Spring notebook: Downey softball off to record start

The Downey High softball team’s best start in more than 20 years started seven months ago.

The Knights’ eight seniors decided they wanted more from their final high school season.

They missed nearly their entire freshman seasons because of the COVID-19 pandemic and won one game as sophomores and five games as juniors.

Entering their senior year, their goal was to make the playoffs. Even though they did not talk about their goals for the season during the summer, each senior had the same gut feeling that this year’s team could be the one to do it.

They met with coach Renee Downey during their seventh period athletics class.

“All we kept saying is that it’s our year, this is our year,” said senior catcher Maddy Flores. “We want to make it farther than we ever have before, we want to win more games than we ever have before. It was a passionate conversation because we all had the same mind without even talking before. Everyone was saying the same thing.”

The Knights started the season with wins over Johansen, Davis and Sierra in the program’s first 3-0 start since 2000. They have five total wins, as many as they earned last season and have already won three league games, beating Turlock, Pitman and Enochs, matching last season’s CCAL wins total. The Knights’ six overall wins are already as many as 2022 and 2023 combined.

Downey, a four-year varsity softball player and Beyer High graduate, is in her third season at the helm of the Knights program and speaks highly of the group of eight leading the charge.

“They’re literally the heart and soul of this,” Downey said. “They’re my first class that I’ve had all the way through, and they want it.

“They take control out here. I feel like I don’t even coach when we’re at the games. They do everything.”

Flores, Alyssa Womack, Yesenia Sandoval, Angelique Trevino, Lillian Parry, Avery Sanchez, are all three- and four-year starters who have been part of the turnaround. They have also welcomed a new face in sophomore pitcher Selina Luiz who is currently 15th in the Sac-Joaquin Section in strikeouts. She is responsible for all five of Downey’s wins with a 5-2 record in 10 appearances.

“This is all I ever wanted,” Flores said. “To win more and do more and just really feel like a team, it’s amazing because you have a goal and you really want it and when it’s actually happening, it’s an amazing feeling.”

Oakdale baseball from “no attention” to section’s best

On the Oakdale baseball team, there’s no time for “outside noise”. There’s only room for buying into the approach of winning each individual inning, embracing team camaraderie and chasing after league and section titles.

“We tell them to stay with us,” Mustangs coach Joey Machado said after the team secured a VOL series win over Central Catholic Wednesday to move to 10-1 overall. “We started early January, and there was no attention towards us, it was just our guys. We’re focusing on 19 strong, staying together, and just continuing to buy into the process.”

The Mustangs won their first eight games to start the season and worked their way up to the top spot in MaxPreps’ section rankings earlier this season. As of Friday according to MaxPreps, Oakdale is No. 2 behind St. Mary’s and is No. 25 in California.

Machado is a 2010 Oakdale graduate who helped lead the team to a 24-8 overall record, a VOL title and a Division IV section title as a catcher. The 10-1 start is the best in his time as head coach.

“I’m just trying to just pass the baton and just keep going to keep things moving the right direction,” he said.

The Mustangs secured a big series win over Central Catholic, the defending back-to-back VOL champions. They are led by star sophomore Landon Schutte who is among the nation’s best pitchers with a 0.00 ERA, is second in the section in home runs (2) and third in RBI (17). Carlo Antinetti is 10th in the section in runs (15) and Griffin Costa and Eric Velazquez are playing beyond their years, leading the team in batting average as sophomores.

Hughson hires new boys hoops coach

R.J. Henderson could not stay away from coaching for long as just two seasons after leading Denair High to a section title and stepping down from the head job, he will return to the varsity sidelines with Hughson High.

“R.J. Henderson, who transformed Denair from a two-win team when he took over to a Sac-Joaquin Section champion before he left, has been named the new boys basketball coach at Hughson High School,” the Hughson Unified School District said in a release on its website. “Henderson replaces Justin Riggs, who stepped down in February after three seasons as the Huskies’ coach.”

Henderson led the Denair boys program for 10 seasons and in his final three, led the Coyotes to a 32-2 Southern League record and a 2022 section title, the first in school history.

Hughson welcomes Henderson in a time when the Trans Valley League is getting much more competitive as Sonora and Orestimba enter the league next season. This season, he is a varsity assistant coach at Central Catholic and was the junior varsity head coach.

“R.J. is a great basketball coach who makes a difference in the lives of students,” Hughson Principal Loren Lighthall said. “He has a long history of success in a difficult place to win and we’re confident he will be successful at HHS. We’re over the moon to get him at Hughson.”

Hughson finished 10-15 overall and 3-9 in TVL play, good for fifth in the league. Next season, Henderson and the Huskies will look to secure the program’s first postseason berth since 2017-18. Two of Hughson’s top three scorers from this past season will graduate.

Hughson’s McDaniel makes college decision

Hughson’s star quarterback made his college decision as Robert McDaniel announced his commitment to Cal Berkeley on March 14. “Grateful to say I have COMMITTED to Cal!” McDaniel said in a post on Twitter/X. McDaniel, a 2023 All-District honoree, is just a junior but is a three-year varsity starter and a back-to-back Sac-Joaquin Section Champion, a Northern California regional champion and a state champion. He was one of the West Coasts most highly sought after quarterback recruits with 16 offers from the likes of Indiana, Oregon State, San Diego State and San Jose State, according to 24/7Sports.