by Rob Stone
Francis Parker
The Francis Parker Lancers baseball team clawed the Steele Canyon Cougars 5-4 in a play-in game of the lower bracket of the CIF DII Playoffs at Francis Parker.
Sophomore pitcher Sterling Hayes was golden for the Lancers, pitching five innings, allowing two runs (only one of which was earned), seven hits, and one walk, while striking out four.
Francis Parker then hit the road and went on to spear the El Capitan Vaqueros 5-3 in the first round.
Junior pitcher Ethan Risse rose to the top for the Lancers, pitching six innings, allowing three runs, five hits, and one walk, while striking out three.
Unfortunately for Francis Parker, they would bow out of the double-elimination tournament by losing their next two games 6-1 in the quarterfinals at Scripps Ranch and 5-1 in the semifinals to visiting West Hills.
Clairemont HS
Junior pitcher Josh Pizzo and the Clairemont Chieftains baseball team tamed the Imperial Tigers 12-2 in the first round of the lower bracket of the CIF DIV Playoffs at Clairemont.
Pizzo pitched five innings for the Chieftains, allowing two runs, four hits, and four walks, while striking out five.
Unfortunately for Clairemont, they would close out their campaign with a 9-3 defeat at Sage Creek in the quarterfinals on May 27 and a 5-4 home loss to Classical Academy in the semifinals.
Madison HS
Junior pitcher Kevin Abel pitched a complete game shutout, while striking out seven, as the Madison Warhawks baseball team clawed the El Camino Wildcats 6-0 in a play-in game of the lower bracket of the CIF DI Playoffs at Madison.
Abel also proved to be up to the task at the plate for the Warhawks with three hits, one RBI, and two stolen bases in four at-bats.
For his efforts, Abel was selected as the game’s MVP for Madison.
Unfortunately for the Warhawks, they would bow out of CIF play with a 12-8 defeat at Poway in the first round on May 25 and a 3-2 home loss to La Jolla in the quarterfinals.
Kearny Mesa HS
Freshman pitcher Jacob Redondo and the Kearny Komets baseball team sent the Gompers Prep Academy Eagles crashing back to earth with a big 17-3 win in the Komets next to last game of the season at Kearny.
Redondo reached the sixth inning for the Komets, allowing three runs (only one of which was earned), two hits, and three walks, while striking out five.
On the following afternoon, also at Kearny, junior pitcher Brandon Fragoso followed up Redondo’s effort by pitching six innings and allowing three runs (only two of which were earned), four hits and four walks, while striking out four as the Komets closed out their 2016 campaign by crushing the San Diego Cavers 7-3.
Horizon
The Horizon Panthers baseball team was tamed 1-0 by the Imperial Tigers in a play-in game of the lower bracket of the CIF DIV Playoffs.
Mesa College
The Mesa College Olympians women’s volleyball team, led by head coach Kim Lester, made it all the way to the regional playoffs before bowing out to El Camino College and Golden West by identical scores of 4-1.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins got goals from Brian Dumoulin, Kris Letang, and Patric Hornqvist and defeated the San Jose Sharks by a final score of 3-1 to win the National Hockey League’s best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals four games to two.
Following Dumoulin, Letang, and Hornqvist in the Game 6 statistical column for Pittsburgh were Sidney Crosby (two assists), Justin Schultz (one assist), Chris Kunitz (one assist), and Conor Sheary (one assist).
The Stanley Cup Trophy wasn’t the only piece of hardware that the Penguins skated off with, as Crosby also won the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player.
With Pittsburgh’s fourth Stanley Cup championship parade in franchise history under their belts (their 1990-91, 1991-92, and 2008-09 campaigns also culminated with them winning the Stanley Cup), the Penguins are also the first Eastern Conference team to win the Stanley Cup since the Boston Bruins did it, defeating the Vancouver Canucks four games to three, thus enabling Boston to clinch the Stanley Cup at the conclusion of their 2010-11 campaign.
Rob Stone is a lifelong resident of the San Diego area and is also a certified talent scout through Sports Management Worldwide. Rob has been working with and helping to assist sports agents in getting their clients signed to contracts. If you would like a professional scouting report written up on your favorite athlete, contact Mr. Stone directly. He may be reached at: (858) 262-3966, rstone@smww.com, Sportsguyrob@att.net, http://www.smwwscout.com/scout/robstone, or http://www.robstonesports.blogspot.com.
