National Highlight Reel: Kevin Cron sets Arizona home run record

Mountain Pointe (Phoenix) senior catcher/first baseman Kevin Cron may have the most compact, powerful swing in high school baseball.

Coach Brandon Buck told MaxPreps, "He's a kid who's been around baseball all of his life. He understands the swing. He has a great approach at the plate and as good of a swing as you'll see. He's able to make adjustments from pitch to pitch. There's not a high school hitter in the country who can do what he does."

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Texas Christian University recruit has the numbers to back up all the accolades. He recently has established state records for most home runs in a season (24) and a career (57). He currently is batting a lofty .578 and has driven in 62 runs in 29 games. He has struck out just three times.

His longest home run has been an estimated 450-foot blast – against a strong wind – last year at Gilbert, Ariz. It is believed to have split the goalposts on the football field.



Behind Cron's leadership, Mountain Pointe also has established a one-season state record with 82 home runs and counting.

Buck added, "His brother, C.J., is a junior catcher/first baseman at the University of Utah. The whole family is just an awesome baseball family. They are hard workers and they listen. I'm just disappointed that their mom and dad didn't have any more boys."

Cron calls his records "just icing on the cake. Growing up, I always was the kid who wanted to win. I always wanted to win the state. Our school never has won a state championship in baseball, football or basketball."

Mountain Pointe came close last year, losing to Desert Ridge (Mesa, Ariz.), 11-4, in the Class 5A-Division I state title game. The legend of Kevin Cron actually started that day because – despite playing with an excruciating stress fracture in his left foot - he tied what then was the state single-season home run record with No. 22 in the first inning.

"I didn't even feel anything running the bases, but I almost collapsed when I got to the dugout," he recalled. "I actually hurt it with about two months of the season left. It just felt like I rolled my ankle. In the playoffs I was covering first when I was pitching and aggravated it."

Kevin had discussed the severity of the injury with his father, Chris Cron, who has been a minor league baseball manager since 1995 and currently directs the Detroit Tigers' Class AA team in Erie, Pa. Chris told him to get it checked out, but Kevin replied, "It doesn't matter; I'm going to play."



Realizing it could have been a career-ending injury if his son was hurt any more seriously, Chris said, "I love that he just wanted to help his team so much. It was flat-out, unbelievable – amazing."

Kevin's love for baseball started at a very young age. Chris would be tutoring older brother C.J. and Kevin always was there to absorb every last word. As an 8-year-old, he already was playing on a 10-year-old team.

"I grasped the concept of the swing pretty early," he pointed out. "I do it over and over again and it does wonders. Now my dad doesn't even have to talk to me. I just fix it on my own."

Kevin studies film of Justin Upton (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees). He notes that Upton "has a smooth swing, but a powerful swing. Rodriguez, I really like his balance at the plate."

Since eighth grade, he has done a lot of weight training, stressing power and explosion and also strengthening his wrists.

Kevin has a tough decision coming in June, because both he and C.J., who leads the NCAA in batting, are expected to be taken in the Major League Draft. He carries an outstanding 3.9 GPA and is No. 18 in a class of 549, so he has a bright future at TCU.



He acknowledges, "It's definitely going to be a big-time decision and I definitely look forward to the experience."

Meanwhile, Chris sums up a lifetime of family dedication to baseball when he says, "They just played and played and now all of that playing has paid off."

* Chatsworth (Calif.) tied its school scoring record with a 28-0 rout of Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.) in five innings.

* Smoky Hill (Aurora, Colo.) senior Shane Fessel had a recent streak during which he slammed eight home runs in 12 at-bats. Before the streak, he had hit just two homers in 270 at-bats.

* Will Morris belted a home run in the 14th inning to give Durango (Las Vegas) a 3-2 victory over Spring Valley (Las Vegas). His eighth-inning homer had sent the game into extra innings. In addition, he got the pitching victory in relief by allowing just one hit and striking out seven in seven innings.

* Legacy (North Las Vegas) survived three home runs by Zachary Quintana to post an 8-5 victory over Arbor View (Las Vegas).



* Hunter Schryver hit a single, double and triple while driving in five runs during a 16-run sixth inning as Cumberland Valley (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) routed Red Land (Lewisberry, Pa.), 19-7.

* Coaching milestone victories: Dan Oliastro of Riverside (Ellwood City, Pa.) posted No. 500, while Jeff Hogan of Hamilton (Milwaukee, Wis.) gained No. 300.

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}SOFTBALL: LYNNFIELD WINS IN 16 INNINGS
Lynnfield (Mass.) outlasted Masconomet Regional (Topsfield, Mass.), 4-3, in 16 innings.

* University of Dayton recruit Kayla English fired a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts as Fort Worth Christian (North Richland Hills, Texas) blanked Dallas Christian (Mesquite, Texas), 7-0. She has 453 strikeouts this year and 1,589 for her career – No. 2 in Texas history.

* Poland Seminary (Poland, Ohio) junior Erin Gabriel pitched her fourth no-hitter of the year and struck out 17 during a 10-0 victory over Niles McKinley (Niles, Ohio). Feature story on Erin Gabriel

* Junior Megan Rico pitched a perfect game with 17 strikeouts as King Philip Regional (Wrentham, Mass.) blanked Canton (Mass.), 5-0. In her two previous starts, she had lost perfect games in the final inning and had to settle for no-hitters.

* Marist (Eugene, Ore.) avenged an earlier 10-9 loss with a 6-0 victory over Churchill (Eugene, Ore.) as senior Nyree White pitched a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts.



* Senior Alexa Larkin struck out 16 as Greater Latrobe (Latrobe, Pa.) rolled past Connellsville (Pa.), 6-2.
 
* Pequannock (Pompton Plains, N.J.) defeated Roxbury (Succasunna, N.J.), 5-0, behind Dana Nielsen's no-hitter and 16 strikeouts.

BASKETBALL: THURMAN JOINS PERRY ELLIS AT WICHITA HEIGHTS
Gavin Thurman, a 6-7 junior, has transferred to three-time defending state champion Heights (Wichita, Kan.), which already was returning 6-8 junior All-American Perry Ellis. Thurman, who briefly attended Heights as a freshman, led Southeast (Wichita, Kan.) in scoring (18.5) and rebounding (6.2).

* A USA under-19 all-star basketball team posted a 5-0 record and defeated a team from Italy, 86-66, in the finals to win the Junior International Tournament in Milan, Italy. DaQuan Cook, a 6-1 junior guard from Digital Harbor (Baltimore), averaged 21 points – including 31 in the finale - to earn MVP honors. Patterson (Baltimore) sophomore guard Aquille Carr averaged 30 points in the tourney.

* St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.) has hired Mark Taylor as its new boys basketball coach. He has a career record of 266-111 and has coached such pros as Jay Williams and Andrew Bynum.

* Reebok is back in the summer camp business following a one-year absence, according to ZagsBlog. It will sponsor the Reebok Basketball Breakout Challenge from July 5-9 at Philadelphia University. The camp will feature 100 players and will go head-to-head against the LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron, Ohio. John Wall is expected to make a national publicity tour to promote the camp.

* On the girls side, the University of North Carolina has received a commitment from one of the nation's premier eighth graders, 5-8 Te'a Cooper, who attends Cooper Middle School in Austell, Ga. She received her first recruiting letter from UCLA as a fifth grader.



* The University of Notre Dame bested Connecticut and Rutgers when it received a commitment from 5-11 guard Michaela Mabrey, according to the South Bend Tribune. She averaged 22 points, five rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 46 percent on 3-pointers for Manasquan (Manasquan, N.J.) as a junior. That gives the Fighting Irish three commitments from juniors ranked among the nation's top 40.

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}FOOTBALL: JIMMY WALLACE RETIRES
Jimmy Wallace, who guided Northwestern (Rock Hill, S.C.) to three state championships, has retired as head football coach. During his 28-year career, Wallace compiled a 286-83 record.

* Powerhouse Chaparral (Scottsdale, Ariz.) has beefed up its defense for 2011 with the transfer of junior Jarvis Lewis. The 6-4, 240-pounder had 59 tackles and 13 sacks last fall for Kellis (Glendale, Ariz.). He also is a standout basketball player.

POTPOURRI
* Dusty Boyer of Forest Lake (Minn.) had won his last 73 tennis matches until losing to Wyatt McCoy of Mounds View (Arden Hills, Minn.), 6-2, 7-5. Boyer, a junior, had won the last two Class AA state singles titles. McCoy, who won the state as an eighth grader, played independent tennis as a sophomore and junior and is ranked No. 8 nationally in the 18-year-old division.

* Andrew Campolattano of Bound Brook (N.J.) has committed to continue his wrestling career at Ohio State University, according to the Home News Tribune. Campolattano posted a 175-1 record and had a state-record 116 pins while becoming New Jersey's second four-time state champion. He was 44-0 at 215 pounds as a senior.

* Lacrosse junior star Kim Mulvehill exploded for a school-record 13 goals as Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall (Waltham, Mass.) defeated Landmark (Prides Crossing, Mass.), 15-9. She has scored 57 goals in her first six games.