Prep notebook: City/County Softball Game launches All-Star season

Two Central Section finalist coaches – Buchanan High School’s Dean Gregory and Selma’s Kellen Kubo – will match wits in the City/County Softball Game on Wednesday, launching the prep all-star season.

(Note: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that the County coach is Caruthers’ Jeff Day.)

Gregory, whose Bears won the Division I title, will have five of his players (Faith Rousey, Hunter Sansom, Starr Vang, Spencer Sansom and Sienna Swain) on the roster for a game that starts at 7 p.m. at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond.

Gregory’s City stars also will have section champions from Madera (Emily Chavira and Alyssa Geiger) and Orange Cove (Patricia Hernandez).

Kubo, whose Bears were Division IV runners-up, will have his own Anisah Navarro, Allyson Trevino and Daci Tovar, as well as section champions from Firebaugh (Liliana Berber and Alina Leyva) and Hanford (Anysa Garvin, Taylor Jacobsen and Breanne Tabarez) on the County side.

Duriing a two-week stretch, there will be 14 prep all-star games in six sports involving athletes from the greater Fresno area played between Merced and Lindsay.

Here’s a breakdown:

Baseball – The City/County game is set for June 18, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. at Chukchansi Park.

Bullard’s Chad Thornhill is coaching the City, which will feature the Knights’ Nick Sheehan, Jake Pizzo, Brady Barcellos and Greg Weaver as well as Grant Gambrell, J.T. Arruda, Alex Peralta and Chris Lopez from nationally top-ranked Buchanan.

Immanuel’s Josh Franco is coaching the County, and he’ll have Carson Schellenberg, Esteban Lizaola, A.J. Pease from his D-V champion Eagles.

Football – The first of three all-star football games – City/County – is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Lamonica Stadium, with Fresno’s Ray Reyes coaching the City and Washington’s Dennis Randle the County.

Reyes will have his own – Ofaloto Kuma, Andrew Contreras, Dajohn Stamps, Nyric Hinton, Wesley Graves, Ernest Mitchell and Qevon Harvey – as well as Josh Hokit, Shayne Valdez, Sean Kuenzinger, Coltin Velasquez and J.J. Wills from D-I runner-up Clovis.

Randle’s roster features Alex Bolden, Ricky Dow, Johnny Rodriguez, Ashanti Ross, Carlos Silva and Asanti Wormley from his D-IV runner-up Panthers, along with Danny Chavez, Alex Gutierrez, Gary Nieuwkoop and Anthony Stewart of section D-IV champion and state Division IV-A runner-up Chowchilla, and Ryan Case, Cody King, Caleb Poulson and Chris Rosedale from section D-V champ and state Division V-AA runner-up Immanuel.

The North/South Rotary All-Star game is a northern Central Section vs. southern Sac-Joaquin Section affair at 7:30 p.m. June 24 at Veterans Stadium in Merced.

The South, coached by Chowchilla’s Alex Pittz, includes Gutierrez, Stewart, Chavez, Nieuwkoop and Joseph Faafiti, along with some of the top players out of the Tri-River Athletic Conference, including Clovis’ Velasquez, Clovis East’s Trey Semien and Clovis North’s Jayson Lee.

The North, coached by Stone Ridge Christian-Merced’s Art De Jager, is led by Jacob Days and Xavier Canela of state Open Division Small School champion Central Catholic-Modesto.

The last of the three football games – East/West for players from Kings and Tulare counties – kicks off at 8 p.m. June 25 at Groppetti Stadium in Visalia.

Joseph McDaniel, Brandon Sanchez, Kaipo Barnes, Ellix Jimmeye, Derek Meek and Edward Alvarado of section D-III and state Division IV-AA Hanford will be coached on the West one final time by the Bullpups’ Josh Young.

Trey Perryman, Reggie Davis, Roger Wilson, Login Ahlin, Kyle Jue and Mitchell Lawrence of D-II runner-up Lemoore, and Manuel Alvarez and Alfredo Fernandez of D-VI runner-up Avenal are also featured on the West.

Exeter’s Chris Frankland will coach the East, and he will have former Monarchs Raul Jimenez, Julian Andalon, Michael Ellorin, Brandon Freeman, Ryan Buchanan and Andrew Williamson along with star Porterville running back Isaiah Jones.

Soccer – The Bee’s reigning Players of the Year (McLane’s Juan Flores and Clovis East’s Peyton Kwalwasser) and Coaches of the Year (McLane’s Ramiro Teran and Clovis East’s Jasara Gillette) are among the participants in four All-Star games on June 24-25 at Lindsay High.

There will be East/West (primarily players from Kings and Tulare counties) and North/South (Fresno/Madera counties vs. Kern County) in boys and girls games.

East/West boys kick it off at 6 p.m. June 24.

The East is coached by Jaime Bravo of D-V champ McFarland and features players such as Selma’s Emmanuel Flores and Kingsburg’s Christian Ayala. The West, coached by Mission Oak’s Shane Brown, has Arturo Najera, Edgar Llamas, Jose Benitez and Sal Palomino from the D-III runner-up Hawks.

The North/South boys follow at 8 p.m., with Teran and Flores heading a North squad that also features Emerson Hernandez, Sergio Gonzalez and Luis Enriquez from the D-IV champion Highlanders, as well as reigning Bee Outstanding Offensive Performer Danny Trejo of Mendota.

Phil Collignon of D-II champion Ridgeview will coach the South.

The East/West girls kick off at 6 p.m. June 25 in a game that will match match players such as Ally Holloway and Taylor Alkire of D-IV champion Strathmore on the East against Brooke Crisp and Brooklyn Morris of D-II runner-up Redwood on the West. Selma’s Jonathan Vivian (East) and Lemoore’s Janet Brown (West) are the coaches.

The North/South girls game at 8 p.m. features Kwalwasser and Clovis East teammates Mia Castillo, Nikki Crouch and Danielle Castillo coached by Gillette on a North team that also will star Esmerelda Navarro and Kim Montoya of D-II champ Madera South and Bee Outstanding Offensive Performer Raina Wristen of D-II champ Liberty-Madera Ranchos.

Bakersfield Christian’s Derek Watson will coach the South.

Basketball – There will be four City/County games on June 25 at Fresno City College, in an East/West (small schools) and North/South (large schools) format for boys and girls.

The East/West girls tip off at 2 p.m., followed by East/West boys at 4 p.m, North/South girls at 6 p.m. and North/South boys at 8 p.m.

Coaches and rosters have not been provided to The Bee.

Boys volleyball – The City/County game is set for 7 p.m. June 22 at Fresno State’s South Gym.

Coaches and rosters have not been finalized.

This story was originally published June 11, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Prep notebook: City/County Softball Game launches All-Star season."