Sportstars
Proving Perfection | Heritage Softball Opens ’22 Ready To Roll
A Team Shouldn’t Need To Prove Itself After Any Undefeated Season, But Heritage Softball Is Ready To Take NorCal’s Best Shot PICTURED ABOVE: Seniors Tianna Bell, Right, And Kasey Aguinaga Heritage Softball made it look easy in 2021.  In a 25-0 season, the Patriots played just two one-run games.... Read more
SportStars’ Season-Opening NorCal Softball Top 20
Led By A Pair Of Undefeated Teams From 2021, The Season-Opening NorCal Softball Top 20 Suggests A Riveting Three Months Ahead Of Us • PICTURED ABOVE: No. 1 St. Francis-Mountain View from March 2020. (SFHS Athletics photo) 1. ST. FRANCIS-MOUNTAIN VIEW (26-0 in 2021) It’s Jessica Oakland’s world and... Read more
SportStories, Ep. 8 | Thundering Heights
Five Guests Revisit Coach Jeff Carlson’s Elk Grove High Baseball Dynasty That Produced Eight Section Titles And Eight Major Leaguers In Just A 16-Year Span • Dynasties are not particularly rare in high school sports. Even though rosters are always changing as classes graduate and others come in, if... Read more
Oakmont Baseball | Meet The Upset Squad
Nearly Two Years Removed From A 30-Win Section Title Season, Oakmont Baseball Returned From The Pandemic Led By A Young Wave Of Talent Ready To Face Anyone • Kurt Marton saved his best fastball for last on March 30. The right-handed sophomore pitcher on the Oakmont High baseball team... Read more
SportStories, Ep. 02 | Freedom Finishes The Business Trip
Former Freedom Softball Players And Coaches Mark The Five-Year Anniversary Of The 2016 Team’s Inspiring Championship Run In Honor Of Slain Assistant Coach Scott Lunger Scott Lunger was the “good cop” on the Freedom High School varsity softball coaching staff. The Freedom softball players loved the good-natured humor that... Read more
Elk Grove Baseball | EGHS Alums Lead Region’s Growing MLB Footprint
Dylan Carlson’s MLB Debut Continues A Wave Of Elk Grove Baseball And Sacramento Region Talent Reaching The Bigs • While regional diamonds sit eerily quiet, Elk Grove baseball is leading a region that’s making noise at the highest level. Area stars, and Elk Grove High alumni in particular, are... Read more
Anson Aroz: The Constant | Meet Placer Baseball’s Problem Solver
Baseball Is A Game Of Equations For Relentlessly Driven Oregon-Bound Catcher Anson Aroz Of Placer-Auburn There’s baseball IQ and then there’s whatever-in-the-Isaac-Newton Anson Aroz is. The Oregon-committed, switch-hitting catcher from Placer High-Auburn seems to see the diamond in code — or at least in distances and times. “Say a... Read more
SportStars’ Softball Big 10 | NorCal’s Best Players (’11-’20)
For The Magazine’s 10th Anniversary, SportStars Continues Its Big 10 Series With Its Softball Big 10 —NorCal’s Best Players Of The Past Decade • The Softball Big 10 is an installation of the SportStars Big 10 Project: A 10-months-long series celebrating the magazine’s 10-year anniversary in June 2020. We’ll... Read more
Madi Mays Minutemen Softball SportStar of the Week
Madi Mays’ Minutemen career began as a freshman in 2017 when she helped Concord High School softball claim a North Coast Section Division II title. Mays went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI in the final against Granada. Fast forward to her last varsity game, Mays spun a no-hitter against Monte... Read more
From Callero To Zuardo | One Coach’s #NeverStop Thanks To His Mentors
Heritage High Baseball Coach Kevin Brannan Offers A #NeverStop Salute To Mike Callero And Lou Zuardo, The Coaches Who Shaped His Career • As several players have thanked their coaches as part of this project, sometimes coaches need to do the same. There are two people — Mike Callero... Read more