Diamond Cuts – Week 9
May 1st, 2011, 9:31 pm · 12 Comments · posted by Jimmy Graben
As the calendar turns to May, local baseball and softball teams are reminded what little time is left to make a final push to the postseason.
Wheatland High's Randi May beat Sutter three times this season. The Pirates have clinched at least a share of the Butte View League title. (Photo by John Hollis/Appeal-Democrat)
It’s do or die time around the Mid-Valley this month as both Northern and Sac-Joaquin Section programs enter the final stretch of league play.
Moreover, the biggest rivalry in the area takes center stage this week, beginning Tuesday night under the lights at Winship Field.
WEEK 9 HEADLINES
Mayor’s Cup redux
Things in the Tri-County Conference are far from settled.
River Valley’s baseball team is in a position to win its first league title in school history, though to accomplish this feat, the Falcons will need to do something else for the first time – beat Yuba City.
The Honkers are two games ahead of the Falcons in the TCC standings. If River Valley wants to win the title, the Falcons will have to not only beat Yuba City for the first time, but sweep.
This year’s edition of this rivalry may have more on the line than any previous meeting between the two programs.
Tuesday and Friday’s games will be played under the lights at Winship Field. The Falcons will host the Honkers in a day game on Thursday at Falcon Field.
Long time coming
After a nine-inning marathon on Friday, Wheatland’s softball team pulled off a 1-0 victory at Belza Field over Sutter to complete the series sweep of the Huskies, the Pirates’ first season sweep of their rival since 2005.
Wheatland also beat Sutter 9-2 last week and 4-2 on April 5.
At 9-0, Wheatland has already clinched at least a share of the Butte View League title with three more games to play.
BVL battle
While the softball portion of the BVL is all but settled, the baseball standings are a completely different story.
After Sutter looked to be the clear frontrunner in this conference, the Huskies dropped two league games last week and are two games down to Winters. However, Sutter will play a doubleheader at home on Thursday against Winters, which will decide the league champion.
Although Wheatland lost two out of three to Sutter, the Pirates still have an outside shot at the BVL crown if Winters gives them a little help.
The Pirates face the Warriors on Tuesday.
Sutter controls its own destiny. If the Huskies sweep Winters, the BVL banner is theirs.
WEEK 9 RANKINGS
BASEBALL
GAMES TO WATCH: River Valley vs. Yuba City, Tuesday and Friday at Winship Field (7 p.m.), Thursday at Falcon Field (4:15 p.m.); Winters at Sutter, Thursday (Doubleheader begins at 2 p.m.)
1. Maxwell (23-0, 9-0) – With no league games last week, the Panthers took a shot at some teams in higher divisions and, like they have all season, took care of business.
Maxwell defeated Lindhurst (a school with about 10 times the enrollment of Maxwell’s) and Durham, the defending Northern Section Division III champion.
2. Yuba City (18-4, 11-1) – After a close, 5-3 victory in game one of their series with Woodland last week, the Honkers combined to outscore the Wolves 19-3 in the final two games.
Tuesday’s pitching matchup at Winship Field between Yuba City’s Zach Oakley and River Valley’s Jake Phillips should be the best duel of the season in the Mid-Valley.
3. River Valley (15-7, 9-3) – The Falcons won all of their games against Inderkum last week by the 10-run mercy rule.
4. Sutter (14-7, 6-3) – It’s tough sledding for the Huskies right now as they have lost five of their last seven games.
5. Marysville (13-7, 11-2) – A league championship could be around the corner for the Indians.
If Marysville can win both of its games against Mesa Verde this week, a team the Indians beat 14-2 earlier this season, it’s time to play the waiting game.
Capital Christian is tied with Marysville at the top of the league standings. The Cougars’ final two league games are scheduled for May 9 and 11.
On deck: Wheatland (11-8, 6-3) – The Pirates were able to salvage one game from the Huskies last week, a 13-2 victory.
SOFTBALL
GAME TO WATCH: Yuba City at River Valley, Friday, 4:15 p.m.
1. River Valley (10-4-1, 5-2) – The Falcons will host their cross-town rival Yuba City on Friday, with both teams looking to secure playoff spots.
2. Yuba City (14-5, 5-3) – If things stay to form, this will be Yuba City’s first trip to the postseason as a member of the TCC.
The Honkers could seal a playoff bid with a win at Woodland on Wednesday.
3. Colusa (29-2-1, 8-0) – The Redskins conclude regular-season play this week with league games against Live Oak and Durham. Sandwiched in between is a non-league game against Kelseyville.
4. Marysville (14-5, 9-1) – After taking last week off due to spring break, the Indians get back into GEL action this week against Lindhurst on Wednesday followed by a doubleheader against West Campus on Friday.
The Indians are in first place with four games to go.
5. Wheatland (16-8, 9-0) – The BVL title is already locked up, but a few more wins will help the Pirates’ playoff seeding.
On deck: Sutter (14-8, 6-3) – The Huskies end the regular season at Gridley on Friday.
- Jimmy Graben
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Should be good games this week with RV and YC. Still give the edge to YC as they are still the class of the area. Would be fun to see Tyler Olsen pitch against his cousin Cameron Olsen in a match up on Thursday or maybe on the final Friday under the lights. Hope Cameron’s arm is healed so he can pitch.
Both teams held serve and kudo’s to YC for sweeping a solid Woodland team.
Let’s go Marysville, get back in the playoffs. You should have another good run in the section this year.
Finally MaxPreps has the section rankings out. Yuba City is ranked 178 in the state, 18th in the section and #2 in Division III. River Valley is ranked 471 state, 53 in section, and #5 in Division III. (ranked one spot higher than Pioneer?).
Oh, Maxwell is ranked 241 in the state, not as high as YC. After seeing last weeks games against Lindhurst and Durham, Maxwells strong points are well known. But their weekness have been pointed out as well. Wells and Perry are very good pitchers. But teams like YC/RV see that type of pitching almost every week (minus Inderkum/Natomas). Maxwell’s Perry, Wells, and Bowen would still play well agaisnt YC pitching. It is the rest of the team that would strugle with Oakley and Olsen. Olsen’s line against the one common opponet this year (Valley Christian) is equal to Wells. Olsen struck out 11, gave up two hits and got a 8-0 win. Maxwell’s pitcher line was 13 K’s, gave up 4 hits and got out with a 2-0 win. Maxwell was out hit by Valley Christian but Maxwell got the big hits from the big three to get the win. It would be a fun game to watch with Maxwell and YC this year. But that is what it would be, a fun game for only one year.
RV will not beat YC based upon pitching alone. YC knows how to condition pitchers, Rollins continues to destroy arms.
I agree with oruskin. YC is definitely better than maxwell and i believe they would either sweep or take 2 in a 3 game series. Maxwell plays a very weak schedule. YC sees many pitchers the caliber of wells and perry. It is a joke that YC ranked 6th by the sacbee for the whole entire Sacramento area isn’t even if first in this small area. P.S oruskin Tyler’s last name is Olson with an o.
Yes i’m sure that the YC peeps made the trip to watch maxwell play lhs and durham, lol…..Maxwell is right their with YC and the same peeps keep trying to convince everyone with the same week arguments just different weeks. YC should step up and pencil the low level Maxwell group, ….since they are so superior, …they could settle the questions on the field and not from the parents in the paper, ……funny stuff
michelle,
Your right it would be fun to watch. However, can never happen. A team like Maxwell being able to play teams like YC would be a good game maybe 1 in 20 years (like this year). Maxwell would have no chance next year with no pitching. It serves no purpose to play a team like Maxwell as it would only be fun this year. And I’m not a small school hater. I think in two years Sutter will have the best varsity team in the area. There JV team is lights out. How did your JV team do against Sutter’s???
Oruskin, it only takes a little common sense to realize that Maxwell could not continually have the horses to compete with likes of YC and even RV for that matter. You are talking about a school of 140 kids. This year is different though, and a best two out of three would be a dogfight. If the matter at hand is a discussion on programs, then Maxwell is right there with anyone in the area. 8 straight trips to sections title games, 5 section championships with a chance to make it 6 in just a matter of a few weeks. Don’t hate on their achievements, just realize we’re lucky to have programs like YC and Maxwell that continue to compete and achieve at such a high level. Had the chance to see Maxwell at the CV Bass Tournament and that team is handled like a College level program. Pitchers conditioning in between starts, players know their roles, bottom of the lineup battles, and they are mentally prepared on every pitch. They made a pretty darn good Sutter team look really bad. For the record, I don’t think Maxwell’s done after this year either. They start two-three Frosh and have some young pitchers that are developing. It’s really a matter of how long Coach Lay stays there.
Sounds accurate. Also watched some of the tourn. Maxwell, keep up the good work.
I watched the RV v YC game on Tues night and saw nothing that would make me think that these two teams would be overpowering to a solid 1-9 Maxwell club. The bottom order guys for Maxwell are great athletes, Brett Cabral is the 9 hitter, he’s also one of the best running backs in the area. The fact is they have the correct mental approach to the game and know what it takes to beat big schools. I would be surprised if Maxwell didn’t take at least 2 out of 3 from both RV and YC
Orusk, i’m not one who gets to excited about what a JV team does, ……to many world champs jv’s turn into well, …..just o.k varsity clubs…I did take in the RV/YC game and there is little doubt in my mind that Maxwell would take two of three from each team. I don’t have A particular team, or school that i root for, …i just love to watch the games. If we want to dive into JV teams and such, ..both the yc AND rv teams coaches and players and even parents knew that this maxwell group was special and it goes well back beyond JV, …back to the little league days..My high school was Marysville, and can remember when marysville and even Lindhurst played real high schools like Oakmont, Del Oro, Roseville, and now they play in a league, and division that is frankly embarrasing, …good luck to all the local teams….
There is no doubt of the quality and the work ethic and preparation of the maxwell squad. Maxwell does benefit from many of their better althletes not wanting to attend other area schools, and i don’t blame the kids or the families for wanting a better education, program and safety for their kids…Great job YC, back to the drawing board RV…
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