Notebook: Central Catholic opens new sports complex; baseball, softball teams recognized
Central Catholic High School’s softball team opened its season on Friday, Feb. 25, against Escalon at 3:30, but a crowd gathered around the softball field about three and a half hours earlier.
The occasion? A ceremony for the opening and blessing of the brand-new Vineyard Sports Complex that features Ladd Softball Field and outdoor volleyball courts.
The field is named in the honor of former girls athletic director and P.E. teacher Betty Ladd and her son, Scott.
“It’s been about a six-year process,” said athletic director Billy Hylla. “There’s a ton of people involved. From the design and then the fundraising … (everyone) does a great job with that.”
The new softball field gives this year’s Raiders seniors the opportunity to play true “home” games for the first time in their high school careers. They’ve played their home games at Rainbow Field, about 20-25 minutes away from campus.
“It is for sure a blessing,” said senior catcher Noelany Ramirez. “It feels great to get to be at our school and have our own students come watch us and support us. … (We’ll) be more comfortable where we’re playing.”
On the other side of the sidewalk are the newly renovated outdoor volleyball courts.
The four courts and new sand allow for Central Catholic to compete in beach volleyball matches on campus for the first time. The outdoor volleyball team operates as a club team.
There’s a community that enjoys beach volleyball, but it is more prevalent near the Bay Area and Sacramento. Coach Michelle Springmeyer is hoping access to top-of-the-line courts will help raise awareness and grow the sport in the Valley.
“I hope that more kids get involved in beach, boys and girls,” Springmeyer said. “I think that this sport is up and coming and it doesn’t have to be just a Summer Olympics sport. It can be right here in your backyard.”
Springmeyer says she is grateful for the contributions and time that have gone into the courts that will make it more convenient for girls in the area to have access to outdoor volleyball. She says she plans on keeping the courts “as busy as possible” and will have dual meets with St. Mary’s of Stockton to start building the community.
“I just think it’s amazing that we have people who are thinking about our young female athletes,” Springmeyer said. “I think that’s huge, and we need that in the world, obviously, but we also need that in this area.”
Softball SJS rankings by MaxPreps: At the end of February, MaxPreps put out its Top 25 Sac-Joaquin Section softball rankings heading into the 2022 season and four local teams were featured on the list.
Escalon, winners of the last three section championships, came in at No. 10. The Cougars are led by Eastern Kentucky commit Brooke Davis, who finished her junior season with a 1.17 ERA and 152 strikeouts.
Valley Oak League teams Oakdale and Central Catholic were ranked the 12th and 13th best teams, respectively. Sacramento State commit Avery Brown and Cal Baptist commit Amanda Bricker are two seniors hoping to help the Mustangs defend their Division III section title.
Central Catholic is led by junior pitcher and Cal commit Randi Roelling, who already has a 4-1 record, a 0.21 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 33 innings, and senior Stanislaus State commit Noelany Ramirez behind the plate.
Ceres High starts the season as the 20th best team in the section. They are led by pitcher Brooklyn Herrenan who, along with Escalon’s Davis, was featured on MaxPreps preseason top 2022 players in the SJS list.
CCAL Offensive Linemen sign with colleges: Two All-CCAL Offensive Linemen signed National Letters of Intent this week. Gregori’s Zach Fernandes signed with Whittier College on Tuesday, March 1 and Ashton Patterson of Turlock signed with College of Idaho on Friday, March 4.
Both linemen helped lead their teams. Patterson, an All-League first team winner, cleared the way for running back JT Foreman to become one of the best running backs in the area. Fernandes received second team All-League honors and blocked for the CCAL Offensive Player of the Year, Cruz Marines.
Oakdale, Ripon, Enochs lead very early season SJS rankings: The high school baseball season kicked off this week and though most Sac-Joaquin Section teams are between three and five games into their season, three Stanislaus District teams have stood out as tops in the section.
MaxPreps’ most recent SJS baseball rankings list Oakdale, Ripon and Enochs as the top three teams in the section. All three started with 3-0 records. Enochs sophomore Kannon Sharpe has jumped out to a fast start at the plate, hitting .500 with four hits, four RBIs and one double. In 4.2 innings on the mound, Sharpe has a 0.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts with one win and one save.
Patterson wins NorCal soccer title: After the Tigers’ 2-0 loss to Vista del Lago in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship, head coach Luis Torres said his team had to learn from it. “We needed this to keep us humble,” he said after the game.
Patterson ran through the Division III field in the CIF NorCal Division III state playoffs, including winning the postseason rematch with Vista del Lago, to capture the Division III title.
Antonio Gallegos, Johan Mendoza and Luis Maravilla scored goals in a 3-0 win over Aragon in the championship game. Jonathan Gallardo had two assists and Mendoza added one.
The Tigers end the season with a 22-1-1 record and outscored their opponents in the NorCal playoffs, 8-2.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 12:37 PM.
