It's been more than two weeks since the first initial statewide list of those on our board were posted. This updated list is mostly from our readers. It's also still not too late to get in additional nominees.
The all-state team honors program at CalHiSports.com and Cal-Hi Sports has been ongoing for 30 years and are selected currently for the sports of football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball.
Nominations are always welcome, but don't wait until it's too late and the teams are released. They won't be changed at that point, unless it's a simple error.
Please send any nomination with each athlete's height, weight, position, year in school, significant statistics. Comparing a player not on the board yet to one who already is can be very important toward eventual selection. Limit each nomination to one page please. Send to:
mark@studentsports.com or FAX (209) 463-1219 or call (209) 608-1317.
Be aware that not all sophomores or juniors we are considering for all-state underclass may be on this list. We also usually end up selecting players who aren't on this list for medium school or small school squads. These players will emerge when all of the various major newspaper-based honor squads are released.
The format for all-state softball will be to continue with a 30-player overall all-state first team with 30 more on second team. Instead of utility, we may designate as many as eight players as multi-purpose. This accounts for the many who are both top hitters and top pitchers. Each first team player is written up and then becomes eligible for selection to the EA SPORTS All-American Team.
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This week's girls winner is another slugger and home run princess whose family is involved in some high flying that doesn't involve yellow spheres flying out of the park.
By Harold Abend, Special to CalHiSports.com
After profiling single-season home run queen Shannon Colquitt last week the emails came in about girls who may not have 27 round-trippers on the season as the girl from Los Angeles does, but who have a place ahead of her on the career total home run list.
We already knew about Alia Williams of Crenshaw, who last week hit her 53rd homer in a loss to Eagle Rock that ended her season and career at the top of the heap.
Two girls who also have been prominent on the state career home run charts have been Bailie Kirker of Crescenta Valley in La Crescenta, who last week hit No. 14 on the season and the 50th of her career, and Shawna Wright of Lancaster.
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After reviewing the other nominees and candidates this week besides Kirker and Wright, it appeared they were the most deserving, so since we've never honored anyone from her geographical area previously, the nod went to the young woman from the High Desert.
Although her season and career ended this week after a 1-0 loss to Pioneer Valley (Santa Maria) in the CIFSS playoffs, no one can stop Shawna from taking her place in the ESPN RISE CalHiSports.com State Record Book and Almanac's career home run column.
Last week in a 17-0 blitzing of crosstown Antelope Valley, Wright blasted her 14th homer this season and 50th of her career, tying her with Kirker for the princess spot behind Williams, the career home run queen.
With the Eagles' season ending, Wright finishes with some very respectable numbers to go with the round-trippers. She batted .631 with 41 hits in 63 at-bats, nine doubles, three triples, 36 RBI, 34 runs, a .739 on-base percentage and an astronomical 1.508 slugging percentage.
So feared was Wright as a hitter in the Golden League that in a 4-3 loss to league champion Knight of Palmdale, the senior infielder was walked six times intentionally.
"I moved her up to leadoff because she had such a high on-base percentage and so many teams were intentionally walking her,” said first-year Lancaster Coach Ashley Sharp, a PE middle-school teacher in Palmdale who played softball at Adelphi College in New York.
"It was awesome to be in my first year ever coaching varsity girls softball and have a player like Shawna,” Sharp told CalHiSports.com with the middle-schoolers hooting and laughing in the background.
"Shawna's a great leader offensively and defensively,” remarked Sharp. "She ran the defense, called the pitches, called the bases, an overall leader on the field."
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