Notebook: All-State baseball and softball teams sprinkled with local talent

Callie Nunes has collected one more award before embarking on her collegiate career at Concordia University.

The Bee’s All-District Softball Player of the Year was recently named an all-state pitcher by Cal-Hi Sports. Nunes was one of six pitchers on the All-State Medium Schools first team.

Nunes closed a decorated career with one of the most productive seasons in the Sac-Joaquin Section. She ranked among the leaders in wins and ERA and finished four in the state in strikeouts. Remarkably, she punched out 291 batters in just 147 innings, an average of nearly two per frame.

Small in stature, Nunes packed a heavy punch for the Bulldogs, the 2016 Sac-Joaquin Section Division III champions. She went 20-3 with a 0.52 ERA, second-best in the section.

The section’s ERA queen: Sierra’s Lindsay Walljasper (8-3, 0.23 ERA, .406 batting average), a Medium Schools first-team selection as a multipurpose player. She was joined on that list by Oakdale pitcher/third baseman Grace Green (.458, five home runs, 7-2, 0.81 ERA), an Oklahoma commit.

East Union outfielder Alexis Erich (.620, 15 doubles, eight home runs) was also named to the Medium Schools first team. Lancer teammate Mikayla Bongi (16-4. 0.87 ERA) was a second-team pitcher.

The All-State Small Schools first team was headlined by a pair of Trans-Valley League standouts: Escalon junior Chardae Hoskins (12-1, 1.53 ERA), who pitched the Cougars to the section title; and Ripon senior Mikayla Ferreira (.648, 16 doubles, four home runs), one of seven infielders.

Ripon Christian senior Katie O’Leary (.566, eight home runs) was named to the Small Schools second team as an infielder, while Escalon sophomore Arabella Strach (.494, 15 extra-base hits) made the list as an outfielder.

All-State baseball honors: Escalon High pitcher Nick Warren was named to Cal-Hi Sports’ All-State Small School first team, headlining a collection of Stanislaus District honorees.

Warren was 12-1 with a 1.00 ERA and eight complete games for the Cougars, who rolled a Trans-Valley League championship into a Sac-Joaquin Section Division V finals appearance.

The junior also hurled three shutouts and a team-high 69 strikeouts.

Warren was joined on the All-State honor roll by Oakdale outfielder Cullen Bearden (.412, 16 extra-base hits, 34 RBI), who was named to the All-State Medium Schools second team. A two-sport standout, Bearden will play baseball and football at Modesto Junior College.

Manteca landed two selections: Outfielder Joel Olmos (.483 average, 36 runs) was named to the Medium Schools first team, while freshman pitcher Ryan Ward (11-1) was a second-team pick.

Saving her best for Alabama-Hunstville: Goalie Makenzie Perez will sign a national letter of intent to play for Jimmy Mitchell at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a Division II program.

Perez began her high school career at Central Catholic, where she was a three-year letter winner and starting goalie as a freshman, sophomore and junior. She spent her last year at Oakdale, but has her season stopped by a broken arm.

The starting goalie for American River Futbol Club in Folsom, Perez saved three penalty kicks to secure the Northern California State Cup championship.

She received interest from Colorado State, Tulsa, Old Dominion, Grambling State, Seton Hall, Bard University, Castleton University, Glenville State, Louisiana Tech, Alabama-Birmingham, UC Merced, Middle Tennessee State and Alabama.

Her signing celebration will take place at Bonsu Elite Athletics at 3427 Railroad Avenue in Ceres.

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Notebook: All-State baseball and softball teams sprinkled with local talent."