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Sonoma lands three All-Empire selections in baseball, softball

Graduated Alton, returning Rocha, Hernandez earn spring honors

 

With their stellar diamond efforts during the recent 2011 spring season, three Sonoma Valley High School baseball and softball players received All-Empire honors by The Press Democrat last week.

In baseball, recently graduated senior Sam Alton was a repeat All-Empire choice, with the right-handed pitching ace earning second-team honors in the wake of his impressive Sonoma County League first-team all-league campaign in which he compiled a 5-1 record, with an eye-opening 0.85 ERA, 36 strikeouts and just 11 walks.

Joining Alton as an All-Empire choice was in-coming senior Michael Hernandez, who received honorable mention as a pitcher after a sparkling junior season in which the right-hander was an SCL second-team all-leaguer for the Dragons on the mound as both a starter and reliever.

Besides their solid efforts in the regular season, both Alton and Hernandez turned in strong mound performances for the Dragons in the postseason.

Alton struck out 10 en route to posting a win over Eureka in the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs opener, with Hernandez pitching a shutout in an NCS quarterfinal victory over Novato.

 

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In softball, incoming sophomore Lindsey Rocha backed up her impressive 2011 SCL all-league freshman season for the young Lady Dragons with her second-team All-Empire selection as both a solid catcher and outfielder, and as a productive hitter.

After a roller-coaster regular season, Rocha was one of the keys for Sonoma making the postseason, where the Lady Dragons dropped their NCS Division-3 playoffs opener to Moreau Catholic.