Colusa, East Nicolaus High lead Northern Section spring awards: Kalfsbeek, Lauppe named MVP in respective sports

Jeff Larson, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·3 min read

Jun. 23—Colusa High baseball and East Nicolaus softball spearheaded the area's spring sports squads in the Northern Section.

Colusa won its second straight Northern Section title behind a 26-4-1 season. The last two years, Eric Lay's squad has finished 59-4-1 with two titles on its resume.. The leader of the two title-winning teams has been pitcher and University of Washington commit Luke Kalfsbeek The lefty fireballer, who totaled a 1.23 ERA to go along with a .381 batting average and over .500 on-base percentage, was rewarded for his season with a Most Valuable Player honor on the 2023 all-Northern Section baseball team that is voted on by the Appeal-Democrat, MaxPreps.com, Red Bluff Daily News, Redding Record-Searchlight and the Chico Enterprise-Record.

Kalksbeek was joined on the all-NSCIF first-team by area stars Joel Magallon, Colusa, Dylan Koscielniak, East Nicolaus, and Tanner Abott, Gridley.

On the second-team were area players Bryar McWilliams, Gridley, Sutter Moss, Colusa, and Michael Ryan, Gridley.

Moss hit over .440 for the year — second only to Magallon (.450). Magallon also led Colusa in on-base percentage (.562) and stolen bases (26).

All-NSCIF softball

East Nicolaus dominated the section softball front once again with a fourth straight NSCIF Division V championship and the school's first two Northern California Regional victories. Meika Lauppe, who is headed to Arizona State in the fall, led the Spartans from the circle. Lauppe led the section with a 22-2 record, 0.30 ERA, while also hitting .353 at the plate.

The dominant right arm was also perhaps one pitch away from getting East Nicolaus to its first NorCal final, but Notre Dame's JulieAnn Lopez ended East Nicolaus' season after turning around a Lauppe fastball in the eighth inning of the NorCal D-II semifinals for a three-run home run to take down the Spartans, 3-0.

For her effort, Lauppe was selected MVP of the all-NSCIF softball team, joining area players Audrey Gillespie, East Nicolaus, Jerzie Brown, East Nicolaus, and Danni Farris, East Nicolaus on the first team.

Lauppe's prep season will continue later this month after she was selected to play on the West team alongside area star Jenissa Conway (Marysville) in the annual Premier Girls Fastpitch national all-star game televised July 29 on ESPNU from Irvine.

"They are the first two players from the area to play in the game," East Nicolaus head coach Neil Stinson said.

Stinson said the team played at a higher level most of the season, with 30 of the Spartans' 32 games against upper division teams. Notable wins for East Nicolaus included Vacaville, Granite Bay, Dicon, Woodcreek, Del Oro, Inderkum and Pleasant Valley.

Farris was East Nicolaus' best hitter all year, accruing a .614 batting average and 1.096 slugging — numbers that ranked top-10 in the NSCIF. Farris was also second in home runs (9) and No. 2 in RBI (43).

In the circle, Farris was unbeaten with a 0.68 ERA and 0.065 opponents batting average. Farris will be attending the University of Pittsburgh next year.

Jerzie Brown, who is off to Sierra College in the fall, hit .557 with a .792 slugging percentage for the Spartans. Brown had 59 hits, collected 12 doubles and scored 42 runs.