Lions winning with pride

The Vanguard University softball team continues to find the spotlight this season, though coach Beth Renkoski’s Lions are nothing if not an ensemble cast.

Vanguard (46-13) plays host to a four-team, double-elimination opening-round tournament that is the first step in the NAIA postseason in which Vanguard last participated in 2007.

The Lions, the No. 2 seed, will meet No. 3-seeded Oregon Tech (35-14) in the opening game on Monday at noon. It’s the two teams’ second meeting this season, as Oregon Tech earned a 6-3 win in a tournament on Feb. 16.

Marian of Indiana (44-4) is the No. 1 seed in the Costa Mesa bracket that also includes Avila of Missouri (36-22).

The Lions placed six players on the All-GSAC squad, but atypical of a conference champion, none received MVP honors. Renkoski, in her 21^st season, was named Coach of the Year after guiding the team to its first conference crown since 1999.

Vanguard must win the opening-round tournament to advance to the World Series, in which it competed in 2007, 1999, 1998 and 1996.

But if it does so, it will likely be on the heels of cumulative contributions that have become commonplace.

Vanguard is hitting .323 as a team, while holding opponents to a .232 mark. The one-two pitching punch of juniors Vanessa Dwyer (18-6 with a 2.00 ERA in 157 1/3 innings) and Courtney Thornhill (16-5, 1.66 in 140 2/3 innings) have both recorded seven shutouts on their way to all-conference honors.

Senior left fielder Taylor Wilson and junior shortstop Kaitlin Estes are repeat All-GSAC performers, while junior center fielder Payton Ross and sophomore catcher Sam Shaffer also earned all-conference recognition this season.

Wilson is batting .379 with 21 RBIs, 46 runs, 16 stolen bases and a .486 on-base percentage.

Estes is batting .357 with two home runs, 31 RBIs and has not been thrown out in 12 stolen-base attempts.

Ross is hitting .382 with 39 RBIs and 17 steals, while Shaffer has a team-best 40 RBIs to go with a .354 batting average.

The first-round tournament continues on Tuesday and Wednesday. The winner advances to the NAIA World Series, May 26 through June 1 in Clermont, Fla.

Judge of talent

Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli has followed with interest the strong start put together by New York Yankees rookie outfielder Aaron Judge.

The 6 feet 8, 282-pound Judge, 25, entered Thursday with 13 home runs and 28 RBIs, hitting .317 with a 1.173 OPS. Altobelli, who coached Judge in the Cape Cod League in 2012 with the Brewster Whitecaps, said he is not among those surprised.

“You knew; you just knew,” Altobelli said. “His size and how the ball jumped off his bat and how he could run for a big guy ... He was just as humble as can be, just a super nice kid.

“When he hit his first big-league home run (in 2016), I texted him to congratulate him,” said Altobelli, who spoke with a reporter from Sports Illustrated this week for an upcoming story on Judge. “He responded: ‘Coach, you’re the one who told me to swing the bat three times hard and see what happens.’

“I know I didn’t have an impact on his career by any means, but it was good that he remembered me saying that. It’s neat to see his rise.”

Lions’ season ended

Vanguard baseball, which entered the final weekend of the regular season in first place and within two wins of the program’s first GSAC regular-season title, was denied an at-large bid into the NAIA Tournament.

The Lions (32-23) lost five of its final seven games.

The announcement of at-large bids on Thursday ended the career of senior outfielder Brandon Sandoval. Sandoval, who is likely to be drafted in June, finished his final collegiate season hitting .403 with 81 hits, eight home runs, 49 RBIs and 33 stolen bases in 37 attempts. His OPS was 1.100.

Hughes goes out on top

Costa Mesa resident Sara Hughes earned all-tournament honors while helping top-seeded USC win the NCAA beach volleyball title last weekend.

Hughes and fellow senior Kelly Claes earned a 19-21, 21-13, 15-10 victory in the No. 1 spot to help USC (38-1) defeat Pepperdine 3-2 in the final in Alabama.

It was USC’s third straight national title.

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Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5