Latest news with #PitcheroftheYear
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Chronicle's All-Metro regional softball players of the year
SAN FRANCISCO Gianna Galarza (St. Ignatius): The junior catcher earned first-team All-West Catholic Athletic League honors by hitting .515 (35-for-68) with 24 RBIs, seven doubles and four home runs, all team bests. In 84 plate appearances, Galarza struck out just twice and drew 15 walks as she posted a .607 on-base percentage with a 1.401 OPS. The third-year starter also threw out nine runners trying to steal and had just two errors in 183 total chances. A model of consistency, Galarza had hits in 22 of 23 games, starting the season on a 16-game hitting streak. Ava Bulanti (St. Francis): The senior pitcher and slugger was Co-WCAL Pitcher of the Year for the Chronicle's No. 1 team, going 14-1 with a 1.96 ERA. A Stanford commit, Bulanti struck out 112 in 93 innings with 29 walks. She also blasted a team-best eight home runs and hit .398 with eight doubles to help the Lancers win WCAL and Central Coast Section Open Division titles. The Livermore Stampede Tournament MVP had 64 hits, 60 RBIs and 27 extra-base hits during her three-year varsity career. EAST BAY Andrea Tall (Newark Memorial): The San Diego State-bound infielder had a monster senior season, hitting .607 with 17 home runs and 49 RBIs for the Cougars (18-5). Tall's home run total bettered the previous North Coast Section single-season record of 15 but was surpassed this season by Metro overall Player of the Year Delaney Aumua's 19. Tall finished with 51 hits in 84 at-bats with 13 additional extra base hits (seven doubles, six triples). In a 9-0 win over Redwood-Larkspur in a North Coast Section Division 2 playoff game, she went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and home run. Her biggest power surge was blasting two home runs, driving in eight and going 4-for-4 in a 30-4 win over Irvington. She had at least three hits eight times. Callie Howard (Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa): The UC San Diego signee earned North Bay League Oak Division Player of the Year/Pitcher of the Year honors by going 21-6 with a 1.37 ERA and leading the Cardinals to their fourth straight NCS championship. Howard struck out a career-high 260 batters in 163 innings. In the NorCal Division 2 playoffs, she pitched complete-game wins over Calaveras (5-1) and Pinole Valley (1-0) — allowing just seven hits and striking out 19 against zero walks — before losing a 1-0 to Hillsdale-San Mateo in the title game. She also hit .367 with 33 hits on the season.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Alabama pitcher Riley Quick gets new MLB draft projection
Alabama pitcher Riley Quick gets new MLB draft projection The 2025 MLB Draft is set for July 13-14 during All-Star Week festivities in Atlanta, and the Alabama Crimson Tide have a player who could be taken in the first round for the second year in a row. Right-hander Riley Quick has been on several MLB mock drafts this year and recently concluded a solid season as a redshirt sophomore for an Alabama team that won 40 games in the regular season for the first time since 2002. Quick made 14 starts in 2025, going 8-3 with a 3.92 ERA over 62 innings for coach Rob Vaughn's team. He started the year 5-0 before suffering his first loss on March 21 against Tennessee and had 70 strikeouts to 24 walks this past season for a combined 1.387 WHIP. Over the weekend, veteran baseball analyst Jim Callis of published his updated 2025 MLB mock draft. Callis has Quick going to the Seattle Mariners with the No. 35 overall selection as a supplemental first-round pick. An earlier mock draft by USA TODAY Sports back on May 7 had Quick going at No. 28 overall to the Kansas City Royals. Quick was the Alabama Sports Writers Association (ASWA) Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year in 2022 as a senior for Hewitt-Trussville High School. He made his first appearance for the Crimson Tide in 2023, appearing in 16 games and going 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings in relief. He missed most of 2024 due to season-ending elbow surgery. Alabama has had seven players taken in the first round of an MLB draft dating back to 1966. Last year, the New York Yankees selected right-hander Ben Hess with the 26th overall pick. Hess became the first Crimson Tide player selected in the first round since the Marlins took left-hander Taylor Tankersley 27th overall in 2004. The first round of the 2025 MLB draft will be televised on ESPN, with subsequent rounds broadcast and streamed on MLB Network. The draft will feature 20 rounds over two days.
Miami Herald
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Miami Springs' Roque and Estevez are Miami-Dade Baseball 4A-1A Players of the Year
Kevin Roque and Magdiel Estevez are best of friends. They have been since childhood. So it was only appropriate that they would be the Miami Herald's Class 4A-1A Pitcher and Player of the Year respectively, as they graduate together and move on to the next steps in their lives. After winning the award a year ago as a pitcher for Mater Academy, Roque turned the trick again this year after transferring to Miami Springs last summer. Only this time he had some extra hardware to go with it, a state championship medal around his neck and a ring on the way as well. Thanks to an outstanding season that saw him go 12-1 with a 1.54 ERA, Roque, along with his pal Estevez, led the Golden Hawks to a 28-3 record and made some history as they brought the school its first state championship in any sport since 1988. 'A state title and pitcher of the year, what a way to end my high school career, like right out of a dream,' said Roque, who recorded 88 strikeouts against just 28 walks and was the winning pitcher in the team's state semifinal win over Fort Myers Bishop Verot. 'I love pitching and I'm going to keep chasing. It's a dream and when you have a dream, you chase it. I'm looking forward to the next challenge and take a bigger step.' That challenge recently changed for Roque. He committed to Nova Southeastern more than a year ago but switched gears a few weeks ago and will now follow Estevez to play for coach Lazaro Llanes at Miami-Dade College in the fall. For all of Roque's season-long heroics, Estevez contributed on both the mound, as the team's No. 2 pitcher but also, even more importantly at the plate. When he wasn't pitching, 'Mags' as his teammates like to call him, was playing left field and, on a team that struggled offensively during the regular season (.273 team average), was coming through in a big way with his bat. Estevez hit .418, and while he hardly hit for power (only 13 of his 38 hits were extra bases), he constantly came up with key hits at key moments. He only had 19 RBI but batting No. 2 in the lineup can hold down RBI chances. 'I didn't really look at what others did and tried not to worry about it,' said Estevez when asked about the pressure of carrying his team's offensive load. 'I just went out there and did my best. You really can't control what everybody else is doing. It was a matter of keeping the faith, doing my best and hoping the rest of the team would catch up to me which they did once we got to regionals.' Ironically, if it hadn't been for Roque, Estevez could've made an argument for Pitcher of the Year himself as he finished with a 9-1 record, 1.41 ERA and struck out 74 against just 19 walks. Asked how Miami-Dade College's coaches are projecting him, Estevez said that hasn't been determined yet but admitted that his heart might be on the mound. 'I'm not sure, we're still going to have to figure that out,' said Estevez who was brilliant in the championship game against Santa Rosa Beach South Walton firing a complete game 2-hitter. 'At some point, it's a fork in the road and you have to go one way or the other. As a lefty, I feel I have a big advantage and I think with a lot of work and concentration I could do very well as a pitcher.'
Miami Herald
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Doral Academy's Viruet, Somerset's Rebhan are Miami-Dade Softball Coaches of the Year
Doral Academy's Willie Viruet and Somerset Silver Palms' Gator Rebhan direct what have been the two most successful softball programs in Miami-Dade County in recent years. But a state championship eluded both programs over the past three seasons. In Rebhan's case, the Stallions had never hoisted a state championship trophy. In Viruet's case, the Firebirds had in 2021, but had come heartbreakingly short more than once of recapturing that feeling again. It all changed this season as both Doral Academy and Somerset Silver Palms overcame that final roadblock and were each state champions. And so, Viruet and Rebhan are once again, the Miami Herald's Miami-Dade County Softball Coaches of the Year. Viruet is the winner for Class 7A-4A after leading Doral to its second state title in school history. The Firebirds have been regulars at the state final four under his watch, advancing to at least the state semifinals every season since 2019 - the longest active streak for any Dade team. This season, Doral took things up a notch, however. The Firebirds finished the season 31-1, ranked No. 3 in the nation and higher than any other Florida team. Doral capped the season with a dramatic 5-4 comeback win in eight innings over Valrico Bloomingdale in the Class 6A state semifinals before beating Pace 1-0 in the final. Miami Herald 7A-4A Pitcher of the Year Meagan Villazon, an FIU signee, was the main reason for the team's success in the pitching circle. Junior shortstop Anabela Abdullah, a Texas commit and the Herald's 7A-4A Player of the Year, and senior third baseman Sarah Breaux, the Herald's Player of the Year in 2024 and a Clemson signee, drove the Firebirds' offense. For Somerset Silver Palms, the state championship was a brand new feeling. And it was something Rebhan hadn't experienced for over two decades since leading Miami Palmetto to a pair of state titles in 2000 and 2003. Rebhan left high school coaching for a few years while coaching at the collegiate level at FIU and later solely travel ball. But he returned to the high school scene and began building Silver Palms into a state powerhouse in 2021. After two consecutive years reaching state, the Stallions finally secured that elusive first title with convincing wins over Dunedin and Eustis. Rebhan's daughter Taylor Rebhan, a junior shortstop and Louisville commit, and sophomore pitcher Ava Stevens, who are the Miami Herald's 3A-1A Player and Pitcher of the Year respectively, led the Stallions throughout the season.
New York Post
05-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Texas' Reese Atwood makes Texas Tech superstar NiJaree Canady pay on failed intentional walk
Texas Tech softball superstar NiJaree Canady is so good at throwing strikes that it cost the Red Raiders their game Wednesday night. The Red Raiders were just four outs away from securing a victory in Game 1 of the Women's College World Series Final — and Canady was having no issues mowing down Texas' order as the Longhorns still had a doughnut on the scoreboard in the 1-0 game. Then came the chaos. 3 NiJaree Canady and Texas Tech will now have to win two straight against Texas to win the WCWS. BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images With two runners on, Canady elected to intentionally walk Texas catcher Reese Atwood. But on what was supposed to be ball four, Canady left her pitch out over the plate, and Atwood made her pay for it as she knocked in both baserunners and the Longhorns took the lead. Texas Tech couldn't strike back in the top of the final inning, and Texas took Game 1. 3 Reese Atwood's wild single in the bottom of the sixth inning wound up giving Texas the win in Game 1. Brett Rojo-Imagn Images The mistake was a rare one for Canady, as she's widely considered the best pitcher in college softball. The Kansas native played her first two collegiate seasons at Stanford, where she compiled a 41-10 pitching record and posted just a 0.67 ERA. She racked up 555 strikeouts to just 65 walks. She won the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award last season, PAC-12 Pitcher of the Year, was a First Team All-American, and a two-time PAC-12 First-Teamer. Canady then elected to give up the possible Stanford degree and received a whopping $1 million in NIL from Texas Tech to try and take the program out of the 29-21 gutter it was in a year ago. 3 NiJaree Canady has been a dominant force for Texas Tech this season. Brett Rojo-Imagn Images This season, she led the nation with the only ERA under 1.00 and has guided the Red Raiders to a 59-13 record as they chase their first-ever national title. She's certainly accustomed to throwing strikes, which is what may have been her downfall. Atwood said postgame to ESPN's Holly Rowe that she noticed Canady's first pitch of the at-bat was in the zone — from there, she was hunting another to take a crack at. 'I knew I was gonna have to take a risk to do something for my team,' Atwood said. Atwood was hitless throughout the WCWS prior to the game-winner, making the intentional walk decision and the miscue all the more brutal for Canady and Texas Tech. The teams return to action Thursday when the Longhorns will have a chance to take the best-of-three series for the championship.
