The E-R Sports Show

Infield defense has been a big part of the recruiting process for the Chico State baseball team the past few years; that will be on display next Saturday before the Wildcats' game against Western Oregon.

First baseman Kevin Seaver will be collecting his Rawlings Gold Glove, the Division II national award for defensive excellence, and the man deserves it. His 2009 campaign featured one error in 335 chances (.997) with 19 assists, which is a lot for a first baseman.

In his career, Seaver has committed just three errors in 875 chances.

Another Wildcat who will be honored is Bret Ringer, who many (including this writer) think was the best defensive third baseman Chico State's had. Ringer, who now helps Dave Taylor as part of his graduate assistant staff, turned in a Gold Glove performance in 2008's deep playoff-reaching season. He'll be receiving the hardware next Saturday as well.

While waiting until Las Plumas players were done meeting with Thunderbirds coach Matt Kermen after their crucial 6-3 win over fellow Butte View League competitor Sutter earlier today in Oroville, I had some extra time to conversate with Sutter coach Mark Renfree. He offered some perspectives on what could be a pretty close race for the BVL crown.

Winters, the two-time defending league champion that hasn't lost in its last 14 BVL games, apparently is playing up to its lofty status.

"Winters is solid defensively," Renfree said. "They don't make mistakes at all and that's what separates them from everybody else. When you're playing so many games and can be that steady, it makes a big difference."

About Gridley, which seems this season to have a few weapons worthy of helping mount a challenge against Winters (namely three-sport star Ty Nichols, who is on his way to Sacramento State on a baseball scholarship, Renfree said:

"I haven't seen Ty (pitch) yet this season. What else they have is pretty good."

Kermen seems to believe Orland is another formidable contender for a championship run. His teams takes on the Trojans in Orland on Wednesday before a trip to Winters on Friday.

"It won't go this smoothly next week," Kermen said in a sarcastic tone following Friday's triumph.

What really made an impression on me was how Renfree rushed to pay homage to a non-BVL team without being asked. He said whoever wins the league will still be hard-pressed to trump upstart Yreka in the Division IV playoffs.

"Yreka is who you really have to look out for," Renfree said. "Real good squad."

"Yeah, that might surprise some people," Renfree added. "But this is one of those years for them."    

The Twilight Invitational (Distance Carnival) at University Stadium, the big home game every year for the powerful distance-running portion of the Chico State track and field program, is once again flaunting its own gifted personality. For the third time in the past five years, cold and dark conditions somehow managed to crop up in mid-April again for the on-campus gathering.

The setting has created memorable scenes throughout the Twilight's recent history. With skies in Chico right now showing a strong gray tone and temperatures set to settle in the 50s when the meet's prominent races begin late in the afternoon, there is a solid resemblance to the rugged 2007 edition I remember covering so vividly (colleague Travis Souders will be out there today) that was. Some excerpts from that article:

• "The seven-hour event, in its 22nd year, was overwhelmed from start to finish by a spring storm that never once halted and turned University Stadium into a soak-fest. That did little to deter some of the Wildcats' top men's and women's performers on their more forgiving familiar all-weather surface track, which paved the way for victories like Hayes' in the 800.

'That was the coldest I've ran in any event, in any meet,' said Hayes, a freshman out of
Oakland. 'But once I got to the starting line, I told myself it was now or never, just to go out
and do it.'"

• "Standout distance runner Mary Torres was likely affected by either the rain or the fact she ran in Friday's Oregon Invitational -- if not both -- while winning the 3,000 in 10:29.67, a bit under her usually brisk pace."

• "And Jen Strum, the top threat in the hammer throw for the Wildcat women this season, managed a victory despite netting a 145-foot, 4-inch mark well short of last week's performance at Davis. It was, nevertheless, a satisfying finish considering her father, Jay, made his annual trip to the Twilight from the family's home in Manawa, Wisc., to attend on Saturday.

 "'This (rain) is nothing compared to what it's like in Wisconsin right now, so it didn't bother him at all,' said Strum, a senior who initially came to Chico State three years ago as an 800 runner before switching her focus to field events. 'I can't stand it, though. I'd much rather have it be warm.'"

Many great annual sporting events acquire character traits without trying anyway.

The U.S. Open of Surfing is another good example. That sport's longest running organized tournament held every August down in Huntington Beach almost always ends up being played on seasonably small waves. Organizers simply can't push a button to bring up larger swells, which do tend to pop in spontaneously during fortunate years. While these conditions usually manage to irk its competitors and fans, the late summer scheduling -- a commodity for the local tourist industry -- handed the U.S. Open its identity of being a tour stop where some of the most opportunistic surfers in the business emerge.

Also worth mentioning is the Wellington Sevens rugby extravaganza in New Zealand every February. Virtually no other major competition in the sport globally attracts the costume-heavy, party-type atmosphere at Westpac Stadium that this weekend in Wellington always generates. When the International Rugby Board began its first Sevens season in 1999, it coincided with the grand opening of Westpac. The previous major rugby ground in Wellington was Athletic Park, notoriously pitiful for its unattractive location in the city. The local outcry for a better venue closer to downtown action brought on Westpac and its arrival was tied together with the first IRB Sevens event in New Zealand. Thus, the mardi gras of international sport had begun and the tradition has boomed through the past decade.

E-R Sports Show - April 3 (10:58)
- The All-Northern Section basketball teams were announced Friday, but that's not good enough for us. Listen as the E-R sports team mulls the prestigious list's selections -- and snubs.

It's been a busy night for the McKinleyville Marauder, Nick Wilson, so I am posting the 2009-2010 All-Northern Section basketball teams that he has covered for tomorrow's paper. This list will also be up on ChicoER.com. Its prestige bears repeating. The list is similar to a "top 15" for what the entire region had to offer in player performances this season.

Among the bundle of names, two might tend to stick out as readers move down the list: Fall River's Taylor Sloat. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior is the only first or second teamer from both sides whose team a.) didn't win a league championship and b.) couldn't advance to the semifinals of its playoff division.

The selection for Sloat is a tribute to an outstanding individual season. Sometimes the "team first" mantra inhibits such due acclaim. Here is the fill list:

2009-2010 ALL-NORTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL TEAMS

BOYS
MVP: Anthony Williams, Enterprise
Coach of the Year: Brian Erickson, Hamilton

First Team
G -- Devin Crisosto, Foothill
G -- James Williams, Enterprise
C -- Isaiah Bohmann, Sutter
F -- Anthony Williams, Enterprise
F -- Sterling Smith, Chico

Second Team
G -- Bren Haley, Pleasant Valley
G -- Justin Jeangerard, Trinity
C -- Steven Batchelder, Orland
F -- Ty Nichols, Gridley
F -- Taylor Sloat, Fall River

Third Team
G -- Cameron Nye, Corning
C -- Jaycob Velasco, Pleasant Valley
F -- Andrew Baxter, Redding Christian
F -- Andrew Perlinger, Chico
F -- Erik Smith, Hamilton

GIRLS
MVP: Caressa Williams, Paradise
Coach of the Year: Mike Cross, Butte Valley

First Team
G -- Caressa Williams, Paradise
G -- Ravien Lawson, Enterprise
C -- Kiley Mansfield, Pleasant Valley
F -- Clara Chrisco, Chico
F -- Kim Micheletti, University Prep

Second Team
G -- Regan Albee, Corning
G -- Lala Forrest Cawker, Central Valley
C -- Anna Bartel, Chico
F -- Ellen Carstensen, Durham
F -- Aubrey Bekendam, Hamilton

Third Team
G -- Hannah Womack, Liberty
G -- Abigail Cranford, Williams
G -- Arin Cahee, Las Plumas
F -- Alison Grant, Pleasant Valley
F -- Courtney Emerson, Enterprise

Patrick Kinmartin got a look at the suddenly hot Pleasant Valley High boys against Foothill (a solid squad) on Wednesday night, and the report (other than his game story) is that the Vikings aren't just a mirage after their big win over Chico last week.

Jaycob Velasco is a big boy and draws a lot of attention -- rightfully so given his production -- but from what I've heard and seen of these box scores and word of mouth from Patrick and fellow sports writer Nick Wilson, the Vikings are a guard-focused team. Bren Haley and Jordan Rodrigues seem to be the engines of PV right now. I've seen Chico play this year and was impressed, but have the Panthers peaked already? It's hard to say what the end of the EAL season will look like now.

As he normally does, E-R photographer Jason Halley put together a nice photo gallery of the game. Check it out.

E-R Sports Show, Feb. 11 (11:01)
- The Chico State men's basketball team is in the midst of its best season in years, and much of it has to do with the play of Jon Baird. He stops by to talk about the Wildcats' most memorable moment of the year, what it's like to have "The Rowdy Red" back on board and the prospect of playing in the conference championship tournament.

By now, the bandwagon-inciting nature of cliche-proving games are enough to make any seasoned Chico sports writer know that all that coachspeak regarding the Chico High-Pleasant Valley rivalry isn't just a shovelful of Panther slop (or Viking slop. Keep it even; sorry).

So, when prep sports writer Nick Wilson strolls in on Thursday night, it's of absolutely no shock when he suggests a photo of Allie Grant be run since, you know, she hit the game-winning 3-pointer in overtime.

Wasn't PV supposed to be depleted? Wasn't Grant supposed to be sick? Wasn't Chico supposed to be the team on the rise in the EAL? Theoretically, yes. But as most of us have learned by now, there are convenient places to stow away those theories when it comes to these two schools (although I still think when the boys lock horns, it's going to be another Chico rout. The Panthers are mighty good). That's much unlike Tuesday, when the PV girls hosted Shasta and, appropriately, about a quarter of the stands were filled to watch a defensive struggle.

Check out photographer Jason Halley's photo gallery of the b-balmond bowl and admire his handiwork.