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Weekend Sat — Division II Softball Championship at Red Bluff, 2 p.m. Chico at Red Bluff Sat — Division 1 Baseball Championship at Butte College, 4 p.m. Red Bluff vs. Pleasant Valley Sat — NASCAR All-Star Race, 4 p.m., SPEED MLB — Giants at Athletics, Sat and Sun, 1 p.m., CSNBA Sports 1B Weekend May 22-23, 2010 Vista has perfect season Spartans on the Internet The Red Bluff Spar- tans quest to become Northern Section Division 1 baseball champions will be shown on the Web at kbcsports.com/live. Red Bluff takes on Pleasant Valley at 4 p.m. from Butte College. Sharks face extinction CHICAGO (AP) — Dustin Byfuglien skated hard into the high slot and Dave Bolland delivered the puck to him just at the right moment. Byfuglien drove it into the net and suddenly the Chicago Blackhawks were one win from the Stanley Cup finals. The 257-pound Byfuglien scored his seventh goal of this postseason 12:24 into overtime Friday night and the Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. ‘‘It’s great, something I’ll Courtesy photo The Vista School softball team completed a perfect 12-0 season. They are (from top left): coach Teresa Salinas- McEnaney, Hailee Nicholls, Shannon Packard, Tayler Zazueta, Hailey Reineman, Alyssa Hethcoat, coach Mike McEnaney, Samantha Jones, Adrienne Hinkston, Ashleigh Fox, Heather Nelson, Brandy Mason, Madison Waelty, Brianna Weik and Cheyanne Grannes. By RICHGREENE DN Sports Editor At least part of the success the Red Bluff Spar- tans softball program has had in recent years has to be owed to Vista School. A school that has done nothing short of domi- nate the Shasta Junior High League, did so once again in 2010 — finishing with a perfect 12-0 record. “I don’t know to say it, it was one of the best teams I ever had,” coach Mike McEnaney said. That’s saying something considering the pipeline of players Vista has put through . While some of the names on this year’s team may be familiar either for success at the Little League level or because of older siblings it shouldn’t take long for the 13 girls to make their own names known. Six of them will move on to high school next season. Hailee Nicholls pitched 11 of Vista’s 12 games and racked up 103 strikeouts. Tayler Zazueta, who McEnaney said could also be a star pitcher at the high school level, threw one game for Vista. At the plate, Zazueta batted .571, hit three homers, three triples and six doubles. Nicholls can also bat. She hit for a .529 aver- age with four doubles and a triple. The team was led offensively by lefty Saman- tha Jones, who batted .576 with a .638 on base percentage. Vista had to come from behind to win of its 12 games. A 4-2 victory over West Cottonwood at the Sequoia Tournament and a thrilling 4-3 win against Anderson. Vista was tied with their rivals headed into the last inning at Anderson’s own tournament, but they found a way to score and salvage their per- fect season. They also picked up the tournament trophy as they did at the Sequoia Tournament. McEnaney said another key for the team this season was Ashleigh Fox stepping into the catch- er role after star backstop Alyssa Hethcoat suf- fered an injury season right before the season began. But to pull off a perfect season it took every- one on the roster putting forth All-Star efforts. “They all contributed. It took everyone of them to pull of a 12-0 season,” McEnaney said. definitely remember,’’ Byfuglien said. ‘‘Bolland made a good play and just laid it out in the slot, and all I had to do was finish.’’ And that’s what the Blackhawks hope to do Sun- day at the United Center — finish off the Sharks, the reg- ular-season champions of the Western Conference and get to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1992. ‘‘With San Jose, they’re such a good team, we defi- nitely can’t, you know, let off at all. We got to keep going right to the final buzzer,’’ Byfuglien said. ‘‘We want to feel like that’s the most important game we play all year. See SHARKS, page 2B Oakland beats former ace Zito, Giants 6-1 OAKLAND (AP) — Coco Crisp drove in two runs in his Oakland debut and the Athletics beat their former ace, Barry Zito, and the San Francisco Giants 6- 1 on Friday night in the first of the Bay Bridge Series of the season. Zito (6-2) was off to a career-best start this season for the Giants heading into just his second outing back at the Coliseum since the 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner with the A’s was lured across the bay by a $126 million, seven-year deal before the 2007 sea- son. Ryan Sweeney added an RBI single for the A’s to help Trevor Cahill (2-2) win for the first time in three starts. Oakland kept Zito from a win against the only team in baseball he’s yet to beat in his 11-year career. San Francisco lost its third straight game a day after an 8-7 defeat at last- place Arizona in which ace Tim Lincecum struggled and manager Bruce Bochy was ejected late. The Giants couldn’t cap- italize against Cahill despite having several chances with runners in scoring position. San Francisco lost to the A’s for only the second time in the last nine meetings after going 5-1 in the rivalry in 2009. Zito received a mixed welcome of boos and cheers from the crowd of 33,369 when he was intro- duced before first pitch. After the left-hander pitched 1-2-3 innings in the first and second, Oakland produced three straight hits to start the third. Former Giants outfielder Rajai Davis got the A’s on the board with a two-run dou- ble and Crisp followed with MCT photo From second base, Freddy Sanchez and Kurt Suzuki watch as the Giants turn a double play in the fourth inning. a sacrifice fly. Crisp, who began the season on the dis- abled list with a broken left pinkie that he injured April 2 in an exhibition game against the Giants, doubled in a run in the seventh to chase Zito. Zito pitched more than six innings against the A’s for the first time in the four outings against them — and this was at least better than his last one here. On May 18, 2007, in his first return to Oakland, Zito was tagged for seven earned runs and six hits with seven walks in four innings of 15- 3 loss. Zito allowed season highs of six runs and nine hits Friday. He walked just one batter after the Giants issued nine free passes against the Diamondbacks on Thursday and 29 over their previous four games. Giants shortstop Juan Uribe left the game in the bottom of the third with a tight left hamstring. Fortu- nately for the Giants, regu- lar shortstop Edgar Renteria is set to be activated from the disabled list Saturday. Notes: Giants C Bengie Molina was the DH. ... Zito had been 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA on the road this year. ... Oakland’s Dallas Braden, who pitched the majors’ 19th perfect game May 9, was honored for his feat in a pregame ceremony. He received home plate from the game and also will be given a commemorative ring with 78 diamonds from the team for his accom- plishment. The LHP will be honored in his hometown of Stockton on Saturday night before the Class-A Stock- ton Ports play. Also, the City of Oakland proclaimed May 21 ‘‘Dallas Braden Day.’’ Braden’s grandma and fellow southpaw, Peggy Lindsey, threw out the cere- monial first pitch to her grandson. ... C Landon Powell, who caught the per- fect game, presented Braden with the catcher’s glove he used that day — doing so Friday only a few hours after Powell was sent down to Triple-A Sacra- mento to make roster room for Crisp. ... Davis stole his 14th base of the season, while Crisp was caught stealing on his first attempt this season in the fifth.