Former Lady Baler and 2009 Tri-County Athletic League MVP J.C.
Clayton is leading her Brigham Young softball team at the plate
this season, having posted a .571 average through 10 games.
HOLLISTER
Former Lady Baler and 2009 Tri-County Athletic League MVP J.C. Clayton is leading her Brigham Young softball team at the plate this season, having posted a .571 average through 10 games.
Clayton, a 2009 graduate of San Benito High School and true freshman at BYU, has started in seven games for the Cougars this season, and is 16 of 28 at the plate. Her .571 batting average is tops on the team.
Recording a .586 on-base percentage to boot, Clayton has just three strikeouts in her 28 at-bats, while her .900 fielding percentage includes 17 assists and 10 put-outs.
The Cougars are 9-1 overall on the season — their lone loss coming by a 10-9 margin in extra innings to No. 9 Georgia Tech.
BYU is currently ranked No. 20 in the Ultimate College Softball Coaches Poll, and recently debuted at No. 25 in the ESPN.com/USA Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
The Cougars have qualified to the NCAA Regionals five years in a row, although have yet to advance to the Super Regionals.
BYU will compete in Palm Springs this weekend, and will be in Palo Alto on March 26-27 to take on UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, Santa Clara and the University of the Pacific.
Clayton’s teammate for four years at San Benito High, Marisa Ibarra, is currently pitching at San Francisco State, where she is 4-1 atop the mound.
Ibarra has appeared in five games and thrown 15 innings, posting a 4.80 earned run average in the process.
Lizzy Gatto, a 2008 graduate of SBHS and member of three Central Coast Section titles with the Lady Balers softball team, is tops at the plate for the Canisius College Griffins in Buffalo, N.Y.
Gatto, a sophomore at Canisius, is batting .476 (10 of 21) with a pair of doubles and four RBI. Having scored eight runs and posting a .607 on-base percentage as well, Gatto is 5 of 5 on stolen base attempts and has started in all nine games.
Canisius is 4-5 overall.
On the baseball field, three former Haybalers are currently playing at San Jose State, including Breyon Canez, and both Kolten and Karson Klauer.
Although just two games are in the books for the Spartans, both Canez and Karson Klauer are leading SJSU at the plate, nonetheless,. Batting 3 of 7 so far, Canez and Klauer have contributed matching .429 batting averages in the early season.
The Spartans are 1-1, and will begin a four-game homestand this weekend against UC Santa Barbara at Muni Stadium in San Jose.
Kolten Klauer, a junior, transferred to SJSU this year after attending Hartnell College in Salinas.
In other news, Hollister’s Brenna Carrillo-Zazueta and the University of the Pacific’s women’s water polo team cracked the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s top 20 poll for the first time since April 2005. The Tigers (7-4) are ranked No. 16.
Carrillo-Zazueta, a 2008 graduate of Notre Dame in Salinas, is a sophomore at Pacific and plays center-back /driver.
