Youth sports roundup: It truly is the year of the Dragons

The Davis Dragons Baseball Club, an under-14 competitive team, ended its fall season with its second consecutive tournament championship, taking home top honors at the Halloween Havoc tournament in Vacaville.

The Dragons battled to the championship game behind the pitching of right-handed ace Matt Butler. The Dixon native went the distance in the semifinal game, limiting a determined Blues team to only one run on two hits. The Dragons offense put seven runs on the board behind batters Jonah Watts, Ivan Martinez and Tyler Mundy, each going 2 for 3 in the game.

Taking the mound in the title tilt against the Warriors from Concord, local southpaw Ryan Bell pitched his own complete game. Backed by a solid defense and with catcher Zach Harmon calling the pitches, Bell limited his opponents to only one hit for the game. While the powerful Warriors bats were kept quiet, the same couldn’t be said for the Dragons. Seven players reached on hits, including two blasts that traveled the 320 feet to the fence by slugging first baseman Shawn Miller, who drove in four runs in two at-bats. Tyler Mundy added his own two-run double to cap the Dragons’ 10-0 victory.

Coach Rikki Foster, a former standout from UC Davis, said: “This is such a great group of kids. It’s been so much fun to watch them develop and grow as individuals and a team. They work hard and play hard, and most importantly they have fun. I couldn’t be more happy with this group.”

And as for pitching staff Foster added: “When Mattie and Ryan are dealing like they were this weekend, it’s very difficult for other teams to get anything going.”

Wildcat basketball

The Davis Wildcats seventh-grade boys basketball team went 2-1 and finished third in the Oktoberfest tournament in Rocklin.

In the first game, Davis beat Silverado 41-36. Scoring leaders for the Wildcats were Kai Taylor (11) and Jake Taylor (10). Sean Finerty added eight points, and Quinn Vaewsorn was strong on the boards with five points and nine rebounds.

Against EDH Gold, the Wildcats fell 59-50. Vaewsorn led the way with 14 points and seven rebounds. Finerty put in 11 points, and Zach Bergevin, Derek Mundy and Kai Taylor each added five points.

In the final game, the Wildcats swarming press overwhelmed All Net 58-17. Finerty went for 19 points, and Kai Taylor had 10 points and four steals. Guard Bo Van Court got hot from the 3-point line, scoring eight points. Point guard Romel Osorio did a nice job of running the offense and contributed four points and six assists. Vaesworn had six points and eight rebounds, while Jake Taylor scored four and grabbed five rebounds. Max Gasser played tough defense and added two points in the winning effort.

Junior golf

Davis’ Chase Dossa finished tied for fourth with a 5-over 149 at the two-day Northen California Golf Association Junior Tour’s tournament at the Stevinson Ranch Golf Course in Atwater. Dossa carded a 4-over 76 on opening day, finishing three strokes off the lead. In the second round, he posted a 1-over 73, which moved him up four spots on the leaderboard, six strokes off the leader.

Diamond gymnastics

In the Halloween Jamboree on Sunday, Davis Diamonds’ Mariske Pretorius won Level 5 beam and floor, Aubrey Watts won Level 4 bars in the intermediate age division, as did Julia Miyamoto in the older division. The Davis Level 4 gymnasts were the best team on bars and grabbed the bronze medal in the team competition.

The annual Junior Olympic Halloween Jamboree in Oroville is always the last and high-point of the competition year, with the gymnasts marching in with costumes, the judges and coaches wearing disguises, the gym turned into a haunted house, and the last chance to qualify for State Championships with tough competition from leading teams.

For the first and only time this year, the entire Davis Diamonds Level 6 team was together. Starting on vault, these level 6 gymnasts put on a demonstration of handspring speed, power and flight, winning best team on vault. Kyra Lee flew to a huge 9.25 for the silver, while Clara Riggle and Cordelia Hsiao tied for the bronze with 9.175. Sixth on vault was Kyra Mayfield with an excellent 9.125. Next event, Riggle swung a dynamic bars set that earned a spectacular 9.4, and another silver. Karolina Perkins grabbed the bronze with her big swings and layout dismount (9.1). Nicole Bradshaw also had big swings, placing sixth.

All seven Davis Diamonds’ Level 6 gymnasts then stuck their devilishly difficult beam routines, with Perkins placing second (9.1) and Colleen Peterson fifth with 9.025. Finishing on floor, Perkins danced and tumbled a dramatic interpretation of the floor routine that was rewarded with 9.375 and the bronze, with Nicole Bradshaw an excellent fifth (9.0). Perkins won the silver all-around with a personal-best 36.375, with Riggle fourth (35.775), Lee fifth (35.75), Mayfield seventh (34.775), and Bradshaw ninth (34.325). Hsiao qualified outright for States in 12th with Peterson first alternate in 15th. Collectively, this is the strongest Level 6 team in Davis Diamonds’ history.

During the Level 5 session, Mariske Pretorius continued her string of strong performances, winning beam (9.2) and floor (9.5), as well as placing second on bars with a personal-best 9.225 and second all-around (36.275). Brenna Peterson continued to improve, swinging bars to 9.025 (fourth), also fourth on beam, and eighth all-around (34.275). Maeve Kelly vaulted to an excellent fourth place and then earned over 8.5 for her other three performances for a personal-best 34.225, ninth. Katie Borowsky and Isabel Lavallee both improved on bars but struggled on the other events, Lavallee dealing with a sore ankle.

Peterson and Kelly missed the qualifying score for States by respectively 0.225 and 0.275, the deductions for two flexed feet. In the older division, Alissa Casillas earned an excellent silver medal for her handspring vault, a 9.1 for her elegant beam gymnastics, 9.3 for floor, and a personal best 36.05, fifth. Sonia Sutton had not made the qualifying score for States but put together her four best performances of the year. Sutton placed fourth on bars (9.145) and fifth on floor (9.35) to total a strong 35.55, easily making state championships. Ianthe Pretorius swung a strong bars set to 8.85 but an uncharacteristic fall on beam kept her 12th all-around, just ahead of teammate Olivia McKenzie. Among the youngest, Kaelyn Perkins struggled on vault but showed promise on the other events.

In the older Level 4 session, Carmin Fisk had the meet of her life, taking the silver on bars with 9.4, earning 9.15 on floor, placing fifth all-around, and amassing a personal-best 36.025. Sixth all-around was teammate Julia Miyamoto, winning bars with 9.425, scoring 9.2 on vault, as well as a personal best 36.0. In the intermediate division, an under the weather Aubrey Watts soldiered through the four events, winning bars with a sensational 9.6, second on vault (9.375), danced and tumbled to 9.0 on floor, ultimately winning the silver medal all-around in the intermediate age division (36.625). Watts has won bars and/or beam and placed either first or second all-around in every competition this season, an extraordinary accomplishment for a young athlete. Kathleen Sheridan started her quest for States with a fall on bars, but undaunted, placed fourth on beam and a personal-best 34.275, good for eighth all-around. Ninth all-around was Emma Rebhun, also with a personal-best 34.225 after a strong 9.025 for her floor performance that earned fifth place. Two falls on her first event, bars, kept Lily Rigor in 11th place, even though she fought back to excellent eighth places on beam and floor and a personal best 32.6. In their first year competing gymnastics, Sheridan and Rebhun just also just missed qualifying for States. Among the youngest, Anissa Morgan improved to an excellent seventh place on vault and a personal best all-around. For the fourth straight meet, all 10 Davis Diamonds Level 4 gymnasts stuck beam.