From coast-to-coast, blanketing the country, here are some of the top high school sports headlines from the last week.
Ricketts dominates softball
Keilani Ricketts pitched and batted Sorcerer Gold-Phil of Vallejo, Calif., to the Amateur Softball Association 18-under Girls GOLD National Championship in Oklahoma City, Okla., Sunday during a 3-1 victory over defending champion Gold Coast Hurricanes of Plantation, Fla.
Oklahoma-bound Keilani Ricketts was nearly flawless.
Photo by Dennis Marpuri
The 6-foot-3 left-hander, who recently graduated from Archbishop Mitty (
San Jose, Calif.) and will attend the
University of Oklahoma this fall, fired a three-hitter with eight strikeouts and one walk during a 97-pitch effort.
She also collected three of her team’s nine hits.
During the week, Ricketts won all seven games for the unbeaten champions. In 47 innings, she struck out 58, walked eight and scattered 15 hits. At the plate she batted .444 and drove in six runs.
The Hurricanes won nine straight games in the loser’s bracket before bowing in the finale.
Thirteen straight wins
The Northwest Blaze of Beaverton, Ore., won a remarkable 13 consecutive games in the loser’s bracket to claim the Amateur Softball Association 16-and-under National Championship in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The Blaze won five games on Saturday and six on Sunday – including 5-4 victories over the Arizona Killer Bees in the final two games. Both games were won in the bottom the seventh inning – one on a three-run homer by Portland Central Catholic senior Kaitlin Inglesby and the other on a bases-loaded single by Grants Pass senior Krystin Jantzer.
The Blaze went 16-1 in the tourney to raise their season record to 57-3.
Johnson is national runner-up
Jennifer Johnson (La Quinta, Calif.) finished second in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Tournament following a 3 and 1 loss to Jennifer Sorg Sunday in St. Louis, Mo.
Johnson will attend Arizona State University in the fall, while Sorg will be a sophomore at the University of Southern California.
Johnson led, 4-up, after 10 holes, but Sorg broke a tie on the 32nd hole and finished strong to become only the second woman to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links titles in the same year.
In the semifinals, Johnson defeated 14-year-old sensation Alexis Thompson (Coral Springs, Fla.) in a 1 up thriller. Sorg defeated incoming UCLA freshman Tiffany Lua, 3 and 2.
Pratt fires record 62
Conner Pratt (Birmingham, Ala.) carded 13-under-par 200 to win the AJGA Southeast Junior Open Golf Tournament in Franklin, Tenn. The Coastal Carolina recruit fired a course-record 9-under-par 62 in the second round.
Briana Mao (Folsom, Calif.) nipped Kendall Martindale (Jefferson City, Tenn.) in a sudden-death playoff to win her first AJGA girls championship. She clinched the tense victory by drilling a 30-foot putt for a birdie on the playoff hole. Both shot 214 before the playoff.
Blackwelder lifts 551 pounds
Team Elite of South Lakeland (Fla.) captured its third AAU powerlifting national team title in four years during the Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa. Winners are determined by the weight of the team and weight lifted.
Elite standout Will Blackwelder, who plays baseball for Lakeland George Jenkins, was No. 1 with a dead lift of 551 pounds – more than the collegians lifted.
Baron Williams of Auburndale (Fla.) set 14 records and won three gold medals.
Recruiting notes
Stephen Alli is joining the growing ranks of high school athletes skipping their senior year. The 6-foot-6, 210-pound wide receiver from Proctor Academy (Andover, N.H.) is headed for the University of Florida. He runs a 4.4 40 and has a 36-inch vertical jump.
The native of Toronto, Canada had planned on graduating in January and then heading to Gainesville. However, he found out the school has no mid-term graduation. Then he found out he already had enough credits to graduate this year.
Evangel Christian (Shreveport, La.) quarterback John David Booty went the same route in 2003 to enter the University of Southern California.
* Alemany (Mission Hills, Calif.) running back Malcolm Marable has made a commitment to Oregon State University. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound speedster ran for 1,655 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior.
* Grand Blanc (Mich.) wide receiver Tony Jones has decided to attend Northwestern University. The 5-foot-11, 171-pounder, who averaged 15.4 yards per catch as a junior, has made 115 career catches, just 31 short of the school record. He also carries a 3.7 GPA.
* Texas Tech has received a commitment from Clinton (Okla.) running back Delans Griffin. As a junior, the 5-foot-9, 176-pounder ran for 1,962 yards and 33 touchdowns, while also making 12 catches for 112 yards and three touchdowns.
* One of the top senior wrestlers in the USA, Nick Moore of Iowa City (Iowa), has made a commitment to the University of Iowa. The three-time state champion from West High has a career record of 131-1. As a junior he posted a 49-0 record while winning the 152-pound state title.
Basketball Notes
Ohio superstar Jared Sullinger had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead USA to an 85-83 victory over Canada in the championship game of the Adidas Nations Basketball Tournament in Dallas, Texas. Josh Smith added 11 points.
Cory Joseph (Findlay Prep, Henderson, Nev.) paced the losers with 33 points.
* New York blogger Adam Zagoria reports that Jeremy Tyler is on the verge of signing a professional basketball contract with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League. The 6-foot-11 standout is passing up his senior year at San Diego High.
