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Friday Baseball — Anderson at Corning, 6 p.m. Baseball — Foothill at Red Bluff, 4 p.m. Baseball — Los Molinos at Williams, 4 p.m. Softball — Anderson at Corning, 4 p.m. Softball — Los Molinos at Williams, 4:30 p.m. Softball — Red Bluff at Foothill, 4 p.m. Track — Corning, Red Bluff at West Valley/Chico Invite Track — Los Molinos at Burney Spring Classic Sports 1B Friday April 23, 2010 Spartans back on track By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Austin Brownfield hit a gigantic grand slam to the house in left field, Thursday, to highlight a third inning stretch of 12 Spartan batters reach- ing base safely as Red Bluff got back in the win column with a 16-6 victo- ry over Oroville. Red Bluff improved to 15-7 on the season and 6-2 in the Eastern Athletic League with their first win since April 1. Oroville had just cut the Spartans lead to 4-2 in the top half of the third when Red Bluff manager Joe Gal- laty called the entire Spartans team together before the bottom half. Gallaty stressed taking advantage of the moment and the Spartans did just that. After the inning opened with a groundout to the shortstop, Scott Avery got an 11-run rally going with a single and the Spartans success snowballed from there. Brownfield smashed a single to third base then Cliff Dais singled in the first Spartans run of the inning. Trevor Miller drew a walk and Derek Jones was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, before Oroville changed pitchers. It made no difference as EJ Stan- ton doubled down the left field line to drive in two more Spartan runs. Cody Gappa then smashed an RBI double to right field, which was followed by an RBI single from Maison Etzler. Oroville changed pitchers again. Jordan Fox then ran out an infield single and Avery was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Brownfield. The Spartans catcher made no mistake in his monstrous 400-foot- plus shot to left field and Red Bluff had a 15-2 lead. Trevor Gibson, working his way back into the lineup, then pinch hit Corning Manta Rays swim The last sign-up day for the Corning swim team will be Monday at the Maywood Middle School library. The sign-up will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.. Anyone who signs up after April 26 will also have to pay an addi- tional $25 late fee. The swim team is equal opportunity and open to swimmers as young as four, based on their experience, through the ages of 18. New swimmers will receive a t-shirt and a swim cap when they sign up. Tehama Tracker Spartans softball The Spartans held on for a 4-2 win at Oroville, Thursday in a make-up or a rain postponed game. Emily McEnaney opened the game with a triple and two batters later was knocked in by a Haley Harris single. Harris took second base on a left fielder error was driven home by Brittany Fletcher to stake Red Bluff to an early 2-0 lead. Battling Oroville’s tough pitcher, the Red Bluff bats stayed silent until the sixth inning when they got a pair of needed insurance runs. Harris reached on a infield error and then stole second base. She advanced to third on a Bryce Etzler bunt single and scored on a Danisha Slay sacrifice fly to center. Etzler moved to second base on the Slay’s sacrifice and then scored to make it 4-0 when Krista Rodriguez ripped a ball to the second baseman that bounced off her glove. Oroville scored twice in their half of the sixth off of Spar- tans starter Megan McColpin, who struck out eight batters in the game. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Austin Brownfield is congratulated by Cody Gappa, Thursday, following his third inning grand slam. and drew a walk and became the 12th Spartan batter to reach base safely. During the rally, Red Bluff start- ing pitcher Storm Lewis tried to stay loose by throwing behind the dugout and stretching, but the long inning got to him. Oroville jumped all over Lewis to begin the fourth inning to cut the lead to 15-6. Zane Medeiros came in to relieve Lewis and settled down the Oroville bats with a nice breaking ball. Avery opened up the bottom of the fifth inning with another single and once again it was Brownfield delivering a clutch hit. He doubled to the center field fence to score Avery and earn the Spartans a 16-6 mercy-shortened win. Red Bluff hosts Foothill today at 4 p.m. Doubles clutch for Red Bluff By RICHGREENE DN Sports Editor It took every match, every set, every game, every point for Red Bluff to beat Foothill on Thursday. It even took someone not on the singles ladder. Austin Chase found himself plugged him into a No. 3 doubles match that ended up having the entire dual meet riding on it. With the team scores netted at four wins a piece Chase and his partner Wyatt Dodero battled to a 10-10 tie with their opposition to force a 21st game tiebreak- er. They prevailed and so did the Spartans 5-4 over Foothill. “That was a pretty clutch win,” coach Stan Twitchell said of Chase and Dodero’s performance. After losing four of the six singles matches, Red Bluff needed a sweep of the three doubles matches and got it. Cody Yarbrough and Kyle Davis combined for a win as did Paul Hendricks and CJVarner to set up a final match perfect for a day of climactic tennis action. Outside of Hendricks 6- 0, 6-2 No. 3 singles win, the rest of the singles matches were hard fought. Davis lost 4-6, 6-7. Varner was beat 4-6, 5-7. Aaron Vasey fell 2-6, 6-3, NEW YORK (AP) — The Rockettes would have loved this show. From an early Oklahoma party to the Big 12’s domi- nance to Tim Tebow steal- ing the spotlight from over- all top pick Sam Bradford, the NFL’s first prime-time draft was worthy of its Radio City Music Hall loca- tion. Starting with quarterback Bradford going to the St. Louis Rams on Thursday night, five of the top six picks were from the Big 12 Daily News photo by Rich Greene Kyle Davis returns a backhand,Thursday, during his singles match. 6-7 and Dodero lost 6-0, 4- 6, 5-7. Even Yarbrough’s No. 1 singles match went the dis- tance with the Spartan pre- vailing, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. “I stayed calm and he — three of them Sooners. In all, nine first-rounders came from the conference. Give Denver credit for gambling on Tebow, the mystery man of this draft. When the Broncos took the Florida quarterback at No. 25, it drew the loudest reac- tion — a mix of cheers and boos — from the audience. Bradford was immedi- ately followed Thursday night by defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh of Nebras- ka, the AP Player of the Year; DT Gerald McCoy didn’t,” Yarbrough said of what the made difference in his match. “Mainly when I play, I play to have fun. It’s not that I don’t get tight, some- times I do, I just didn’t and OT Trent Williams, Bradford’s teammates with the Sooners. Tennessee safety Eric Berry, also an All-Ameri- can, went fifth to Kansas City, breaking the Big 12 stranglehold. Then it was back to the Big 12 for Oklahoma State OT Russell Okung, who went to Seattle. Florida cornerback Joe Haden was chosen by Cleveland, followed by Alabama inside linebacker Rolando McClain to Oak- today,” the even-keeled Yarbrough said. Fortunately for the Spar- tans that attitude appeared to run down the ladder, Thursday, to help them rally back to defeat Foothill. Bradford goes first to Rams in NFLdraft land. Both were All-Ameri- cans last season. Clemson running back C.J. Spiller went ninth to Buffalo. The surprises and the swaps then began. Jacksonville took Cali- fornia DT Tyson Alualu, projected as a second- rounder by many. San Fran- cisco then moved up two spots, dealing for Denver’s pick to get Rutgers OT Anthony Davis. The 49ers later drafted Idaho guard Mike Iupati. Eztler came in to pitch the seventh inning for the save. Red Bluff travels to Foothill, today. Warriors softball Mercy opened up league play, Thursday, with a 17-0 thrashing of Liberty Christian. Natasha Czajka sparked on the mound with nine strike- outs and allowed just two hits in the five-inning mercy short- ened game. Diana Van Ert and Gaby Reynoza each homered and drove in two runs. Desiree Crane drove in four runs and picked up two hits. Krysta Bennett and Aylina Ramos each drove in a pair and Benicia Grace, Maggie Keller, Morgan Hampton, Lucy Ma and Czajka each had an RBI. Spartans track and field Wins were hard to come by at a dual meet against Enter- prise on Wednesday, but the girls relay teams found success. Morghan Moore, Roxanne Luppino, Jesse Slade and Alana Hinkston turned in a 53.5-second time to win the 4x100 relay. Luppino, Slade and Hinkston also teamed with Erin Eicholtz to win the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:21. Eicholtz also took a first in the individual 400 meters turn- ing in a time of 1:06.1. On the boys side the 4x100 relay team of Jeffrey Foster, Taylor Hickson, Grant Blaser and Marco Rodriguez won with a time of 44.7 seconds. Foster also won the 200 meters in 22.8 seconds. Cardinals track and field The Cardinals had trouble as well on Wednesday in their dual meet with West Valley. The Eagles won the boys event 102-33 and the girls com- petition 104-14. Jose Torres and Blaine Glover were stand-outs for the Cardinals. Torres won the 800 meters in 2:06.94 and Glover won the triple jump with a mark of 40’4.5”. The duo then teamed with DAniel Crooks and Herminio Miranda to win the 4x400 relay in 4:00.02. Mattie Maloney won the girls pole vault with a mark of 9’6”. Bulldogs track and field Multi-talented athlete Carolyna Salazar continued to siz- zle, Wednesday, at a Mid-Valley League meet at University Prep. Behind Salazar the Lady Bulldogs finished fifth out of 10 schools. University Prep was first with 146 points, followed by Hamilton City and Redding Christian. Salazar won the 100-meter hurdles (18.47), discus (82’8”) and triple jump (30’2.5”). Kevin Garnica took second place in the boys discus with a toss of 114’2”. A’s avoid sweep as A-Rod causes trouble OAKLAND (AP) — Alex Rodriguez started an around- the-horn gem for the New York Yankees’ first triple play in 42 years. But it was his casual jog directly across the diamond that started all the trouble. On a day of history and histrionics, Oakland pitcher Dallas Braden screamed at Rodriguez after accusing him of breaching one of baseball’s unwritten rules, setting off a shouting match Thursday in the Athletics’ 4-2 win over the Yankees. The problems began in the top of the sixth inning after a single by Rodriguez. Robinson Cano fouled off a pitch and Rodriguez, who in between second base and third, cut across the pitcher’s mound to return to first. After Cano grounded into an inning-ending double play, Braden and Rodriguez got into it. ‘‘The long and short of it is it’s pretty much baseball eti- quette. He should probably take a note from his captain over there,’’ Braden said, referring to Yankees leader Derek Jeter, ‘‘because you don’t run across the pitcher’s mound in between an inning or during the game. I was just dumb- founded that he would let that slip his mind.’’ ‘‘I was just trying to convey to him that I was still out there, that ball’s in my hand and that’s my pitcher’s mound. See A’s, page 2B