Bobcats dominate All-OEC ballots
The Saddleback baseball team had a bit of good news heading into the playoffs this week when it was announced that 10 different players and a coach had been named to the All-Orange Empire Conference Team. Pitcher Arthur Liu, outfielder Jacob Naso and coach Sommer McCartney won addition praise.
Liu was named the Orange Empire Conference Pitcher-of-the-Year after going 9-2 on the season with a 2.99 ERA. Liu was 5-1 in OEC play with a 3.79 ERA, recording 35 strikeouts in 38 innings of work. He was particularly good in his final outing of the season against Riverside City College when he went six innings against the Tigers and allowed just three hits in a critical game.
Naso was named the Defensive Outfielder-of-the-Year for his work in center field. He had zero errors in 75 total chances this season, playing in all 39 games during the regular season. Naso was also solid at the plate, batting .313 with a team-leading four triples.
McCartney won the award for Coach-of-the-Year after pulling out the OEC title in the final game of the season. The Bobcats trailed Riverside City by four games in the standings with seven games remaining before making a run to claim the title. Saddleback also enters the 3C2A Regional Playoffs as the 2-seed in the southern half of the state.
Saddleback had eight players named the All-Orange Empire Conference First Team. In addition to Liu and Naso winning awards, shortstop Isaiah Morales, third baseman Michael Davinni, second baseman Jason Hefft, first baseman J.C. Allen, utility player Zachary Schwartzberg and pitchers Blake Butcher and Will Girardi were named to the first team.
Morales batted .375 for the year with three home runs and 39 RBI. He was second on the team in runs-scored (40), third in hits (60) and second in bases-on-balls (26) while playing in all 39 games. At one point during the season Morales had a six-game hitting streak where he went 15-for-30 with 10 RBI from April 6-20.
Davinni batted .395 for the season with five home runs and a team-leading 44 RBI. He led the team in runs-scored (47) and hits (67) while playing in all 39 games. Davinni had a 19-game hitting streak at one point of the season from February 3 to March 20. He batted .443 in OEC play.
Hefft led the team in batting average (.406), on-base percentage (.478), slugging percentage (.563) and doubles (18). Hefft had a crazy streak on a road trip to Sequoias when he had hits in eight straight at-bats. He had a 13-game hitting streak from March 25 to April 22.
Allen batted .368 for the season and led the team with 49 RBI. He had two double-digit hitting streaks, hitting safely in 11 straight games to start the season and recording a 10-game hitting streak from April 2-22.
Schwartzberg made the squad as a utility player, bouncing around from position-to-position and filling important needs in both the outfield and infield. He finished the season batting .300 while finishing third on the team in stolen bases (4) in 31 games. Schwartzberg saved his best for last when he hit safely in the final eight games of the season.
Girardi finished the season 3-0 with a 4.93 ERA. He became a full time starter during the second half of the season and walked just 11 batters in 42 innings. He struck out eight batters in five innings of work against College of the Sequoias and had his longest outing of the season against Irvine Valley when he went seven innings in a 5-4 win.
Butcher developed into a dominating closer by the end of the season, finishing with a team-high five saves and a microscopic 0.84 ERA. He had three saves in the final two weeks of the season, including a clinching save against Riverside City College in the final game of the season for the conference title.
Saddleback had two other members of the pitching staff make the All-OEC Second Team in Dylan Blakey and Tyler Byrns.
Blakey was 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA during the course of the season. He had one of the best strikeout ratios on the team, mowing down 25 batters in 17.1 innings of work.
Byrns was 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA in 15 appearances. He struck out 26 opposing batters in 25.1 innings of work.