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Baseball starts; Albrecht takes Dragon golf reins; track sets G&W meet

Open field

While Sonoma Valley High School’s wrestling and girls’ varsity basketball teams begin postseason play, Sonoma’s 2013 spring sports preseason is underway with practice sessions in six sports – boys’ baseball, girls’ softball, boys’ tennis and golf, boys’ and girls’ track and field, and boys’ and girls’ swimming.

Except for boys’ tennis and golf, all the Dragon spring squads have junior varsity programs, with baseball – as always – fielding a freshman team.

Speaking of baseball, Sonoma’s varsity boys’ team enters the 2013 campaign as defending Sonoma County League champions, as well as having sported the best 2012 regular-season record at 21-5 in North Coast Section Division-3.

Under the direction of longtime head coach Don Lyons – the 2012 SCL coach of the year, as well as the All-Empire coach of the year – the varsity Dragons look to again have a strong team built around a core of talented all-leaguers, who will lead a new crop promising young players.

On Saturday in Petaluma, the Sonoma varsity boys scrimmaged former longtime rival Casa Grande, now a member of the North Bay League, and the Dragons played well, especially after just one week of practice, and looked on course to have another successful season.

The varsity baseball Dragons will scrimmage at Rancho Cotate this Saturday, Feb. 16, before opening their season by hosting longtime nonleague rival and perennial NCS Division-3 power, San Marin, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23, at Arnold Field.

Also, with the retirement of longtime junior varsity baseball coach Fred Fegan, the jayvee Dragons are now directed by Richard Blanchard, with 2009 Sonoma graduate and former player, Blake Boehlke, taking over for Blanchard as the head freshman baseball coach.

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There’s also a coaching change in the Sonoma boys’ golf, with 2007 SVHS graduate and former all-leaguer in football and golf, Ian Albrecht – who also played college football at Cal while keeping his golfing game sharp – taking over the Dragon boys’ links program from retired longtime head coach Tom Hickerson.

Hickerson’s three-decade reign coaching the Dragons produced numerous team and individual titles, with a multitude of standout boy and girl golfers – he also was Sonoma’s girls’ golf coach – including Albrecht, who takes over one of most established and successful prep golf programs in the North Bay.

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Sonoma’s track and field teams are again under the direction of head coach Linda Patterson and will hold their annual season-opening intra-squad Green and White Relays and Alumni Meet starting at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Schantz Track. Again, Sonoma alumni are invited to participate in the event, and anyone interested can contact Patterson at SVHS (933-4010) or email sonomatrack@comcast.net.

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More information on Sonoma’s other three spring sports will appear in future issues.

Ciao!