Humboldt High’s undefeated romp through the Tri-Valley League netted postseason honors for four Cubs players.
Three — Caleb Vanatta, Hunter Murrow and Grayson Pearish — received all-league TVL recognition. Jacob Carpenter, meanwhile, received honorable mention.
Also being honored was Yates Center High’s Justin Rossillon, who earned all-league recognition.
The Cubs (20-1) went undefeated in the regular season before losing to Leon-Bluestem in the Class 3A regional playoffs.
Vanatta’s team-high .581 batting average was only one of the key indicators of just how remarkable his season was.
Vanatta also smacked a team-high 34 RBIs in 21 games, was successful on 20 of 21 stolen base attempts and batted a whopping .639 with runners in scoring position. He also scored 35 runs, led Humboldt with 11 doubles and three triples and racked up an eye-popping 1.517 OPS.
He wasn’t alone in racking up gaudy statistics.
Murrow batted .463 with a team-high 37 runs, while driving in 32. He led the Cubs in stolen bases with 27 (in 27 attempts). He batted .556 with runners in scoring position, while smacking six doubles and a triple.
Murrow also threw four nearly perfect innings from the mound. He allowed only one base runner — a hit batter — while striking out three.
Pearish was pegged as Humboldt’s pitching ace, and lived up to the billing. He compiled a 0.72 ERA in 39 innings (only four eared runs), and struck out 54 while walking only 10. He limited opposing batters to a .194 average.
Pearish also was potent with the bat, hitting at a robust .375 with 24 RBIs and 16 runs. He had four doubles and a triple. He batted .394 with runners in scoring position.
Carpenter hit at a .484 clip with 26 RBIs and 36 runs. He earned a team-high 18 walks, while stealing 25 bases in 26 attempts. He hit .571 with runners in scoring position.
ROSSILLON was a key performer for Yates Center, which upped its win total from one in 2013 to 11 this spring.
He did so by producing video-game style stats.
He batted .642 (34 of 53) with a .753 on-base percentage and a .962 slugging percentage, or an other-wordly 1.716 OPS.
Rossillon had hits in 20 of the Wildcats’ 21 games, ending the season with a 13-game hitting streak. Rossillon drove in 25 runs and scored 34. He also had 20 walks.
