Brett Ransford, Reporter

Trojans, Bruins play to a draw

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:19:13 +0000

El Dorado Hills Telegraph | 4/23/12
Brett Ransford

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A match between the Delta River League’s second- and third-place teams ran scoreless after 80 minutes.

The Oak Ridge Trojans girls’ soccer team moved to 1-1-5 in the Delta River League, while league rival Ponderosa went to 2-1-4 after a 0-0 tie on Monday afternoon in Shingle Springs. Goaltender Nina Grimes got the shutout, but it also meant the Trojans advanced horizontally in league positioning.

Ponderosa (2-1-4) had most of the offensive chances. Neither goaltender was extraordinarily challenged, but Grimes fought off all six shots faced.

Both teams’ best chances were in the final 10 minutes. Oak Ridge sophomore Hannah Miller challenged Ponderosa’s keeper, popped the ball out of her hands, but was unable to put it on net in the 73rd minute.

The Bruins did the same against Grimes in the 75th. She blocked a shot while still on the ground and held onto her third shutout of the season.

“Hopefully we can focus on how teams played the first time and take advantage of their weaknesses the second time around,” Grimes said. “We need to step up as a team and put more pressure on the other team’s goal. We just need to stay focused.”

Oak Ridge entered the last five games of league behind unbeaten Folsom (5-0-1) and Ponderosa (2-1-4). They tied all but Folsom, losing 4-1, and Pleasant Grove, winning 4-1.

Coach Henry Reis said league will likely come down to the last two games. Folsom is the only team without multiple ties in league. Oak Ridge will play its final two matches next week against St. Francis (1-2-3) and Folsom.

“We just couldn’t finish today,” Reis said. “I think they dominated us in the first half and we dominated them in the second half. I don’t think either team really played very well either.”

Folsom is the only runaway team this season. With three matches left – against teams the Trojans have gone 1-1-1 against previously – Oak Ridge could finish in second place by winning two of them.

How Ponderosa plays will also determine whether Oak Ridge can get in just behind Folsom. The Trojans could move a step closer by beating Pleasant Grove on Wednesday and if Ponderosa loses to Folsom the same day.

Folsom beats Oak Ridge 1-0 to finish undefeated league season

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:08:10 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 5/2/12
Brett Ransford–

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Both teams headed to playoffs

Folsom secured a first-place finish in the Delta River League, beating second place Oak Ridge 1-0 on Wednesday. Both are headed to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

It was the final regular season match for both Folsom (8-0-2 in league, 13-0-3) and Oak Ridge (3-2-5 in league, 6-9-5). The Bulldogs won their second league match in as many against the Trojans – handing Oak Ridge its only two losses in 4-1 and 1-0 matches.

Alyssa Jara scored the lone goal, her third in two matches against Oak Ridge. The captain received a long assist from defensive captain MacKenzie Moreno and beat Trojan goalkeeper Nina Grimes for the 1-0 win in the 47th minute.

Oak Ridge’s two shots in the half were the team’s only shots in the match. With the win, Folsom completed a successful unbeaten league record.

“It’s kind of sad that it’s our last league game, but I’m happy I was able to score and win,” Jara said. “We’re really excited about going undefeated. Now I’m putting more pressure on myself to score heading into the playoffs.”

Jara said her team will practice attacking in the week leading up to Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs. The first round begins on Tuesday.

Both teams’ final regular season game also meant the last league game for seniors. Oak Ridge honored its six seniors at halftime. Both squads had six seniors in their starting lineups.

Jara and Moreno were the only seniors – let alone the only players for either team – who took shots in the first half. Jara took two and Moreno had one, all three were on frame.

Moreno skipped a shot off the crossbar in the 36th minute. It was the third and final shot for either team in the half.

Folsom has drawn Laguna Creek (4-4-2 in league, 6-5-3) in the first round. Oak Ridge will play the Monticello Empire League first-place team, Vintage (11-1-2 in league, 15-2-2).

Given the fact Folsom shares a bracket with Davis (7-1-2 in league, 19-2-2) and St. Mary’s of Stockton (9-0-0 in league, 25-1-0), Folsom coach Mike McBride said it will be a challenge to advance.

“We have one of the toughest draws you could probably ever get,” McBride said. “We have a tough road ahead of us no matter what. Laguna hasn’t allowed very many goals either. We reached our first goal, which was to win league undefeated. We also restarted our freshman program this year, which is huge.”

Oak Ridge coach Henry Reis said he knew Vintage lost in penalty kicks in the first round against Sheldon last year, but that he assumed the team had gotten better since.

“That means we do have the first week as a bye, though. We won’t play until Thursday, so that gives us a lot of preparation time,” Reis said. “It’s kind of wide open and depends on how well we perform. As long as we keep everybody healthy I think we’re good to make a run.”

Folsom returns to playoffs after missing last year’s for the first time in more than a decade. Oak Ridge also didn’t make the cut last year, but brings two Division II championships (2007, 2009) to the postseason.

Notes

Nearly two full teams of seniors played their final league matches in the Folsom and Oak Ridge matchup.

Folsom had 12 seniors on its roster – Alyssa Jara, Kiki Watson, MacKenzie Moreno, Shae Geary, Caitlyn Kretzschmar, Amberly Bole, Nicole Miller, Jenny Hackelman, Allison Horn, Allison Hart, Brigid McCurry and Paige Harrison.

Oak Ridge had six seniors on its roster – Heather Herb, Alex Ghilarducci, Cori Davis, Tiffani Reimers, Samantha Madsen and Mandi McBroom.

Another big first inning leads Oak Ridge to 12-5 win over Folsom

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:59:13 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 5/1/12
Brett Ransford

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Game two between Oak Ridge and Folsom again went to the Trojans, this time 12-5 in a full seven innings.

Oak Ridge (7-4 in league, 16-7 overall) followed up Monday’s 16-3 game with another leadoff inning scoring more than five runs. Folsom (3-8 in league, 7-15 overall) made it 6-1 after one, but slowly chipping away didn’t do the trick.

Mason Watkins led both teams, driving in three runs on a pair of singles. His two-out, two-run single in the first sparked another pair of two-out, two-run drives. Alex FaGalde singled and Jason Ross doubled.

Folsom starter Alex Perez was banged up for all six runs in the first. His team was within four runs in the fourth, but Oak Ridge had a three-run sixth inning with Perez on the bench.

The sixth began on one of three fielding errors by the Bulldogs. Watkins then drove one in, Alec de Watteville got an RBI on a hit-by-pitch and a passed ball scored another. Cody Uharriet drove in the Trojans only run of the seventh. Oak Ridge also had three errors.

Starting pitcher Lance Berringer started his day with a 6-0 cushion. He threw a complete game and allowed three earned runs and struck out five. He fanned two in seventh, including the final out.

“I battled today. I didn’t really have all my best stuff, so I started trying to throw a little bit more off-speed around the third and fourth innings,” Berringer said.

Folsom touched him up for three runs on three hits in the third and fourth innings. A throwing error also scored a run in the third.

Matt Maasberg had a good day for the Bulldogs. He doubled in a run in the first and singled another in the seventh. Justin Jordan and Tanner Seibel drove in the other two.

Perez, meanwhile, has had better outings.

He’s had two starts with six or more innings pitched, giving up one earned run in both. He one-hit Cosumnes Oaks in six innings and allowed Vista del Lago one earned run in seven.

“The first inning was kind of rough, but the next couple I kind of found my stuff and my defense worked for me,” Perez said. “Teams like Oak Ridge always compete and always have good pitching. We don’t roll over and we go into every series expecting to sweep.”

Oak Ridge coach Todd Melton said he was concerned about giving up unearned runs in these games so close to playoffs. The Trojans will likely end up the third place team in the league behind Pleasant Grove (10-1) and Jesuit (9-1).

“We have good starts, but then just get way too comfortable. We settled early,” Melton said.” I want to see us go out hard for seven straight innings. We have one week left before playoffs and I hate when we kind of turn it on and turn it off. That’s not a good sign.”

The series finale between Oak Ridge and Folsom is at 4 p.m. at Oak Ridge on Thursday.

Folsom gets best of Vista in Crosstown Cup

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:58:01 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 4/21/12
Brett Ransford

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Folsom successfully hoisted both of this year’s Crosstown Cup trophies after the JV squad put away rival Vista del Lago 2-0 and varsity followed with a 3-2 finish.

More than 700 people filed into Prairie City Stadium to witness Folsom’s two high schools battle it out for the city’s top soccer honors. Leily Ghods scored in the 77th to assure the JV team’s win and MacKenzie Moreno provided the encore, scoring in the 58th minute to push Folsom’s varsity team to its second cup in as many matches.

The city’s two high schools hadn’t played one another in three years. Folsom forward Alyssa Jara made up for lost time and did one better than her previous performance. Jara scored twice in the first half – unassisted in the fourth minute and on a penalty kick in the 26th – making it three goals in two wins against her Crosstown Cup rival.

“After the first two goals I scored I thought we had it in the bag, but once they scored we let up a bit,” Jara said. “Luckily MacKenzie got the corner and we got the game. The team’s really happy that we won this game. Everyone was just so nervous, but this means a lot to us to win it.”

Vista freshman forward Janae Gonzales was the catalyst against Folsom. She assisted both goals – one to MacKenzie Mercier in the 38th and the 2-2 equalizer to Chayney Mata on a corner kick in the 44th.

Gonzales wasn’t disappointed in her team’s effort. She said she has three years ahead of her to contend for a Crosstown Cup win.

“I think since I do have three more years to potentially play this game, it wasn’t as big of a deal to lose as I thought it might be. I just wanted our team to play well and we did,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales is one of two freshmen on varsity, the other being defender Emily Bringgold. Their fellow classmates on the JV squad battled it out in the match before theirs.

Natalie Silcox put Folsom up 1-0 in the first half and Ghods added the first exclamation point of the night in the final three minutes.

Chris Ciampa, Vista JV coach, is Ghods’s and a handful of other Folsom JV players’ club coach for the Folsom Arsenal. Ghods said knowing the other team well certainly paid off.

“I really wanted to win the game and make sure that they knew if they try to mess with us we will always win,” Ghods said while laughing. “It was really good to score because a lot of my guy friends were on the JV boys’ team and they said if we didn’t win they’d hold it against us.”

Folsom beat Vista 1-0 in the boys’ Crosstown Cup back in September.

Coaches said they expected to raise more than $1,000 for each school’s program following the turnout for the girls’ matches.

Youth soccer teams escorted both Folsom and Vista teams to the field, assisted as ball girls and played one match at each halftime.

The under- 10 match featured the Folsom Flash against the Folsom Firebolts at halftime of the JV match, while the under-14 match featured the Folsom Strykers against the Folsom Frenzy at halftime of the varsity match.

Crosstown connection

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:56:26 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 4/18/12
Brett Ransford

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Eagles, Bulldogs to battle Friday

Two teams leading their respective leagues will meet in the second annual Crosstown Cup at Folsom High’s Prairie City Stadium.

After a three-year break, the Crosstown Cup will return on Friday. The match marks the second time in four years Folsom and Vista del Lago high schools will hash it out for the city’s girls’ soccer bragging rights.

Alyssa Jara led Folsom to a 2-1 victory in February of 2009, scoring the game-winner unassisted as a freshman playing on the varsity team. Along with Paige Harrison, Allison Hart and MacKenzie Moreno the Bulldogs enter the cup with all the confidence a three-year break adds to a win.

“I’m going to try my best to get a couple goals in to start my team off and bring the intensity,” Jara said. “This game is going to be really fun and exciting to play. It’s a rivalry game so no mercy.”

The four former freshmen returned to Folsom’s squad this season. Coach Mike McBride’s team is an undefeated 3-0-1 on top of the Delta River League.

“Last year was the first time that Folsom hadn’t made the playoffs in many years,” McBride said. “This year is a different team. I don’t really know what to expect from Vista except that they will be a strong team loaded with great players.”

Vista coach Joe Esfandiary said he was surprised at how quickly his team has come together on and off the field. The Eagles are also unbeaten at 6-0-2 in the Sierra Valley Conference. They’ve made a mockery of their league, winning by five or more goals in three games with a scoring margin of 33-11 in six games.

Daniela Davis was a freshman playing for Vista’s varsity team in the previous cup loss. She said she thinks Vista is the underdog going in, but the match will be decided by who shows up wanting to win.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the excitement of the crowd, but I think this year will be a lot more exciting because most of us have friends on the Folsom team,” Davis said. “I expect a tough match. They are definitely a very good team.”

Davis could find herself face-to-face staring at a goal opportunity against Folsom’s goalkeeper, Allison Hart, who she has played club soccer with for the last two years. She also said she’s been playing with Folsom’s Jenny Hackelman since they were 10 years old.

Rest assured there will be plenty to fight for on Friday night.

Crosstown Cup

What: Vista del Lago vs. Folsom

When: JV game, 6 p.m. Varsity, 8 p.m., Friday

Where: Prairie City Stadium, Folsom High

Cost: $5, no ASB cards

Vendors: Kettle Kreations, Jamba Juice, La Rosa Blanca

Oak Ridge sweeps Folsom in three

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:54:57 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 4/17/12
Brett Ransford

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With a depleted roster, the Oak Ridge boys’ volleyball team won a three-game sweep of host Folsom 25-23, 29-27, 25-23.

Despite holding leads through the first two games, including pushing the Trojans past 25 points in the second, Folsom’s service and hitting errors cost them. Missing five players, Oak Ridge relied on Trent Stigerts to pull them out of each hole.

Tanner Chadwell helped Folsom jump out ahead in the first and third games. Slowly but surely, however, Oak Ridge found Stigerts in the back and front rows and he countered Chadwell when it mattered.

In a match lacking consistency, Stigerts was the clutch-time performer. Folsom led 23-20 in the second, only to lose at his hands again.

The third game went back and forth, but Oak Ridge led the entire way. The last two points were Folsom errors, which coach Jason Cole said came down to a lack of experience.

“I feel like it could have been either team’s night, but it was definitely theirs,” Cole said. “They were a just a little bit more consistent than us.”

The Bulldogs have struggled not just in league, but in players even being at practices or games. Their third-straight loss was a sloppy game by both teams.

Coming off a tournament win at the Nor Cal Vallejo Tournament, Oak Ridge coach Melanie DeMure said it was not good looking volleyball on her team’s part.

“I don’t know if this classifies as good enough. We won, but it was very ugly volleyball,” DeMure said. “We have not played volleyball like that all season. [At the tournament] they played phenomenal. Today we’re talking about just barely getting by. Just barely.”

Both teams dealt with personnel issues. Cole said player commitments and practice times have been unreliable, while DeMure was missing five players on a roster of 12.

Starting middles Brock Middleton and Storm Van Soldt did not play. Marcus Lippuner, Austin DeVincenzi and Zach Lauterbach were also gone.

Oak Ridge will play a makeup game against Jesuit on Thursday. DeMure said she may not have Lippuner, DeVincenzi or Lauterbach for the rest of the season.

Folsom takes on league-leading 3-0 Ponderosa next week.

Vista improving, but falls to Bruins in four games

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:53:32 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 4/11/12
Brett Ransford

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The visiting Ponderosa Bruins snapped the Vista del Lago boys’ volleyball team’s four-game winning streak on Tuesday night.

It was the second time in as many meeting the Bruins earned the advantage over Vista (6-1 Sierra Valley Conference, 10-13 overall). After going down two games, Sam Mills and Griffin Galvin led the Eagles’ in kills in the third game, forcing a fourth. Ponderosa put Vista away in the fourth game, finishing the match 25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 25-22.

The first meeting was a 2-0 Ponderosa win in the Brian Nolan Varsity Invitational at the end of March. Vista had since won four straight.

Mills led Vista with 11 kills, five of which came in the third game. He also had a handful of solo blocks.

Among other Vista notables were Griffin, who had nine kills. Connor Tevenan had five kills and a pair of aces.

Vista held leads in each of four games, but tended to lose hold around the 20th point. Collectively, they had eight service errors in four games, which the team said was pretty good according to their standards.

“We kind of just had to find a way to get around their blockers and keep the ball in,” Mills said. “They were a little more ready to play than us from the start and we started off slow and then came on, so we need to work on that. We’re becoming a better team and we’ll do well against the top teams as we hopefully make it to playoffs.”

Ponderosa (3-0 DRL, 11-5) was the next to last Division I team the Eagles will face this season. Jesuit (1-0, 7-7) is the last.

Jesuit took a 2-1 win in the same tournament at Granite Bay two weeks ago. Coach Wayne Campbell said the match will help toward a strong league finish in the next seven games.

“We’ll have to play well and hopefully a little bit more consistent against Union Mine, but either way I think we’ll make playoffs. It’s just a matter of if we can get on a hot streak and do some damage,” Campbell said.

The Eagles are currently tied with Union Mine (6-1), which lost a 3-1 match to El Dorado (5-2).

If Vista can win on the road against its next opponent, El Dorado, and take down Union Mine a week later, it will likely mean a high seed into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs in early May.

Vista wins three games at SureWest Tournament

Brett Ransford — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:51:45 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 4/11/12
Brett Ransford

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Finishing sixth out of 16 made for a successful tournament for Vista del Lago.

The boys’ baseball team wrapped up the SureWest Tournament with a 3-1 record, losing its consolation game 7-5 to Woodcreek on April 4. For the Eagles, finishing the tournament two games above .500 included three straight wins over teams in Sac-Joaquin Section divisions above their own division.

Vista picked up wins against Pioneer in Division III, Roseville in Division II and Ponderosa in Division I, a welcome sight after the Eagles lost its previous two league games.

“We faced a lot of good teams and we had a lot of big hits from guys on our team throughout the tournament,” said infielder and pitcher Seth Sobottka. “There wasn’t any singular effort. We came out as a team. It’s a battle of who has the least errors and who has the most hits and I think we won most of those out here.”

The Eagles outscored their opponents 30-17, holding two teams, Roseville and Ponderosa, to just two runs.

Their first win, a 13-6 destruction of Pioneer, included all but one of Vista’s starters with at least one hit. Travis Fowlston hit 3-of-4 with an RBI, while Alex Muzzi hit 1-for-3 with a three-run homer.

“I did OK, but I like how our team did,” Muzzi said. “We fought hard, beat good teams and lost two tough ones. We have momentum and we’re going to go ahead and win games from here.”

Vista used the tournament, in part, to make a distinct transition, according to coach Scott Seffens.

“We’ve got positions battles everywhere and it’s not just like before when it was to see who was going to screw up the least, now it’s who’s doing the best,” Seffens said. “We don’t really know what our lineup is going to be when we come back.”

Offense was spread around by Vista players all tournament. The games also, however, involved pitchers giving up five or more runs in three separate games.

“It was a good tournament for us,” Seffens said. “We beat Roseville, whose record wasn’t that good but they’re still defending section champs. We beat Pondo, we beat up Pioneer. It was all really good for us because we got shutout twice in league before these last few games.”

Vista’s next game is at 4:15 p.m. today at River City before traveling to El Dorado on Tuesday. On Thursday the team plays host to El Dorado. Both games start at 4:15 p.m.

Eagles drop final game of tournament, 7-5

Brett Ransford — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:42:01 +0000

Folsom Telegraph | 4/5/12
Brett Ransford

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Fighting for a fifth-place consolation spot on Wednesday in the last day of the SureWest Tournament, the Vista del Lago boys’ baseball team fell behind one too many times to overcome visiting Woodcreek. The Timberwolves retook a lead with three runs in the fifth as Vista lost 7-5.

Vista, 9-6 on the season, put five runners on in the sixth inning and another three in the seventh. Vista’s Ryan Rodriguez led off the sixth with a triple and one of two doubles from Wyland Silvan began the seventh, so chances were there.

“We were trying to get [Andrew] Lucio’s pitch count up because he hasn’t been with us much, so that was good for us today. We battled and we swung it a little bit. We’re definitely hitting the ball better than we have in the past,” Vista coach Scott Seffens said.

Their second loss of the tournament earned Vista a sixth-place finish. Woodcreek jumped to a 2-0 lead on Lucio. He gave up four runs on eight hits in five innings of work.

Michael Majeski did some much-needed work in relief of Lucio. Seffens said it was important to get Majeski pitches in the tournament, because as the offense got cooking the pitching needed to keep on par.

Silvan evened things for Vista at 2-2, banging a two-run double in the bottom of the third. Silvan again doubled in the seventh, but was thrown out on what turned out to be a critical play at the plate.

The Eagles’ only lead was produced on a pop-up by Seth Sobottka and an error in Woodcreek’s outfield. The 3-2 lead was erased by three runs on four hits by the Timberwolves in the next half-inning.

The sixth saw two more Woodcreek runs matched by Vista in the bottom of the inning. Travis Fowlston brought in a run on a sacrifice and a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to Josh Pfeffer brought the Eagles within two runs.

Silvan’s double led off the inning, but a shallow fly by Robert Hickman wasn’t deep enough for Silvan to make it home. The double play ruined two runners in scoring position with no outs for Vista and a final groundball finished the game.

“We screwed up a little there at the end,” Seffens said, but hopefully we can roll this all over into league because we have big games coming up.”

Vista finished the tournament 4-2 against some of the area’s best teams.

They’ll face a couple more next week at River City (6-1, 9-5) and El Dorado (6-0, 11-0-1).

Granite Bay pounds Jesuit, hosts big volleyball tournament today

Brett Ransford — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:43:17 +0000

Roseville Press-Tribune | 3/23/12
Brett Ransford

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The shooting range was open in the Granite Bay High School gym Thursday night.

A perennial match against Jesuit was the Grizzlies’ latest in a 6-0 nonleague start to the boys volleyball season. Five Granite Bay players had at least four kills, and senior captain and setter Jake Neptune passed 32 assists to lead his team to a 25-10, 25-15, 25-22 sweep of the Marauders.

It took the Grizzlies less than an hour to drop rival Jesuit (5-2), normally a postseason power in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

Outside hitter Greg Smith banged 11 kills for the Grizzlies. Matt Austin, Carson Odegard and Alec Naki put down five kills each, and Bryan Berry dropped another four.

An All-SFL player last season, Neptune said he knew coming off a win over NorCal No.1 ranked San Jose-Bellarmine would present a challenge playing down to Jesuit.

“The biggest deal is always getting everybody focused for matches, even if it’s not the best competition,” Neptune said. “We try to do that by getting some energy and getting our heads in the game.”

The Grizzlies could see the Marauders again today, when Granite Bay welcomes 16 of Northern California’s best teams for the 12th annual Brian Nolan Varsity Invitational.

ESPN Rise’s Fab 50 rankings have Granite Bay at No. 38. The Grizzlies will play host to No. 23 Concord-De La Salle, No. 40 Mountain View-St. Francis, which touts 6-foot-7 USA Youth National Team setter James Shaw, and No. 50 San Francisco-St. Ignatius.

The tournament also includes Nevada Union, Rocklin, Clovis and Los Gatos. A second flight of teams will play at Del Oro.

“We’re really excited, proud and honored that teams think we run things the right way and treat everyone with respect,” Granite Bay coach Bruce Honberger said. “It’s a lot of playing and not a lot of sitting. I love the fact that we have the best three Sacramento-area teams playing the best three Bay Area teams.”