Prep honors: MCAL unveils its spring sports honorees
Fresh off crowning its champions in baseball and softball last week, the MCAL released its players of the year and all-league teams for spring sports.
Fresh off crowning its champions in baseball and softball last week, the MCAL released its players of the year and all-league teams for all spring sports.
Redwood leadoff hitter Theo Trono was named the baseball player of the year while San Marin’s Sean McGrath was dubbed the league’s best pitcher. In softball, Archie Williams leadoff hitter Paige Murphy was the selection for player of the year while San Rafael’s Thomara Drummer was the choice for pitcher of the year.
Additionally, athletes were selected from boys golf, lacrosse, swimming, track, boys volleyball and boys tennis. The full list of honorees can be found at mcalsports.org and will run in print sometime next month when the IJ selects its athletes of the year.
Baseball
Trono ranked second in the league among the teams whose stats were submitted to MaxPreps.com in batting average (.453) and was the league leading in runs scored (34) for the regular-season and postseason champions.
McGrath posted an earned-run average of 1.64 across 72.2 innings of work and was second in the league in strikeouts (83) to lead San Marin to runner-up finishes in both the regular season and the postseason.
Redwood and San Marin accounted for more then half of the first-team selections with four Giants (Rex Solle twice as an infielder and a pitcher, plus Jack Moseley and Sam Gersch) and three Mustangs (Anthony Scheppler, Cole Chamberlain, and McGrath).
Other first-team selections were Archie Williams’ Jack Evans, plus the Novato duo of JP Harmon and Griffin Vorhaus.
Softball
Murphy was a .500 hitter while batting leadoff for the Peregrine Falcons while also doubling as the team’s ace inside the circle as Archie Williams made a strong push to win the league before ultimately finishing third behind San Rafael and Redwood.
As a pitcher, Murphy ranked third with a 1.32 ERA over 122 innings of work and was second in strikeouts with 170.
The only player ahead of Murphy in both ERA and strikeouts was Drummer, whose 0.48 ERA and and 274 strikeouts both led the league. Drummer also threw four no-hitters this season, including one perfect game.
Drummer was joined on the first team by teammates Sophia Everett and Angel Amesa, who led the way as the Bulldogs won their first regular-season title since 2004.
San Marin (Lauren Fong and Taylor Testa) and Marin Catholic (Morgan Carlson and Selena Peña) both placed two players on the first team. The other three selections were Tam’s Ava Lee, Terra Linda’s Eleanor Johnson, and Redwood’s Gia Meyers.
Boys golf
Tam went undefeated through the regular season and won the MCAL championship thanks in large part to player of the year Ben Friedman, who took medalist honors at the league championship. Friedman formed a formidable 1-2 punch with Hayden Thill, who was also named to the first team.
Other selections were Marin Catholic’s Theo Anderson, Redwood’s Sam Sumski and Jack Mount, Branson’s Aria Saluja, and Terra Linda’s Sean Madden.
Boys lacrosse
Marin Catholic won every title available this season — MCAL regular season, MCAL postseason, and North Coast Section — led by player of the year Colin Puckett. MC dominated the first-team selections with six players (Tate Sedlachek, Jake Holmes, Mack Barry, Matt Bailey, Jack Herold, and Jack Irving).
Redwood, which finished second to MC in both the regular season and the MCAL postseason tournament, put five players on the first team with Will Parsons, Jake Vasquez, Aidan Hackett, Edward Lin, and Jackson Lesher. The lone selection from any other team was Tam’s Oskar Armour.
Girls lacrosse
Redwood claimed MCAL regular-season and postseason titles thanks in part to a strong season by player of the year Riley Peterson. Two other Giants made the first team with Maya Mihara and Lily Pirsch.
All told, four other teams were represented on the first team with Marin Catholic (Marlie Nees, Audrey Carr, Sydney Hubbard, and Katherine Villeda), Tam (Carson Cann, Rowie Scobie, and Mia Yolles), San Marin (Alex Chamberlain and Cate Contreras), plus Branson (Audrey Spaly).
Swimming
Terra Linda’s Ben Butler claimed boys swimmer of the year honors after winning two events and participating on two winning relay teams as TL won its first MCAL title since 2013. Redwood’s Charlie Seraphine was named boys diver of the year.
On the girls side, Redwood swept the honors with Kate Deforrest being named the top swimmer and Lera Bondarenko the top diver. Deforrest was a double winner for the Giants, who held off Tam to win the MCAL title.
Boys tennis
Redwood freshman Julian Zhang didn’t lose a match in MCAL play this season and, as such, was picked as the league’s player of the year. Zhang, along with first-teamer Jackson Sichel, helped lead Redwood to an unbeaten regular season, plus the team title.
Second-place Branson put Ishwar Jayaraman and Chase Hoeveler on the first team. Hoeveler ended up winning the MCAL singles tournament after entering as the third seed. Other singles selections were Tam’s Tyler Byrne, TL’s Bhuvan Medidi, and MC’s Jack Millar.
The doubles players were Branson’s Oliver Goldman and Tommie Higgins, Redwood’s Cal Fazal and Chris Lee, Redwood’s Tug Ricordel and Marin Catholic’s Mac Abele.
Track and field
Redwood claimed three of the four honors with William Ghalam and Antonio Bayon being named the boys track and field athletes, respectively, plus pole vaulter Trinity Chancellor being named as the girls field athlete of the season.
Ghalam won the 200 and the 400 at both the MCAL and NCS Redwood Empire meets. Bayon won three events at MCALs and finished second in a fourth.
San Marin sprinter Sicily Grasso was named the girls track athlete of the season after sweeping the 100 and the 200 at the league meet.
Boys volleyball
Archie Williams’ Zach Wulff was the selection for player of the year, helping lead the Peregrine Falcons to a second-place finish this season. Ellis Chamberlin also made the first team for Archie Williams.
Regular-season and postseason champion Redwood put Beckett Shewey on the first team. The other selections were Tam’s Yaseen Ashraf and David Bloom, Branson’s Mason Stein, and TL’s Camden Franjieh.