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Monday NBAPlayoffs — Magic at Celtics, 5:30 p.m., ESPN NHL Playoffs — Canadians at Flyers, 4 p.m., VERSUS MLB— Red Sox at Rays, 4 p.m., MLB Sports 1B Monday May 24, 2010 You win some, someone loses Following a truly mem- orable final game, the Lady Spartans team posed with their championship shadowbox in right field for pictures. Reporters, school offi- cials and parents snapped away then moved out of the way so even more reporters, school officials and parents could snap away. Salazar, Garnica win at divisional championships; Spartans waiting It was a long time for the girls to hold their smiles, but they didn’t have to work hard at it — the grins were plastered to their faces. It wouldn’t surprise me if they woke up Sun- day morning with stretch marks. Rich Greene While the smiles came easy enough, the length of time was becoming somewhat awk- ward. Then through all the shouts of “over here” and shutters opening and closing came a song from the speakers behind the backstop. “We are the Champions.” It started with a few of the girls just mum- bling along with the lyrics to be funny, but within a few lines the entire team was singing with full-lung capacity. They swayed back and forth in unison, wav- ing their well-deserved championship patches. It was the best of prep sports. Teenagers with the belief that if they put everything they have toward something are shown they can accomplish their dreams. It’s an emotion those pictures and even these words could never accurately describe. It’s an emotion you just have to feel. But to have that feeling, there has to be another group of kids who are going through the complete opposite. The other team. Fifty miles to the south and a couple of hours later the Lady Spartans’ classmates and in one case even a brother — were that team. The Spartans baseball team met in right field as well, but there were no patches. There was a shadowbox, but it had that nasty “Runner-up” word etched on it. The players finally broke their last post- game meeting of the season. First the seniors came to the dugout. They started picking up their belongings. Some of them found a place to sit down to have a moment for themselves. Then they looked up at each other, into the eyes of their teammates, their friends in some cases from before they could even tie their own cleats and saw they weren’t alone with what they were feeling. Emotions ran deep. It wasn’t the best of prep sports, but it wasn’t the worst either. The sting from losing still helps a student- athlete become a better person. It did feel like someone’s wake. If it wasn’t a death, it was a least a goodbye. It’s hard to swallow, but that’s the truth. The 2010 season is over. For the seniors, so were their high school baseball careers. Finality — it’s a bitch. And more than the spanking they endured Saturday night, it’s the finality of it all that caused the empty pits in nine stomachs. It’s the finality of it all that flushed every emotion about the past four years donning the Spartan green and gold into their brains. Like I said, it felt like a wake. The disappointment of never having again, coupled with all those fond memories that are trying to force one final smile out. It’s just too many feelings at once and that emotion has to burst out. Parents eventually wandered into the dugout, searching for the perfect thing to say, but only coming up with cliches. There’s no right words to tell someone when a loved one dies. There’s even less for a parent to choose from when they’re watching their boy graduate into becoming a man. Because in the end that’s what I saw Satur- day night in Oroville. I saw a group of boys, who might have been men only in age, learn it’s time to let go of their childhood. Graduation is approaching and while one chapter has been closed for good now, the next one awaits with nothing but empty pages wait- ing to be written. They were saying goodbye to great times without a guarantee they’ll ever have them again. Don’t worry guys, you’ll have them. By the time the last player had left the dugout with a parent’s arms draped around his shoulders, Butte College workers had already begun watering the field for the next game. It’ll soon see more winners and more losers. Back here in Red Bluff, the softball field will see the same. There’s not many things in life we do that leave half of us in smiles and half of us in tears. All of the other ones that come to mind usu- ally end up with someone in jail. But hey, it’s just a game, huh? Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or by e-mail at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Media News photo by Jason O'Hanlon Pleasant Valley's Luke Barker slides into home in front of Red Bluff's Austin Brownfield during the bottom half of the first inning of Saturday's Division 1 Championship game at Butte College. Spartans wind up section runner-up By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor OROVILLE— To get it out of the way the final scoreboard at Satur- day’s Division 1 championship base- ball game read Pleasant Valley 14, Red Bluff 2. On their way to repeating as sec- tion champions the 28-3 Vikings dominated the Spartans as they had so many other clubs this season. Outside of a couple of hits by Trevor Miller and an EJ Stanton there weren’t many Spartan high- lights. The Vikings, who repeated as sec- tion champions, opened up the first inning with four runs as walks and errors cost the Spartans. Red Bluff hung around after that and were hoping they could come out in the seventh inning and put up a four-run rally of their own, but they never got the chance. Pleasant Valley exploded for eight runs in the bottom half of the sixth OAKLAND (AP) — Bruce Bochy could take some solace in seeing more competitive at-bats from his slumping San Francisco Giants. Still, that doesn’t make getting shut out for the sec- ond straight day any easier to accept. Jake Fox hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning and the Oakland Athletics completed a three- game sweep of the Giants in the Bay Bridge Series with a 3-0 victory Sunday. The Giants, held to one inning to seal the game. For a Spartans team that was the first to beat Pleasant Valley this sea- son it was a disappointing loss to what was otherwise an anything but disappointing season. The Spartans went 21-10 and did- n’t drop a game at home, including a perfect five-game homestand that included wins over Pleasant Valley, Shasta and Marist. They finished second in the East- ern Athletic League and breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs. “We wanted to make it here and we did and we’re proud of just play- ing in this game,” starting pitcher Scott Avery said. In an emotional dugout, Saturday, it was a time for the Spartans to reflect on what they did accomplish. “That’s what you have to do — look back on the season, especially after a big loss like this,” second baseman Derek Jones said. While Jones flirted with a .500 run all series, stumbled to their season-high fifth straight loss despite Bochy shaking up his lineup in an effort to get out of this rut. ‘‘It’s really, really tough. It’s frustrating,’’ catcher Bengie Molina said. ‘‘It’s very sad. Every day we go out there and don’t score and this pitching staff pitch- es the way they do, it’s a waste.’’ Adam Rosales led off the seventh with a single against Jonathan Sanchez (2-4), Mark Ellis sacrificed and Fox followed with the average to lead the Spartans, he was- n’t the only one who had a great year – both on and off the field. “Best season you could ask for,” shortstop EJ Stanton said. Trevor Gipson and Cliff Dais both said what they will take from the team was the friendships they made. There was a lot of that sentiment going around the dugout. “These were all my best friends,” outfielder Trevor Miller said. “I’m close to all these guys. We’ve been successful all season.” That friendship may have helped the Spartans be a successful team. “We just knew each other — that was a big key,” designated hitter Mai- son Etzler said. “We had a great year, everyone had a great attitude,” third baseman Cody Gappa said. For the graduating players, the baseball season just added onto their senior years. “It’s the best year I’ve ever had,” Dante Garaventa said. A’s sweep Giants at home for 1st time in 5 years double. Kurt Suzuki and Ryan Sweeney each singled in an insurance run in the eighth. Oakland swept San Francisco for the fourth time in the last 10 series between the clubs and first at the Coliseum since June 24-26, 2005. The A’s earned a three-game sweep in San Francisco in 2008. This marked the second straight pitcher’s duel of the series after Oakland’s Gio Gonzalez beat Matt Cain 1- 0 on Saturday. Cain pitched a complete game and Oak- land managed only an unearned run to win. Sanchez received no run support for the fifth time in his nine 2010 starts. ‘‘It’s kind of hard when you’re battling out there to win games for the team,’’ Sanchez said. ‘‘We’re going through a tough time. We have to come back Tuesday and the guys will start hit- ting. You’ve got to leave it in the past.’’ Ben Sheets struck out eight in six scoreless See SWEEP, page 2B Los Molinos Bulldogs Carolyna Salazar and Kevin Garnica won indi- vidual titles at Friday’s Division IV track and field championship. Behind Salazar’s performance the Lady Bulldogs took third with 45 points, finishing behind University Prep and Tulelake. Salazar won the 100-meter hurdles in 18.96 seconds and won the discus with a mark of 81’1”. She also placed second in the triple jump. Linzy Irle was third in the 800 and 1600 meters. Garnica was the boys discus with a mark of 125’9” and placed third in the shot put as the Bulldogs finished 10th with 17 points. University Prep also won the boys team title, followed by Hamilton City and Tulelake. Mercy finished in 14th place with four points. Division I Championship A couple Spartans qualified directly for the NSCIFTrack and Field Masters by placing in the Top 3 at Friday’s Division IChampionship, but a hand- ful more were waiting to see if they grabbed the Wild Card spot. The best mark after all the automat- ic qualifiers from the divisional cham- pionships also earns a berth to the Mas- ters, which left fourth place finishes on Friday still sought after. Jeffrey Foster and Taylor Hickson won’t have to wait to know whether they’re going, just how many events they’ll be competing in. Foster placed third in the 100 meters and Hickson took a third place in the high jump. Foster was also fourth in the 200 meters and Hickson was fourth in the long jump and 110-meter hurdles. Grant Blaser was fourth in the 400 meters and Devin Shoop was fourth in the 800 meters. Blaser, Foster, Shoop and Marco Rodriguez also have a shot to qualify for the 4x400 relay event with their fourth place finish. Enterprise won the boys title with 142 points, followed by Chico with 82 and Central Valley with 52. Red Bluff was sixth with 38 points and Corning was 13th. On the girls side, Corning’s Mattie Maloney tied for third in the pole vault and the Spartans 4x400 relay team of Hailey Carlon, Savannah Carrillo, Erin Eicholtz and Roxanne Luppino placed fourth. Chico won the girls team title with 121 points, edging out West Valley who had 116 points. Shasta was third with 63. Red Bluff finished in 12th and Corning was 14th. Baseball bummer