Prep baseball, softball rankings: Franklin beats Elk Grove to reclaim No. 1; Del Oro surge
When rivals meet, anything can happen, some of it expected, some of it not.
A lot of that general theme played out last week in the Delta League when The Bee’s top two high school baseball teams faced off in a three-game series to decide a measure of regional and league bragging rights.
Advantage: Franklin Wildcats.
Franklin swept previous No. 1 Elk Grove in two routs maybe only the talented Wildcats could forecast, and an in extra-inning thriller that most all anticipated.
Franklin moves back to the No. 1 spot in The Bee’s weekly rankings, where the Wildcats started the season, taking its 18-4 overall record into a three-game series this week against Cosumnes Oaks. Franklin beat Elk Grove 9-1 in the opening game as Jordy Lopez had two doubles, drove in two and scored three times. Dom Giusti had two RBI and Nic Abraham tossed a complete-game four-hitter, walking none to move his record to 5-0 and ERA down to 0.18. The junior star and Oregon commit has had a stellar season. He has allowed just one earned run in 38 innings.
Game 2 was a 10-0 Franklin victory as Derek Pham drove in three and scored three runs. Giusti had two RBI, Jason Harris drove in two and Noah Meaux had two RBI and three runs. Harris and Dylan Minnatee, both freshmen playing beyond their years, each stole a base, and Nolan Stevens earned the win in allowing two hits and striking out eight in four innings to move to 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA.
In the series finale, Franklin prevailed 7-6 in eight innings at Elk Grove in an intense, spirited game that included action on the field and fan debates in the seats. Stevens had four hits, a homer and three RBI, his homer pulling Franklin to within 6-5 in the sixth. Derek Wood came on in relief, allowing three hits and striking out six in six innings of work. He is a sophomore who was the ace for Bradshaw Christian last season when the Pride won a CIF small-school NorCal championship.
Pinch runner Zack McCargar scored the winning run in the top of the eighth as Franklin seized command of the Delta with an 11-1 league record under longtime coach Bryan Kilby and his stellar staff, each of whom marvels at how their players take such good care of their home pitching mound as players manicure it after every game.
“It’s theirs and it means something to them,” Kilby said.
Florin surge
The Florin Panthers are in an upward surge the last two seasons, and no one is more delighted than coach Bill Kapp, one of the good guys in coaching and education who doubles as the school’s athletic director.
After going 17-11 last season and 11-4 in the Metropolitan Conference, Florin of the Elk Grove Unified School District is 10-7 overall and 5-1 in conference, good for first place. Team captain Derrick Smith leads the team with 14 RBI. Emmanuel Maxwell leads the club with a .385 average and has 12 RBI and has scored 19 runs. Jesse Johnson has scored a team-high 23 runs. Mason McNany is 4-1 on the mound with 38 strikeouts in 26.2 innings and Smith has a 1.97 ERA.
Said the spirited Kapp in a text, “I’m enjoying it!”
What Kapp especially appreciates is the team’s 3.0 grade-point average, the numbers that matter most. In beating Cordova 6-2 last week, the Panthers halted the Lancers’ 19-game league winning streak, a game in which Maxwell drove in two and Martin Vega struck out five.
“We went from five wins the year before we took over to 17 last year with the same kids,” Kapp said. “This year, we’re looking for more success.”
Del Oro softball power
After Del Oro sophomore Delaney Osborne smoked a home run over the fence against visiting Franklin on Friday in a nonleague showdown in Loomis, teammates were ready to mob her at home plate. But Osborne wanted the moment to be bigger, and not just about her.
She touched the plate and then stood back and looked her teammates and shouted, “Let’s Goooo!”
Osborne, a multi-sport athlete for the Golden Eagles, was tired of seeing her team struggle at the plate, losing games they should have won. She wanted to lift her team up and she did just that. The Eagles hit four more home runs against Franklin, and beat the previously undefeated Wildcats 12-7.
Sizing it up
So, just when you think you have the local softball teams pegged, they surprise you. Three of the top five Bee-ranked teams suffered losses, including two teams that entered the week undefeated.
Del Oro came into the weekend with a 3-7 record, scoring just 23 runs this season. The Golden Eagles had just been shut out 14-0 by East Nicolaus. You could understand if the young Eagles (only two seniors in the lineup) were feeling like maybe this just isn’t their year. Then the response. Macey Davis, Sami Pinkham, Morgan Golightly, Osborne and Daniella Morillas brought out the yard sticks to power the Eagles. The Eagles led 5-0, and 10-1 before Franklin fought back with five runs in the fourth to make it a 10-6 game. But the Eagles fended off the Wildcats, adding two runs in their final at bat for their biggest win of the season.
There was little rest for the Eagles as they had to be up early for a Saturday morning Sierra Foothill League showdown with Granite Bay. It turned into a pitching duel between Morillas and Granite Bay ace Avery Seva. Morillas’ two-hit gem did the trick, and Del Oro came away with a 2-1 win, handing the Grizzlies their second league loss.
Top-ranked Whitney leads the SFL with a 7-1 record and is 11-3 overall, followed by Granite Bay (12-4, 5-2). Then it’s Oak Ridge, Rocklin and Del Oro all with four league losses and a chance to do some damage. Del Oro coach Sean Erickson feels that after eight rainouts, consistency of playing time is helping the Eagles.
“We’ve already beaten Whitney and now Granite Bay, so we know we can be a factor in the SFL,” Erickson said. “These two wins really lifted the weight off our backs. We have a culture of softball at Del Oro, and that’s not going to change.”
▪ Franklin, now 15-1 and sporting a team batting average of .418, captains the Delta League with a 5-0 record. Pleasant Grove and St. Francis are just a game behind in the loss column. None of the top five, including Elk Grove and Sheldon, have a losing record, but they are all looking up at the Wildcats and players such as Kealani Nitta, Nailyn Marshall and Micayla Arlotto. The three players have combined for 14 of Franklin’s 21 triples on the year.
▪ Ponderosa, the defending champs of the Foothill Valley League, improved to 11-2-1 with a walk-off home run win against previously undefeated Vista del Lago. Chase Mueller and Brynn Escobar each homered and drove in a total of five runs in the nonleague matchup, which counts for bragging rights up the Highway 50 corridor. Earlier in the week, Ana Niles had four hits, including a homer, to beat Oakmont 15-1.
▪ No. 10 Sutter participated in a big tournament in Santa Maria last week and fared well against Southern California teams. The loss came against powerful Huntington Beach, 1-0, despite an 11-strikeout performance from Olivia Bauer in the circle.
▪ No. 2 East Nicolaus is the lone undefeated Sacramento area team with a 15-0-1 record. The Spartans only blemish was a 1-1 tie with Ponderosa in March, when each team scored one run in the eighth inning and had to call it a night two innings later. Jerzie Brownan, Danni Farris, Audrey Gillespie, Adriana Nebuloni and Stevie Knight are all hitting over .400 against Northern Section pitching. Inderkum may be the only team left on the Spartans schedule with a chance to hand them a loss during the regular season.
▪ Big matchups this week include Sutter against No, 17 Wheatland; No. 3 Franklin against No. 14 St. Francis; and No. 5 Vista del Lago against No. 15 Sheldon, among others.
THE BEE’S TOP 20
Baseball
Records entering Monday
1. Franklin (18-4)
2. Whitney (15-3)
3. Elk Grove (13-8)
4. Davis (13-6)
5. Oak Ridge (11-6-1)
6. Woodcreek (9-6-1)
7. Christian Brothers (13-5-1)
8. Jesuit (10-9-1)
9. Folsom (7-9-2)
10. Vacaville (10-8)
12. Rio Americano (14-3)
13. Del Campo (11-8)
14. Vista del Lago (12-6-1)
15. Colfax (13-2)
16. West Park (10-7-1)
17. Bradshaw Christian (12-4)
18. Ponderosa (9-6-1)
19. McClatchy (11-8)
20. Lincoln (10-5)
Bubble: Bella Vista (12-7); Del Oro (9-8); Dixon (12-4); Laguna Creek (7-7); Leroy Greene (9-1); Nevada Union (10-6); Oakmont (9-10); Pioneer (8-3); Pleasant Grove (10-9); River City (13-8); Rocklin (8-11); Roseville (11-7); Sutter (11-4); Woodland (8-3); Yuba City (12-8).
— Joe Davidson/jdavidson@sacbee.com
THE BEE’S TOP 20
Softball
Records entering Monday
1. Whitney (11-3)
2. East Nicolaus (14-0-1)
3. Franklin (15-1)
4. Pleasant Grove (15-5)
5. Vista del Lago (13-1)
6. Granite Bay (12-4)
7. Ponderosa (11-2-1)
8. Vacaville (14-1)
9. Rocklin (7-6)
10. Sutter (16-1)
11. Elk Grove (10-10)
12. Del Oro (5-7)
13. Inderkum (9-4)
14. St. Francis (7-7)
15. Sheldon (10-9)
16. Oak Ridge (6-6)
17. Wheatland (11-6)
18. Pioneer (10-3)
19. Dixon (12-5)
20. Oakmont (9-5)
Bubble: Antelope (4-8); Christian Brothers (8-4); Cordova (5-1); Dixon (4-3); Folsom (4-6); Lincoln (5-7); Marysville (6-5).
— Pete Dufour/pete.dufour@gmail.com
