The Californian from Salinas, California • 5

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 SPORTS ON YOUR PHONE For sports scores and stats, send a text message with team I name, player name or league to 44636 (e.g. Giants). SPORTS COORDINATOR: George Watkins PHONE: 754-4264 MX: 754-4293 1-MAIl: sporlsthecalifornian.com www.thealifornian.com BBSS IrtoiCd TOP 10 BASEBALL TOP 10 SOFTBALL Rank, School Record (2009) Rank, School Record (2009) 1. Gilroy 17-12 I.Notre Dame 26-6-1 2. Hotltsler 25-4 2.

Hollister 27-4 3. Monterey 19-11 3. Stevenson 22-6 4. Carmel 18-7 4. Gilroy 16-13-1 5.

Palma 25-4 5. Monterey 15-13-1 6. Salinas 22-7 6. Watsonville 22-7 7. Seaside 17-13 7.

Salinas 16-13-2 S.Stevenson 18-6 S.N.Salinas 18-8 9. Pac Grove 17-7 9. S. Catalina 16-6-1 10. N.

County 13-16 10. King City 12-12 1 Lincoln of San Francisco will play North Salinas BY RYAN WALLACE AND DAVID ALMANZAR sportsthecalifornian.com The North Salinas High girls basketball team is all set to host the school's first NorCal playoff game tonight. The Vikings (24-3), fresh LOCAL ROUNDUP off their first Central Coast Section championship, are slated to tip off at 7 p.m. at home against Lincoln (25-7) of San Francisco. North Salinas earned the sixth seed, while Lincoln is the 11th seed.

"It's good for our supporting cast fans to have a home game," North Salinas coach Darren Jackson said. "It's nice for the school." North Salinas defeated Menlo-Atherton 51-31 Saturday night at Santa Clara University to claim the CCS Division I title. It was the second time a North Salinas team reached the championship game. The Vikings had a team in the 1989 D-II title game. The Vikings went 3-0 in the CCS playoffs, with senior Alyssa Ayala leading North Salinas with 13.3 points per game.

Junior guard Amy Woo averaged 9.7 per game. Lincoln was the runner-up in the San Francisco Section D-I championship game. The Mustangs lost 73-63 to Lowell, the No. 5 seed in the tournament. See ROUNDUP, 7A GEORGE WATKINS Boys Notebook Zito solid in win over L.A.

T-CAL ready for opening pitch i 1 RYAN WALLACE Girls Notebook Softball teams squeeze in training Rain, rain washed away several non-league a.k.a. trainingwarm-up games for area softball teams. Now with two weeks before the opening of league play, working out kinks in the field and fine-tuning a swing become a little time crunched. The Mission Trail Athletic League gets under way March 22, while the Tri-County Athletic League and Monterey Bay League open play March 23. Fortunately for many teams in the area, a majority of players remain ahead of the curve, thanks to travel ball and offseason workouts.

Here's a list of the area's top returning first-team athletes from the T-CAL, MBL and MTAL: Shanae Gasperson, Notre Dame: The senior didn't play basketball this past season to concentrate on becoming the team's ace pitcher. Tiffany Meeks, Notre Dame: The senior, who slugged eight home runs last year, is headed to the University of Massachusetts on a athletic scholarship. Rosa Perez, North Salinas: The senior outfielder has been one of the Vikings most consistent and clutch hitters over the past two seasons. CaitlynPura, Notre Dame: The slick fielding third baseman is headed to Stanford University on an athletic scholarship. See WALLACE, 6A THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Spring is still more than a week away and the high school basketball season is still going strong.

Nevertheless, baseball season starts today for the Tri-County Athletic League. The opening day lineup for the T-CAL has Salinas at Gilroy, Alisal at Palma and Hollister at North Salinas. The Mission Trail Athletic League is in the on-deck circle. Its season begins Wednesday with Carmel at Soledad, King City at Gonzales and Greenfield at Pacific Grove. Batting in the third position is the Monterey Bay League, which opens March 17 with Monterey at Watsonville, Pajaro Valley at North County and Monte Vista Christian at Seaside.

Batting leadoff in the first of three league previews today is the T-CAL. It'll be followed by the MTAL next Tuesday and the MBL on March 23. Here's howtheT-CAL shapes up, with team previews in the order of the predicted league standings. 1. Gilroy The Mustangs (2-1) loaded their lineup with sophomores three years ago, and now it's their time to shine as seniors.

See WATKINS, 6A San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Barry Zito winds up to throw on Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning of their spring training game in Ariz. Dodgers rely on Ellis to replace injured catcher Martin 2 training is about, and Monasteries (7), J.Unk (9), F.Felix (10) and Ellis, L.May; Zito, Wellemeyer (4), Mola (7), Sosa (8), F.Romero (9), Bautista (10) and Molina, Whiteside. Posey. W-Bautsta. F.Felix.

HRs-Los Angeles, Kemp (1). AtScottsdale.Ariz. Los Angeles100001 000 0 -211 0 San Francisco100100000 1 3 9 0 (10 Innings) Billingsley, Kershaw (3), Towers (5). that the staff is ready tor opening day and throughout the season." The Dodgers' pitchers aren't totally unfamiliar with their new backstop. Billingsley threw to him in Class-A ball and even once in the majors last season, and Kershaw at Double-A and also in 2009.

"A.J. did a good job of calling those two innings," Kershaw said of Monday's outing. "I got every pitch in there at least two times. He's great back there. He takes a lot of pride in his defense and his calling a game.

He does all that stuff real well. Everything defensively he's great at." The Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -Russell Martin's replacement is a little-known guy named A. J. Ellis, an 18th-round draft pick out of Austin Peay.

The defending NL West champion Dodgers are depending on him behind the plate big time. Ellis worked six innings in Los Angeles' 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Monday in his first start since Martin was sidelined by a pulled groin that likely will keep him out through opening day. Matt Kemp hit his first homer of the spring for the Dodgers, who lost when Ryan Rohlinger hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th. a good catcher good target, good feet, strong arm, work ethic is really good. "It's one of those guys who's not necessarily the most gifted guy you've ever met, but his hands are soft.

Pitchers seem to like to pitch to him." Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw each had good things to say after pitching two solid innings apiece in their exhibition debuts. "My job is really to get these pitchers ready," Ellis said. "That's what spring Giants starter Barry Zito had better control in his second spring outing, allowing three hits in three innings including Kemp's first-inning solo shot. Praise for Ellis "He has a real good feel for the pitching," manager Joe Torre said of Ellis. "Mechanically, I don't want to say he's got few flaws because he's certainly inexperienced, but he's got all the ability to be Athlete of the Week See GIANTS, 6A To nominate call 754-4264 or send e-mails to com Palma gets surprise visitor tonight Byrne and 6-5 forward Ryan Dehart were all-leaguers as juniors.

The 2010 all-league Del Norte Conference team has yet to be announced. "It's a hard-working said. About the only thing Vollmers admits to knowing about Palma is that its point guard, Chris Bena-vente, "runs the show," and next door at Notre Dame High, his old fishing and hunting buddy, Joe Given, coaches the softball team. "I'll have Xo give him a call when I get into town," Vollmers said. The Palma-Arcata winner will play Thursday, most likely at Modesto Areata will make the long trip down for the first round of NorCal BY GEORGE WATKINS gwatkinsthecalifornian.com The way Areata High boys basketball coach Eric Vollmers figured things, his team would get a No.

7 seed and home game in the first round of the Northern California playoffs. Even though his Tigers lost to Salesian in their section championship game, 70-47, Vollmers was hopeful that a second straight league title, a 15-game win streak and a 25-5 overall record might be worthy of a NorCal home game anyway. The state picks up the tab for one overnight stay. Areata, meanwhile, won the Humboldt-Del Norte Conference title for the second straight year behind a mostly senior lineup. The Tigers have seven seniors on the roster, with five measuring 6-foot-5 or taller.

The biggest of the bunch is 6-11, 230-pound junior Max Schmidt. The best of the bunch is 6-6 senior Jordan Semple, who averaged a team-high 18 points per game. "We have a few others who score anywhere from eight to 14 said. Areata has three 3-year varsity starters and two of them guard Conor "We thought we'd be sitting at No. said.

He's right about one thing they're going to be doing a lot of sitting, but it will be in a van, and not at No. 7 in the 14-school tournament. Areata was seeded No. 1 1 in the NorCal Division IV playoffs and will make the seven-hour trip to Salinas to face the No. 6 seed Chieftains (234) today at 7 p.m.

"It's a little ridiculous travel distance, but we're happy to be in said. He didn't want to say if his team would leave Monday and spend the night in Salinas before the game, or depart Tuesday and spend the night after the game. the second half of the CCS D-I championship game Saturday, helping the Vikings to a 51-31 victory over Menlo-Atherton. tt was the schoolis first CCS girls basketball title. Next match: NorCal first-round playoff game against Lincoln of San Francisco at 7 p.m.

today at North Salinas. Name: Alyssa Ayala Sport: Basketball School: North Salinas Year Senior What she did: Ayala scored 10 of her team's final 12 points in the fourth quarter of a comeback victory over Hollister in the CCS Division I semifinals. She followed it up with 16 points in.