With two weeks of spring sports under our belts, I feel pretty comfortable offering up my predictions for the baseball and softball seasons. As always, I'll pick these apart at the end of the year so you can all see how far off I was.
BASEBALL
Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Reno. 2. McQueen. 3. Reed. 4. Wooster. Sierra: 1. Douglas. 2. Manogue. 3. Galena. 4. Damonte Ranch.
Regional champion: Douglas
Surprise team: South Tahoe
Thoughts: As much as I hate picking the home team to win it all, because I really don't want to put any undue pressure on anyone, Douglas does appear to have the top 1-2 starters on the mound in the region, if not the state. An experienced lineup certainly helps things out. The key here will be getting through an exceptionally tough Sierra League slate and staying healthy. There won't be any let up at any point during the year. Reno could very well go unbeaten in the High Desert, while a very good team in the Sierra League will be left out of the playoffs entirely.
SOFTBALL
Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Spanish Springs. 2. Reed. 3. Reno. 4. McQueen. Sierra: 1. Carson; 2. Douglas; 3. Galena; 4. Wooster.
Regional champion: Reed.
Surprise team: Galena.
Thoughts: Spanish Springs lost a lot of its elite level talent from last year, but I still see the Cougars as the best overall team. The Reed-Spanish Springs series should be a classic. Carson has looked pretty good early on, and Cassie Vondrak seems to have taken her game to a new level. Douglas is the best overall team in the Sierra, but a lot hinges on senior pitcher Stephanie Harper's arm. If she stays healthy, Douglas wins the league and maybe even takes a run at the regional title.
The Douglas High Track & Field team isn't messing around at all. Through two meets this season, two school records have already fallen (Thanks to senior thrower Jessica Waggoner) and three more are within striking distance within the next month. A number of others could be challenged by the end of the year, which certainly will provide plenty of storylines as the season rolls on.
I was a little surprised at the lopsided scores the Douglas baseball team hung on Fallon last weekend, but it made a lot more sense Saturday when I saw the Greenwave standout third baseman Trent deBraga wasn't present.
As it turns out, deBraga was in Japan last week, competing in a high school all-star football game.
Fallon looked like a team just a player or two away from being a pretty solid club. Once deBraga returns, I expect they'll step up and give a couple top-tier teams a run by the end of the year.
Douglas outscored Fallon 37-5 in the Greenwave's first three games as a Sierra League team.
One Greenwave fan shouted to the Fallon team "Come on, play like Douglas," during the Tigers' game one 12-1 win.
It's only going to be more of that as the year rolls on. Everyone I've talked to has said this year's Sierra League will be one of the deepest and most-competitive baseball leagues since the Northern 4A split into two divisions. Fallon gets Damonte this week and Galena the next.
- The Fallon baseball team is the only team I'm aware of in any sport at any level in the Northern 4A that wears the NIAA logo on their uniforms. The Greenwave had the logo stitched to the sleaves of their green jerseys on Saturday.
- Galena softball sweeps Damonte Ranch. Damonte was a consensus top-five pick last week. Galena was a consensus unranked team. So what happens? The Grizzlies step up and take three wins from the Mustangs. Here's the thing. Damonte is not a bad team, so Galena is going to be staking a claim to a playoff spot -- and by the looks of things -- the league title as well.
- Reno softball beat Spanish Springs 4-3. Spanish Springs was as close to unbeatable as can be last season, but Reno steps up in the first High Desert League game of the year and steals one away from the defending state champs. Sure Spanish Springs came back to take the final two games of the series, but it went a long way toward showing there will be considerably more parity in the High Desert this year.
- Manogue baseball sweeps Lassen. I'm not surprised that Manogue won the three games, but more that they used a smaller school to tune up for their Sierra League slate. Manogue and Carson are both unbeaten on the year through two weeks, but neither school has really seen anyone of any consequence (although you have to give the Senators credit for absolutely demolishing a much-improved South Tahoe squad). One things for sure, at least one of those two will not emerge out of this week unbeaten. They face off against each other in a three-game series starting Thursday at Carson.
- (As mentioned just prior) Carson baseball sweeps South Tahoe. I said last week that by the end of the year, South Tahoe would have a couple of big upsets and possibly a playoff spot to its credit. Carson came out and outscored the Vikings 42-12 in three games. I still say the Vikings will pick off a couple big guns by the end of the year, but as far as playoff spots go, that series really hurt.
- Not so much. McQueen-Reed baseball. McQueen and Reed are traditionally two of the top teams offensively in the region year-in and year-out. So really, it should come as little surprise that the two teams combined for 91 (yes, that's ninety-one) runs in their three-game series last week.
Take a second and think about it for a second, though. Douglas pitchers Tyler Hoelzen, Tyler May and Tim Rudnick held those two teams to just two hits total in 14 innings last week. What does that say about the Tiger pitching staff?
The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competition, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the state/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.
Spring Sports
1. Thomas Wicker, golf
2. Stephanie Harper, softball
3. Tyler Hoelzen, baseball
4. Tyler May, baseball
5. Tim Rudnick, baseball
6. Jessica Waggoner, track & field
7. Katrina Morgan, softball
8. Katie Dry, track & field
9. Emily Weaver, softball
10. Kameron VanWinkle, baseball
Watch list: Jessica Gorton, track & field; Eddie Kollar (diving); Morgan Blomstrom (softball); Mia Townsell (softball), Troy Torres (baseball), Tanner Thomas (baseball)
2008-09 School Year
1. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track & field
2. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball/baseball
3. Eddie Kollar, cross country/wrestling/diving
4. Nico Barker, football/wrestling
5. Parker Robertson, football/basketball
6. Katie Dry, soccer/basketball/track & field
7. Dany Heidt, soccer/basketball
8. Ally Freitas, soccer/basketball
9. James McLaughlin, basketball/football
10. Tyler Hoelzen, basketball/baseball
Since I've been here (2003)
1. Luke Rippee, football/basketball/baseball (2003)
2. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track (2005-present)
3. Brittany Puzey, basketball/softball (2003-04)
4. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball/baseball (2006-present)
5. Bridget Maestretti, volleyball/basketball/softball/track (2004-08)
6. Tyson Estes, football/basketball/baseball (2003-05)
7. Ryan Pruitt, football/wrestling/baseball (2005-07)
8. Mike Gransbery, soccer/basketball (2004-07)
9. James McLaughlin, football/basketball (2006-present)
10. Andy McIntosh, football/basketball/track/golf (2003)
- Fully acknowledging I wouldn't be able to do any better, I wrote down a couple of my favorite quotes from play-by-play and color commentators in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament over the weekend.
"He's a very explosive player ... He could explode at any moment." from the Wisconsin-Florida State game.
"Let the coronation begin! Oklahoma is headed to the South Region semifinals." from the Oklahoma-Michigan game.
I've lost final four teams in the first round before, but never one of my final two. Thanks a lot Cleveland State. Either way, halfway through that Memphis-Northridge game, I knew my shot at a million bucks was already gone.
Here's an update of how my bracket looks, now. I've picked 34 of 48 games correctly and have three of the final four, seven of the elite eight and 12 of the sweet 16 left, so my misses weren't too damaging.
Round 1
Midwest
Louisville over "We had to play our way into this blowout" - good pick
Siena over Ohio State - good pick
Arizona over Utah - good pick
Wake Forest over Cleveland State - Oops!
Dayton over West Virginia - good pick
Kansas over North Dakota State - good pick
Boston College over USC - dumb pick
Michigan State over Robert Morris - good pick
West
UConn over Chattanooga -good pick
Texas A&M over BYU - good pick
Purdue over Northern Iowa - good pick
Mississippi State over Washington - Stupid with a capital "S"
Utah State over Marquette - great game, wrong pick
Missouri over Cornell - good pick
Maryland over California - good pick
Memphis over Northridge - this one really had me scared.
East
Pitt over ETSU - good pick
Tennessee over Oklahoma State - Just had to shoot for the win, didn't you Tennesse. They were giving you the lane, but you pull back and throw up a 3. I'm more mad at you than I am at Wake Forest.
Wisconsin over Florida State - good pick
Xavier over Portland State - good pick
VCU over UCLA - Good game, bad pick
Villanova over American - good pick
Texas over Minnesota - good pick
Duke over Binghamton - no-brainer
South
North Carolina over Radford - does anyone actually know where Radford is?
Butler over LSU - Trent Johnson, I forgot for a moment that you'd left Stanford. Had I known ...
Illinois over West Kentucky - I thought about this one for a long time. Five more minutes and I might have gone with WKU.
Gonzaga over Akron - good pick
Temple over Arizona State - This was my weakest side of the bracket and this game helped that along.
Syracuse over S.F. Austin - good pick
Clemson over Michigan - Close game, didn't go the way I'd hoped. Normally I pick the 10 anyway, but I didn't here.
Oklahoma over Morgan State - good pick
Round 2
Midwest
Louisville over Siena - good pick
Wake Forest over Arizona - I should've stuck with my inexplainable affinity for the Wildcats instead of trying to go with common sense.
Kansas over Dayton - good pick
Boston College over Michigan State - I was already gone on this game, so I can't really be faulted, right?
West (this was by far my strongest side of the bracket)
Memphis over Maryland - good pick
Missouri over Utah State - no harm done
Purdue over Miss State - good pick
UConn over Texas A&M - good pick
East
Duke over Texas - I was worried, but it worked out okay
Villanova over VCU - good pick
Xavier over Wisconsin - good pick
Tennessee over Pitt - You could've driven a truck down the lane, I'm not kidding.
South
North Carolina over Butler - good pick
Gonzaga over Illinois - good pick
Syracuse over Temple - good pick
Clemson over Oklahoma - Let the coronation begin, whatever that means.
Sweet 16
Midwest
Wake Forest over Louisville - Now that Wake is gone, I have to say Louisville is going to the title game.
Kansas over Boston College - hopefully Kansas stays true
West
UConn over Purdue - In my round-by-round just for the heck of it, I'm going with Purdue over UConn
Memphis over Missouri - I'm still feeling pretty good about this one.
East
Xavier over Tennessee - I'll stick with the Musketeers just for the team name.
Duke over Villanova - I like my chances in this one.
South
North Carolina over Gonzaga - Should be a no-brainer, but I'm going with Gonzaga in the round-to-round just for fun.
Syracuse over Clemson - I think this is still true with Oklahoma in place of Clemson.
Elite 8
Midwest
Wake Forest over Kansas - As I said, go Louisville!
West
Memphis over UConn - UConn's physicality may be the end of the Tigers. You never know though.
East
Duke over Xavier - The more I look at this, the more I think there's no way. But the bracket is already set.
South
North Carolina over Syracuse - Should be a good game.
Final 4
Wake Forest over Memphis - It really hurts to look at, you know?
North Carolina over Duke - Why not? It didn't end well for the Blue Devils in the last week of the regular season.
Championship
North Carolina over Wake Forest - I'll still go UNC for the whole thing.
