinals on Thursday at the PAL facility in San Jose.
On the season, Schuring also has a 1.48 ERA with 151 strikeouts in 170.1 innings pitched. Pitching against a strong non-league schedule and then in one of the toughest leagues in the state, opposing batters are hitting .194 against her.
With bat in hand, Jordan is hitting a very respectable .347, and on a final note, like the NorCal baseball honoree, her fielding percentage is perfect.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Tanner Tweedt
(Red Bluff) Sr.
We go up the Interstate 5 to the CIF Northern Section for the first and what will be the only time this season to honor a baseball player since the season is over and Tweedt has concluded his high school career by helping lead the Spartans to the CIFNS Division 2 playoff title, which is composed of the largest schools in the section.
They used to say it can get hot enough in Red Bluff to fry eggs on the sidewalk, and that may be true, but what’s also a fact is no one in the far north has been hotter than Tweedt, and if you don’t believe it, just ask his twin sophomore younger brothers, Blake Tweedt and Bryce Tweedt, because they bat before and after him in the order.
The bottom line is big brother Tanner gets the award, but as for Pleasant Valley the Tweedt brothers Tweeted them out and now Red Bluff has something to Tweet about.
In the 3-2 title-game victory over top-seeded Pleasant Valley, Tanner came up big both with his bat and as the second-seeded Spartans’ backstop. He doubled and scored in the first inning behind Bryce and off the bat of Blake, all coming with two outs.
In the fifth, with Red Bluff clinging to the 3-2 lead, Tanner took a perfect one-hopper from left-fielder Sevee Johnson and applied the tag to the Pleasant Valley runner preserving the lead in a game where no more runs were scored.
On the season, Tanner, a former Red Bluff Little League star whose team was one win away from going to Williamsport seven years ago, finished hitting .393 which is second on the team to Bryce, led the team in home runs, doubles and RBI with four, 15 and 39, respectively.
On a final note, Tweedt did not have an error at catcher in 151 total chances and 132 putouts. Now that’s something to Tweet about.
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
