Player of the year
Fresno State senior Tommy Hopfe, a 2020 Frontier graduate, was selected in the ninth round on Day 2 of the Major League Baseball Draft on Monday, taken 258th overall by the Colorado Rockies.
It was an amazing high school baseball season, with two area teams winning a Southern California Regional championship and two others capturing Central Section titles.
With a four-run lead and nine outs left from its first regional baseball title, No. 2 优蜜传媒 Christian was primed to close out a dominant performance against top-seeded Bellflower-St. John Bosco on Saturday night.
No. 8 Chavez scored two runs in the top of the ninth and then held on for an 8-6 victory over No. 2 Azusa at Azusa Pacific University in Saturday's Southern Californian Regional Division-V championship game.
The list of Liberty's baseball heroes is about as long as the Patriots' roster.
And then there were three.
SHAFTER 鈥 It鈥檚 one thing to ready oneself for the palpable excitement around a rivalry game against a league rival in the state playoffs.
Don鈥檛 let the relatively pristine uniform fool you, as one opposing player said it best, 优蜜传媒 Christian pitcher Mason Brassfield 鈥渨as filthy鈥 on Thursday afternoon.
There鈥檚 a good reason Liberty baseball coach Tony Mills has so much confidence in Brock Thompson鈥檚 ability to come through in the clutch.
Talk about a perfect storm. It's been more like a tornado the last few weeks, as Kern County鈥檚 remaining baseball and softball teams continue to blow away the competition.
The last time Liberty鈥檚 Chance Gerecke stepped on a mound, things didn't go as well as he had hoped.
At this point it鈥檚 almost expected that the 优蜜传媒 Christian softball team is going to win every time it takes the field.
优蜜传媒 Christian standout McCoy Silicz said he felt comfortable long before delivering the first pitch for the Eagles in Tuesday's playoff game.
优蜜传媒 Christian senior Austin Cusator was honored with the Hank Pfister Sportsmanship Award from by the Kern County Tennis Association.
A jammed-packed postseason of Kern County high school baseball and softball will continue this week when the Southern California Regionals playoffs begin Tuesday.
VISALIA 鈥 With trophy in hand, the Liberty baseball team couldn鈥檛 contain itself any longer, celebrating in unison across all corners of Valley Strong Ballpark Saturday night.
The old South Sequoia League rivalry between Taft and 优蜜传媒 Christian had that old-school, grind-it-out feeling.
Jalen Ford鈥檚 confidence was sky-high, even if his even-keel personality didn鈥檛 show it.
VISALIA 鈥 It wasn鈥檛 the ending that Chavez baseball coach Scott Neal anticipated, but the 16-year coach will take it nonetheless.
VISALIA 鈥 The Independence baseball team certainly deserved better.
VISALIA 鈥 Just when you thought 优蜜传媒 Christian was going to roll to its second straight Central Section baseball title, the Eagles鈥 Division-II opponent Atascadero went and made things interesting with a seventh-inning rally.
VISALIA 鈥 Ninety-six years in the making, the Shafter baseball team finally got its Central Section championship.
Mia Torrecillas put away the heartbreak of last season and made the most in her final CIF State Track and Field Championships.
Kern County track and field fans have seen this play out before.
With the school year winding down, the spring high school sports season is making one last push in what promises to be a busy weekend of track and field, baseball and softball for Kern County schools.
TAFT 鈥 There were no nervous moments or feelings of apprehension this time for the Taft softball team. After winning a nail-biter in the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Wildcats turned Wednesday's Central Section Division III semifinal against visiting Tulare Western into a foregone conclusion…
In a season of the long ball, 优蜜传媒 Christian鈥檚 36th home run of the season may have been the Eagles' biggest.
Liberty junior Ty Weaver shot a 1-under-par 73 Wednesday to finish tied for 29th in the CIF Southern California Regional Boys Golf Championship at Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino Hills.
Tuesday鈥檚 Central Section Division II baseball semifinal between Lemoore and 优蜜传媒 Christian reaffirmed that the Eagles have more than one pitching ace.
With a spot in their second Central Section Division-I baseball final in four years on the line, Liberty tripled its efforts against visiting Clovis North on Tuesday.
Heading into Wednesday鈥檚 Central Section softball semifinals, Kern County is assured of having at least one local team in this weekend鈥檚 championship games at Fresno State鈥檚 Margie Wright Diamond.
As we head into the final week of the Central Section baseball playoffs, six teams are still alive heading into Tuesday鈥檚 semifinal matchups.
With just four returning players from last year鈥檚 Division-II runner-up, the Frontier softball team had to rebuild in a hurry if it was going to make another run this season.
Jaycee Edgar appeared calm and focused when she walked up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning. But on the inside the Taft Union High School junior admits she was more than a bit apprehensive.
Although certainly anything can happen, especially in a sport where events are often decided by inches and fractions of a second, there are only a handful of Kern County athletes that will be favored to finish in the top 3 at Saturday鈥檚 Central Section Masters Track and Field Championships a…
Not this time. There was no way the Liberty High School baseball team was going to go out in the playoffs for the third straight year at the hands of longtime rival Stockdale.
SHAFTER 鈥 In a rivalry that runs as deep as any around, it was fitting that Thursday鈥檚 Shafter-Wasco baseball game went down to the wire.
In three meetings this season, the Frontier and Centennial softball games were decided by five runs total.
High school softball
After a busy opening day of the Central Section baseball playoffs, 16 Kern County teams advanced to today's quarterfinals, which will feature several intriguing matchups.
Despite Liberty earning the No. 2 seed for the CIF Central Section Division I baseball playoffs, Patriots coach Tony Mills knew his team wasn鈥檛 given an easy first-round matchup against No. 15 Tulare Western.
High school baseball
Liberty junior Ty Weaver shot a 1-under-par 71 to finish fourth, helping the Patriots place third as a team in Monday鈥檚 Central Section Boys Golf Championships at Ridgecreek Dinuba Golf Course.
With most of the spring high school sports already wrapping up their seasons, baseball and softball are just getting started.
Liberty sophomore Sophia Munoz-Rodriguez finished ninth in the 200 intermediate medley to medal at the CIF State Swimming Championships on Saturday in Clovis.
Senior Chizitere Okey Dike swept the 100 and 200, and ran the lead-off leg on the first-place 4x100 relay to lead the Stockdale girls track and field team to the Central Section Division II championship on Friday at Groppetti Community Stadium in Visalia.
Division I
