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Tuesday Baseball — Lassen at Corning, 4 p.m. Baseball — Los Molinos at Hamilton, 4:30 p.m. Baseball — Red Bluff at Pleasant Valley, 4 p.m. Baseball — Redding Christian at Mercy, 3:30 p.m. Softball — Lassen at Corning, 4 p.m. Softball — Los Molinos at Hamilton, 4:30 p.m. Softball — Pleasant at Red Bluff, 4 p.m. Softball — Redding Christian at Mercy, 3:30 p.m. Soccer — Pleasant Valley at Red Bluff, 4:30 p.m. Tennis — Red Bluff at Pleasant Valley, 4 p.m., Corning at Yreka, 3:30 p.m. Golf — Red Bluff at Chico, Noon Just send me home Man am I glad we had the Round-Up this month. If it wasn’t for the event, I might have to officially declare April as being the worst month since I took over as sports edi- tor. With the rain, high school spring breaks and of course more rain, it’s been hard to get any rhythm attending or cover- ing our beloved local prep scene. It sort of feels like I’m stuck on third base. With a furious and fun start to the spring season, Tehama County sports fans were able to race around the bags all the way to third. The end of the season and the school year was in Rich Greene sight. Then Mother Nature called for a pitching change. And so we wait — twiddle our thumbs, kick our toes firmly into place in our cleats, chat it up with the third base coach, but above all else — wait. Rain rain, go away, we have lots of games to play. Throwing together today’s list of “scheduled” high school events would have me excited action’s about ready to begin again — but then I checked a weather report. If the rain stays away, the Red Bluff Spartans base- ball team will travel to Pleasant Valley for one of the most important games of the season. First place in the Eastern Athletic League and more than likely the top seed in the playoffs will be at stake. It’s just one of the many great storylines that still need to be played out, is close to happening, but is being delayed by this Cat in the Hat weather. But since we’re stuck on third base together, maybe it’s as good as time as any to look at how we got here and where we’re headed. Might as well start with those Spartans. Before the first pitch of the season was thrown, there was a lot of talk around the North Section that the Pleasant Valley Vikings weren’t just the No. 1 team this season, but maybe one of the best in recent memory. The boys in green and yellow threw a curveball to that logic on March 26 when they beat the Vikings 5- 1 as part of a perfect five-game homestand. Since then it’s been anyone’s guess who will take control of the EAL. Foothill beat Red Bluff. Red Bluff beat Foothill. Chico beat both Foothill and Red Bluff, but can’t seem to beat anybody else. Even Shasta threw in a win over Pleasant Valley. But with a win over the Vikings today (or whenev- er the game takes place), Red Bluff would control it’s own destiny and a major tiebreaker over PV. The Spartans haven’t been the only Tehama school to put themselves in scoring position of a league title. Corning has continued a fantastic school year across every sport and are chasing a Northern Athletic League title behind the strong hitting of Tyler McIn- tyre and Co. Mercy is pursuing a Tri-Cities League title led by the pitching and batting of the Farmer Brothers and Cameron Vietti. One team already used to titles, is the Lady Spar- tans softball team. Despite some tournament losses, Red Bluff remains perfect in league play and although they’re young, they still have the experience to be the team to beat. Once again you can’t overlook Corning. Anna Curry has the Lady Cards in the NAL title hunt. Even Mercy has title aspirations in softball with the return of their ace pitcher Natasha Czajka. Moving over to hitting stationary balls, the local golf teams are also worth keeping an eye on during the final weeks of the spring season. Red Bluff has a young star in Daniel Frantz, who combined with some veteran play has made the Spar- tans one of the better EAL teams. Mercy has a young star as well in Esteban Rodriguez. Then there’s Los Molinos. The young star in their league plays for a different school, but the Bulldogs behind Zach and Wills Mathues have shown a lot of bite this season as well. Another Los Molinos athlete worth keeping an eye on has been known to toss a ball-shaped object, other times she just throws around her own body and some- times she just runs right by you. Track star Carolyna Salazar is one of those rare ath- letes that can produce a top-finish in just about any event she chooses to participate in. When the weather clears it’s going to be fascinating to see how she stacks up against some of the section’s best. Another lady worth keeping an eye on is Corning distance runner Karen Torres. Another Torres distance runner worth keeping an eye on is over on the boys side — Jose. Plus Corning has some great field athletes in discus and shot putter Luis Piseno and pole vaulter Mattie Maloney. Red Bluff has it’s fair share of great track and field athletes as well. Taylor Hickson, Jeffrey Foster, Colin Dahlberg, Zach Iverson, Alana Hinkston and Riley Kittle just to name... well six. They’re also loaded in the junior varsity ranks. Just wait till sophomore shot putter Meaggan Rector is unleashed at the varsity level. Well, with the way these weather patterns are trend- ing, by the time there’s another non-rained out event, she might very well be a senior. Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene is all for rain helping our local agriculture, but he’s starting to think they’ve had enough.Bring on the games. If you’re stuck indoors as well you can reach him at 527-2151, ext.109 or by e-mail at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. The Vista Vikings Softball team took first place in the annual Anderson Jr. High School Softball Tournament over the weekend, defeating Happy Valley 15-0 and Anderson twice, 4-3 and 5-1. Vista remains undefeated on the season,with its final game scheduled for Wednesday at Parsons. Pictured (from top left to right): Brandi Mason, Coach Teresa Salinas-McEnaney, Alyssa Hethcoat, Shannon Packard, Tayler Zazueta, Ashleigh Fox, Coach Mike McEnaney, Hailee Nicholls, Adrienne Hinkston, Cheyenne Grannes, Samantha Jones and Brianna Weik. Not pictured are Hailey Reineman, Madison Waelty and Heather Nelson. Lady Spartans beat Enterprise In a game moved up to avoid potential rain the rest of the week, the Lady Spartans softball team beat Enterprise 7-1, Monday to stay a perfect 7-0 in the Eastern Ath- letic League. Red Bluff used a big second inning to get the job done. Krista Rodriguez and Jerilynn Purcell were on base with two outs when Enterprise pitched around Emily McEnaney to load the bases. They paid for the mistake. Megan McColpin hit a bases clearing double and then the runs kept coming. Haley Harris sin- gled then stole sec- ond base and McColpin scored on a passed ball. Brittany Fletcher drew a walk and Kym Perino was sent into pinch run. Perino stole sec- ond base to give Red Bluff runners on second and third and then Bryce Etzler hit a ball that bounced off the third baseman’s glove and allowed Harris to score. Danisha Slay then singled in Perino to give Red Bluff a 6-1 lead. The Lady Spartans tacked on Tehama Tracker Warriors softball Mercy stated unbeat- en in league play with an 8-1 victory over Uni- versity Prep on Monday. Natasha Czajka allowed just two hits and struck out 12 bat- ters. Diana Van Ert and Desiree Crane each tripled. Van Ert drove in a pair of runs. Crane, Benicia Grace, Krystal Bennett, Maggie Keller, Gaby Reynoza and Morgan Hampton all drove in runs for Mercy. Track and field Mattie Maloney placed second at the highly competitive West Valley-Chico Invitation- al, Friday and the Cardi- nals finished tied for 19th in a deep field. The girls event was won by Davis Sr. High School. Chico was sec- ond and Pleasant Grove third. Maloney cleared 9’6” to take second place for the Corning. Riley Kittle gave Red Bluff an eighth place finish in the high jump and also teamed with Erin Eicholtz, Alana Hinkston and Jessie Slade to take seventh place in the 4x400 relay. Hinkston and Slade also teamed with Rox- anne Luppino and Morghan Moore to place 10th in the 4x100 relay. Hinkston was 10th in the 200 meters. The boys event was won by Enterprise, with Laguna Creek and Rocklin rounding out the Top 3. Red Bluff was 23rd. Robert Schatz took fourth place in the high jump and Jonah McInnis was ninth. Taylor Hickson fin- ished fifth in the 110- meter hurdles and sixth in the 300-meter hur- dles. Devin Shoop was seventh in the 800 meters. Hickson, Grant Blaser, Colin Dahlberg and Jeffrey Foster were seventh in the 4x100 relay. Zach Iverson, Foster, Blaser and Shoop also placed seventh in the 4x400. Corning’s Luis Piseno was eighth in the shot put and 10th in the discus. Cardinals baseball Corning improved to 5-1 in the Northern Ath- letic League, Friday, with a fine pitching per- formance from Tyler Price as the Cardinals beat Anderson 9-1. Price pitched a com- plete game and struck out 11 batters. Tyler McIntyre led the offense with a dou- ble on a 3-for-3 night, driving in two runs. Casey Cleland also doubled and drove two runs. in Caleb Johnson drove in a pair behind a 2-for- 2 performance. Austin Grootveld also collected two hits and drove in a run. Marc Mason and Michael Garcia each had RBIs. Cardinals softball Corning beat Ander- son 10-3, Friday, to improve to 2-0 in the Northern Athletic League. Michelle Silva tripled and drove in three runs. Anna Curry also drove in three and went 3-for-3 from the plate. Hailey Winterson picked up a double and Karlie Jennings had two hits. Los Molinos The Bulldogs base- ball team beat Williams 5-3, Friday, to up their Mid-Valley League record to 3-2. The softball team is also 3-2 in the MVL after an 18-13 win at Williams. another run in the fourth inning when Etzler doubled home Harris. McColpin struck out nine Enterprise batters in five innings, but found herself in trouble in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Eztler was called on to take over the pitching duties and the freshman delivered a clutch perfor- mance. She struck out the first batter she faced, then induced a pop up and then got the third out with another strikeout. Red Bluff’s schedule this week will depend a lot on the rain. They were scheduled to host Pleasant Valley, today at 4:30 p.m. American Legion Hall of Fame American Legion Baseball will be hosting a Hall of Fame Dinner and Auction May 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the Veterans Building in Red Bluff. The event will be emceed by Cal Hunter and Matty Maiocco, who covers the San Francisco 49ers for the Santa Rosa Press Demo- crat will be the featured speaker. Maiocco is a former Red Bluff Bulls player and has written two books, “Roger Craig’s tales from the 49ers sideline” and “San Fran- cisco 49ers: Where have you gone.” The American LEgion will be induct- ing Todd Ross, Mike Weibling and Donnie Button into its Hall of Fame. The silent auction will feature items such as a trip to Cabo San Lucas. Last year a simi- lar package valued at $4,000 went for $1,000 at auction. For ticket informa- tion to the induction din- ner contact Jim Bono- mini at 529-3320 or 736-9968 or contact an American Legion base- ball player. Sports 1B Vista stays perfect Tuesday April 27, 2010