NVC’s Woody moves on to Cal Maritime

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Memorial Day in the Napa Valley:

Napa Valley College point guard Alayna Woody, who averaged seven points and four assists per game this past year, has signed a national letter-of-intent to play women’s basketball at Cal State Maritime in Vallejo. The Keelhaulers play in the NAIA-California Pacific Conference, which includes Pacific Union College of Angwin.

Woody, a St. Patrick/St. Vincent-Vallejo graduate, will join another former NVC point guard, Cherish Bustos, at Maritime.

“We are very proud of Alayna’s growth here at NVC,” said Storm coach Chris Kvidahl. “She has brought a level of toughness to our program. We are going to miss her, but she will be a very good athlete for Maritime.”

———

Corinne Schafle, a Vintage High School sophomore and member of Napa Valley Water Polo, was called up to play for a combined Central California/Pacific Southwest Zone team in the National Zone Championships. It was scheduled for this past weekend in Davis.

Most of the zone junior team members are seniors, with a few juniors, like her teammate, Katrina Husted of Vintage.

Schafle plays as a defender/attacker.

Schafle was an integral part of Vintage’s success last year, as she had 40 assists, 65 goals, 74 steals, 13 caused kickouts, 10 field blocks of shots on goal, a plus-59 steals to turnover ratio, and touched 105 (40 percent) of her team’s record-setting 262 goals.

———

The Sonoma State men’s golf team came from nine strokes back in the final round to win the 2009 NCAA Division II National Championship on Friday at Loomis Trail Golf Course in Blaine, Wash. It is the third national title in the history of the school and the first for the men’s golf program.

Founded in 2004, the Sonoma State men’s golf team is in just its sixth season.

Sonoma State previously captured national championships in women’s soccer (1990) and men’s soccer (2002).

———

Third baseman Brett Wallace was 3-for-4 with a home run in the Memphis Redbirds’ 7-6 Pacific Coast League loss last week to Tacoma.

For Wallace, a Justin-Siena graduate, it was his first homer in Triple-A baseball. He started out the 2009 season with the Double-A Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals.

He was the St. Louis Cardinals’ top pick in the 2008 major league draft and was a two-time Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year for Arizona State.

———

Diablo Valley College-Pleasant Hill, coached by Vintage graduate Mike Neu, advanced to the semifinals of the California Community College Athletic Association State Baseball Championships with a 3-2 win Saturday over Santa Ana at Fresno City College.

Neu, a former relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, has DVC 36-15 on the year.

———

Jesuit-Carmichael and St. Mary’s-Stockton will meet in a best-of-three series starting May 29 at Sacramento City College to determine the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I baseball champion. The first game starts at 7 p.m. Game 2 is May 30 at noon, with a third game, if necessary to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2.

Jesuit won the North title, beating Fairfield in the finals last week, 4-3, at American River College-Sacramento.

After losing to Lincoln-Stockton 2-1 in the first game, St. Mary’s came back to win the South title, 7-0 over the Trojans at University of the Pacific’s Klein Family Field.

———

There are some good things about American River College-Sacramento as a site for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I North baseball playoffs: nice field, plenty of seating, big parking lot, concession stand and restrooms close by.

But ARC and the SJS need to do something about the field lighting. In the Napa-Elk Grove game that I covered last week, outfielders had a hard time picking up the ball in the evening sky. That shouldn’t be the case, not when teams put so much time and energy into a season to get this far, and every play is so important.

Improvements to the scoreboard also need to be made.

———

Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove shut out Sheldon-Sacramento in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship game last week, 1-0, at the Sacramento Softball Complex.

———

St. Helena High’s Andrew Thompson, Elliot Carson and Kate Wignall were recently honored by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Thompson was named as an All-Empire Athlete.

Carson and Wignall were recognized as All-Empire Scholar Athletes.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009