Henderson notched a 0.75 ERA in 28 innings of work, striking out 28 and walking just two of the batters she faced, landing her a spot on the all-tournament team.
"Thanks to support from my teammates' bats, I was able to help us to the four wins," Henderson said. "It's an honor to receive this award twice this year."
Henderson is batting .283 with four home runs and 16 RBI’s. Her Sheldon teammate, Lindsey Ziegenhirt, is now batting .260 for Cal with a home run and 11 RBI’s.
The Golden Bears are 17-2 this season and are playing in Honolulu this weekend in the Hawaiian Spring Fling Tournament. …
Locally, Elk Grove High School’s softball team lost its first two games of the season last Saturday in the Tournament of Champions tournament at Bartholomew Park.
After winning games over St. Francis, Bear Creek and Napa to open the tournament, the Lady Herd slid right into the tournament’s semi-finals.
With ace pitcher Shelby Wisdom nursing an injury, coach Jeff Alexander gave Jessica Venturelli a start on the mound. She had a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning in the game with Rodriguez High School, but surrendered a single, a double and a two-run single to lead off the frame. The time limit for the game then expired and because Rodriguez was the home team, the game was ended. Elk Grove lost its first game of the season, 4-3.
Jordan Brenner went three-for-three for the Lady Herd.
Later that night in the third place game, Kimberly Wilburn was handed the start against Vacaville. She surrendered just two runs, but then took a line drive off her knee in the fifth inning which put her on the bench. Venturelli was called on the finish the game. Meanwhile, the Thundering Herd bats couldn’t muster but five hits off Bulldog pitching and lost, 3-0.
Sarah Hannah had two of those hits for Elk Grove.
The Lady Herd, who was named the top-ranked team in the nation by Maxpreps last week, had another showdown against Pleasant Grove on Wednesday. Last week, they shutout the Lady Eagles, 1-0. ….
Elk Grove’s baseball team also suffered its first loss of the season Saturday. It was a 6-3 defeat at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose.
The Herd, who is ranked 16th nationally by Maxpreps, committed four errors against the 15th-ranked Mitty squad. Pitcher J.D. Davis started on the mound and went four innings, surrendered four runs, two of them earned, five hits, struck out eight and walked one. He also hit a home run, his second on the year. Matt Aday had two hits and two RBI’s.
On Friday, Elk Grove defeated Bellarmine, 6-3. Rowdy Tellez was three-for-three with three RBI’s. Jesse Anguiano picked up the win in relief of Ryan King.
Coach Jeff Carlson wasn’t that impressed that Maxpreps had ranked his team so high nationally.
“It is a nice honor to the program to get national recognition,” Carlson said. “The important thing is not get to into rankings and try as a team to get better each and every week. I tell the players it is important how you finish the year not how you start it as it relates to rankings.”
The Thundering Herd has a rematch against St. Mary’s March 29 in Stockton. The two schools faced off last spring in the Division I championship round of the Sac-Joaquin Section tournament. St. Mary’s won the first two games of the best-of-three set. …
The CIF NorCal Basketball Championships for Divisions I, II and III are tomorrow at Power Balance Pavilion. In the D-I boys’ game, Castro Valley, a team that has lost only once, will face De LaSalle, the club that knocked Sheldon out of the state tournament.
Franklin head coach Jesse Formaker likes Castro Valley in that game.
“Castro Valley is by far the most athletic and experienced team in Northern California,” he wrote in an email to the Citizen. “They could very well represent the North in the State game.”
He should know because Castro Valley ended the Wildcats’ season last week in a second-round NorCal game, 68-63. That’s the furthest any Franklin team has ever gone in the NorCal tournament.
Formaker said that game may have been his team’s best performance all year, despite the loss.
“In the second half of our game at Castro Valley, we played about as well as we have played all year,” he wrote. “I was extremely pleased with the heart and character we showed in responding to the adversity of the situation. It demonstrated the outstanding ability and heart of our players.”
“Our team played with great passion, commitment, and effort in the second half, pulling within two points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, we just came up a bit short at the end.” ….
Cosumnes River College baseball notes –
On Tuesday, March 8, CRC defeated Sacramento City College, 6-2, in a non-league game. Taylor Herbert (Pleasant Grove H.S.) allowed one hit in 4 2/3 innings to earn the win.
Two days later, the Hawks scored three runs in the bottom of the 9th to defeat Sierra College, 7-6. After a lead-off out, Joe Bettencourt (Elk Grove H.S.) and Phillip Roa (Elk Grove H.S.) both singled. One out later, Colby Brenner (Elk Grove H.S.) doubled home two runs, then Brian Murphy (Pleasant Grove H.S.) singled home the winning run.
Brenner, who went 5-6 with 4 RBI’s, had tripled home two runs in the 7th to make it a 5-4 game.
CRC then opened the Big 8 Conference schedule last Saturday, losing to Delta College, 4-3. ….