Fresh off crowning its baseball and softball champions last week, the MCAL has released its players of the year and all-league teams for all spring sports.
Redwood leadoff hitter Theo Trono was named baseball player of the year, while San Marin’s Sean McGrath was named the league’s best pitcher. In softball, Archie Williams’ leadoff hitter Paige Murphy was the pick for player of the year, while San Rafael’s Thomara Drummer was the pick for pitcher of the year.
In addition, athletes from men’s golf, lacrosse, swimming, track and field, men’s volleyball and men’s tennis were selected. The full list of honorees can be found at mcalsports.org and will be published next month when the IJ selects its Athletes of the Year.
Baseball
Trono ranked second in the league among teams whose statistics were submitted to MaxPreps.com in batting average (.453) and was the league leader in runs scored (34) for the regular-season and postseason champions.
McGrath posted a 1.64 earned run average in 72.2 innings of work and was second in the league in strikeouts (83) to lead San Marin to runner-up finishes in the regular season and postseason.
Redwood and San Marin accounted for more than half of the first-team selections with four Giants (Rex Solle twice as an infielder and pitcher, plus Jack Moseley and Sam Gersch) and three Mustangs (Anthony Scheppler, Cole Chamberlain and McGrath) .
Other first-team selections were Archie Williams’ Jack Evans, as well as the Rookie duo of JP Harmon and Griffin Vorhaus.
Softball
Murphy was a .500 hitter while batting leadoffs for the Peregrine Falcons, while also doubling as the team’s ace inside the circle, while Archie Williams made a strong effort to win the league before finishing third behind San Rafael and Redwood.
As a pitcher, Murphy ranked third with a 1.32 ERA in 122 innings of work and was second in strikeouts with 170.
The only player ahead of Murphy in both ERA and strikeouts was Drummer, whose 0.48 ERA and 274 strikeouts led the league. Drummer also threw four no-hitters this season, including a perfect game.
The drummer was joined on the first team by teammates Sophia Everett and Angel Amesa, who led the way as the Bulldogs won their first regular season title since 2004.
San Marin (Lauren Fong and Taylor Testa) and Marin Catholic (Morgan Carlson and Selena Peña) placed two players in the starting lineup. The other three selections were Ava Lee of Tam, Eleanor Johnson of Terra Linda and Gia Meyers of Redwood.
Golf for boys
Tam went undefeated during the regular season and won the MCAL championship thanks in large part to player of the year Ben Friedman, who earned league championship medalist honors. Friedman formed a formidable 1-2 strike with Hayden Thill, who was also named in the starting lineup.
Other selections were Theo Anderson of Marin Catholic, Sam Sumski and Jack Mount of Redwood, Aria Saluja of Branson and Sean Madden of Terra Linda.
Boys lacrosse
Marin Catholic won every available title this season – MCAL regular season, MCAL postseason and North Coast Section – led by player of the year Colin Puckett. MC dominated the first team selections with six players (Tate Sedlachek, Jake Holmes, Mack Barry, Matt Bailey, Jack Herold and Jack Irving).
Redwood, which finished second to MC in the regular season and MCAL postseason tournament, placed five players on the first team with Will Parsons, Jake Vasquez, Aidan Hackett, Edward Lin and Jackson Lesher. The only selection from any other team was Tam’s Oskar Armor.
Women’s lacrosse
Redwood won the MCAL regular season and postseason titles, thanks in part to a strong season from player of the year Riley Peterson. Two other Giants made the starting lineup with Maya Mihara and Lily Pirsch.
In all, four other teams were represented on the first team with Marin Catholic (Marlie Nees, Audrey Carr, Sydney Hubbard and Katherine Villeda), Tam (Carson Cann, Rowie Scobie and Mia Yolles), San Marin (Alex Chamberlain and Cate Contreras), in addition to Branson (Audrey Spaly).
Swimming
Terra Linda’s Ben Butler won male swimmer of the year after winning two events and being on two winning relay teams, while TL won its first MCAL title since 2013. Redwood’s Charlie Seraphine was named male diver of the year.
On the women’s side, Redwood took top honors, with Kate Deforrest being named best swimmer and Lera Bondarenko best diver. Deforrest was a double winner for the Giants, who beat Tam to win the MCAL title.
Men’s sneakers
Redwood freshman Julian Zhang has not missed a game in the MCAL this season and as such was selected as the league’s player of the year. Zhang, along with starter Jackson Sichel, helped lead Redwood to an undefeated regular season in addition to the team title.
Second-place Branson placed Ishwar Jayaraman and Chase Hoeveler on the first team. Hoeveler went on to win the MCAL singles tournament after entering as the third seed. Other single selections were Tam’s Tyler Byrne, TL’s Bhuvan Medidi and MC’s Jack Millar.
The doubles players were Oliver Goldman and Tommie Higgins of Branson, Cal Fazal and Chris Lee of Redwood, Tug Ricordel of Redwood and Mac Abele of Marin Catholic.
Athletics
Redwood captured three of the four honors, with William Ghalam and Antonio Bayon being named the male track and field athletes, respectively, in addition to pole vaulter Trinity Chancellor being named the female track and field athlete of the season.
Ghalam won the 200 and 400 at the MCAL and NCS Redwood Empire meets. Bayon won three events at the MCALs and finished second in a fourth.
San Marin sprinter Sicily Grasso was named female track and field athlete of the season after winning the 100 and 200 meters at the league meet.
Men’s volleyball
Archie Williams’ Zach Wulff was named player of the year, helping lead the Peregrine Falcons to a second-place finish this season. Ellis Chamberlin was also part of Archie Williams’ starting lineup.
Regular season and postseason champion Redwood placed Beckett Shewey in the starting lineup. The other selections were Tam’s Yaseen Ashraf and David Bloom, Branson’s Mason Stein and TL’s Camden Franjieh.
