Two of this week’s five honorees are Katia Nesper (left) from The King’s Academy of Sunnyvale and Jackson Goshorn of Simi Valley. Photos: @TKA_Athletics & Pioneerbaseball / X.com.
For this week’s five honorees we didn’t have any entries for the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book to track, which is one of the goals of this feature, but the other goal of finding diamonds in the rough for statewide honors who might only get local recognition was more than satisfied. Five instead of four you ask? Yes, we did have co-winners for NorCal since they are brothers. This week we visit San Mateo and Sunnyvale in Northern California, and in Southern California our stops are in Simi Valley and Covina.
We hope you enjoy this free post on Cal-Hi Sports.com. For our state rankings packages in baseball and softball plus State Stat Stars of the Week, state record updates and special features, please check out our Gold Club membership today. If you’re not a member, CLICK HERE.
CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.
Notes: For these honors, we also consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. To nominate anyone, email markjtennis@gmail.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Softball Player of the Week
Katia Nesper (King’s Academy, Sunnyvale) Jr.
The search for the Northern California State Softball Player of the Week takes us around a little less than 10 miles northwest of downtown San Jose to Sunnyvale, and it’s at The King’s Academy where we find a pitcher who’s been on fire recently and now earns statewide recognition to go with local kudos.
Nesper started last week by coming a hit away from a perfect game in a 6-0 win over visiting San Mateo. The one hit made out on the basepaths so the junior star only faced 21 batters and struck out 14 in a 6-0 victory.
Two days later, Katia did it all in a 1-0 with over Hillsdale of San Mateo. Not only did she toss a two-hitter with nine strikeouts and no walks, but at the plate Katia had a hit that drove in the game’s only run.
That in itself was more than enough to garner this statewide honor, but although it doesn’t technically count towards this week’s award, Nesper came up huge on Monday in a 5-3 victory over San Jose Valley Christian that knocked that team out of the bubble in the most recently released Cal-Hi Sports state rankings. In that game, she gave up four hits, two walks and two earned runs, but once again she fanned 14 batters. Katia also had a double as a batter.
On Tuesday of this week, Nesper didn’t pitch in a 15-5 victory over Aragon of San Mateo, but as a batter she had four RBI and two runs scored.
So far this season for 16-7 King’s Academy and heading into a Thursday match-up with Burlingame, Katia is 11-1 with a 0.25 ERA and two no-hitters and 10 shutouts. She also has 161 strikeouts and only 11 walks in 84 innings pitched. As a batter Nesper is hitting .302 with 10 runs batted in. Her 161 strikeouts is the No. 5 reported mark in the CIF Central Coast Section.
Davis Minton is shown pitching during his no-hitter last week for Serra of San Mateo. He also had a big week swinging the bat, but his brother, Aaron, had games of 4-for-4 and 3-for-3 so we have named them both as co-players of the week. Photo: padrebaseball / Instagram.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Baseball Players of the Week
Davis Minton & Aaron Minton
(Serra, San Mateo) Sr. & Soph.
To find the Northern California State Baseball Players of the Week we head around 20 miles south of San Francisco to the heart of the Peninsula where we land at Serra High in San Mateo. The school is located just west of the El Camino Real that Father Junipero Serra helped pave as he traversed the state founding several of the Franciscan Missions in California.
That’s a bit of history but there’s also a couple of twists to this saga.
First, is that long before Serra became a CIF Central Coast Section football power that produced Super Bowl MVPs Lynn Swann and Tom Brady, the school was better known for baseball and also the alma mater of Barry Bonds. The second twist is this may be the very first time we have had Co-Players of the Week, since in our almost 50 years covering California high school sports we traditionally have not done ties or co-anything for any of our weekly or all-state honors. This is a player of the week feature, however, so we will break with the norm.
Last week in San Francisco, and in a 13-0 blanking of host Archbishop Riordan, the brothers were like a two-man wrecking crew.
Davis, the oldest and a 5-foot-9 senior pitcher and slugger, got it done both on the mound and at the plate. As a pitcher, Davis came close to a perfect game but of the 23 batters he faced he only gave up a walk and no hits and struck out 11 to earn a no hitter. With bat in hand, Davis was 3-for-4 with a stolen base and two runs scored.
Not to be outdone, little brother but somewhat taller Aaron, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, blasted a home run and went a perfect 4-for-4 with six RBI, a stolen base and three runs scored.
Those performances were what was chronicled locally and the impetus of the honors, but things didn’t stop there.
Three days later, and in the game versus Riordan at Serra, Davis didn’t pitch but his hot bat stayed hot in a 12-0 shutout of the Crusaders after he went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored.
Aaron also had a big outing in his first game of last week vs Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco in a another easy win for the Padres. He went 3-for-3 with a triple, homer and four RBI. Those wins helped Serra close out the regular season 23-5 and wrap up the West Catholic Athletic League regular season title with a 12-2 finish in league.
With that win in the league finale, it moved Serra up 10 spots to No. 12 in the recently released Cal-Hi Sports state rankings. That also moves up the Padres to No. 1 in the CIF Central Coast Section and No. 2 in Northern California for teams north of Fresno.
By the time your eyes peruse this feature, Serra will already have taken the field in a Wednesday WCAL playoff opener at home versus Bellarmine of San Jose. A loss wouldn’t diminish what the brothers did to get this honor nor would it matter much in regards to upcoming CCS playoff pairings.
Heading into that Wednesday game, Davis was 1-1 as a pitcher with a save and 1.58 ERA and in five appearances. As a batter, he was hitting .356 with three home runs, five doubles, 21 RBI, 23 runs scored and seven stolen bases. Aaron was hitting .273 with two home runs, two triples, a double, 14 RBI, 15 runs scored and eight stolen bases.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
State Baseball Player of the Week
Jackson Goshorn (Simi Valley) Jr.
Ventura County is the destination in search of the Southern California State Baseball Player of the Week and it’s at Simi Valley High and just south of Highway 118 where we find this week’s award winner.
Simi Valley clinched the Coastal Canyon League title outright last week and Goshorn played a huge part in the 3-2 victory over crosstown arch-rival Royal after the junior left-handed pitcher threw a three-hitter with nine strikeouts and two walks in the win.
In his previous start, a 9-1 victory over neighboring Moorpark, Jackson gave up three hits with no walks and had 11 strikeouts in the victory. Earlier this season, Goshorn showed the door to batters from Heritage of Littleton, Colo., and Oak Park (Calif.) as he pitched seven-inning no-hitters.
So far this season and heading into a CIF Southern Section Division 2 opener on Friday with visiting Ventura, the 6-foot Goshorn is 8-2 with a 1.49 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 61 innings pitched.
As for the Friday match-up between the two Ventura County rivals that are both currently on the bubble of the most recent Cal-Hi Sports state rankings, something has got to give as Simi Valley is on a 14-game winning streak and Ventura has won 10-straight.
Senior Jayla Brown (UC Riverside) has been one of the top players this season for Charter Oak of Covina. Photo: SportsRecruits.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
State Softball Player of the Week
Jayla Brown (Charter Oak, Covina) Sr.
It’s in the San Gabriel Valley where we find this week’s Southern California State Softball Player of the Week and it’s in Covina and pretty much smack dab in the center of a square formed by the I-10 on the south, I-210 to the north, Highway 39 to the west and Highway 57 on the east at Charter Oak High where we find this week’s award winner who now snags a statewide honor to go with local recognition.
Last week, and in two Valle Vista League wins over crosstown arch rival West Covina, Brown’s bat was on fire.
In an 8-1 road win to start the week, the UC Riverside-committed senior infielder was 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. In the second game against host West Covina, Jayla stayed hot and was actually hotter after launching two home runs as part of a 4-for-4 performance with two RBI and four runs scored in a 14-4 victory.
Charter Oak has only played 16 games this season but has won them all and will put its perfect record on the line this Thursday when the Chargers host Huntington Beach in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 opener.
For her part, Brown will take a .421 batting average with three home runs, seven doubles, 15 RBI and 14 runs scored into the contest.
An interesting statistic has to do with Brown liking to swing the bat. In 41 plate appearances, she’s only struck out once and drawn three bases on balls.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
