Prep spotlight: St. Francis No. 1 on field and in dugout; Granada treks to North Carolina
Welcome to Prep Spotlight, our feature that sheds more light on the Bay Area’s high school sports scene. For tips and story ideas, email highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com. If you haven’t already, please subscribe. Your contributions keep us going.
ST. FRANCIS: LANCERS BEST ON FIELD. WHAT ABOUT IN DUGOUT?
St. Francis is very good at softball.
The Lancers are the No. 1 team in the Bay Area News Group rankings, a veritable juggernaut that is annually one of the finest high school squads in California.
But St. Francis isn’t just strong on the diamond. The Lancers also stand out in the dugout, where the sister duo of senior Maya and freshman Emi Yumiba leads them in boisterous cheers while they hit.
Lots of softball teams are pretty robust in the commotion department. But St. Francis might be as good as any in the Bay Area.
“Maya, Emi, they’re both very loud, very hyper,” freshman Mercedes Coller said. “They love cheering. And when we’re not cheering, they’ll yell at us and get on us to start cheering. So they really run it.”
Senior Ava Bulanti has been a key part of some pretty good Lancers teams during her career, and she thinks keeping things positive on the bench has a big impact on St. Francis’ fortunes.
“Our seniors this year are really, really important for the energy,” Bulanti said. “We have Maya Yumiba, who is the loudest in the best way. She hypes everyone up. We have Gabby Rocha. We have Isabella Sandoval, one of our team captains. They’re really essential to the team energy on the bench.”
No encouraging chant is safe in the presence of the Lancers. Any jubilant vocalization can be repurposed to fit St. Francis’ ebullient agenda.
“If we hear a cheer from another team and we like it, we’ll kind of steal it,” Coller confessed.
“If they’re good, if they get the energy going, we’ll take them for ourselves,” Bulanti admitted.
So what does their coach think of all this good cheer? Mike Oakland doesn’t mind at all, especially when it contributes to winning.
He credited the Lancers’ trip to Southern California for the Michelle Carew Classic with honing St. Francis’ rally repertoire, as well as the group’s overall cohesiveness.
“We played 11 games in two weeks,” Oakland said after finishing the Livermore Stampede with a 5-0 record last Saturday. “We’ve been together a lot, so they’re starting to figure those things out. That’s one of the nice things about playing a lot of games in a short amount of time and being with each other every day. You start figuring out who’s in charge of this, who’s in charge of that. It just organically happens.”
It’s not just the games. The camaraderie extends off the field as well.
“The Michelle Carew Classic helped a lot,’ Bulanti said. “We spent like six, seven hours in the van together. So that bonded us for sure. And then going to team dinners and hanging out with each other outside of games is really important too, and it shows on the field. Our team chemistry is great.”
–Christian Babcock
GRANADA: NORTH CAROLINA TRIP REJUVINIZES MATADORS
For four games last week, Granada got the experience of playing some of the best high school baseball teams in the country.
The Matadors traveled to North Carolina to play in the National High School Baseball Invitational, where they won three of their four games.
“The trip showed we could compete with any team across the country,” Granada catcher Tommy Brown said. “Coming back home, it just gives us an edge, and we just want to win every game coming back.”
The Livermore school defeated North Carolina’s Holly Springs, Illinois powerhouse Edwardsville and Regis Jesuit of Colorado. The only loss came to Corona del Sol, the top-ranked team in Arizona.
Granada coach Corrigan Willis cherished the time he spent with the team in the Tar Heel state.
“North Carolina was an amazing baseball and life experience,” Willis said. “I gave them Monday off and we had a really good practice on Tuesday. Sometimes, you worry about a let down after something like that, but I felt the opposite.”
– Nathan Canilao
BASKETBALL ALL-STAR GAME RAISES MONEY FOR COACHES VS. CANCER
On Saturday, De Anza College in Cupertino will host a pair of high school All-Star basketball games to benefit Coaches vs. Cancer.
Standout Santa Clara County hoopers will take the floor for the girls game at 2 p.m., a 3-point contest, skills challenge and dunk contest at 3:30 and the boys game at 5.
This year’s series is a revitalization of a previous effort in this vein. Westmont coach John Franza couldn’t recall how long ago the last one was, so it’s been a while.
But the event is back now, and Franza, who is helping organize and run it, is thrilled with the revival. The concept is similar to the Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game, which has been a hit for 50 years and counting.
“Some of the top players in the county, both boys and girls, will play in this event,” Franza said. “All proceeds benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. It’s a pleasure to bring it back and honor those senior basketball players that are so deserving.”
–Christian Babcock
NORTHGATE STUDENTS RIDING HORSES, SHREDDING SLOPES
High school students participate in all kinds of interesting activities.
Two Northgate juniors are involved in unique extracurriculars that have taken them to statewide and national competitions.
Fittingly for a school with the mascot of a Bronco, Mikayla Kelling competes in barrel racing and pole bending at California High School Rodeo Association District 4 events. She qualified for the state finals in both events, finishing among the top six competitors in each.
She will compete against finalists from the other eight districts statewide at a 10-day rodeo held in Bishop, a small city near the Nevada border, in June. The winners at the state finals advance to the World Finals in Wyoming. Kelling also boasts a 3.6 GPA while balancing her rodeo commitments.
Meanwhile, Sven Grant competes for the United States in Junior Olympics skiing events. Grant, who competes in downhill and slalom, has had a strong season.
He finished second in an event held at Sugar Bowl Resort in Norden, and he qualified as first alternate for the regional championships at his first International Ski and Snowboard Federation competition at Palisades Tahoe, where he competed against skiers from Norway, Finland, Canada, France and Great Britain.
At his most recent competition held at Northstar California Resort in Truckee, he skied to a first-place finish in his age group the day before junior prom.
It just goes to show you – there’s more to many high school students than meets the eye.
–Christian Babcock
CLAYTON VALLEY: UGLY EAGLES BOUNCING BACK
Clayton Valley is usually one of the top baseball schools in the Bay Area, but last season was a rough year for the Concord school.
The Ugly Eagles suffered their first losing season in at least 20 years, going 11-13 and missing the North Coast Section playoffs.
A comeback year looks to be in the works.
Clayton Valley (13-3) opened the season winning its first dozen games, which included notable victories over California, Las Lomas and Monte Vista. The Ugly Eagles started Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division play with a 6-1 win over Alhambra on Tuesday before falling to the Bulldogs 1-0 on Thursday.
“The seniors this year have a little bit of a bad taste in their mouth from last year,” Clayton Valley coach Jesse Medrano said. “I think that hunger to go out and earn some things is what’s been the biggest difference from last season, and we have some really strong senior leadership.”
Eight of the team’s players this season are seniors, led by pitcher Elliott Webb and infielder Fabian Gomez. Clayton Valley is 15th this week in the Bay Area News Group rankings.
“I think our leadership has just been better,” Webb said. “We just came out after a rough season with a chip on our shoulder to come out and get wins.”
– Nathan Canilao
MT. DIABLO ATHLETES COMMIT TO COLLEGES
Two Mt. Diablo High athletes will be furthering their careers at the college level.
Girls basketball player Stephanie Zuniga, a 5-foot-3 guard from the Concord school, signed her letter of commitment to Pacific Union College in Napa on Thursday. Zuniga is a 2024-2025 Diablo Athletic League honorable mention who scored over 700 points and averaged 7.7 points, 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game during her three years at Mt. Diablo.
Zuniga has also maintained an overall 4.0 GPA and participated in the Army JROTC program and the National Fitness Team, which competed every year in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Zuniga’s teammate, fellow 5-foot-3 guard Natalie Dance, signed with Nelson University in Phoenix. Dance is a two-time DAL first-team all-league player who scored over 1,100 points and averaged 20 points and 3.5 steals per game during her three years at Mt. Diablo.
She also maintained an overall 3.9 GPA while participating in the Army JROTC program and competing on the National Fitness Team alongside Zuniga.
–Christian Babcock