Northgate and College Park both lost some good players last year. College park has got some quality guys still in the program as does Northgate. I've heard lots of good stuff about Clayton, and Ralston is back there coaching again, they are supposed to be very strong this year. Matt Lyle is apparently going to coach at YV (he is looking for asst coaches on this board) he is an excellent coach and will improve the program. I watched Concord play over the summer, they have some guys that can play as well. So the question is, can Berean play with these teams? Can they give Mt Di and YV a game??
I'll start my first post by saying I'm a parent of a BC basketball and baseball player, my son is a senior this year. He's been a three year starter on the basketball team and with this year, will be a four year starter on the baseball team. I think BC's baseball team will surprise a few teams this year in league play. We played MD in our first game last year and beat them so we can compete at least with a lower team in the league. My son also played summer ball for Matt Lyle and Matt Martin on the CP summer team, the Bay Valley Vikings so he got a taste of bigger school baseball. What BC lacks is pitching, we have good pitchers but none of them throw very hard which is going to be a problem. They all have good command of several pitches but if their off speed isn't working, they'll be in trouble because none have a fastball that they can just rare back and throw it by a hitter. I'm sure we'll face better pitching than we're use to seeing too. What we do well is field and hit, so we'll have to try and out score teams and play solid defense to win. Even though some we'll say it's D5 ball but we have won league the last two years and have gone to NCS. We return eight starters from last years team, only losing our center fielder to graduation. So the team is optimistic that they'll will have a good chance to win some games but are also fully aware that this will be a very big challenge for them.
BC is moving into a league that has been realigned so 2 new teams are coming on board beside BC.
That said Clayton Valley has been strong for the last 4 years and YV has struggled but does have a new coach which may help them.
College Park, Mount., Northgate, Concord have been playing tough each year for the last couple of years. With alot of players graduating last year on those teams, the league is going to be more balanced. College Park graduated somewhere around 10 or so seniors last year. Northgate about six, I think, all starters including league MVP. Mount lost four or five players, and Concord lost five, three starters.
Pitching will be the question in the league, Northgate, CP, Mount and Concord all have 1 solid starter from last year returning but from there on no one stands out. Don't know about CV or YV. Hitting should be good as all teams hit hard. Defense and base running may be question marks.
should be a fun year to watch considering that four of the seven teams went to NCS last year.
By the way, Northagte returns (5) starters. Seniors Peleyo(LF), Cartwright (CF) and Kosturous (RF) have been starters since sophmores. Navolio (2B) and Daniel Kent (DH) return as well. Starting pitcher Chris Bataska (P) was 11-0 last season. They have some holes to fill from JV and last years non-starters, but look to be pretty strong. I still think it will be Northgate and a strong Clayton Valley team in the end,
For College Park, who do they return? Correct me if I am wrong but, I was under the impression that Sidhu, Vink, and Goonan all graduated. Mount has a solid starter??? Northgate, Clayton Valley, and Concord are the only teams that have at least one good solid starting pitcher.
League Predictions:
1st Place and Second: Tie between Clayton Valley and Northgate, I can not decide yet. Clayton Valley has by far the most talent in the league but Northgate knows how to be a nucance. Look for an interesting rivalry there.
3rd: Concord: They have not graduated that many players and that makes for a varsity experienced team. But the loss of Hurlbut hurts. They have a couple good ballplayers in Alexander, Morales, Sprague, etc.
4th: College Park: NCS Champs... Lost all pitching, but they will beat out Mount, YV, and BC for obvious reasons.
Think league its between Clayton Valley & Northgate but think CV not only has more talent but having Ralston back who is considered one of the best coaches in the area will be the differance
I wouldnt call the entire league piss poor just because there are a few bad teams at the bottom. Clayton, Northgate, and Cp could all contend in the EBAL.
I think your EBAL may be a little overatted. In 3A NCS last season, College Park (the 4th place team in the old DFAL) beat Foothill, Monte Vista, Clayton Valley, and then Arroyo (who beat Livermore) for the Championship. San Ramon Valley did not even make the playoffs. Just keep telling yourself how good the EBAL is. By the way, Monte Vista will win that league, hands down!
I agree, it is very tough to do, with that being said...
They return a very solid team from a year ago that was an NCS runner up. They only lost 4 a year ago in a MUCH tougher league (from day to day). They are a legitimate power program. Very well coached, a lot of talent, and hungry. If they lose, it will be a letdown type of game.
"They return a very solid team from a year ago that was an NCS runner up. "
Clayton was not an NCS runner up last year. Northgate was the runner up in 2A and CP was the champion in 3A. CV lost in the semi's to CP. All 3 teams had great seasons last year.
Clayton will have a great team, but if they lose to Northgate, it will not be in a letdown" type of game. Clayton Valley lost in the semis last year of 3A NCS to College Park, no let down, they simply got beat by a hot team which went on to win the 3A Championship. Northgate beat College Park 2 times last season, and I think College Park finished 4th in the DVAL.
Clayton will have a great team, but if they lose to Northgate, it will not be in a letdown" type of game. Clayton Valley lost in the semis last year of 3A NCS to College Park, no let down, they simply got beat by a hot team which went on to win the 3A Championship. Northgate beat College Park 2 times last season, and I think College Park finished 4th in the DVAL.
Jake, Concord also beat CP twice last year, matter of fact, the last game before they went on their run for 3a championship. Also, Concord lost to Piedmont 2 to 1 in Piedmont's closest game in payoffs.
CV/Northgate. Then CP/Concord. Let's see if the coaching change at YV helps and BC is an unknown. Their winning in one league might/should transfer to a middle of the pack with this group. Mt. D at the bottom. There's already coaching rumblings there.
Pitching will tell. Who's throwing for CV? I see coaching, hitting and aggressiveness (on the bases). Northgate... Bataska, coaching and experience. CP... offense. I watched some players this summer. Not sure if they will be playing for CP though. Concord...Experience. Offense. Lost only one effective starter, Hurlbut. The other two starting spots can be filled with current players. Can they find a #2 starter? They have a few to chose from. Watched some this summer. I think one of those lost starters was their catcher but he can be replaced offensively and defensively. Berean...Another team that can sneak up on you. I CAN'T believe that a team that was 1 or 2 in their league will not have some success. YV...Can a coaching change help? Should translate to some wins. Good coach but why are they advertising for coaches? Didn't he bring any with him? Mt. D....Players and coaches grumbling about playing field. Excuses are starting. Do what everybody else does. Fundraise and have it fixed. (You need Concord's coach. That field is rapidly becoming one of the better locally although outfield needs work.)
So with the exception of Mt. D if CV or Northgate stumble you have 6 teams that COULD be within a game of each other during their league run everyone splitting their home and home. I hope all these teams are playing meaningful preseason games.
I will have to admit, it appears that CP can hit. Oak/tech may not be the strongest of opponets, but CP did hit a grand slam! Not sure why the NCS champs would schedule a game with a historicaly week team.
Mt. Diablo will be weak again. Only 8 turned out for tryouts. The JV's were getting better last year. That's pretty sad. Yv as well. They also had to cancel their JV season for lack of players. Berean, is Berean. Not sure they have the pitching to compete at this level. CP lost some key starters and Northgate is always well coached. They lost a couple key players as well but I haven't seen them yet so not sure what surprises they have for us this year. Clayton Valley I think will not be the team everyone thinks they are. We'll see. Concord lost 3 seniors, 2 starters. Morales will move to behind the plate and Alexander will be their #1. He only gave up one today to Heritage. They beat CP twice last year and lost to Piedmont on a held runner at 3rd that would have scored. It will be interesting for sure.
You are correct. 2 Daily players Graduated but 5 did go. Hurlbutt, Rogers and Chisholm were starters but Chisholm was injured part of the year. Daily and Bisbee were bench players. They have a strong #1 arm returning and serveral choices for #2, Morales, Acosta or Welsh. If Wilhite isn't able to go for CV not sure who they have behind him.
I knew one of them was injured, heard he had surgery on his knee is that why Chisholm isn't playing college ball? I guess Hurlbut is the only one thats palying college ball. Has Alexander commited to any school yet?
Rogers is recovering from knee injury from last year, but is on the roster at Solano. Chisholm played fall league at DVC. Not sure what happened to him. Maybe a redshirt?
I believe DVC is playing Solano JC this Thursday and Rogers is supposed to be in the line up. They are looking forward to seeing each other from the other side of the field.
Alexander has been recruited by a couple of Colleges, Chico, Occidental, UNLV. After playing at Dodger Stadium in December he was been picked up by The American Eagles and is playing in Australia this summer. Hasn't commited yet.
Solano played DVC this past thurs. DVC 10 Solano 4 Rogers won't see the line up for awhile. The two teams are suppose to play a double header on Saturday, chances are that won't happen.
Your missing the point, you can go to Austrailia and play where nobody can see you, and nobody can dispute your stats. And jet lag can be used for a new excuse!
I was told Acosta or Morales should probably be the #2 but I have seen a few of the JV games and they may have others, Welsh or this tall kid. Isn't Morales catching for them? Some of the Concord dads said Alexander, Acosta and Morales probably all throw about the same but Alexander has the experience from last year. They need Alexander to hit like last year. I saw him play once this past summer and I think he struck out 3 times when I saw him. He looked bad. There's a rumor they lost some good players to grades or something. Anyone know? What position is Rogers playing? I heard he has bad knees. I don't think he'll be blocking any pitches. 3rd? Any range? I saw him pitch once. Throws hard but has catcher's mechanics. Probably only a DH now.
You must have seen Alexander hit at the Pittsburg Tournament. That was the only time he K'd 3 times and he had tendonitus in his shoulder. He even he thought he looked bad. He pitched the first day and no hit them until his arm acted up. He is a pitcher, the other 2 throw. He also led the team in extra bases last year while hitting .423. AT least that is what last seasons web site had. Morales is behind the plate but is pitching very well this year. They have a young kid who will be their #2 catcher if Morales is on the bump. Acosta throws hard but has only 2 pitches. Acosta hits a ton, however. The tall kid is Lovejoy. No one was lost to grades, but are out due to another off field situation. Jury is still out as to how long.
As of the last time I talked to Robbie his knee is good and he should be able to catch. Or so he hopes. They have been using him as a relief pitcher.
Clayton Valley will be the top team this year, 1st of all Coach Ralston being back is huge as he is regarded as one of the best coaches in N. Calif, Clayton is solid everywhere, Pitching, hitting & defense
This a two team race between Northgate and Clayton Valley. Both teams will be ranked in the top 10 in the east bay. NG returns 12 players from last year and 5 starters. Lots of pitching led by Bataska. CV returns Matthews, Wilhite, Lassen, and Bruno and several other very good players. The NG and CV players know each other well and it should be two good games, with a 3rd likely for the DII championship. the question for both of them will be who will be the #2 starters.
I saw a fall ball game betwen NG and Concord and Ng smoked concord. Alexander got rocked pretty hard. Granted NG was missing Pelayo, Cartwright and Bataska, but if that is an indication of where Concord and ALexander are, you've got big problems.
I wouldn't underestimate College Park, They are well coached and their middle infield is back. They can play a tough small ball game. Need some pitching. I heard Tostada from Yv transfered there. That will help.
BC can definitely play with the bottom ofthe DVAL It's just the top will beat them pretty badly.
CP/Oak Tech - Are u kidding me CP. My 12 yr old could have shut them out and gone 4 - 4 against their pitching.
Campo 4 COncord 0 - Concord has no offense and it looks like they are playing JV players. I wanted to see Alexander throw. What happened? Was that Concord's #2 that threw? COncord pitching held Campo to 4 runs.
I don't think CP or Concord did anything to change their preseason predictions.
Half the team is sick and 4 JV's were pulled up. The starting 3bman, LF and RF were out, and Alexander was home in bed. Acosta was sick so he wasn't able to start as the DH. Morales did a good job but the comment was correct, no sustained hitting. Can't win as a pitcher if your team doesn't score runs. No excuses but two of their best hitters were out.
Gold was throwing hard but wow, no mechanics. Campo got the hits they needed to win.
As you are Alexander's PR rep, how come if half the team was sick he was the only player not to show up? You also use the "no excuses" comment but when it comes to Alexander he was sick, had a sore shoulder or some other excuse.
Northgate played Novato in a scrimmage and pounded them 14 to 5. Pelayo looks in mid season form hitting a homer and a double. Kosturos, Kent, Hernandez and Churich all looked strong at the plate. Kosturos was lights out on the mound. NG is missing 5 to 6 kids who are playing basketball.
Looks like they have reloaded and will score alot of runs.
From the line score it looked like a very even game, with Campos 2 errors being the difference. But without any stats at all for Concord, we have to rely on the Squeeze's book for information. I'm sure those errors by Campo didn't have any factor in the 3-1 decision.
At least Northgate posted their inflated stats last year.
Maxpreps shows Northgate had three .400 hitters last year. That doesn't seem all that unsual for a HS team that won as many games as they did. Clayton Valley had five .400 hitters, so they must be inflating things too!
It's probably safe to say that when you have coaches and parents doing the scoring, they are going to favor the hitter or the pitcher on their team when its a close call. But that mostly involves hits vs. errors or rbi's, where there is judgement required, which is why I look at the on base percentage -- it probably is the most meaningful stat, along with runs scored or runs given up.
Calculating a batter's On Base Percentage does not include getting on base due to errors. If you are adding in the errors, then that is a different statistic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_base_percentage
Well shut my mouth -- good catch. Surely there must me a stat that includes errors, like forced errors in tennis. Something to help recognize the speed burners who force errors just by being fast. I know, baseball doesn't care about those guys anymore.
You are right though Bellboy. There should be recognition from little league up through high school for those who hit the ball hard enough or are fast enough to force the other team make errors. A one hop liner that eats up the second baseman and goes through his legs for an error shouldn't count the same as looking at a 3rd strike.
And the errors by Concord's SS on Friday were overlooked? Bottom line, Campo won. Concord did not have their 2 best hitters in the line up, and it showed. However, at the end of the day Campo won.
As far as stats go, the only one that counts is who won the game. Stats are Stats.
Sorry if my comment on Gold's mechanics got some of you upset. He'll never get through College the way he is throwing now. His shoulder will be gone. His college coach will work on that first thing. Too much throwing rather than pitching. I never said he wasn't a good pitcher. He has the velocity but so did Gruber from Liberty. Where is Gruber now? Rehabing a reconstructed shoulder.
Why do you have to always throw someone under the bus "and the errors by Concord's SS" ? If you are so up on Stats, you would know that the 3, 4 and 5 hitters for Campo in last year Alexander's win went 7 for 15 and his K's were the 7, 8, 9 hitters. Those are facts not just stats. As for Campo's errors, 1st miss played a ball and the Catcher had a WP/PB which scored a run.
By the way, what did Campos errors have to do with them only scoring 1 run? However, since you want to go into stats, Alexander K'd 7, gave 1 extra base hit and then on the offensive side he had 2 hits and 2 RBI's. Again, how did errors have anything to do with their offensive performance?
Alexander K'd 7, gave 1 extra base hit and then on the offensive side he had 2 hits and 2 RBI's
And we have no way to dispute what you say because there is nothing posted. I guess we can look at Campo's stats and assume that Alexander pitched to whole game.
Who said anything about Campo's defence effecting there offence. I said the line score made it look like it was a fairly even game other then the 2 Campo errors. Concord had 7 hits, Campo 7hits.
Northgate finally got on the field. Broncos hitting seems to be their biggest asset. Pelayo home hun. Kent, Churich, Hernandez, Kosturus, and company are already pretty locked in. Heise(3), Kosturus (2), and Mertz (2) pitched and looked pretty good but a little rusty.
Berean is 2-0 on this young season with a 5-0 over St. Helena a D4 school and and a 7-3 win College Prep a D5 playoff school last year. Good start! I know everyone's thinking, who cares! However, Berean parents and players care. St. Helena is a school Berean would compete against come NCS time if they make it that far in the D4 bracket. Berean is well aware of the challenge ahead of them in the DVAL, look how the basketball team faired, not so well. They have a tough non-league schedule, most are D5 & D4 playoff teams from last year to try and prepare for league. They had a double header scrimmage against Antioch and lost both 4-2 and 4-3. The first game was all starters for both teams although I'm told Antioch started their #3 pitcher, Berean started their #2. The second game was all backups, both gmes were competative. I know Clayton and Northgate are going to be extremely tough teams as well as the rest of the league. Hopefully, BC shows well.
DLS350: Thanks for the updates on Berean, always fun to get imput about all teams and players, while everybody is competing with each other still fun to hear about various teams and individual players in are Community/Area
Nor Cal posted their first top 20 list has Northgate at #8 in Northern California. I could only see the top 10 and didn't see 11 through 20. I would guess that Clayton Valley is somewhere between 11 and 20.
1 Jesuit, 2 Oakdale, 3 Valley Christian, 4 Yuba City, 5 San Ramon Valley, 6 Monte Vista, 7 Serra, 8 Northgate, 9 De La Salle, 10 St Mary's Stockton.
With Clayton Valley and Northgate both playing well, my bet is they will both be highly ranked all year.
While both teams are playing well and have handled the opposition pretty convincingly, who has CV they played? DV, Logan, Pittsburg? CV and northgate will probably be 1-2 in their league but that really isn't saying much. Neither team has convinced me that they can't be upset by CP, Concord or even Berean. CV's upcoming Amador and MV games will tell a story. NG's Mission San Jose and Lincoln games will not. Right now the edge goes to CV. Berean is winning as many games as they can this preseason. Concord gets back some starters in a few weeks. If CP is what we see, they may be in for a long/short season. YV...come-on Leadership Richmond?
Perhaps you are not paying much attention to the box scores. Acalanes beat both CP and Concord, and Northgate smoked Acalanes 11 to 0. The talent difference between CV and Ng and the rest of the league is very wide. If any of the teams you mentioned, CP, Concord or Berean, had a top flight pitcher, an upset could be predicted. But when you have a substantial edge in hitting, pitching and coaching, a upset is going to be very tough.
I do agree with you that i would give the edge to CV over Northgate, although slightly.
The biggest problem for CV and NG is going to be keeping their focus on fundamentals when they are ahead double digits.
Nice try -- Alexander beat Campo with Wirth on the mound. Gold beat Concord 1-0 in a 67 pitch 8 strikeout CG. As some other posts point out, look at MaxPreps and get your facts straight.
This is Alexander's Dad. After last year I decided to shut up. You guys are tough! However it has come to my attention that some things my exuberant friend has said may have hurt some feelings. I want to apologized for him to those who were offended. He's just a guy that loves baseball and has "adopted" Mike. This year is going to be interesting. I am as excited, as it seems several of you are, to see how it all plays out.
See you on the ball field. Good luck to all. Have a great season.
Didn't see the whole game, but Acalanes hit the ball well. Acalanes made the best of 2 Concord errors and put up 5 runs in a very long fourth inning. That was the last inning that I saw.
Looks like the Concord bats came to life in the 6th and scored 4 of their own.
As we know from years previous, there is more than one Alexander's dad.
If you keep icin' your son's tendinitis and let him rest he would pitch. Gold too, should watch what he is doin'. Too many youngin's are trying too hard to keep up with the competition and are working their arms far too much. They try to throw too many movement balls too soon, and then throw too many of them. The coaches are thinkin' these kids will get them far and into playoffs without a thought to the future of these kids arms. Most of them haven't finished growin'. Good luck to all in the new league.
BC played Redwood Christian yesterday and lost 8-1. RC has a solid club and has started 5-0 with a big 6-4 win over Piedmont, last years 2A NCS winner. Three of their wins have been shut outs and have only given up 5 runs in 5 games. RC's starter had to be throwing in the high 80's and may have touched 90 on a few pitches. Their coach, Jim Cleveland, does a really good job, he's an excellent coach. BC looked shakey right from the start with a bad pre-game infield and it carried over into the game. First play of the game BC's right fielder miss a catch in the gap. It was a well hit ball but he ran it down just to have the ball tip off the top of his glove and it ended up being a 3B. BC did have two starters out but that's no excuse. They need to pick up their play as a team and get more focused, to much screwing around by players not in the game. Another tough game today against University.
Another win for the Eagles although it wasn't a particurly sharp game. BC is still struggling at the plate with only 5 hits, doing just enough to win and be 4-1 on this young season. Better start than last year where they started 2-7, pretty much looking like they did yesterday. The difference is they're winning the games 5-1 hitting poorly instead of losing them 1-5 hitting poorly. They went on a 16-2 run after there hitting came around last year, hopefully the bats wake up soon. Players are hitting the ball just not getting hits. Another tough two games this coming weekend with Cloverdale and Clearlake, both teams may contend for the D4 NCS playoffs which is the division BC is in. BC needs to get two good wins this weekend to help their playoff cause down the road.
Yeah, they won a tough game against a good team. They had a kid named Brandon Weller throw four innings - no runs. His max prep shows he has not been scored on this year. He was not on the roster last year. Any one know where he came from? Has anyone seen him pitch?
Last nights game was the championship for the East Bay Classic Tournement,
Brandon Weller moved here from Oregon (I believe) doesnt throw hard but has a differant delivery that batters are having a hard time picking up and throws strikes, Weller & Levine where named to the all tournement team and Vince Bruno was named MVP of the Tournement
Contrary to previous replies to this forum, coaching is making the difference for CV. There is some good talent but you have to put it together. I pick them over NG. I see more individualism on NG. We'll see.
Watched BC yesterday...again, another nice small school team but I don't see them in the top 4 of this league although they will give teams a run.
Concord...Their 1 & 2/3 (not sure who their #2 is) pitchers are even and their hitting is streaky. Yesterday I think their 3, 4 struck out 5-6 times. Their infield is suspect. An error hurt them in the first inning and then their pitcher gave up a few hits although they weren't much. Their right fielder made a great throw to keep a run off the board. I don't think he gave up any extra base hits. All Singles. He did go 6 and had a few short innings.
I'll stay with my predictions.
Big week for the DVAL as Clayton Valley plays Amador Valley and Monte Vista. Northgate plays Alhambra and will likely face Waterman. They also play back to back games against Lincoln and Mission San Jose. If Clayton wins both games, they will likely be #1 in the east bay. NG is currently ranked higher but that won't last much longer with CV's tougher schedule.
The key for these teams will be health as well as the other strengths presiously discussed. Bruno and Wilhite have a history of injuries and hopefully they will make it through the season.
NG just got their 6 basketball players back, including 2 to 3 likely starters. It will take them a few weeks to get in the flow of the season. You make a good point that right now NG looks like individuals. I suspect that when Cartwright gets back, that the lineup and NG's play will be substantially different.
CV clearly ahead right now, but its early March. They don't play each other until mid April. The CV/Ng games will be great competition and will likely be attended by many scouts and fans.
I think Berean will be fine in this league. concord and College Park don't have the offense to blow BC out and in a close game, anything can happen. BC has several quality players including the Alexander brothers and Sullivan.
Do NOT use any recruiting site that requires payment for their services. While some may be well intentioned, most are quite simply, rip-offs and scams.
If you are serious about being recruited, go to your coach and ask for his help. If he is not willing to help, seek out a TRUSTED adult to help you.
Remember that if you have not SPOKEN with a college coach, you are NOT being recruited. Letters from schools mean virtually nothing other than you happen to be in their database. There are several sources out there that discuss the recruiting process. Again, your coach should help you, but if they don't, then ask for help from a TRUSTED adult. Do NOT spend money to do this, these sites claim that college coaches utilize their services, but the fact is that only a very small percentage do so. Don't get caught up in a scam.
Most of those sites do not get you recruited, they send out letters to colleges the same as you with your information that you give them. You can do the same and get the same letters for 42 cents.
Here is a short list of things you can do and cost you alot less money.
1) Make sure you are signed up with NCAA and have sent them a copy of your transcripts. No college will even talk to you if your not registered with NCAA.
2) Find out what colleges you are interested in, and the head coach's name, then send them a short resume about yourself, included with your GPA and any other activites you have been involved in other then baseball. Don't write a book! Remember this term KISS, keep it short and simple.
3) If you want to go out of state, be prepared to pay 30,000 to 40,000 per year. Very few colleges will offer a full ride. Baseball only has 11.5 scholarships per school which they share with many players.
4) Go to camps that have many colleges attend. Stanford is one of the best in the area, they have many colleges attend their camp. Alot of colleges have camps, but they use them to raise money for their programs. If your tired or hurt, Don't Go, this may be the only time scouts may see you.
5) Check out www.HighSchoolBaseballWeb. They have alot of good information on their fourms from coaches and parents.
6) Don't forget about Junior Colleges, if you check the rosters of the colleges, many are transfer from J.C.'s. plus you can get your basic college courses for a lot less money.
Remember, every time you step on the field, someone will be watching you, you never know who.
Defending champ CP nowhere to be found. CV at #2 and NG #11 only 2 DVAL teams making the first poll, both undefeated thus far out of the gate. 7 of the top 15 are EBAL teams including 4 of the top 5 and 5 of the top 7. that won't last as they will beat themselves up when league starts. Granada will be in a world of hurt, as they are the only EBAL team not ranked. It could be a long year for them. 2 DFAL teams at #8 & #9, and 2 BVAL teams tied for the all important 12th spot. MV got all 8 votes for top seed, with their all D1 pitching staff.
straight up to be said, CLAYTON VALLEY IS GOING TO OWN THE DVAL.
1. i dont think any team has a harder nonleage schedule than cv does and there also 5-0 including a east bay classic crown
2. this league is weak compared to the BVAL whivh was the league that cv was in including teams like de la salle, freedom, and deer valley
3. cv has the best coaches in the area which wont let them play down to there competion and will allow them to beat the best
4. they are stacked. 1-9 in there lineup can hit the ball all over the park. there defibatky going to be the hardest team to pitch to
5. they have experince, most of the returners have had experince in huge games (including 2 straight years of making it to the ncs semis) and will know how to handle the pressure.
6. trust me they will be the hardest team to beat in this league
but the one thing that might be a question mark is the pitching, they do have a few young and talented arms so we will see
I don't think anyone's really debating whether clayton is the best team in the league right now. But the playoffs are about who's hot when. Almost everybody from clayton thought they would roll over CP last year, and that didnt happen. I'm not saying that will happen this year, but there's a big difference between winning the DVAL and winning NCS, which really matters. Also, i was just wondering what defibatky means. thanks.
That's a shame that wilhite is hurt. He is a good kid and one heck of a pitcher. He has always been a great player since PONY. Hopefully he can still DH and recover.
having their best hurt is a big blow and is gonna effect how well they do. i donno if its enough to knock them out first place contentions but its definately going to affect their season.it will be closer at the top with ng, cv, cp, and chs
somebody was committed to play but they didnt have grades. i dont want to mention them for their privacy.
Watch out for SRVHS, maybe not this year but last years freshman team was very good and this years team is even better. In two to three years they should be very strong.
Until the teachers union gives up on the tenure system and stops supporting illegal aliens in our classrooms. I wont give High School sports another dime and if that means no more HS sports so be it.
And to all you sports crazed dads out there, do you have as much passion for the academics at your schools? Do you know the test scores as it relates to state averages. What people get fired up about..............Anyone know who won the recent Math/Science competition? I did not think so.........
btw, your sports minded kids will have NO chance against the kids that focus on academics when it come to college time. Now wake up and check on your kids grades!
I disagree with you saying "sports minded kids will have NO chance against the kids that focus on academics." Playing sports gives exposure to a completely different aspect of life besides books. I agree kids should obviously keep their grades up, but saying that kids who have sports as their first priortity will have no chance is ridiculous.
I disagree with you saying "sports minded kids will have NO chance against the kids that focus on academics." Playing sports gives exposure to a completely different aspect of life besides books. I agree kids should obviously keep their grades up, but saying that kids who have sports as their first priortity will have no chance is ridiculous.
First let me say I do agree with one part of the authors tirade, we waste billions in this state on people who do not belong here. Charity starts at home. I am not an isolationist but when our budget gets so bad that we are cutting sports, cutting needed teachers and we continue to pay for people who are illegally here, something is wrong. To quote a LEGAL immigrant, Lucy? you got some splainin to do.
However, the author has it 180 degrees wrong. Studies show that kids who play organized sports in school do better in life that those who just stick their heads in books. My son has a cummulative 3.4 GPA Starts on the varsity team and has a very active social lfe.Team sports teaches guess what? Teamwork! In business today that is the mantra. Teamwork. Sports teaches how to deal with the real world. I have a college degree but I learned quickly to remember facts, not theory. The real world works very little like a classroom. No answer key, no chapter review, gots to make that decsion now! However, it does work quite a bit like a team. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It's how you handle adversity that develops character.
If you want to toss out something, toss out the clowns who handed out all those pink slips, cut all sports but still pay for illegals who don't belong here. Give me a great game of baseball over a class in diversity politics any day.
So sorry, I was posting my view about taxation on a forum dedicated to that subject. My post here was to address the subject of this particular forum. As someone felt the need to combine them I have provided a reply.
Please understand, I have no doubt that you all do a great job with your kids. My concern is priorities. I am not attacking you, sports or the schools.
Regarding the relative value of team sports on our society and business in general:
You dont have criminals (NFL/NBA) running your image. You do not taunt your opponent or draw attantion to youself for just doing your job (look everyone I sacked the quarterback). Team sports do NOT teach teamwork. If they did blacks would be the very best business people in this country.
My concern is priorities:
You guys keep focusing on your teams. If my kids grades suffered I would boot them off the team. They know that. If they gets caught doing drugs, I will boot them. When it is time to go to college based on their grades alone thus far they will have many choices. Take a walk around silicon valley some day, Intel, Apple, Ebay, Yahoo. You will find people that were very good at Math and Science. They earn very good pay and are team players. They did not learn this on a field.
I love sports, my kids played, I played. I just thinik our priorities are very screwed up.
Tirade? I will accept that. I am sick and tired of our kids not getting what they deserve. First class classroom, sports, music and yes teachers. I for one simply want more than what we are getting.
I cetainly won't argue that there are jerks in professional sports. However, professional sports are not anything other than business' now. The days of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Wille Mays are gone. Now you have Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Ricky Henderson. Guys who think they are the game, not part of it. However if you don't have coaches in High School reinforcing teamwork then get rid of those coaches. I am a coach and I know for a fact we stress that the players are Student Athletes. Student is first.
Lynn Swann, Mike Garrett, Steve Young, Tony LaRussa all with college degrees, 2 are attorneys and all 4 learned valuable lessons on the field. Lessons not learned anywhere else. We need our kids to be well rounded. Facts are subborn things. It is a fact that Student Athletes do better in life. They are more well rounded. Music does the same thing. It brings passion and commitment.
California is now last in the US in per pupil spending. Yep behind Arkansas and Mississippi. We don't need to raise one dime in taxes if we spent the money we have on legal residents. Tirade was too strong a word. I like a good Dennis Miller rant so rant it is. We have great minds on the bench ready to take over if we provide for them what we had.
You sound liek a very good coach to me. Good luck.
I am very good owith stats and I can prove all sorts of things depending on how you wish to filter the pivot table. I can show you that athletes are far more likely to:
Rape, Kill, Domestic Violence. This is also true in the hip hop community.
Of course I am not saying sports are bad. You can learn good things and bad things on the field. You can learn all you will ever need without ever playing high school sports as well.
btw was Tony LaRussa the same guy slumped over his steering wheel a few years ago? Does he still defend Mark McGuire?
All those MLB players that did steroids were violating federal law. You do understand that right?
I am sure we can all agree that the per capita percentage of criminal behavior is higher amoung NFL/MLB/NBA players than that of the general population. Does that mean Steve Young is anything but a very decent stand up guy? Of course not, but if you want to trade good examples against bad ones we both know who will win based on the numbers.
No more about how sports is important in business. That is a joke. Yes, you can use your celebrity to make money after you retire but does anyone think sharing an office with Allan Iverson/Roger Clemins would be good for sales?
No comments on today's CCTimes Top 10 East Bay rankings?
I agree with the top 2, but DLS at #3? Above Foothill, BOD and SRV? I don't think so, but would like to hear other people's comments. Just seems to feel like the seasonal "love fest" between CCTimes and DLS continues....
No comments on today's CCTimes Top 10 East Bay rankings?
I agree with the top 2, but DLS at #3? Above Foothill, BOD and SRV? I don't think so, but would like to hear other people's comments. Just seems to feel like the seasonal "love fest" between CCTimes and DLS continues....
Im not convinced Miramonte is a CCT "darling team".
And from looking at the numbers in 9 games they have put up 108 runs while only allowing 14. Every team they have beaten has been by 5 or more runs. Also if you think they ran up the score against weaker opponents think again, the starters were pulled before the 4th in all 3 blowouts.
They are 4 deep in pitching (3 of whom are 4 year starters) and return an entire starting line up that scored more runs during the the regular season in 08 than the NCS runner up Northgate (reg season being non ncs games). They were predicted to finish 1st in DFAL last year, but struggled with inconsistency. Maybe because they were overrated or maybe it was because they only had 1 senior on the team. Either way they return the entire starting line up with the exception 1 player who still saw active duty during the season, 4 first team all leaguers and a fifth who hit .410 and failed to even get second team, and have 6 players that are committed to playing at the next level.
They have however made 2 mistakes. They tied a very young Riordan Team (if that is your point than there is no arguing against it, that team needs to be beaten by any team contending for a top 5 spot). And a loss to Serra. They were, however, leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th until Serra strung together a few hits and came away with the W.
On a side note, Miramonte did also beat DLS in a scrimmage game 9-1. Miramonte seems like a strong team to me.
I said Miramonte is a good team, and not I'm not convined that they should be at #8 at this time. Yes they have pounded some very weak teams, as they should. Good teams take care of business.
And yes, I was refering to the Serra loss and a Riordan tie, the only two notables they have faced. Beating DLS in a scrimmage is like kissing your sister.
Please don't misunderstand me, Miramonte will likley win the DFAL. I believe they only lost a couple players, and only one was a starter, Bourgein. They have good pitching and a very strong offence.
Thats a fair argument. We will have to see. They will need to dominate the DFAL to move up into that very top 3 or 4 realm. And as far as the DLS scrim goes, with the way DLS has been playing thus far, kissing your sister is pretty close to hitting it on the nose.
EBAL looks very tough this year. Monte Vista's pitching staff is unbelievable.
I find it very frustrating that our local paper, thinks that their customers are really interested in how Oakland Tech is doing in the OAL. This is article # 2 for them.
Yes, I know that the section does say "Bay Area Prep", but some common sence should tell you that CC times customers don't really want to see a 1/4 page article about how El Camino rolled over South Sanfrancisco in the PAL opener. The box score would be just fine.
They did include an EBAL article, which was great, and even a little small piece on Granada v. DLS.
Is undefeated and beat DLS quite easily. Last years frosh team was also VERY good. Give it two years the varsity team should be able to compete with anyone then. I wish all of your teams well and enjoy the good competition.
Look out CV! DLS shut out Livermore 10-0 on Friday. This is for sure going to launch them into the #2 or maybe the #1 spot with such a win of conviction.
Good call. Actually, CP 10 NG 5. CP had NG scouted well and played well. NG committed several errors early in the game and CP made them pay for all of them. CP pitched very well, and fielded flawlessly. CP hit the ball well and capped it off with a homer in the 6th. NG fought back to make the score respectable. CP was clearly the better team today.
NG has alot of work to do. This team is not playing their best ball.
Cartright, Pelayo, Kosturos, Kent and bataska are all playing well for Northgate. All 5 have been on varsity since their sophomore year. Northgate is missing the key hit to get a big inning and is not playing good defense as they break in 4 new starters. Part of the issue is 6 players were playing basketball. They will start to play well soon. CV and CP should enjoy their good start before NG starts to play well. NG's best 5 can match up with anyone's. Pelayo's injury was a set back, but he will rebound and play well. Pitching remains an issue.
It doesn't matter what top 5 you put on the field, it's all about the W. CP top 5 last year probably wouldn't start at CV either, but they beat them, and the rest of the powerhouse teams.
No NG players would start at CV? Eaglesfavdad are you kidding??? All East Bay, All Metro Jack Cartwright wouldn't start?? First team All DFAL Pelayo wouldn't start?? Buddy, we have seen CV play a few times and they aren't that good.
Well, i guess we should just pick all the CV players for first team all league right now and not play the games.
I hope CP kicks your heads in on Thursday. When they do, I wouldn't call it an "upset".
I cant see that many players on CV not keeping grades, 2.0 isnt asking much. Plus with such a strong chance at an NCS title, it seems like the odds are low.
But saying that NG's top 5 players wouldnt even start at CV is a bit much, dont you think? Pelayo and Cartwright are both fenominal. They both hit 300+ and 400+ as sophomores, and 400+ and 500+ as juniors.
I dont know what Cartwright's situation is at the next level but if Pelayo had the grades and had done the showcasing, he would have been a big time recruit. I give these 2 guys nods at starting jobs at almost any school in the East Bay, even if 1 is at DH.
im saying cv wins 8-5, if you compare both teams, cv's bats are too strong compared to cp's and 7 out of the 9 hitters are red hot right now. Its going to be a good game and there is also some redemption for cv
Ng won 10 to 3. The game was much closer than the score indicates as it was 5 to 2 going into the bootom of the 6th before Ng scored 5 runs in the 7th. Concord played well. Best game NG has played so far with a new revamped lineup.
I agree. I hope that no one mentions their names on these boards. While these boards are fun to raise team issues and poke fun at each other, we shouldn't be airing dirty laundry about kids and internal team issues. There is a post about a campo kid on the DFAL board that should never have been posted.
Come game time, we will likely know who they are if they are starters. Hopefully, those kids can bring their grades up and graduate.
ya agreed, names should never be mentioned on here, come on its not like high school athletes are pros, there learning the basics of life, everyone makes mistakes, but whoever cv lost because of grades is not going to effect them one bit, there going to be fine and will adjust players around to fill in the empty spots
hahahahahhaha DLS LOST AGAIN hahha, DLS is now 4-6 now, lost to Amador today. If there still atleast in the top 10 in the polls im going to protest it. They have lost to Amador, Foothill and Granada, all teams that CV beat
100% agree with you baseballstud5! There's now way they should be in the top 10, but I'll bet they'll still be there. I'm sure DLS will make a late run at things, but for now they should NOT be in the top 10.
DLS should not be on that list at all. If they are in the top ten, then some major shuffing will have to occur. There is no way a team should be ahead of teams they have lost to, and have a sub .500 record.
Clayton will get a pitcher back soon so no it wont be there demise and Great teams still find ways to WIN when a player or two are out which Claytin has done
If Bataska can hold Clayton Valley to 2 runs or less something only Monte Vista & Amador have done that would be amazing !!
Clayton has scored 58 runs in there 4 league games (14.5 per game) and 111 overall in there 12 games (9.25 per game)
and how would bataska hold CV to under 2 runs? like you said, only monte vista and amador valley have been able, and CV still beat amador.
your exactly right, CV has averaged 14 runs a game the past 4, and yesturday against CP was supposed to be the "big game" and cv puts a 9 spot up on them in the first.
it almost seems like CV doesnt have feelings. they werent even phased by the errors they had in the beginning of the game and the pitchers seemed like bulldogs, and makin some CP hitters look silly pullin the string on some pitches
Jake111 your an idiot for posting that. That is definately going to be an incorrect guess at the score to be the best. It is most likely CV will score more than 10 runs against you cuz wait did i forget, didnt cp score 10 runs against NG and im pretty sure CV's offense is twice as powerful as cp's. And Cv's pitching doesnt have to be great right now, all they have to do is throw strikes and do there job and they will be perfectly fine, since the offense will provide enough runs. " The Eagles are Hitting Away"
O ya and look at the competition that NG has played. The only 2 decent teams they have played is CP and Alhambra. If they had the schedule of cv i dont think they would be above 500
In the CP v Ng game, NG made several errors in the first 3 innings and spotted CP to a 6 to 1 lead. It is much easier to play games like these from the lead. CP made several good defensive plays to stop several NG rallies.
In the CP v CV game, CP made several errors in the first inning to contribute to the 9 run lead and then CV tried to give it back with several errors themselves.
I have not seen a great shutdown pitcher in the DVAL this year against good teams. All pitchers are dependent on their infield defense which has been very inconsistent this year and getting out of jams with several runners on. Northgate has shown the most inconsistentcy in their infield defense so far. Hurt them badly in both losses. CV will put the ball in play hard and NG better be ready.
If CV doesn't fix their defense, it will catch up with them as well.
The winner of CV and NG will be the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. Both have very good offenses, but CV certainly has the better league statistics so far. CV boasts 6 of the top 7 hitters in the league according to maxpreps. Bruno and Matthews are D1 hitters.
I still think CV wins 7 to 4. NG has a ways to go before they fix their problems and gets the consistentcy that has aluded them so far.
NG/CV. Bataska will have to do better than last week. He was in trouble in almost every inning vs Con. No it wasn't the pitcher who got out of it. I see in 5 of 6 Con losses they scored only 5 runs. Ouch. He may not have that luxury vs CV.
Con/CV. Con pitching has been OK but will it be enough to slow down the CV juggernaut? Doesn't matter if Con bats don't heat up.
It seems to be a race to stay out of the hump position. (Not in the top 3. Not in the bottom three.) CV's a given. The race is between NG, CP and Con. I was hoping BC would be a factor but right now it looks like they are overmatched. They are playing hard but... Maybe they can sneak up on someone.
I agree that he will have to do a lot better to then last week to bring down the "CV juggernaut", and that he was in trouble in a lot of innings, but he didnt get hard. I left after the 5th and there was one basehit to the outfield and the rest were grounders that poked through. Also he threw alot of balls. Id say he had at least 5 walks. Bataska will have to clean it up for thursday and if he does good then that game will be a very good one.
That northgate field does not drain well, so we will see what happens Thursday, if they even play. NG is probably hoping for a rainout to push the game deeper into the schedule. That would give them time to address their infield and pitching issues. But it also might mean CV gets some players back.
Concord convincingly beat CV 3-1. The Concord team played flawless defense with a complete game 3 hitter thrown by Michael Alexander. Not sure but I believe 8k's 2 BB's and only 1 ball hit hard by Chaz Meadows. Great pitching and great defense shut down the Clayton bats. Concord played as a team on a mission, and I can say mission accomplished. Well done to the Concord Minutemen and Head Coach Matt Harrod.
Concord won without much threat from CV. Clayton had a few errors but overall it was concords timely hits that got them the win. Clayton didnt look like anything special. Congrats to Concord
I agree Baseballer....Concord played flawless defense and Alexander kept CV bats off-balance all game by mixing it up quite well. Dunley (CV) threw a great game as well keeping the Minutemen off-balance and guessing as well. I don't have the offical stats, but I'm sure he was on par with Alexander. Both Pitchers gave up only 1 ER, both late in the game.
I think both coaches and all fans couldn't believe the poor officiating of the game. It didn't "cost" anyone the game as the plate ump was calling strikes 8" off the plate, then turn around and not call it. Went both ways terribly. I DO think that the poor officiating did change the game as hitters had to fight off garbage pitches outside the zone in fear of it being called a strike. His calls definately changed the way the game was played. The field ump was rediculous. Missed a GREAT pickoff by Dunley at 2B and both teams knew it.
CV errors cost that game, but I have to believe they will be back with a vengance.
I believe it was, yes, it was Ralston who said after the game that Alexander was just too good for them today and they couldn't figure him out.. Good pitching beats good hitting evey time. As I recall his second walk was a questionable call that went CV's way. That batter was K'd but the ump called it a ball. Stuff like that happens. Same ump for both teams. The better team won today. Lots of the season left. Will be interesting.
The concensus from everyone I spoke to and from what I saw, that was Alexander's best game. I was standing down the line and I could hear Concord's bench and they seemed to be into it too. I've been to a few Concord games and this was the most enthusiastic they have been. Looking at their schedule, Alexander faces CP after the break. He needs to throw the same kind of game against them. Their #2 needs to come back after some problems with Northgate. Is Concord playing next week? They need some wins to help their playoff hopes.
They play in the Willie Stargell Classic again this year. Start out Saturday against Liberty. Morales is their #2 and I'm predicting will have a good outing coming up. The whole team seemed to mature yesterday and finally play as one. I was proud of them. I must admit I was very proud of #18. Clayton has a terrific program and is still the team to watch out for. Northgate is always tough against Concord so we have to play very well against them too. Yesterday was just a very special day for a program that has worked hard.
A GREAT and exciting game today between CV and NG. CV won 8-7 in a see-saw game where the lead changed hands more often than pitchers. Bataska vs. Meadows to start. NG drew blood first only to be answered with a dinger by Lassen with 2 on putting CV in the lead. Pelayo responded with his own shot to put NG ahead. Bataska was groving by then and Meadows knocked out and Weller on the hill for CV. CV down 5-4 going into the 7th. A combination of a tired Bataska (?) and some timely hitting by CV puts them up 8-5 after 6 1/2. NG responds by loading the bases with a strugling Weller and no outs. They get two and leave the tieing run at 3b with a deep shot to LF to end the game.
Some great high school baseball....I'm sure the next time these teams meet will be even better!
Concord won their first game in the Willie Stargell Classic beating Liberty 12-1. Morales gave a great start and Lovejoy closed it out. Seems like everyone was hitting, Harrington, Nagle, Galindo, Alexander, Jones, Swank, Cooper and Starnes from what I can remember. Sprague was on 3 times but his defensive play at 3rd was outstanding. Not sure who they will throw against Acalanes. Acosta or maybe Alexander. Might save our #1 for game 3. Who knows. Harrod seems to have them hitting on all cylinders now.
Concord just hammered Acalanes in the Willie Stargell Classic 12-4. Alexander with the win and Junta closed the game with a 1-2-3 7th.
Hitting the 2 run triple to start Concords run was Kelly Starnes who later scored. Everyone again got into the act with Cooper, Galindo, Alexander, Morales, Sprague, Jones and Acosta with hits. Harrington with a RBI sac fly and great defensive play again.
Unbelievable that DLS continues to be in the top 10 with a losing record.
1. Monte Vista (4) 8-3 154
2. Clayton Valley 12-2 130
"‚3. Irvington (3) 12-2 28
4. San Ramon (1) 9-3 122
5. O'Dowd (1) 12-2 114
6. Freedom 9-2 101
7. Foothill 9-5 94
8. Miramonte (2) 11-2-1 87
"‚9. De La Salle 5-6 6
10. Newark 12-4 66
11. Campolindo 11-3 65
12. Deer Valley 9-2 57
13. California 8-4 33
14. Arroyo 6-5 29
15. St. Joseph ND 11-1 22
Also receiving votes: Livermore (8-6, 9 points), St. Mary's (10-4, 7), Head-Royce (12-1, 6), Amador Valley (6-5, 5), Alhambra (10-4, 5), Alameda (10-4, 4), El Cerrito (9-5-1, 3), Dublin (9-4, 3). The East Bay Prep Baseball poll is compiled from the votes of Bay Area News Group-East Bay staff writers
De La just beat both Don Bosco and Jesuit High-Sacramento(17-3). Both teams nationally ranked. Do you guys really feel that thay should not be in the top 15? Or is it that you just don't like them?
De La just beat both Don Bosco and Jesuit High-Sacramento(17-3). Both teams nationally ranked.
What are the national rankings for each of those two schools? I know they beat Monte Vista last week too, but they seem to lose a lot of close games to less than nationally ranked teams. DLS has a lot of good athletes from all over the place, but they haven't seemed to be able to put it together yet this year. There is still time, and NCS awaits, but they will need to string a bunch of wins together to get out of this .500 rut.
Results: Niko Spezial tossed a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the first game of the season, and Eric Stephens threw a shutout in the next game, a good sign for the Ironmen, who were 33-0 last season as the state Non-Public A champion.
13. Jesuit, Carmichael, Calif. (11-1)
Results: The Marauders, who finished 27-7 last year, are averaging a homer a game. Their only defeat was 3-2 at Archbishop Mitty (San Jose).
They lost six one run games. Three of them to EBAL teams. I guess you need to play the weaker teams to be ranked. Three of their wins have come from Monte Vista, Serra , and Newark Memorial....All three tough in their own leagues.
Makes you want to schedule weaker opponets, but then you would have something else to harp on.
Let's talk about this from a pure baseball stand point. What team locally would you say is better than them and why? Hitting, Pitching, Defense....We can match them up player for player.
We will see if they can pull out some wins in the second half of the season, if not I will be watching MV in the playoffs.
I'm sure that DLS would match up better player to player, position by position since they tend to draw the best players from the local schools. Given a particular match up, you could say that it would be matching a starter who transfered to DLS with a second stringer.
All the best players isn't always a perfect receipe for success, case in point the NY Yankees. A team who historically has had an all star calibre team, who have been very successful, but not every year.
Baseball is really about pitching matchups, and a team might be just about unbeatable with their #1 starter out there. But, when you start playing tournaments with 3 games in a week and are facing teams' #3 starters, all bets are off.
Our team played a tounament one time and we had a very tough matchup in our first game. Our pitcher pulled us through but we did not have him again that weekend. We were still a pretty good team but not nearly as strong without him. I think we and our first round opponent had the two best pitchers in that tournament but niether of us had the depth one other team had and they did win. As you say, that is baseball.
I am just petty enough to suggest one and all check out page B5 in todays Sports section. His Dad won't do this but I'm a big fan of Alexander. I knew that he and the Concord program would be good this year. Second half of the league should be quite interesting.
I think those national rankings will be changing soon. DLS beat both of those teams in the losers' bracket of a tournament. Granted the tourney had some great teams in it, but #13 Jesuit won only 1 game out of 4 and finished in 12th place, and #11 Bosco took 15th place. DLS won 2 of 4 and finished in 10th place.
You put Jesuit in any local tournament around here and they are the favorites. They have 8 D1 players on their team. Not sure about Bosco(eastcoast baseball?).
Just goes to show that the best team doesn't always win.
How does the DVAL shape up for the second half? I think the EBAL will continue to beat up on one another. Should be interesting with only 12 D1 teams going to the playoffs.
The second half should be very competitive as many teams are playing well and did very well in spring break tourneys:
Clayton Valley, coming off the championship in the Gordie Classic, is the team to beat. Concord beat them and they needed a 7th inning rally to beat Northgate, but will likley win league and be the #1 seed in NCS DII playoffs.
Concord, lost in championship of Stargell tourney and playing very well. Big game on Tuesday versus CP. Seem to be hitting better. Alexander pitching very well, now they need #2 pitcher to step up. Tied for first.
Northgate, playing much better after shaky start. Finished 5th in the Santa Maria tournament, going 3-1, with a big win over Royal, Simi Valley who was a So cal ranked team. Beat Concord and seems to be over their last inning loss to Clayton. Still controls their own destiny. Their big bats are starting to heat up, and they are playing better defense.
CP, huge loss to BC. This team is very dangerous but unlikely has the horses to win the league. They can beat anyone in the league when playing well.
If your not his dad, then you must be some kind of Uncle pervy. It's a little strange to be so interested, and it's a little strange to self promote your kid.
We all read the paper and are well aware that Alexander is a top player in the league.
I have know the young man since he was young and have followed his baseball career. I get guff when I point out that he is a good player and now get guff when he proves it. There are several parents that post here. It's obvious. I'm not one of them.
If you are not his dad then who are you? The only people I see at games are parents and students. The ONLY one who could know that much about his career would be his Dad or his coach and I don't think his coach posts on here since he just learned about this blog site not long ago and wasn't happy about it. No one is giving you guff for him proving he does a good job. But it is pety to keep pointing it out.
Others receiving votes: Arroyo (9-6, 6 points), Northgate (10-5, 5), St. Joseph Notre Dame (13-2, 4), Alameda (12-4, 4), Livermore (9-8, 4), El Cerrito (10-6-1, 3), Head-Royce (14-1, 1). The East Bay Prep Baseball poll is compiled from the votes of Bay Area News Group-East Bay staff writers. Records are through games played Saturday.
Wednesday, 4/22/2009 - 9:54 a.m. PDT — CP vs Concord
Squeeze Play
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Concord 6 CP 5 in 8 innings.
I won't go any further as to not be accused of being biased. However, believe as you want, I'm 67 and retired, his Dad isn't quite that old yet. Sounds like some people are having a pity party.
Many agree with you baseballparent. Proof is right here on the blog history. Just check the history of Baseballer and Squeeze Play. Once Baseballer was revealed as Alexander's dad in 2008, Squeeze Play came on the board, continuing with the same gloating posts. This year, he took it to a new level and posted negative comments about many. Now Squeeze Play is here buttering up everyone he previously bad mouthed. What a guy.
The only people I see at the games are parents and some fellow students that are friends of the players. Some adult with no kid playing is not a crime, but not how I would spend my day.
lets not worry or pay attention to that. go start another thread about that. how bout we talk about the surprises of the year so far?? college park for instance. they were supposed to be ranked in the top 3 or 4 and now theyre under 500 half way through the season. they still have some games to make up ground but it doesnt seem likely theyll repeat or even go to ncs. on the upside. is concord really in first? i saw they were tied with clayton. who thought theyd even have 6 wins the whole year? no suprises at clayton or northgate. both teams are doing well. its going to be an intense run to the finish for dval champs.
I thought Northgate was getting on a roll after a strong finish in Easter Tourney down south and some strong pitching lately. A second loss to College Park 6-5 in 8 innings. These kind of losses will hurt their chances of getting a decent seed in North Coast.
So let's see. Northgate and CP are relegated to also rans (3rd/4th) and it's Concord/CV on Thursday. Concord threw Alexander Tuesday and CV seems to have re-aligned their rotation. Anyone know the pitching matchups for sure? Only 2 from this league in NCS?
I see CV, Concord and Northgate to get into the D II field. College Park will not get into loaded D I field. Northgate finishes with (2) games with YV, (1) with MD and a rematch with CV.
They will finish 16-8 or 17-7 which will get them into 12 team bracket.
Here is the (12) I see:
Alameda, Arroyo, Clayton Valley, Concord, Northgate, and Heritage. From the North, Cardinal Newman, Casa Grande, Montgomery, Redwood, Rancho Cotate, and Eureka.
First round byes, Alameda, CV, Montgomery and Cardnial Newman
They may have won the league, but they did not run the table. Running the table implies that that they won every game, which they did not. Even if you consider the Concord win a fluke, it still prevented CV from running the table. CV should do well at NCS.
Congrats to Clayton Valley for winning the league, not running the table.
Another great game against Northgate, with Clayton winning 8 to 7. Clayton hit the ball well against Northgate's first two pitchers, but Clayton was not very good on defense and the pitching staff doesn't match up well with Northgate's hitters. CV should get the number 1 seed. It will be interesting to see where Northgate and Concord get seeded.
Way to go Eagles on another fantastic league title....Don't matter what league you are in, the Eagle baseball program again proves why they are top notch from top to the bottom. BVAL,DVAL or any league they are a team everyone should be careful with.
Why people refuse to give the Eagles players and coaches the respect they deserve is beyond me? All they do is win. People say they get lucky, pitching don't match up???? Hitting suspect???? That sounds like a bunch of parents or players jealous over something? I think people need to start noticing what is going on over there. How they re build EVERY year. Injuries or graduation does not hold them back.They would have won the BVAL if they were still in the league. Coach Ralston and staff should be applauded for the job they did with these young men. Most underclassmen who will return next season. They re tool, teach better than most teams in the state let alone the bay area or county. Too bad more kids don't have the chance to work with the staff that Ralston has.
They may not win NCS however AGAIN they will be in the running for the 4th straight year. Maybe even more than 4. They have just as good of a shot as anyone. Congrats to the other teams in the DVAL and hope that your NCS run is sucsessful, if you make it.
As for rematches.......You all had your chance....twice and lost except for Concord. Consider that your day in the sun. Just like in football except this time the Eagles will beat CN!!!!!!
Its about time the Eagles get a little props on this board rather than people saying how the other teams blew it instead of the Eagles just being BETTER than all the other teams. Its' OK Northgate parents to finsh behind CV. You should be used to it by now.....Its' not like finishing below......I don't know you pick?????
I do not hide my name on here, no pen name...I am not a father of a kid on the team, just an alum who is tired of not seeing my friends and players not getting the respet they deserve. THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE EAGLES......DO WHAT YOU DO!!!!!! 2 claps and a HURAH from Oregon!!!!!!!!
I think everyone respects CV. But when Eagle fans say things like the Concord loss was a fluke, it reflects bad on them. Its been a great season for them thus far. Hopefully, they can run the table at NCS. Best of luck to CV.
people have been saying that CV was gonna win league and was gonna go undefeated from the first day this thread was started. And talk about not giving anybody credit?? concord played tough against Cv and held them to one run and the only thing you cv fans have to say is that it was fluke. sounds like somebody was bitter. next time actually read the posts before you reply to them
Posted on Monday, 1/05/2009 - 6:21 p.m. PST — by bballplayer15
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
1. Northgate 1. Clayton Valley 3. Concord 4.College Park 5. Berean Christian 6. Ygnacio Valley 7. Mt. Diablo
Northagte and Clayton end in 11-1 tie!
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
There's no way CP finishes behind concord
Joined: Jan 2008
Current Posts: 4
Northgate and College Park both lost some good players last year. College park has got some quality guys still in the program as does Northgate. I've heard lots of good stuff about Clayton, and Ralston is back there coaching again, they are supposed to be very strong this year. Matt Lyle is apparently going to coach at YV (he is looking for asst coaches on this board) he is an excellent coach and will improve the program. I watched Concord play over the summer, they have some guys that can play as well. So the question is, can Berean play with these teams? Can they give Mt Di and YV a game??
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 11
Can they give Mt Di and YV a game??
I'll start my first post by saying I'm a parent of a BC basketball and baseball player, my son is a senior this year. He's been a three year starter on the basketball team and with this year, will be a four year starter on the baseball team. I think BC's baseball team will surprise a few teams this year in league play. We played MD in our first game last year and beat them so we can compete at least with a lower team in the league. My son also played summer ball for Matt Lyle and Matt Martin on the CP summer team, the Bay Valley Vikings so he got a taste of bigger school baseball. What BC lacks is pitching, we have good pitchers but none of them throw very hard which is going to be a problem. They all have good command of several pitches but if their off speed isn't working, they'll be in trouble because none have a fastball that they can just rare back and throw it by a hitter. I'm sure we'll face better pitching than we're use to seeing too. What we do well is field and hit, so we'll have to try and out score teams and play solid defense to win. Even though some we'll say it's D5 ball but we have won league the last two years and have gone to NCS. We return eight starters from last years team, only losing our center fielder to graduation. So the team is optimistic that they'll will have a good chance to win some games but are also fully aware that this will be a very big challenge for them.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
BC is moving into a league that has been realigned so 2 new teams are coming on board beside BC.
That said Clayton Valley has been strong for the last 4 years and YV has struggled but does have a new coach which may help them.
College Park, Mount., Northgate, Concord have been playing tough each year for the last couple of years. With alot of players graduating last year on those teams, the league is going to be more balanced. College Park graduated somewhere around 10 or so seniors last year. Northgate about six, I think, all starters including league MVP. Mount lost four or five players, and Concord lost five, three starters.
Pitching will be the question in the league, Northgate, CP, Mount and Concord all have 1 solid starter from last year returning but from there on no one stands out. Don't know about CV or YV. Hitting should be good as all teams hit hard. Defense and base running may be question marks.
should be a fun year to watch considering that four of the seven teams went to NCS last year.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
By the way, Northagte returns (5) starters. Seniors Peleyo(LF), Cartwright (CF) and Kosturous (RF) have been starters since sophmores. Navolio (2B) and Daniel Kent (DH) return as well. Starting pitcher Chris Bataska (P) was 11-0 last season. They have some holes to fill from JV and last years non-starters, but look to be pretty strong. I still think it will be Northgate and a strong Clayton Valley team in the end,
Joined: Nov 2007
Current Posts: 9
For College Park, who do they return? Correct me if I am wrong but, I was under the impression that Sidhu, Vink, and Goonan all graduated. Mount has a solid starter??? Northgate, Clayton Valley, and Concord are the only teams that have at least one good solid starting pitcher.
League Predictions:
1st Place and Second: Tie between Clayton Valley and Northgate, I can not decide yet. Clayton Valley has by far the most talent in the league but Northgate knows how to be a nucance. Look for an interesting rivalry there.
3rd: Concord: They have not graduated that many players and that makes for a varsity experienced team. But the loss of Hurlbut hurts. They have a couple good ballplayers in Alexander, Morales, Sprague, etc.
4th: College Park: NCS Champs... Lost all pitching, but they will beat out Mount, YV, and BC for obvious reasons.
5th: BC 6th Mount Diablo 7th YV...
Who are the star players of the new league?
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Think league its between Clayton Valley & Northgate but think CV not only has more talent but having Ralston back who is considered one of the best coaches in the area will be the differance
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 2
2nd half of the season watch out for CP
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
2nd half of the season watch out for CP
Where are they going to be the first half?
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 2
the mt ace pitcher is at cp!
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 15
You must be the father of Randy Pickard? Sorry if I spelled the last name wrong.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
No,
Try again, you have three more cases to open
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Current Posts: 15
sorry that comment was to DLS350.
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 11
??????????? And whom might you be?
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 15
I just played with him over the summer.
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What school do you attend?
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 82
Yes, Clayton Valley is very strong team in a piss poor league.
The EBAL is though where baseball is played.
Dougherty Valley could beat more than half the teams in the DVAL.
Anyway, good luck this season.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I wouldnt call the entire league piss poor just because there are a few bad teams at the bottom. Clayton, Northgate, and Cp could all contend in the EBAL.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
I think your EBAL may be a little overatted. In 3A NCS last season, College Park (the 4th place team in the old DFAL) beat Foothill, Monte Vista, Clayton Valley, and then Arroyo (who beat Livermore) for the Championship. San Ramon Valley did not even make the playoffs. Just keep telling yourself how good the EBAL is. By the way, Monte Vista will win that league, hands down!
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The EBAL is though where baseball is played.
Not really sure what you are trying to say here.
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Current Posts: 7
Clayton will not lose a league game this year.
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Current Posts: 29
I dunno it's pretty tough to go an entire league season without losing a game. Northgate and CP should give Clayton some good games.
Joined: Jan 2007
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I agree, it is very tough to do, with that being said...
They return a very solid team from a year ago that was an NCS runner up. They only lost 4 a year ago in a MUCH tougher league (from day to day). They are a legitimate power program. Very well coached, a lot of talent, and hungry. If they lose, it will be a letdown type of game.
Joined: Feb 2007
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I do think theyre the frontrunner to win league, we'll have to wait and see what happens.
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"They return a very solid team from a year ago that was an NCS runner up. "
Clayton was not an NCS runner up last year. Northgate was the runner up in 2A and CP was the champion in 3A. CV lost in the semi's to CP. All 3 teams had great seasons last year.
http://cifncs.org/sports/baseball/files/RESULTS/2008/08BB2A3AEBbracket.pdf
Joined: Oct 2007
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Clayton will have a great team, but if they lose to Northgate, it will not be in a letdown" type of game. Clayton Valley lost in the semis last year of 3A NCS to College Park, no let down, they simply got beat by a hot team which went on to win the 3A Championship. Northgate beat College Park 2 times last season, and I think College Park finished 4th in the DVAL.
Joined: Oct 2007
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Clayton will have a great team, but if they lose to Northgate, it will not be in a letdown" type of game. Clayton Valley lost in the semis last year of 3A NCS to College Park, no let down, they simply got beat by a hot team which went on to win the 3A Championship. Northgate beat College Park 2 times last season, and I think College Park finished 4th in the DVAL.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
Jake, Concord also beat CP twice last year, matter of fact, the last game before they went on their run for 3a championship. Also, Concord lost to Piedmont 2 to 1 in Piedmont's closest game in payoffs.
Joined: Jan 2007
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A few days until the season starts. Any word on players and/or teams to look out for this year?
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
Looks pretty even to me.
CV/Northgate. Then CP/Concord. Let's see if the coaching change at YV helps and BC is an unknown. Their winning in one league might/should transfer to a middle of the pack with this group. Mt. D at the bottom. There's already coaching rumblings there.
Pitching will tell. Who's throwing for CV? I see coaching, hitting and aggressiveness (on the bases). Northgate... Bataska, coaching and experience. CP... offense. I watched some players this summer. Not sure if they will be playing for CP though. Concord...Experience. Offense. Lost only one effective starter, Hurlbut. The other two starting spots can be filled with current players. Can they find a #2 starter? They have a few to chose from. Watched some this summer. I think one of those lost starters was their catcher but he can be replaced offensively and defensively. Berean...Another team that can sneak up on you. I CAN'T believe that a team that was 1 or 2 in their league will not have some success. YV...Can a coaching change help? Should translate to some wins. Good coach but why are they advertising for coaches? Didn't he bring any with him? Mt. D....Players and coaches grumbling about playing field. Excuses are starting. Do what everybody else does. Fundraise and have it fixed. (You need Concord's coach. That field is rapidly becoming one of the better locally although outfield needs work.)
So with the exception of Mt. D if CV or Northgate stumble you have 6 teams that COULD be within a game of each other during their league run everyone splitting their home and home. I hope all these teams are playing meaningful preseason games.
Joined: Feb 2007
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College Park will be able to hit, them competing will depend on if they can get any pitching.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
College Park will be able to hit
You must be watching a different College Park.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I havent been watching them at all. I'm assuming from the players they have returning
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
I will have to admit, it appears that CP can hit. Oak/tech may not be the strongest of opponets, but CP did hit a grand slam! Not sure why the NCS champs would schedule a game with a historicaly week team.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
College Park will be able to hit
You must be watching a different College Park.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
Any new or interesting info from tryouts? Surprises? Good or bad
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Mt. Diablo will be weak again. Only 8 turned out for tryouts. The JV's were getting better last year. That's pretty sad. Yv as well. They also had to cancel their JV season for lack of players. Berean, is Berean. Not sure they have the pitching to compete at this level. CP lost some key starters and Northgate is always well coached. They lost a couple key players as well but I haven't seen them yet so not sure what surprises they have for us this year. Clayton Valley I think will not be the team everyone thinks they are. We'll see. Concord lost 3 seniors, 2 starters. Morales will move to behind the plate and Alexander will be their #1. He only gave up one today to Heritage. They beat CP twice last year and lost to Piedmont on a held runner at 3rd that would have scored. It will be interesting for sure.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Did YV and Mt. Diablo cancel their 2009 JV seasons? Nice..........................
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
Concord graduated 5 seniors from the team, 3 starters.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
You are correct. 2 Daily players Graduated but 5 did go. Hurlbutt, Rogers and Chisholm were starters but Chisholm was injured part of the year. Daily and Bisbee were bench players. They have a strong #1 arm returning and serveral choices for #2, Morales, Acosta or Welsh. If Wilhite isn't able to go for CV not sure who they have behind him.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
I knew one of them was injured, heard he had surgery on his knee is that why Chisholm isn't playing college ball? I guess Hurlbut is the only one thats palying college ball. Has Alexander commited to any school yet?
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Rogers is recovering from knee injury from last year, but is on the roster at Solano. Chisholm played fall league at DVC. Not sure what happened to him. Maybe a redshirt?
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
I believe DVC is playing Solano JC this Thursday and Rogers is supposed to be in the line up. They are looking forward to seeing each other from the other side of the field.
Alexander has been recruited by a couple of Colleges, Chico, Occidental, UNLV. After playing at Dodger Stadium in December he was been picked up by The American Eagles and is playing in Australia this summer. Hasn't commited yet.
Chisholm is working last I heard.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Solano played DVC this past thurs. DVC 10 Solano 4 Rogers won't see the line up for awhile. The two teams are suppose to play a double header on Saturday, chances are that won't happen.
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Current Posts: 99
he was been picked up by The American Eagles and is playing in Australia this summer.
Hey congratulations! but why are you going to send your kid all the way to Austraila to play baseball during their winter months?
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Perhaps it's because that is when the games are being played.
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Current Posts: 99
oh, ok. good answer, perhaps. Have a great time......
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Your missing the point, you can go to Austrailia and play where nobody can see you, and nobody can dispute your stats. And jet lag can be used for a new excuse!
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Yep. Just like Brett Wallace of ASU fame. He went to Australia with the same team and where is he now, AA ball with the cards. Try again.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Brett Wallace could play on the moon and he would still be where he is today.
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Rogers is now a medical redshirt @ Solano. Did not see the mound.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
I was told Acosta or Morales should probably be the #2 but I have seen a few of the JV games and they may have others, Welsh or this tall kid. Isn't Morales catching for them? Some of the Concord dads said Alexander, Acosta and Morales probably all throw about the same but Alexander has the experience from last year. They need Alexander to hit like last year. I saw him play once this past summer and I think he struck out 3 times when I saw him. He looked bad. There's a rumor they lost some good players to grades or something. Anyone know? What position is Rogers playing? I heard he has bad knees. I don't think he'll be blocking any pitches. 3rd? Any range? I saw him pitch once. Throws hard but has catcher's mechanics. Probably only a DH now.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
You must have seen Alexander hit at the Pittsburg Tournament. That was the only time he K'd 3 times and he had tendonitus in his shoulder. He even he thought he looked bad. He pitched the first day and no hit them until his arm acted up. He is a pitcher, the other 2 throw. He also led the team in extra bases last year while hitting .423. AT least that is what last seasons web site had. Morales is behind the plate but is pitching very well this year. They have a young kid who will be their #2 catcher if Morales is on the bump. Acosta throws hard but has only 2 pitches. Acosta hits a ton, however. The tall kid is Lovejoy. No one was lost to grades, but are out due to another off field situation. Jury is still out as to how long.
As of the last time I talked to Robbie his knee is good and he should be able to catch. Or so he hopes. They have been using him as a relief pitcher.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Clayton Valley will be the top team this year, 1st of all Coach Ralston being back is huge as he is regarded as one of the best coaches in N. Calif, Clayton is solid everywhere, Pitching, hitting & defense
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
Maybe, but I think CV along w/ everyone else in the league will have trouble with CP
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
This a two team race between Northgate and Clayton Valley. Both teams will be ranked in the top 10 in the east bay. NG returns 12 players from last year and 5 starters. Lots of pitching led by Bataska. CV returns Matthews, Wilhite, Lassen, and Bruno and several other very good players. The NG and CV players know each other well and it should be two good games, with a 3rd likely for the DII championship. the question for both of them will be who will be the #2 starters.
I saw a fall ball game betwen NG and Concord and Ng smoked concord. Alexander got rocked pretty hard. Granted NG was missing Pelayo, Cartwright and Bataska, but if that is an indication of where Concord and ALexander are, you've got big problems.
I wouldn't underestimate College Park, They are well coached and their middle infield is back. They can play a tough small ball game. Need some pitching. I heard Tostada from Yv transfered there. That will help.
BC can definitely play with the bottom ofthe DVAL It's just the top will beat them pretty badly.
There will be lopsided scores in this league.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
CP/Oak Tech - Are u kidding me CP. My 12 yr old could have shut them out and gone 4 - 4 against their pitching.
Campo 4 COncord 0 - Concord has no offense and it looks like they are playing JV players. I wanted to see Alexander throw. What happened? Was that Concord's #2 that threw? COncord pitching held Campo to 4 runs.
I don't think CP or Concord did anything to change their preseason predictions.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Half the team is sick and 4 JV's were pulled up. The starting 3bman, LF and RF were out, and Alexander was home in bed. Acosta was sick so he wasn't able to start as the DH. Morales did a good job but the comment was correct, no sustained hitting. Can't win as a pitcher if your team doesn't score runs. No excuses but two of their best hitters were out.
Gold was throwing hard but wow, no mechanics. Campo got the hits they needed to win.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
Squeeze Play,
As you are Alexander's PR rep, how come if half the team was sick he was the only player not to show up? You also use the "no excuses" comment but when it comes to Alexander he was sick, had a sore shoulder or some other excuse.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Northgate played Novato in a scrimmage and pounded them 14 to 5. Pelayo looks in mid season form hitting a homer and a double. Kosturos, Kent, Hernandez and Churich all looked strong at the plate. Kosturos was lights out on the mound. NG is missing 5 to 6 kids who are playing basketball.
Looks like they have reloaded and will score alot of runs.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Sounds like somebody's cranky. Doc says stay in bed, he listens.
Joined: Apr 2007
Current Posts: 73
I did not see the Concord-Campo game but saw both players pitch last year. I would take Gold's mechanics (and results) over Alexander's any day.
Joined: Apr 2008
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Yep, like when Concord beat Gold and Campo last year with Alexander on the bump. Good point!
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
From the line score it looked like a very even game, with Campos 2 errors being the difference. But without any stats at all for Concord, we have to rely on the Squeeze's book for information. I'm sure those errors by Campo didn't have any factor in the 3-1 decision.
At least Northgate posted their inflated stats last year.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Inflated or not, Northgate feasted on 2008 DFAL pitching!
One thing that was not inflated, was Northgate's won-loss record.
Pinchnit-4-you, are you trying to change history?
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Why do you think I'm trying to change history?
All I'm saying is that the Northgate scoreboard, at some games that I've attended, favored the hitter.
Northgate's wins and losses speak for themselves.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 15
Maxpreps shows Northgate had three .400 hitters last year. That doesn't seem all that unsual for a HS team that won as many games as they did. Clayton Valley had five .400 hitters, so they must be inflating things too!
Joined: Feb 2009
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I didn't say anything about it being unusual for a team to have hitters over .400. I said their scoreboard was favorable to the hitters at times.
Joined: Apr 2007
Current Posts: 73
Have you ever seen Cartwright and Pelayo hit? Their stats were/are not inflated. They, and a number of other NG hitters, are legit.
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Current Posts: 15
It's probably safe to say that when you have coaches and parents doing the scoring, they are going to favor the hitter or the pitcher on their team when its a close call. But that mostly involves hits vs. errors or rbi's, where there is judgement required, which is why I look at the on base percentage -- it probably is the most meaningful stat, along with runs scored or runs given up.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
Calculating a batter's On Base Percentage does not include getting on base due to errors. If you are adding in the errors, then that is a different statistic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_base_percentage
Joined: May 2008
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Well shut my mouth -- good catch. Surely there must me a stat that includes errors, like forced errors in tennis. Something to help recognize the speed burners who force errors just by being fast. I know, baseball doesn't care about those guys anymore.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
You are right though Bellboy. There should be recognition from little league up through high school for those who hit the ball hard enough or are fast enough to force the other team make errors. A one hop liner that eats up the second baseman and goes through his legs for an error shouldn't count the same as looking at a 3rd strike.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Inflated or not, Northgate feasted on 2008 DFAL pitching!
One thing that was not inflated, was Northgate's won-loss record.
Pinchnit-4-you, are you trying to change history?
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Northgate did in fact feast on DFAl pitching last year and it looks like the same for this year
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
When do Concord and Northgate play each other in league play?
There is nothing listed on max preps for either team.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
And the errors by Concord's SS on Friday were overlooked? Bottom line, Campo won. Concord did not have their 2 best hitters in the line up, and it showed. However, at the end of the day Campo won.
As far as stats go, the only one that counts is who won the game. Stats are Stats.
Sorry if my comment on Gold's mechanics got some of you upset. He'll never get through College the way he is throwing now. His shoulder will be gone. His college coach will work on that first thing. Too much throwing rather than pitching. I never said he wasn't a good pitcher. He has the velocity but so did Gruber from Liberty. Where is Gruber now? Rehabing a reconstructed shoulder.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
Squeeze Play,
Why do you have to always throw someone under the bus "and the errors by Concord's SS" ? If you are so up on Stats, you would know that the 3, 4 and 5 hitters for Campo in last year Alexander's win went 7 for 15 and his K's were the 7, 8, 9 hitters. Those are facts not just stats. As for Campo's errors, 1st miss played a ball and the Catcher had a WP/PB which scored a run.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
By the way, what did Campos errors have to do with them only scoring 1 run? However, since you want to go into stats, Alexander K'd 7, gave 1 extra base hit and then on the offensive side he had 2 hits and 2 RBI's. Again, how did errors have anything to do with their offensive performance?
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Alexander K'd 7, gave 1 extra base hit and then on the offensive side he had 2 hits and 2 RBI's
And we have no way to dispute what you say because there is nothing posted. I guess we can look at Campo's stats and assume that Alexander pitched to whole game.
Who said anything about Campo's defence effecting there offence. I said the line score made it look like it was a fairly even game other then the 2 Campo errors. Concord had 7 hits, Campo 7hits.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Clayton 13 - Granada 2:
CV looks very strong, 28 runs scored in 2 games to go along with Pitching & Defense
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Northgate finally got on the field. Broncos hitting seems to be their biggest asset. Pelayo home hun. Kent, Churich, Hernandez, Kosturus, and company are already pretty locked in. Heise(3), Kosturus (2), and Mertz (2) pitched and looked pretty good but a little rusty.
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 11
Berean is 2-0 on this young season with a 5-0 over St. Helena a D4 school and and a 7-3 win College Prep a D5 playoff school last year. Good start! I know everyone's thinking, who cares! However, Berean parents and players care. St. Helena is a school Berean would compete against come NCS time if they make it that far in the D4 bracket. Berean is well aware of the challenge ahead of them in the DVAL, look how the basketball team faired, not so well. They have a tough non-league schedule, most are D5 & D4 playoff teams from last year to try and prepare for league. They had a double header scrimmage against Antioch and lost both 4-2 and 4-3. The first game was all starters for both teams although I'm told Antioch started their #3 pitcher, Berean started their #2. The second game was all backups, both gmes were competative. I know Clayton and Northgate are going to be extremely tough teams as well as the rest of the league. Hopefully, BC shows well.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
DLS350: Thanks for the updates on Berean, always fun to get imput about all teams and players, while everybody is competing with each other still fun to hear about various teams and individual players in are Community/Area
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Clayton beat James Logan 9 to 0 yesterday
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Current Posts: 58
Nor Cal posted their first top 20 list has Northgate at #8 in Northern California. I could only see the top 10 and didn't see 11 through 20. I would guess that Clayton Valley is somewhere between 11 and 20.
1 Jesuit, 2 Oakdale, 3 Valley Christian, 4 Yuba City, 5 San Ramon Valley, 6 Monte Vista, 7 Serra, 8 Northgate, 9 De La Salle, 10 St Mary's Stockton.
With Clayton Valley and Northgate both playing well, my bet is they will both be highly ranked all year.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
While both teams are playing well and have handled the opposition pretty convincingly, who has CV they played? DV, Logan, Pittsburg? CV and northgate will probably be 1-2 in their league but that really isn't saying much. Neither team has convinced me that they can't be upset by CP, Concord or even Berean. CV's upcoming Amador and MV games will tell a story. NG's Mission San Jose and Lincoln games will not. Right now the edge goes to CV. Berean is winning as many games as they can this preseason. Concord gets back some starters in a few weeks. If CP is what we see, they may be in for a long/short season. YV...come-on Leadership Richmond?
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Perhaps you are not paying much attention to the box scores. Acalanes beat both CP and Concord, and Northgate smoked Acalanes 11 to 0. The talent difference between CV and Ng and the rest of the league is very wide. If any of the teams you mentioned, CP, Concord or Berean, had a top flight pitcher, an upset could be predicted. But when you have a substantial edge in hitting, pitching and coaching, a upset is going to be very tough.
I do agree with you that i would give the edge to CV over Northgate, although slightly.
The biggest problem for CV and NG is going to be keeping their focus on fundamentals when they are ahead double digits.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
CV and NG may have a "substantial edge" in hittin and pitching, but no way in coaching. Nope
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Why not just post the stats like everyone else, and there would be less confusion.
Joined: Apr 2007
Current Posts: 73
Nice try -- Alexander beat Campo with Wirth on the mound. Gold beat Concord 1-0 in a 67 pitch 8 strikeout CG. As some other posts point out, look at MaxPreps and get your facts straight.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
"I don't care who ya are, that's funny stuff right there"
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 3
It would be interesting to see how many players would be able to pass a drug test.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Testing becomes a reality at the college level.
Joined: Feb 2008
Current Posts: 22
This is Alexander's Dad. After last year I decided to shut up. You guys are tough! However it has come to my attention that some things my exuberant friend has said may have hurt some feelings. I want to apologized for him to those who were offended. He's just a guy that loves baseball and has "adopted" Mike. This year is going to be interesting. I am as excited, as it seems several of you are, to see how it all plays out.
See you on the ball field. Good luck to all. Have a great season.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Can we get a re-cap on yesterdays game ?
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Didn't see the whole game, but Acalanes hit the ball well. Acalanes made the best of 2 Concord errors and put up 5 runs in a very long fourth inning. That was the last inning that I saw.
Looks like the Concord bats came to life in the 6th and scored 4 of their own.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Clayton Valley-15 Pitt-1
Anyone see this game?
Joined: May 2006
Current Posts: 13
As we know from years previous, there is more than one Alexander's dad.
If you keep icin' your son's tendinitis and let him rest he would pitch. Gold too, should watch what he is doin'. Too many youngin's are trying too hard to keep up with the competition and are working their arms far too much. They try to throw too many movement balls too soon, and then throw too many of them. The coaches are thinkin' these kids will get them far and into playoffs without a thought to the future of these kids arms. Most of them haven't finished growin'. Good luck to all in the new league.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 4
cp has pitt this saturday how do you think the game will play out??????????
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 11
BC played Redwood Christian yesterday and lost 8-1. RC has a solid club and has started 5-0 with a big 6-4 win over Piedmont, last years 2A NCS winner. Three of their wins have been shut outs and have only given up 5 runs in 5 games. RC's starter had to be throwing in the high 80's and may have touched 90 on a few pitches. Their coach, Jim Cleveland, does a really good job, he's an excellent coach. BC looked shakey right from the start with a bad pre-game infield and it carried over into the game. First play of the game BC's right fielder miss a catch in the gap. It was a well hit ball but he ran it down just to have the ball tip off the top of his glove and it ended up being a 3B. BC did have two starters out but that's no excuse. They need to pick up their play as a team and get more focused, to much screwing around by players not in the game. Another tough game today against University.
Go eagles!
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 11
Another win for the Eagles although it wasn't a particurly sharp game. BC is still struggling at the plate with only 5 hits, doing just enough to win and be 4-1 on this young season. Better start than last year where they started 2-7, pretty much looking like they did yesterday. The difference is they're winning the games 5-1 hitting poorly instead of losing them 1-5 hitting poorly. They went on a 16-2 run after there hitting came around last year, hopefully the bats wake up soon. Players are hitting the ball just not getting hits. Another tough two games this coming weekend with Cloverdale and Clearlake, both teams may contend for the D4 NCS playoffs which is the division BC is in. BC needs to get two good wins this weekend to help their playoff cause down the road.
Go Eagles!
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Clayton Valley beat Foothill 5 to 2 last night to win the East Bay Classic and up there record to 5 & 0
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 1
Yeah, they won a tough game against a good team. They had a kid named Brandon Weller throw four innings - no runs. His max prep shows he has not been scored on this year. He was not on the roster last year. Any one know where he came from? Has anyone seen him pitch?
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Last nights game was the championship for the East Bay Classic Tournement,
Brandon Weller moved here from Oregon (I believe) doesnt throw hard but has a differant delivery that batters are having a hard time picking up and throws strikes, Weller & Levine where named to the all tournement team and Vince Bruno was named MVP of the Tournement
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
Contrary to previous replies to this forum, coaching is making the difference for CV. There is some good talent but you have to put it together. I pick them over NG. I see more individualism on NG. We'll see. Watched BC yesterday...again, another nice small school team but I don't see them in the top 4 of this league although they will give teams a run. Concord...Their 1 & 2/3 (not sure who their #2 is) pitchers are even and their hitting is streaky. Yesterday I think their 3, 4 struck out 5-6 times. Their infield is suspect. An error hurt them in the first inning and then their pitcher gave up a few hits although they weren't much. Their right fielder made a great throw to keep a run off the board. I don't think he gave up any extra base hits. All Singles. He did go 6 and had a few short innings. I'll stay with my predictions.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Big week for the DVAL as Clayton Valley plays Amador Valley and Monte Vista. Northgate plays Alhambra and will likely face Waterman. They also play back to back games against Lincoln and Mission San Jose. If Clayton wins both games, they will likely be #1 in the east bay. NG is currently ranked higher but that won't last much longer with CV's tougher schedule.
The key for these teams will be health as well as the other strengths presiously discussed. Bruno and Wilhite have a history of injuries and hopefully they will make it through the season.
NG just got their 6 basketball players back, including 2 to 3 likely starters. It will take them a few weeks to get in the flow of the season. You make a good point that right now NG looks like individuals. I suspect that when Cartwright gets back, that the lineup and NG's play will be substantially different.
CV clearly ahead right now, but its early March. They don't play each other until mid April. The CV/Ng games will be great competition and will likely be attended by many scouts and fans.
I think Berean will be fine in this league. concord and College Park don't have the offense to blow BC out and in a close game, anything can happen. BC has several quality players including the Alexander brothers and Sullivan.
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 2
We used this site - www.recruitu2.com - for my kid and got offers from 12 college coaches. You should do this Junior year.
Joined: Nov 2006
Current Posts: 400
Do NOT use any recruiting site that requires payment for their services. While some may be well intentioned, most are quite simply, rip-offs and scams.
If you are serious about being recruited, go to your coach and ask for his help. If he is not willing to help, seek out a TRUSTED adult to help you.
Remember that if you have not SPOKEN with a college coach, you are NOT being recruited. Letters from schools mean virtually nothing other than you happen to be in their database. There are several sources out there that discuss the recruiting process. Again, your coach should help you, but if they don't, then ask for help from a TRUSTED adult. Do NOT spend money to do this, these sites claim that college coaches utilize their services, but the fact is that only a very small percentage do so. Don't get caught up in a scam.
Good Luck to you all!!!
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
epcthree is correct,
Most of those sites do not get you recruited, they send out letters to colleges the same as you with your information that you give them. You can do the same and get the same letters for 42 cents.
Here is a short list of things you can do and cost you alot less money.
1) Make sure you are signed up with NCAA and have sent them a copy of your transcripts. No college will even talk to you if your not registered with NCAA.
2) Find out what colleges you are interested in, and the head coach's name, then send them a short resume about yourself, included with your GPA and any other activites you have been involved in other then baseball. Don't write a book! Remember this term KISS, keep it short and simple.
3) If you want to go out of state, be prepared to pay 30,000 to 40,000 per year. Very few colleges will offer a full ride. Baseball only has 11.5 scholarships per school which they share with many players.
4) Go to camps that have many colleges attend. Stanford is one of the best in the area, they have many colleges attend their camp. Alot of colleges have camps, but they use them to raise money for their programs. If your tired or hurt, Don't Go, this may be the only time scouts may see you.
5) Check out www.HighSchoolBaseballWeb. They have alot of good information on their fourms from coaches and parents.
6) Don't forget about Junior Colleges, if you check the rosters of the colleges, many are transfer from J.C.'s. plus you can get your basic college courses for a lot less money.
Remember, every time you step on the field, someone will be watching you, you never know who.
Have A Great Season all
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 4
what do you guys think of the game last sat.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
The First East Bay Baseball Poll came out today
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
Defending champ CP nowhere to be found. CV at #2 and NG #11 only 2 DVAL teams making the first poll, both undefeated thus far out of the gate. 7 of the top 15 are EBAL teams including 4 of the top 5 and 5 of the top 7. that won't last as they will beat themselves up when league starts. Granada will be in a world of hurt, as they are the only EBAL team not ranked. It could be a long year for them. 2 DFAL teams at #8 & #9, and 2 BVAL teams tied for the all important 12th spot. MV got all 8 votes for top seed, with their all D1 pitching staff.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I dont think College Park was in the Super Poll until the season was over last year, so it's really not saying much.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
straight up to be said, CLAYTON VALLEY IS GOING TO OWN THE DVAL.
1. i dont think any team has a harder nonleage schedule than cv does and there also 5-0 including a east bay classic crown
2. this league is weak compared to the BVAL whivh was the league that cv was in including teams like de la salle, freedom, and deer valley
3. cv has the best coaches in the area which wont let them play down to there competion and will allow them to beat the best
4. they are stacked. 1-9 in there lineup can hit the ball all over the park. there defibatky going to be the hardest team to pitch to
5. they have experince, most of the returners have had experince in huge games (including 2 straight years of making it to the ncs semis) and will know how to handle the pressure.
6. trust me they will be the hardest team to beat in this league
but the one thing that might be a question mark is the pitching, they do have a few young and talented arms so we will see
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I don't think anyone's really debating whether clayton is the best team in the league right now. But the playoffs are about who's hot when. Almost everybody from clayton thought they would roll over CP last year, and that didnt happen. I'm not saying that will happen this year, but there's a big difference between winning the DVAL and winning NCS, which really matters. Also, i was just wondering what defibatky means. thanks.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
Having a son play at CV and a nephew play at CP, I have some DVAL insight. My notes for the year.
1. CV will run away with it, but have a little fight from NG and CP
2. They don't have the best coaches in the League. Maybe 3rd best.
3. Berean will get pounded by CP, NG and CV. They might hang with Concord.
4. Mt. D and YV are terrible. Which one is worse? Thats debatable. That should be Bereans 4 wins in league only.
Predictions:
CV 11-1
NG 10-2
CP 8-4
CHS 7-5
BC 4-8
YV 2-10
MD 0-12
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I can see this being very, very close to the actual league standings.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I can see this being very, very close to the actual league standings. Good job
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
agreed, its def a better coaching staff then the past years
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Why isn't Wilhite pithing? I would presume he is number 1 if healthy?
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
Hurt. Supposedly out for the season, we'll see.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Wilhite has a recurring elbow issue. From what I have heard he is done throwing at all. Can only DH.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
That's a shame that wilhite is hurt. He is a good kid and one heck of a pitcher. He has always been a great player since PONY. Hopefully he can still DH and recover.
Joined: Nov 2007
Current Posts: 9
CV has been playing great baseball, against the best teams around. I cant see the loss of Wilhite hurting that much.
Does the DVAL have any players commited to play next year?
Joined: Apr 2007
Current Posts: 8
having their best hurt is a big blow and is gonna effect how well they do. i donno if its enough to knock them out first place contentions but its definately going to affect their season.it will be closer at the top with ng, cv, cp, and chs
somebody was committed to play but they didnt have grades. i dont want to mention them for their privacy.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
Watch out for SRVHS, maybe not this year but last years freshman team was very good and this years team is even better. In two to three years they should be very strong.
Joined: Nov 2006
Current Posts: 400
Until the teachers union gives up on the tenure system and stops supporting illegal aliens in our classrooms. I wont give High School sports another dime and if that means no more HS sports so be it.
And to all you sports crazed dads out there, do you have as much passion for the academics at your schools? Do you know the test scores as it relates to state averages. What people get fired up about..............Anyone know who won the recent Math/Science competition? I did not think so.........
btw, your sports minded kids will have NO chance against the kids that focus on academics when it come to college time. Now wake up and check on your kids grades!
Sound familiar Tom?
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I disagree with you saying "sports minded kids will have NO chance against the kids that focus on academics." Playing sports gives exposure to a completely different aspect of life besides books. I agree kids should obviously keep their grades up, but saying that kids who have sports as their first priortity will have no chance is ridiculous.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I disagree with you saying "sports minded kids will have NO chance against the kids that focus on academics." Playing sports gives exposure to a completely different aspect of life besides books. I agree kids should obviously keep their grades up, but saying that kids who have sports as their first priortity will have no chance is ridiculous.
Joined: Feb 2008
Current Posts: 22
First let me say I do agree with one part of the authors tirade, we waste billions in this state on people who do not belong here. Charity starts at home. I am not an isolationist but when our budget gets so bad that we are cutting sports, cutting needed teachers and we continue to pay for people who are illegally here, something is wrong. To quote a LEGAL immigrant, Lucy? you got some splainin to do.
However, the author has it 180 degrees wrong. Studies show that kids who play organized sports in school do better in life that those who just stick their heads in books. My son has a cummulative 3.4 GPA Starts on the varsity team and has a very active social lfe.Team sports teaches guess what? Teamwork! In business today that is the mantra. Teamwork. Sports teaches how to deal with the real world. I have a college degree but I learned quickly to remember facts, not theory. The real world works very little like a classroom. No answer key, no chapter review, gots to make that decsion now! However, it does work quite a bit like a team. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It's how you handle adversity that develops character.
If you want to toss out something, toss out the clowns who handed out all those pink slips, cut all sports but still pay for illegals who don't belong here. Give me a great game of baseball over a class in diversity politics any day.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
I believe "The Author" in his "tirade" may have been merely quoting Tom from a prior post on a different thread.
Joined: Nov 2006
Current Posts: 400
Indeed and thanks for making sure folks were aware.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
So sorry, I was posting my view about taxation on a forum dedicated to that subject. My post here was to address the subject of this particular forum. As someone felt the need to combine them I have provided a reply.
Please understand, I have no doubt that you all do a great job with your kids. My concern is priorities. I am not attacking you, sports or the schools.
Regarding the relative value of team sports on our society and business in general:
You dont have criminals (NFL/NBA) running your image. You do not taunt your opponent or draw attantion to youself for just doing your job (look everyone I sacked the quarterback). Team sports do NOT teach teamwork. If they did blacks would be the very best business people in this country.
My concern is priorities:
You guys keep focusing on your teams. If my kids grades suffered I would boot them off the team. They know that. If they gets caught doing drugs, I will boot them. When it is time to go to college based on their grades alone thus far they will have many choices. Take a walk around silicon valley some day, Intel, Apple, Ebay, Yahoo. You will find people that were very good at Math and Science. They earn very good pay and are team players. They did not learn this on a field.
I love sports, my kids played, I played. I just thinik our priorities are very screwed up.
Tirade? I will accept that. I am sick and tired of our kids not getting what they deserve. First class classroom, sports, music and yes teachers. I for one simply want more than what we are getting.
Joined: Feb 2008
Current Posts: 22
I cetainly won't argue that there are jerks in professional sports. However, professional sports are not anything other than business' now. The days of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Wille Mays are gone. Now you have Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Ricky Henderson. Guys who think they are the game, not part of it. However if you don't have coaches in High School reinforcing teamwork then get rid of those coaches. I am a coach and I know for a fact we stress that the players are Student Athletes. Student is first.
Lynn Swann, Mike Garrett, Steve Young, Tony LaRussa all with college degrees, 2 are attorneys and all 4 learned valuable lessons on the field. Lessons not learned anywhere else. We need our kids to be well rounded. Facts are subborn things. It is a fact that Student Athletes do better in life. They are more well rounded. Music does the same thing. It brings passion and commitment.
California is now last in the US in per pupil spending. Yep behind Arkansas and Mississippi. We don't need to raise one dime in taxes if we spent the money we have on legal residents. Tirade was too strong a word. I like a good Dennis Miller rant so rant it is. We have great minds on the bench ready to take over if we provide for them what we had.
Now my picks,
CV, Northgate, CHS, CP, YV, Berean then Mt. D.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
You sound liek a very good coach to me. Good luck.
I am very good owith stats and I can prove all sorts of things depending on how you wish to filter the pivot table. I can show you that athletes are far more likely to:
Rape, Kill, Domestic Violence. This is also true in the hip hop community.
Of course I am not saying sports are bad. You can learn good things and bad things on the field. You can learn all you will ever need without ever playing high school sports as well.
btw was Tony LaRussa the same guy slumped over his steering wheel a few years ago? Does he still defend Mark McGuire?
All those MLB players that did steroids were violating federal law. You do understand that right?
I am sure we can all agree that the per capita percentage of criminal behavior is higher amoung NFL/MLB/NBA players than that of the general population. Does that mean Steve Young is anything but a very decent stand up guy? Of course not, but if you want to trade good examples against bad ones we both know who will win based on the numbers.
No more about how sports is important in business. That is a joke. Yes, you can use your celebrity to make money after you retire but does anyone think sharing an office with Allan Iverson/Roger Clemins would be good for sales?
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
The fact that you even know your kids GPA is better than many parents. No doubt your son benefitted by your example and work ethic. Cudos to you.
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
No comments on today's CCTimes Top 10 East Bay rankings?
I agree with the top 2, but DLS at #3? Above Foothill, BOD and SRV? I don't think so, but would like to hear other people's comments. Just seems to feel like the seasonal "love fest" between CCTimes and DLS continues....
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
No comments on today's CCTimes Top 10 East Bay rankings?
I agree with the top 2, but DLS at #3? Above Foothill, BOD and SRV? I don't think so, but would like to hear other people's comments. Just seems to feel like the seasonal "love fest" between CCTimes and DLS continues....
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
DLS is CC Times golden team, like Duke is the favorite child of ESPN. They have no business being in the three spot.
Miramonte is a good team, but don't think they are worthy of a #8 spot at this time...another darling team of CCT.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 25
Im not convinced Miramonte is a CCT "darling team".
And from looking at the numbers in 9 games they have put up 108 runs while only allowing 14. Every team they have beaten has been by 5 or more runs. Also if you think they ran up the score against weaker opponents think again, the starters were pulled before the 4th in all 3 blowouts.
They are 4 deep in pitching (3 of whom are 4 year starters) and return an entire starting line up that scored more runs during the the regular season in 08 than the NCS runner up Northgate (reg season being non ncs games). They were predicted to finish 1st in DFAL last year, but struggled with inconsistency. Maybe because they were overrated or maybe it was because they only had 1 senior on the team. Either way they return the entire starting line up with the exception 1 player who still saw active duty during the season, 4 first team all leaguers and a fifth who hit .410 and failed to even get second team, and have 6 players that are committed to playing at the next level.
They have however made 2 mistakes. They tied a very young Riordan Team (if that is your point than there is no arguing against it, that team needs to be beaten by any team contending for a top 5 spot). And a loss to Serra. They were, however, leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th until Serra strung together a few hits and came away with the W.
On a side note, Miramonte did also beat DLS in a scrimmage game 9-1. Miramonte seems like a strong team to me.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
I said Miramonte is a good team, and not I'm not convined that they should be at #8 at this time. Yes they have pounded some very weak teams, as they should. Good teams take care of business.
And yes, I was refering to the Serra loss and a Riordan tie, the only two notables they have faced. Beating DLS in a scrimmage is like kissing your sister.
Please don't misunderstand me, Miramonte will likley win the DFAL. I believe they only lost a couple players, and only one was a starter, Bourgein. They have good pitching and a very strong offence.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 25
Thats a fair argument. We will have to see. They will need to dominate the DFAL to move up into that very top 3 or 4 realm. And as far as the DLS scrim goes, with the way DLS has been playing thus far, kissing your sister is pretty close to hitting it on the nose.
EBAL looks very tough this year. Monte Vista's pitching staff is unbelievable.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
If Miramontes coach says "and we beat DLS in a scrimmage" at the NCS seeding meeting, he wil be laughed out of the room. Scrimmages are scrimmages.
Again, don't get me wrong. I would take Miramonte over DLS in a real game.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
DLS shouldnt be #3 in polls before and after there loss to Granada yesterday but with CC Times staff they could move up to #2 !!
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
I find it very frustrating that our local paper, thinks that their customers are really interested in how Oakland Tech is doing in the OAL. This is article # 2 for them.
Yes, I know that the section does say "Bay Area Prep", but some common sence should tell you that CC times customers don't really want to see a 1/4 page article about how El Camino rolled over South Sanfrancisco in the PAL opener. The box score would be just fine.
They did include an EBAL article, which was great, and even a little small piece on Granada v. DLS.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
Is undefeated and beat DLS quite easily. Last years frosh team was also VERY good. Give it two years the varsity team should be able to compete with anyone then. I wish all of your teams well and enjoy the good competition.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Look out CV! DLS shut out Livermore 10-0 on Friday. This is for sure going to launch them into the #2 or maybe the #1 spot with such a win of conviction.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
College Park at Northgate today, I'm gonna go ahead and predict the upset, CP 5 NG 3.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
College Park easily handles Northgate 10-4. Not an upset. NG played a bunch of cupcakes in preseason and CP played some decent teams.
Concord beats Berean 5-0, could have been 10-0 they left a lot of runners on base.
Clayton pounds YV 16-0, but YV hung around. 3-0 in the 3rd then the Eagles jumped all over them.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
College Park easily handles Northgate 10-4. Not an upset. NG played a bunch of cupcakes in preseason and CP played some decent teams.
Concord beats Berean 5-0, could have been 10-0 they left a lot of runners on base.
Clayton pounds YV 16-0, but YV hung around. 3-0 in the 3rd then the Eagles jumped all over them.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
College Park easily handles Northgate 10-4. Not an upset. NG played a bunch of cupcakes in preseason and CP played some decent teams.
Concord beats Berean 5-0, could have been 10-0 they left a lot of runners on base.
Clayton pounds YV 16-0, but YV hung around. 3-0 in the 3rd then the Eagles jumped all over them.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Good call. Actually, CP 10 NG 5. CP had NG scouted well and played well. NG committed several errors early in the game and CP made them pay for all of them. CP pitched very well, and fielded flawlessly. CP hit the ball well and capped it off with a homer in the 6th. NG fought back to make the score respectable. CP was clearly the better team today.
NG has alot of work to do. This team is not playing their best ball.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 25
How are big name players for Ngate last year playing (Pelayo, Cartwright, etc)?
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Cartwright and Pelayo are seniors this year, big losses are
Johnson, Dell'anno and Bartlett.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Cartright, Pelayo, Kosturos, Kent and bataska are all playing well for Northgate. All 5 have been on varsity since their sophomore year. Northgate is missing the key hit to get a big inning and is not playing good defense as they break in 4 new starters. Part of the issue is 6 players were playing basketball. They will start to play well soon. CV and CP should enjoy their good start before NG starts to play well. NG's best 5 can match up with anyone's. Pelayo's injury was a set back, but he will rebound and play well. Pitching remains an issue.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
NG's Top 5 wouldn't even start at CV.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
It doesn't matter what top 5 you put on the field, it's all about the W. CP top 5 last year probably wouldn't start at CV either, but they beat them, and the rest of the powerhouse teams.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
I agree with that. CPs coaching and pitching made all the difference. They had zero offense.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
CP's entire infield would have started over Clayton's last year, looking at both offense and defense.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
No NG players would start at CV? Eaglesfavdad are you kidding??? All East Bay, All Metro Jack Cartwright wouldn't start?? First team All DFAL Pelayo wouldn't start?? Buddy, we have seen CV play a few times and they aren't that good.
Well, i guess we should just pick all the CV players for first team all league right now and not play the games.
I hope CP kicks your heads in on Thursday. When they do, I wouldn't call it an "upset".
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
I agree it wouldn't be an upset. CP is much more evenly matched with CV than NG is. Much better coached. NG got outcoached by CP big time last week.
After seeing everyone play now..Heres my thoughts.
CV 11-1...my guess is CP gets them once.
CP 10-2...will have 2 hiccups. 1 vs. CV, 1 vs. who knows
NG 9-3...will lose twice to CV and might upset CP once.
C 7-5...will upset CP is my guess and maybe NG too
BC 3-9..will split with YV
YV 3-9...will split with BC
MD 0-12..dont see them winning. They might beat YV.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Will CV be able to field a team once grades come out this week? I heard they might have to pull 4 or 5 up from JV.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Will CV be able to field a team once grades come out this week? I heard they might have to pull 4 or 5 up from JV.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 25
I cant see that many players on CV not keeping grades, 2.0 isnt asking much. Plus with such a strong chance at an NCS title, it seems like the odds are low.
But saying that NG's top 5 players wouldnt even start at CV is a bit much, dont you think? Pelayo and Cartwright are both fenominal. They both hit 300+ and 400+ as sophomores, and 400+ and 500+ as juniors.
I dont know what Cartwright's situation is at the next level but if Pelayo had the grades and had done the showcasing, he would have been a big time recruit. I give these 2 guys nods at starting jobs at almost any school in the East Bay, even if 1 is at DH.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Wow, a couple surprises. California from 15th to 5th, Livermore sent off the page.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
CP 11, YV 1. My guess is YV will keep it close maybe 3 or 4 to nothing until the 4th inning, then CP goes off.
CV 13, BC 1. Same story across the street. BC might hang around for a bit, but once they get to their #2 pitcher...its over.
CHS 17, Mt. D 0. Alexander will throw a shutout, and CHS will hit well.
Not one single good game in the DVAL today.
Thursday is a different story.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
CP 12, YV 1. Pretty much nailed that one. I heard CV/Berean was 6-6 in the 4th? Anyone know what happened with that?
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
I'm saying CP wins 7-5. Hogan will slow the bats down a little I think.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
im saying cv wins 8-5, if you compare both teams, cv's bats are too strong compared to cp's and 7 out of the 9 hitters are red hot right now. Its going to be a good game and there is also some redemption for cv
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Ng won 10 to 3. The game was much closer than the score indicates as it was 5 to 2 going into the bootom of the 6th before Ng scored 5 runs in the 7th. Concord played well. Best game NG has played so far with a new revamped lineup.
Joined: Feb 2007
Current Posts: 29
Good point about some redemption for CV, didn't really think about that. Should be a great game, I'm excited to see how it turns out.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Clayton did lose 2 players to grades, did any other teams lose anybody ?
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Max preps has CV vs. CP scheduled to play on 4/02. CCT lists them playing today, 4/03
Do they play today?
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
What playerrs did not make grades?
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
"What playerrs did not make grades?"
I should hope that this is a team issue and not something that is broadcast over these message boards.
Unless you are going to offer to tutor these kids, does it really matter?
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
I agree. I hope that no one mentions their names on these boards. While these boards are fun to raise team issues and poke fun at each other, we shouldn't be airing dirty laundry about kids and internal team issues. There is a post about a campo kid on the DFAL board that should never have been posted.
Come game time, we will likely know who they are if they are starters. Hopefully, those kids can bring their grades up and graduate.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
I didn't agree with the post about the campo kid either. Things that happen in a teams clubhouse, should stay there, especially at this level.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
ya agreed, names should never be mentioned on here, come on its not like high school athletes are pros, there learning the basics of life, everyone makes mistakes, but whoever cv lost because of grades is not going to effect them one bit, there going to be fine and will adjust players around to fill in the empty spots
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
clayton valley 17 college park 7- told ya clayton valleys bats are red hot right now!!!!!!!
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
hahahahahhaha DLS LOST AGAIN hahha, DLS is now 4-6 now, lost to Amador today. If there still atleast in the top 10 in the polls im going to protest it. They have lost to Amador, Foothill and Granada, all teams that CV beat
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
100% agree with you baseballstud5! There's now way they should be in the top 10, but I'll bet they'll still be there. I'm sure DLS will make a late run at things, but for now they should NOT be in the top 10.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
DLS should not be on that list at all. If they are in the top ten, then some major shuffing will have to occur. There is no way a team should be ahead of teams they have lost to, and have a sub .500 record.
Joined: Mar 2007
Current Posts: 11
now that we are almost half way through the season, with CV SMASHING Cp, what are the predictions for the CV vs Concord, and the CV vs NG games now?
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
Claytons lost pitchers will be their demise!
Bataska will shut down CV and Northgate will feast on whats left of the CV pitching staff.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 182
Clayton will get a pitcher back soon so no it wont be there demise and Great teams still find ways to WIN when a player or two are out which Claytin has done
If Bataska can hold Clayton Valley to 2 runs or less something only Monte Vista & Amador have done that would be amazing !!
Clayton has scored 58 runs in there 4 league games (14.5 per game) and 111 overall in there 12 games (9.25 per game)
Joined: Mar 2007
Current Posts: 11
and how would bataska hold CV to under 2 runs? like you said, only monte vista and amador valley have been able, and CV still beat amador.
your exactly right, CV has averaged 14 runs a game the past 4, and yesturday against CP was supposed to be the "big game" and cv puts a 9 spot up on them in the first.
it almost seems like CV doesnt have feelings. they werent even phased by the errors they had in the beginning of the game and the pitchers seemed like bulldogs, and makin some CP hitters look silly pullin the string on some pitches
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Northgate couldn't hold Alhambra to 2 runs, and their offence is spotty at best. CV can put up some runs, and so can Northgate.
It should be a great game, both teams need to bring their A game defence.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
Jake111 your an idiot for posting that. That is definately going to be an incorrect guess at the score to be the best. It is most likely CV will score more than 10 runs against you cuz wait did i forget, didnt cp score 10 runs against NG and im pretty sure CV's offense is twice as powerful as cp's. And Cv's pitching doesnt have to be great right now, all they have to do is throw strikes and do there job and they will be perfectly fine, since the offense will provide enough runs. " The Eagles are Hitting Away"
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
O ya and look at the competition that NG has played. The only 2 decent teams they have played is CP and Alhambra. If they had the schedule of cv i dont think they would be above 500
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
NG 8, YV 1...YV hangs around for a bit, but can't score.
CV 5, C 2...Close game only because Alexander is good. If Alexander doesnt pitch well..9-2 is my guess.
CP 15, Mt. D 0...blow out.
Thursday:
YV 6, Mt. D 0. This will be a serious "horn locking". haha
CP 9, BC 3. Berean's heads will be spinning after this one.
CV 7, NG 4...Another close game if Bataska throw's well. If not..look for 14-4.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Lets not let the facts get in the way fellas:
In the CP v Ng game, NG made several errors in the first 3 innings and spotted CP to a 6 to 1 lead. It is much easier to play games like these from the lead. CP made several good defensive plays to stop several NG rallies.
In the CP v CV game, CP made several errors in the first inning to contribute to the 9 run lead and then CV tried to give it back with several errors themselves.
I have not seen a great shutdown pitcher in the DVAL this year against good teams. All pitchers are dependent on their infield defense which has been very inconsistent this year and getting out of jams with several runners on. Northgate has shown the most inconsistentcy in their infield defense so far. Hurt them badly in both losses. CV will put the ball in play hard and NG better be ready.
If CV doesn't fix their defense, it will catch up with them as well.
The winner of CV and NG will be the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. Both have very good offenses, but CV certainly has the better league statistics so far. CV boasts 6 of the top 7 hitters in the league according to maxpreps. Bruno and Matthews are D1 hitters.
I still think CV wins 7 to 4. NG has a ways to go before they fix their problems and gets the consistentcy that has aluded them so far.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
NG/CV. Bataska will have to do better than last week. He was in trouble in almost every inning vs Con. No it wasn't the pitcher who got out of it. I see in 5 of 6 Con losses they scored only 5 runs. Ouch. He may not have that luxury vs CV.
Con/CV. Con pitching has been OK but will it be enough to slow down the CV juggernaut? Doesn't matter if Con bats don't heat up.
It seems to be a race to stay out of the hump position. (Not in the top 3. Not in the bottom three.) CV's a given. The race is between NG, CP and Con. I was hoping BC would be a factor but right now it looks like they are overmatched. They are playing hard but... Maybe they can sneak up on someone.
Joined: Nov 2007
Current Posts: 9
I agree that he will have to do a lot better to then last week to bring down the "CV juggernaut", and that he was in trouble in a lot of innings, but he didnt get hard. I left after the 5th and there was one basehit to the outfield and the rest were grounders that poked through. Also he threw alot of balls. Id say he had at least 5 walks. Bataska will have to clean it up for thursday and if he does good then that game will be a very good one.
Prediction:
If Bataska does well: CV 3 to NG 1
If bad: CV 10+ to NG 1.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
DLS somehow still in the top ten? Alhambra gets knocked out with a loss to Acalanes, California is like a ping pong ball from 15th to 5th to 10th.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 15
That northgate field does not drain well, so we will see what happens Thursday, if they even play. NG is probably hoping for a rainout to push the game deeper into the schedule. That would give them time to address their infield and pitching issues. But it also might mean CV gets some players back.
Joined: Feb 2008
Current Posts: 22
Concord convincingly beat CV 3-1. The Concord team played flawless defense with a complete game 3 hitter thrown by Michael Alexander. Not sure but I believe 8k's 2 BB's and only 1 ball hit hard by Chaz Meadows. Great pitching and great defense shut down the Clayton bats. Concord played as a team on a mission, and I can say mission accomplished. Well done to the Concord Minutemen and Head Coach Matt Harrod.
Joined: Oct 2008
Current Posts: 29
Concord won without much threat from CV. Clayton had a few errors but overall it was concords timely hits that got them the win. Clayton didnt look like anything special. Congrats to Concord
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
I agree Baseballer....Concord played flawless defense and Alexander kept CV bats off-balance all game by mixing it up quite well. Dunley (CV) threw a great game as well keeping the Minutemen off-balance and guessing as well. I don't have the offical stats, but I'm sure he was on par with Alexander. Both Pitchers gave up only 1 ER, both late in the game.
I think both coaches and all fans couldn't believe the poor officiating of the game. It didn't "cost" anyone the game as the plate ump was calling strikes 8" off the plate, then turn around and not call it. Went both ways terribly. I DO think that the poor officiating did change the game as hitters had to fight off garbage pitches outside the zone in fear of it being called a strike. His calls definately changed the way the game was played. The field ump was rediculous. Missed a GREAT pickoff by Dunley at 2B and both teams knew it.
CV errors cost that game, but I have to believe they will be back with a vengance.
Congrats to Concord as they deserved that game.
Joined: Feb 2008
Current Posts: 22
I believe it was, yes, it was Ralston who said after the game that Alexander was just too good for them today and they couldn't figure him out.. Good pitching beats good hitting evey time. As I recall his second walk was a questionable call that went CV's way. That batter was K'd but the ump called it a ball. Stuff like that happens. Same ump for both teams. The better team won today. Lots of the season left. Will be interesting.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
The better team won today.
Concord played better this game, but to say they are a better team might be pushing it a bit.
Good job Concord, sure makes things a little more exciting.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
The better team won today. Concord played better this game, but to say they are a better team might be pushing it a bit.
How about "The better team today won"?
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
The concensus from everyone I spoke to and from what I saw, that was Alexander's best game. I was standing down the line and I could hear Concord's bench and they seemed to be into it too. I've been to a few Concord games and this was the most enthusiastic they have been. Looking at their schedule, Alexander faces CP after the break. He needs to throw the same kind of game against them. Their #2 needs to come back after some problems with Northgate. Is Concord playing next week? They need some wins to help their playoff hopes.
Joined: Feb 2008
Current Posts: 22
They play in the Willie Stargell Classic again this year. Start out Saturday against Liberty. Morales is their #2 and I'm predicting will have a good outing coming up. The whole team seemed to mature yesterday and finally play as one. I was proud of them. I must admit I was very proud of #18. Clayton has a terrific program and is still the team to watch out for. Northgate is always tough against Concord so we have to play very well against them too. Yesterday was just a very special day for a program that has worked hard.
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
A GREAT and exciting game today between CV and NG. CV won 8-7 in a see-saw game where the lead changed hands more often than pitchers. Bataska vs. Meadows to start. NG drew blood first only to be answered with a dinger by Lassen with 2 on putting CV in the lead. Pelayo responded with his own shot to put NG ahead. Bataska was groving by then and Meadows knocked out and Weller on the hill for CV. CV down 5-4 going into the 7th. A combination of a tired Bataska (?) and some timely hitting by CV puts them up 8-5 after 6 1/2. NG responds by loading the bases with a strugling Weller and no outs. They get two and leave the tieing run at 3b with a deep shot to LF to end the game.
Some great high school baseball....I'm sure the next time these teams meet will be even better!
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 11
BC 5, CP 4
Good job Eagles!
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Concord won their first game in the Willie Stargell Classic beating Liberty 12-1. Morales gave a great start and Lovejoy closed it out. Seems like everyone was hitting, Harrington, Nagle, Galindo, Alexander, Jones, Swank, Cooper and Starnes from what I can remember. Sprague was on 3 times but his defensive play at 3rd was outstanding. Not sure who they will throw against Acalanes. Acosta or maybe Alexander. Might save our #1 for game 3. Who knows. Harrod seems to have them hitting on all cylinders now.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Concord just hammered Acalanes in the Willie Stargell Classic 12-4. Alexander with the win and Junta closed the game with a 1-2-3 7th.
Hitting the 2 run triple to start Concords run was Kelly Starnes who later scored. Everyone again got into the act with Cooper, Galindo, Alexander, Morales, Sprague, Jones and Acosta with hits. Harrington with a RBI sac fly and great defensive play again.
Joined: Mar 2009
Current Posts: 9
congrats to concord, to bad there tourny only has decent competition
CV beat Irvington 12-2 in the championship game of the Gorgie classic
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
Comments on the "DLS Poll" by CC Times?
Unbelievable that DLS continues to be in the top 10 with a losing record.
1. Monte Vista (4) 8-3 154
2. Clayton Valley 12-2 130
"‚3. Irvington (3) 12-2 28
4. San Ramon (1) 9-3 122
5. O'Dowd (1) 12-2 114
6. Freedom 9-2 101
7. Foothill 9-5 94
8. Miramonte (2) 11-2-1 87
"‚9. De La Salle 5-6 6
10. Newark 12-4 66
11. Campolindo 11-3 65
12. Deer Valley 9-2 57
13. California 8-4 33
14. Arroyo 6-5 29
15. St. Joseph ND 11-1 22
Also receiving votes: Livermore (8-6, 9 points), St. Mary's (10-4, 7), Head-Royce (12-1, 6), Amador Valley (6-5, 5), Alhambra (10-4, 5), Alameda (10-4, 4), El Cerrito (9-5-1, 3), Dublin (9-4, 3). The East Bay Prep Baseball poll is compiled from the votes of Bay Area News Group-East Bay staff writers
Joined: Mar 2007
Current Posts: 11
what does the number in parenthesis() mean after some of the teams?
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
previous week standings...
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
No, it is first place votes. Monte Vista was #1 last week and has never been #4. At least there are no first place votes for DLS. http://www.ibabuzz.com/prepcorner/2009/04/13/east-bay-baseball-poll-413/
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Number of first place votes.
Monte Vista and CV have been 1 and 2 from week 1.
The total points recieved for Irvington should read 128 and the points for DLS should be 76, even though 6 points for DLS is a more realistic figure.
Joined: Apr 2009
Current Posts: 3
De La just beat both Don Bosco and Jesuit High-Sacramento(17-3). Both teams nationally ranked. Do you guys really feel that thay should not be in the top 15? Or is it that you just don't like them?
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
If they are beating nationally ranked teams, that's great. Why are they sub .500 against the local teams?
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
De La just beat both Don Bosco and Jesuit High-Sacramento(17-3). Both teams nationally ranked.
What are the national rankings for each of those two schools? I know they beat Monte Vista last week too, but they seem to lose a lot of close games to less than nationally ranked teams. DLS has a lot of good athletes from all over the place, but they haven't seemed to be able to put it together yet this year. There is still time, and NCS awaits, but they will need to string a bunch of wins together to get out of this .500 rut.
Joined: Apr 2009
Current Posts: 3
These are the USA today rankings:
11. Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, N.J. (3-0)
Results: Niko Spezial tossed a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the first game of the season, and Eric Stephens threw a shutout in the next game, a good sign for the Ironmen, who were 33-0 last season as the state Non-Public A champion.
13. Jesuit, Carmichael, Calif. (11-1)
Results: The Marauders, who finished 27-7 last year, are averaging a homer a game. Their only defeat was 3-2 at Archbishop Mitty (San Jose).
They lost six one run games. Three of them to EBAL teams. I guess you need to play the weaker teams to be ranked. Three of their wins have come from Monte Vista, Serra , and Newark Memorial....All three tough in their own leagues.
Makes you want to schedule weaker opponets, but then you would have something else to harp on.
Let's talk about this from a pure baseball stand point. What team locally would you say is better than them and why? Hitting, Pitching, Defense....We can match them up player for player.
We will see if they can pull out some wins in the second half of the season, if not I will be watching MV in the playoffs.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
....We can match them up player for player.
I'm sure that DLS would match up better player to player, position by position since they tend to draw the best players from the local schools. Given a particular match up, you could say that it would be matching a starter who transfered to DLS with a second stringer.
All the best players isn't always a perfect receipe for success, case in point the NY Yankees. A team who historically has had an all star calibre team, who have been very successful, but not every year.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
Sometimes a teams play up or down to the competition. I never understand that but it happens.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
Baseball is really about pitching matchups, and a team might be just about unbeatable with their #1 starter out there. But, when you start playing tournaments with 3 games in a week and are facing teams' #3 starters, all bets are off.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
Our team played a tounament one time and we had a very tough matchup in our first game. Our pitcher pulled us through but we did not have him again that weekend. We were still a pretty good team but not nearly as strong without him. I think we and our first round opponent had the two best pitchers in that tournament but niether of us had the depth one other team had and they did win. As you say, that is baseball.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
I am just petty enough to suggest one and all check out page B5 in todays Sports section. His Dad won't do this but I'm a big fan of Alexander. I knew that he and the Concord program would be good this year. Second half of the league should be quite interesting.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
Thanks for the report Bruce Wayne or is it Batman. Can't tell which alter ego you are using. Yes, petty is a good word for you.
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
I think those national rankings will be changing soon. DLS beat both of those teams in the losers' bracket of a tournament. Granted the tourney had some great teams in it, but #13 Jesuit won only 1 game out of 4 and finished in 12th place, and #11 Bosco took 15th place. DLS won 2 of 4 and finished in 10th place.
http://intern.maxpreps.com/bryce/NationalClassic.pdf
Joined: Apr 2009
Current Posts: 3
You put Jesuit in any local tournament around here and they are the favorites. They have 8 D1 players on their team. Not sure about Bosco(eastcoast baseball?).
Just goes to show that the best team doesn't always win.
How does the DVAL shape up for the second half? I think the EBAL will continue to beat up on one another. Should be interesting with only 12 D1 teams going to the playoffs.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
The second half should be very competitive as many teams are playing well and did very well in spring break tourneys:
Clayton Valley, coming off the championship in the Gordie Classic, is the team to beat. Concord beat them and they needed a 7th inning rally to beat Northgate, but will likley win league and be the #1 seed in NCS DII playoffs.
Concord, lost in championship of Stargell tourney and playing very well. Big game on Tuesday versus CP. Seem to be hitting better. Alexander pitching very well, now they need #2 pitcher to step up. Tied for first.
Northgate, playing much better after shaky start. Finished 5th in the Santa Maria tournament, going 3-1, with a big win over Royal, Simi Valley who was a So cal ranked team. Beat Concord and seems to be over their last inning loss to Clayton. Still controls their own destiny. Their big bats are starting to heat up, and they are playing better defense.
CP, huge loss to BC. This team is very dangerous but unlikely has the horses to win the league. They can beat anyone in the league when playing well.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Hey Batman,
If your not his dad, then you must be some kind of Uncle pervy. It's a little strange to be so interested, and it's a little strange to self promote your kid.
We all read the paper and are well aware that Alexander is a top player in the league.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
I have know the young man since he was young and have followed his baseball career. I get guff when I point out that he is a good player and now get guff when he proves it. There are several parents that post here. It's obvious. I'm not one of them.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 3
If you are not his dad then who are you? The only people I see at games are parents and students. The ONLY one who could know that much about his career would be his Dad or his coach and I don't think his coach posts on here since he just learned about this blog site not long ago and wasn't happy about it. No one is giving you guff for him proving he does a good job. But it is pety to keep pointing it out.
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 99
Others receiving votes: Arroyo (9-6, 6 points), Northgate (10-5, 5), St. Joseph Notre Dame (13-2, 4), Alameda (12-4, 4), Livermore (9-8, 4), El Cerrito (10-6-1, 3), Head-Royce (14-1, 1). The East Bay Prep Baseball poll is compiled from the votes of Bay Area News Group-East Bay staff writers. Records are through games played Saturday.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
CV 11 Irvington 3
Northgate 8 Mt D 0
BC 4 YV 0
Cp vs. Concord ??????
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 33
Concord 6 CP 5 in 8 innings.
I won't go any further as to not be accused of being biased. However, believe as you want, I'm 67 and retired, his Dad isn't quite that old yet. Sounds like some people are having a pity party.
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 3
Many agree with you baseballparent. Proof is right here on the blog history. Just check the history of Baseballer and Squeeze Play. Once Baseballer was revealed as Alexander's dad in 2008, Squeeze Play came on the board, continuing with the same gloating posts. This year, he took it to a new level and posted negative comments about many. Now Squeeze Play is here buttering up everyone he previously bad mouthed. What a guy.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 1191
The only people I see at the games are parents and some fellow students that are friends of the players. Some adult with no kid playing is not a crime, but not how I would spend my day.
Joined: Dec 2008
Current Posts: 225
"I'm not a crook" ------Richard Nixon
"I did not have intercourse with that women"---- Bill Clinton
"I'm not Alexander' dad" ----SqueezePlay
Joined: Apr 2007
Current Posts: 8
lets not worry or pay attention to that. go start another thread about that. how bout we talk about the surprises of the year so far?? college park for instance. they were supposed to be ranked in the top 3 or 4 and now theyre under 500 half way through the season. they still have some games to make up ground but it doesnt seem likely theyll repeat or even go to ncs. on the upside. is concord really in first? i saw they were tied with clayton. who thought theyd even have 6 wins the whole year? no suprises at clayton or northgate. both teams are doing well. its going to be an intense run to the finish for dval champs.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
I thought Northgate was getting on a roll after a strong finish in Easter Tourney down south and some strong pitching lately. A second loss to College Park 6-5 in 8 innings. These kind of losses will hurt their chances of getting a decent seed in North Coast.
Joined: Apr 2008
Current Posts: 12
So let's see. Northgate and CP are relegated to also rans (3rd/4th) and it's Concord/CV on Thursday. Concord threw Alexander Tuesday and CV seems to have re-aligned their rotation. Anyone know the pitching matchups for sure? Only 2 from this league in NCS?
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 68
I see CV, Concord and Northgate to get into the D II field. College Park will not get into loaded D I field. Northgate finishes with (2) games with YV, (1) with MD and a rematch with CV.
They will finish 16-8 or 17-7 which will get them into 12 team bracket.
Here is the (12) I see: Alameda, Arroyo, Clayton Valley, Concord, Northgate, and Heritage. From the North, Cardinal Newman, Casa Grande, Montgomery, Redwood, Rancho Cotate, and Eureka.
First round byes, Alameda, CV, Montgomery and Cardnial Newman
Joined: Dec 2006
Current Posts: 11
Going into the final week of the season, any comments on all-DVAL selections and MVP this year?
Joined: May 2009
Current Posts: 1
clayton valley ran the table in league. the loss to concord was a fluke. they showed how strong they really were this season. im excited for ncs
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
They may have won the league, but they did not run the table. Running the table implies that that they won every game, which they did not. Even if you consider the Concord win a fluke, it still prevented CV from running the table. CV should do well at NCS.
Joined: Oct 2006
Current Posts: 58
Congrats to Clayton Valley for winning the league, not running the table.
Another great game against Northgate, with Clayton winning 8 to 7. Clayton hit the ball well against Northgate's first two pitchers, but Clayton was not very good on defense and the pitching staff doesn't match up well with Northgate's hitters. CV should get the number 1 seed. It will be interesting to see where Northgate and Concord get seeded.
I would like to see another CV/Northgate game.
Joined: Oct 2008
Current Posts: 28
Way to go Eagles on another fantastic league title....Don't matter what league you are in, the Eagle baseball program again proves why they are top notch from top to the bottom. BVAL,DVAL or any league they are a team everyone should be careful with.
Why people refuse to give the Eagles players and coaches the respect they deserve is beyond me? All they do is win. People say they get lucky, pitching don't match up???? Hitting suspect???? That sounds like a bunch of parents or players jealous over something? I think people need to start noticing what is going on over there. How they re build EVERY year. Injuries or graduation does not hold them back.They would have won the BVAL if they were still in the league. Coach Ralston and staff should be applauded for the job they did with these young men. Most underclassmen who will return next season. They re tool, teach better than most teams in the state let alone the bay area or county. Too bad more kids don't have the chance to work with the staff that Ralston has.
They may not win NCS however AGAIN they will be in the running for the 4th straight year. Maybe even more than 4. They have just as good of a shot as anyone. Congrats to the other teams in the DVAL and hope that your NCS run is sucsessful, if you make it.
As for rematches.......You all had your chance....twice and lost except for Concord. Consider that your day in the sun. Just like in football except this time the Eagles will beat CN!!!!!!
Its about time the Eagles get a little props on this board rather than people saying how the other teams blew it instead of the Eagles just being BETTER than all the other teams. Its' OK Northgate parents to finsh behind CV. You should be used to it by now.....Its' not like finishing below......I don't know you pick?????
I do not hide my name on here, no pen name...I am not a father of a kid on the team, just an alum who is tired of not seeing my friends and players not getting the respet they deserve. THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE EAGLES......DO WHAT YOU DO!!!!!! 2 claps and a HURAH from Oregon!!!!!!!!
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
You sound like the Cheer mom from Martinez! Crying because they didn't give your squad a parade and a key to the city.
CV has been given the respect they deserve from day one. They did exactly as everyone predicted, except losing a close game to Concord.
NCS will be their proving ground!
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 3041
I think everyone respects CV. But when Eagle fans say things like the Concord loss was a fluke, it reflects bad on them. Its been a great season for them thus far. Hopefully, they can run the table at NCS. Best of luck to CV.
Joined: Oct 2008
Current Posts: 28
really???????
sorry you feel that way. Key to the city????? Where did that come from??????
Joined: Feb 2009
Current Posts: 111
Key to the city means, what else do you want? A parade and a key to the city.....
Nobody has said that CV would do anything less then what they have accomplished.
Who ever said that their hitting was suspect?
Joined: Apr 2007
Current Posts: 8
people have been saying that CV was gonna win league and was gonna go undefeated from the first day this thread was started. And talk about not giving anybody credit?? concord played tough against Cv and held them to one run and the only thing you cv fans have to say is that it was fluke. sounds like somebody was bitter. next time actually read the posts before you reply to them
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