BASEBALL: Tough calls to make on All-Area team

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Baseball All-Area comes out June 18.

Scott,

When is the team coming out?

who is the st. francis catcher

Mike Nigolan hit .265 if he is put on the team the area is weak in talent. Nigolan D1 that has to be a joke.

Oldtimer it's great that you're a fan of high school sports like the rest of us are. The St. Francis catcher hit almost 100 pts higher than Nigolan. He caught a pitching staff other than Carreon that had no varsity experience and blocked almost everything wild or in the dirt. His defensive skills are excellent and he would have thrown out a lot more runners if throws weren't constantly dropped at 2b. Anyone who saw him play against the local teams in the Elks Tourney saw just how good he is.

Poly had two excellent pitchers in Talt and Pennington. Talt finished the year 8-0 with a sub 1 ERA while Pennington finished 11-2. One of those losses coming in an opener against TC where he no hit TC through 5 innings.

I've been a fan of high school sports for a long time in the SGV. The kid that has the most promise is a catcher from Arcadia High "Mike Nigolan." He has the best defensive skills that I have seen in the area. His help to Arcadia's pitchers was amazing. He's very accurate with soft hands, a canon for an arm, and very quick feet. He will be a D1 ball player without any doubt. He should be 1st team all-area catcher.

Witness-

Thanks for your response. Now it just takes someone to step up to plate and take a chance. I'm not saying Maranatha is the best or if they will win the tournament. All I'm saying is they are certainly good enough to be in the local tournament even though the tournament they played in the last two years was a tougher one.
As for the Rio Hondo League moving up, good for them but it's really too bad for level 5 because that makes it weaker.

Senior Pitcher Ramiro Carreon for st francis put up big numbers, along with senior short stop kyle wong and senior catcher garrett salzman. all 3 will be playing in college next year and deserve a look for all area

MHS Supporter,

I drove out to Riverside and watched the game. If there was an opening in the schedule and I were a local high school coach, I would not fear playing them. Good? Yes. Unbeatable? No. There is plenty of local talent to compete. Coaches?????? Elks Tournament Officials?????

I see a lot of comments about how good teams are after they had one good year, and how Rio Hondo League isn't that great.
Well until your whole league moves up a division like Rio Hondo, you really can't compare. That's right.. not one team but the whole League!!

Anon, please us a sign-on name in future, but yes, we'll be covering it.

Since there would seem to be a captive audience for area baseball here I'll just come out with this question. Will the Elks Tournament finally have the guts to include Maranatha next year considering their run to the finals with every starter returning but one? Or I could even ask this question. Does any area team have the guts to add them to their schedule next year?.....Anyone?(Crickets Crickets Crickets) I didn't think so.

to scott,

are u going to cover the underclassmen all star game on June 14 at alhambra.

joe stephen of pasadena deserves at least a 2nd team nod. he made 1st team all league i the pacific league and had 91 k's.

Rutherford gets over a 100 K's on team with no senior starters and 3 varsity returners. Give Noe MVP put Brice on All Area and make Coach Lemas Coach of the Year for making the most with the group he was given.

Junior shortstop Eric Smith from La Canada deserves a 1st team nod. As a soph hit .540, led the RHL in hitting and made 2nd team all-area. This year hit .625, with obp of .724, going 40 for 64 with 21 walks and led the RHL in hitting, obp, slg, hits, runs and walks. Had 4-4 games against Temple City and Monrovia and 3-3 game vs. San Marino. MaxPreps shows Smith at #4 nationally in obp and #18 nationally in batting. Also only made one error at shortstop.

Baseball kid the only reason la salle beat Arcadia is because we did not start Bryce Rutherford let alone pitch him at all. We saved him for the next week and you started your ace who went the whole game. So don't talk or say anything about Arcadia not being able to handle any teams in the Del Rey League.

First of all Bryce Rutherford should no doubt have a spot being 1st team all Area. He was co-mvp of his league and he only split it because his team didnt beat Cv in the championship. He had 100 strikeouts and batted 368. He is indefinetly in the top three pitchers in the sgv including Noe Ramirez, who he pretty much out-pitched when he faced Alhambra.

Don't forget Monrovia left hander Richard Kilbury who dominated the Rio Hondo before the sore back slowed him down. Curtis Cowell deserves an outfield spot.

how can you say the pacific and RHL has the hardest league in the valley... the del rey league had all 3 of there teams who made playoffs get to the semis and championship.. RHL and Pacific teams didnt get past the quarters.. and la salle a team out of the Del Rey Leauge beat 2 teams out of the RHL Monrovia your champions and South Pas... and also beat Arcadia out of the Pacific who came in 2nd..obvioulsy the del rey league is the hardest in the valley and if la salle was in a league like Pacific or RHL they would win it every year...no team in the RHL or Pacific League (besides maybe CV) could even put up any competition in the Del Rey Leauge..

2 kids out of la salle who carried there team this year...ryan doeppel for infield..batted 459 overall and 462 in the del rey league..(which carries 3 teams that got the semis this past year) finished with 39 hits 25 RBIs 13 doubles 2 triples and 5 homeruns 10 stolen bases and finsihed with a 918 fielding percentage with only 4 errors.. as for michael palffy he fits in as a utility.. playing outfield pitcher and infield this year.. palffy batted 395 overall and 361 in leaguge..finished with 30 hits 30 RBIs 11 doubles and 6 homeruns(tied with fox for lead in homeruns)..had a fielding percentage of 944 with only 2 errors..also was the ace on the mound for the team having a 3.75 era 61 strike outs and finsihed with a record of 7-4 with 1 save and those 4 losses coming all in league 1 to amat 1 to st paul and 2 to montgomery.. with these kinda of numbers and the way these kids produced for there team this year the ought to make all area.. i mean they already made 1st team all leauge in the toughest league in the valley.... they seem like a lock..what do you think scott?

RHL fan I do not agree with you. The pacific league is the toughest league in the area with teams like Arcadia, Crescenta Valley, Burroughs, and Burbank that bring great competition every year. Dearth and Wilson are good pitchers but you are leaving out Bryce Rutherford.

MuddyWaters: I didn't make it clear enough at first, there is a first and second team.

Brian Dearth and Nick Wilson from the Rio Hondo League deserves all-area. The rio hondo league is the toughest league in this area by far. Brian Dearth is 6-3 with a 1.28 and dominated the rio hondo league and Nick Wilson was 10-1 with a 0.85 era and got his team to the quarter finals which lost to Bishop Amant. With Noe Ramiez getting player of the year those two pitchers are the next best.

Hey G man,
I have a thought: Make a 1st and 2nd All-Area Team?