Point Loma of San Diego’s Leyton MacPherson (left) had two hits in her section championship game and then hit two homers in her first regional playoff game. At right, Corcoran’s Brennan Botill (22) can be seen celebrating with teammates following team’s win on Tuesday in CIF SoCal D5 playoffs. Photos: Point Loma HS Athletics / MaxPreps.com & Corcoran High School Facebook.
As the old saying goes “all good things must come to an end” and for this week’s State Baseball-Softball Players of the Week this will be the final installment for the 2024-25 school year. Despite the fact there are only a handful of teams either still alive and competing in the CIF Regional Playoffs, and we pick players from winning teams, and in one case a player from a winning team that opted out of the regional playoffs, we had some very solid performances worthy of statewide honors. For our final week this season the Northern California stops are in Corcoran and Brentwood, while in Southern California we visit Valencia and San Diego.
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Notes: For these honors, we also consider CIF Central Section players for Northern California. Congratulations to all of the State Players of the Week that we featured in football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball during the 2024-25 school year.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Softball Player of the Week
Leyton MacPherson (Point Loma, San Diego) Soph.
San Diego is where we find this week’s Southern California State Softball Player of the Week and she has been tearing it up at the plate not just this past Tuesday, but for the past three weeks as the star of the Point Loma Pointers.
Because this was the last week for the feature we included Tuesday’s games, and Leyton had a doozy for top-seeded Point Loma in a 9-2 victory over San Pedro Port of Los Angeles in the opening round of the CIF Southern Regional Division III playoffs. The sophomore first-base girl went 3-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI and three runs scored.
Last Friday at San Diego State, and in a 3-2 victory over West Hills of Santee in the CIF San Diego Section Division II championship title game, MacPherson was 2-for-3 with two RBI. In a 6-3 victory over Rancho Buena Vista of Vista that clinched the team’s spot in the finals, Leyton had two hits and drove in four runs.
So far this season for 26-6-1 Pointers and heading into a regional semifinal match-up at home with Olympian of Chula Vista, MacPherson is hitting .380 with six home runs, a triple, three doubles, 32 RBI and 14 runs scored.
We know Leyton would want to give a shout out to her older sister Avery MacPherson, a junior that actually is a couple of ticks better than Leyton with a team-leading .396 batting average.
West Ranch pitcher Hunter Manning was outstanding in all of his CIFSS playoff appearances. Photo: Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Baseball Player of the Week
Hunter Manning
(West Ranch, Valencia) Sr.
The Santa Clarita Valley is where we head in search of the Southern California State Baseball Player of the Week and it’s in Valencia just west of the I-5 at West Ranch where we find this week’s award winner, who closes out his high school career with not only a CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship, but he now heads off to USC by winning a statewide award.
We say Manning closes out his high school career because despite winning the CIFSS D2 title, West Ranch has opted out of the CIF Southern Regional playoffs, and that means the 2-0 victory over Mater Dei of Santa Ana last Saturday at Cal State Fullerton is the swan song for Hunter’s high school career as a member of the Wildcats.
It wasn’t his most dominating performance of the season, but in the biggest game of the season for West Ranch, on the big stage at CSU Fullerton, the 6-foot-4 righthander was in control on the mound and pitched a four-hit shutout with six strikeouts in the win.
West Ranch finished the season 25-9 but Manning was 10-0 with a 0.74 ERA and 112 strikeouts with only 22 walks in 75.2 innings pitched. Manning didn’t have a hit against Mater Dei but on the season he hit for a .441 batting average with two home runs, 19 RBI and 13 runs scored.
For his three-year varsity career, Manning was 17-1 with a 0.97 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 137.1 innings pitched.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
State Baseball Player of the Week
Brennan Botill (Corcoran) Fr.
The search for the Northern California State Baseball Player of the Week takes to the CIF Central Section or “The Valley” as the locals like to call it, and for the last time this year we remind readers that for all player of the week features in all sports, boys and girls, the Central Section is considered Northern California. In a bit of a twist, we have a player winning a statewide honor for Northern California that is playing in the CIF Southern Regional playoffs.
We end up around 20 miles south of Hanford around halfway between I-5 and Highway 99 and just off Highway 43 at Corcoran High. It’s there where we find a freshman standout in Botill who is following in the footsteps of his older brother Brant Botill. Sort of.
Brant was a three-sport star at Corcoran in football, basketball and baseball but it was in football that he was an all-state selection several years ago. Brennan also plays those three sports, and is already playing varsity level in all three, but it’s in baseball where the 5-foot-11, 173-pounder who pitches and plays infield and outfield has been excelling for the Panthers this season.
On Tuesday, in a CIF Southern Regional 9-5 opening round victory by top-seeded Corcoran over University of Los Angeles, Botill got it done on the mound and at the plate. As a pitcher he went 4.2 innings and only gave up two hits, no runs, and he struck out nine with two walks. At the plate he had a double, a walk, a stolen base and he scored twice.
Over the weekend, in a 18-6 win by No. 4 seed Corcoran over second-seeded Shafter in the Central Section Division V championship title game, Botill had two doubles, two walks, a stolen base, and he scored four times. He also went five innings on the mound and got the win.
So far this season for the 26-4 Panthers and heading into the semifinals at home on Thursday, Botill is hitting .366 with two triples, six doubles, 17 RBI, and 38 runs scored. He’s also stolen 30 bases and in 102 plate appearances he’s only struck out eight times. As a pitcher, Brennan is 12-1 with a 1.34 ERA and 114 strikeouts and only 27 walks in 68 innings pitched. The 114 strikeouts is the No. 14 reported mark in the state and No. 4 in the Valley.
Taylor Jennings’ hitting was crucial in Liberty of Brentwood winning the CIF North Coast Section D1 title. Photo: Liberty HS Athletics / MaxPreps.com.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
State Softball Player of the Week
Taylor Jennings (Liberty, Brentwood) Jr.
To find the Northern California State Softball Player of the Week we venture to the East Contra Costa County portion of the CIF North Coast Section and it’s at Liberty in Brentwood where we find our honoree that now adds a statewide award to local kudos.
We had several softball standouts vying for this week’s honors and it wasn’t until Tuesday of this week that Jennings secured her spot in the limelight.
Despite winning the CIFNCS Division 1 title, the Lions were not selected for the CIF Northern Regional Division I bracket, but instead were placed in Division II, and then were only given the No. 4 seed.
That meant Liberty was at home against fifth-seeded Central Catholic (Modesto) on Tuesday and the Lions and Jennings did some roaring in a 14-3 victory. Jennings had one of three Liberty home runs in the game, plus a triple, three RBI and two runs scored.
In the NCS D1 4-0 championship title game victory over Casa Grande of Petaluma, Jennings was on base on all at bats and had a double and scored twice. In the NCS D1 opener against San Marin of Novato, Taylor hit two long taters that were solo home runs, and she scored three times in an 11-4 victory.
Now Liberty goes on the road for a semifinal match-up on Thursday with top seeded Vanden of Fairfield. Heading into that contest, the junior left-handed slugger is batting an even .500 with 11 home runs, two triples, six doubles, 19 RBI and 39 runs scored.
The 11 home runs is top 30 in the state but in a shout out to teammate Isabella Rice its only second on the team to the 13 homers of junior Rice.
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
