Prep softball rankings: Sheldon, Elk Grove and Del Oro crowd into the top five
With all the focus these days on which high school players have been offered some sort of scholarship to a four-year school, let’s spend a moment with a couple of Sacramento’s top players who, due to the fact that they are sophomores, don’t know which school they will be attending after high school.
Right-hander Rylie Trujillo of Center and lefty Aissa Silva of Elk Grove are pitchers with bright futures, who actually played on the same 14-under travel ball team. They are lighting it up for their high school squads, making the lights flash on college recruiting dashboards across the country. They are both good-hitting pitchers who are hard to hit in the circle.
Sophomores cannot be recruited until Aug. 31. Expect the phones to be ringing off the hook after that. Both could end up pitching for Pac-12 programs in a few years, not that Oklahoma or Alabama won’t try to pry them off the West Coast.
“Aissa and I were friends and teammates that year in travel ball, and she’s really good,” said Trujillo, who will again play for the 18 Gold Lady Magic this summer.
These super sophs are among the best pitchers in the Sacramento area.
In her first outing, all Trujillo did was toss a perfect game. Not a single batter reached first base. In three games, Trujillo has pitched 16 innings without giving up a run. Placer got the only two hits against her so far this year. Her rise ball is as tantalizing as it is un-hittable. Last year she attended a camp at Arizona State where she picked up a curve ball. Mix in a fast ball in the mid-60s and a change up in the low 50s and you have what they call a complete package. She took that to the field for Center her freshman year and didn’t allow an earned run in 27 innings while the Cougars compiled a 7-1 record before COVID-19 hit.
Oh, and she also hits, batting .429 with two home runs for the 3-0 Cougars.
“I’d like to be considered a good-hitting pitcher, like Jolene Henderson (years ago at Sheldon) and Ally Carda (Pleasant Grove) were in high school and college,” said Trujillo. She has a voice that sounds like Miley Cyrus and the look and style of UCLA’s good-hitting pitcher Rachel Garcia, down the the top-knot hairdo. And she just turned 16 last week.
With a GPA near 4.0, Trujillo’s focus is on her Cougar teammates, who are nearly all sophomores. With just three wins on the season, Center will be tested this week against Lincoln and Pleasant Grove.
Aissa Silva of Elk Grove
Silva says pitching is all about leadership, and keeping her teammates up. Batters who face her are usually trying to just keep their balance at the plate.
“I’m always trying to keep my teammates up,” Silva said. “My competition is the batter. I don’t want her to get on base.”
The numbers indicate she’s doing a pretty good job of that for No. 3 Elk Grove. In 65 innings, she has 113 strikeouts and has given up only three extra base hits. Her ERA is a microscopic 0.43 while compiling an 8-1 record for the Thundering Herd. She has been used in several places in the lineup for coach Amanda Buck. She has a home run and two doubles at the plate to go along with a 3.5 GPA in the classroom. Good numbers all the way around.
“She’s a cheerleader for her team and yet even as a sophomore she holds them accountable with her leadership on and off the field,” said Buck. “A lot of major schools are watching her and she has a good shot at the Pac-12 on the path she is on.”
Silva features a rise ball and a curve that breaks into right handed hitters, often handcuffing them and inducing a swing and miss or a popup. She can also pound the ball low in the zone, a deadly combination of spin and location.
Like Trujillo, Silva is more focused on the here and now, with a big game coming up Thursday as No. 2 Sheldon comes across town for the first of two meetings this season. The Delta League offers the toughest competition in the Sacramento area as there are not many easy games.
“Sheldon is a big rival, we’ve had that one circled on our calendar,” said Silva. “They are a great team and one of their coaches is my pitching coach, so I want to show him what I’ve learned!”
Welcome to the Club
The Bee has expanded our Top 20 region to the Fairfield area in baseball and softball to pick up both Vanden programs. Hazyl Gray is well known as a lights-out pitcher in the softball world and she has the Vikings off to an undefeated start. That includes an 11-8 win over SacBee’s No. 2 Sheldon in March. Gray has 56 Ks in 32 innings and a 2.14 ERA. Tai Wilson leads the Vikings with a .542 average and nine steals. Shawnese Hogue-Lacy is hitting .480 and leads the team with 11 RBI. Vanden enters the top 20 at No. 6.
THE BEE’S TOP 20
1. Rocklin (8-0)
2. Sheldon (8-2)
3. Elk Grove (10-2)
4. Roseville (3-3)
5. Del Oro (4-2)
6. Vanden (7-0)
7. St Francis (6-1)
8. Oakmont (4-2)
9. Lincoln (5-5)
10. Pleasant Grove (4-3)
11. Folsom (3-2)
12. Ponderosa (2-2)
13. Vista Del Lago (3-2)
14. Sutter (4-0)
15. Center (3-0)
16. McClatchy (1-0)
17. East Nicholas (1-0)
18. Marysville (3-0)
19. Cordova (4-1)
20. Granite Bay (5-3)
Bubble teams: Bella Vista (3-4), Christian Brothers (1-1), Colfax (3-1), Cosumnes Oaks (4-2), Franklin (3-4), Inderkum (4-1), Liberty Ranch (5-1), Pioneer (1-1), Rodriquez (6-2), Rosemont (6-2), Vacaville (3-5), Yuba City (2-1). - Pete Dufour