Alyson Griffith, BACS Softball
Photo by Bradley Collier
THE SPRING SEASON AT BAY AREA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL IS A BUSY ONE AS TENNIS, GOLF, TRACK AND FIELD, SOF TBALL AND BASEBALL ALL WRAP UP THE 2021-22 YEAR ON THE SPORTS SCENE. MEET SOME OF THE BIG-NAME BRONCS FROM THOSE TEAMS!
Tennis
[Standing]: Ethan Gould, Avery Collins, Milla Martinez, MJ Sotirelis, Noah Box, Kaytlin Gadd and Olivia Chhlang; [Squatting]: William Fincher and Calvin Nguyen
The 2022 tennis season has come to a close for Bay Area Christian School, which sent a number of players to the TAPPS 4A State Tennis Tournament.
Madeline Sotirelis advanced in girls singles and Noah Box played in the boys singles. In the doubles competition, Olivia Chhlang and Claire Murphy made it in girls doubles and Jude Hebert and C. Bergvall reached the tournament in boys doubles
Golf
[Standing]: Ethan Gould, Avery Collins, Milla Martinez, MJ Sotirelis, Noah Box, Kaytlin Gadd and Olivia Chhlang; [Squatting]: William Fincher and Calvin Nguyen
The 2022 golf season was a solid one on the links for Bay Area Christian School.
At the District golf meet in April, the Broncos’ boys and girls golf squads each finished third overall as a team. Both teams qualified to move on to the Regional Tournament. Individually, Emma Iles finished as the District Champion and was in line for another all-state season.
Track & Field
Grace Jermstad, Treyton Showen, Caroline Bonnecaze, Andrew Boyd, Annelise Shaw, Micah Collins, Skylar Wilson, Wesley Barnes, Sam Stanley and John Beltre
The track season for Bay Area Christian was one that saw a lot of personal bests across the board.
At the TAPPS South Regional Meet in April, plenty of Broncos made noise advancing to the 2022 TAPPS State Track & Field Meet. The field was led by senior pole vaulter Micah Collins, who cleared a personal-best 15 feet to win the Regional Championship and advance to State, where he finished second a year ago.
Other top finishers for the Broncs at the Regional Championships included Trey Showen (3rd in the 800-meter run, 3rd in 1600-meter run, 4th in 3200-meter run), Sam Stanley (3rd in 100-meter hurdles), Caroline Bonnecaze (3rd in the 1600-meter run) and Andrew Boyd (4th in high jump). In the relays, BACS 4x200-meter girls relay team qualified for state with a time of 1:53.72.
“It’s good, we’re young,” BACS track & field coach Bret Sewell said. “It was a good year. I’m proud of this group right here. Especially for Micah, who had a difficult year last year.”
Throughout the season there were other top performers.
Sophomore Grace Jermstad had some solid performances in the high jump, clearing a personal best of 4-feet-10-inches in April. Bonnecaze also did the long jump as well and reached 14-feet-7.5-inches. Younger sister Lauren has arrived at BACS and excelled in the 100- and 200-meter dashes as a freshman with personal bests of 13.10 (100-meter) and 27.94 (200-meter). Bonnecaze finished fifth in the 100-meter dash in the Regional Championship.
The boys team was well balanced.
In the field events, Kade Sink found success in the shot put, reaching 41-feet1-inch as a personal best in April. On the oval, Scott Farine stood out in the 200-meter dash, a personalbest of 23.38 in April as a freshman.
Softball
Annelise Shaw, Emma Iles, Amanda Pollock, Gracie Rambin and Calley Bennett
As the Broncos entered this season, they were eyeing another run back to the TAPPS Final Four at year’s end.
Led by Schreiner University-signee Amanda Pollock (p), Calley Bennett (3B), Emma Iles (C, P, 3B), Gracie Rambin (SS) and Annelise Shaw (CF), the Broncos were primed for a big season. Other names to take note of from this past season were Allie Atwell, Alyson Griffith and Halle Hudgins.
Some of the highlights from the year included Pollock throwing a no-hitter against Westbrook in April, which capped a perfect district mark for Bay Area Christian School. Pollock at the end of district play had 10 wins and 77 strikeouts for the season.
Other highlight wins this season included defeating John Cooper School 8-4 and Alpha Omega 14-2.
Baseball
[Back Row]: Jordan Medellin, Lane Escamilla, Ethan Mann and Adam Atwell; [Front Row]: Michael Tweed and Grayson Thallman
As the Bay Area Christian School Broncos headed into the 2022 season, the target was firmly on the backs of the defending TAPPS Division III State Champions.
The Broncos, which had 10 seniors on the roster this spring, opened the season with a sweep of Danbury, Beaumont United, Brazosport and Hitchcock High at the Hitchcock Tournament in February. In March, BACS backed that performance going 3-1 in the Father Wilson Tournament, capping it with a 6-4 win over John Cooper, and going 3-1 in the Franklin Tournament.
On April 1, the Broncos defeated Westbury Christian 19-4, which gave Broncos coach Kyle Kennedy career win No. 200.
The Broncos went on to cap a perfect district mark in April punch their ticket to the playoffs as the No. 1 seed from their district.
The 2022 squad was anchored by Baylor signee Jordan Medellin, who crushed the ball at the plate and was lights out on the bump all in the same night. Jeremy Goza and Lane Escamilla also came up big on the mound as well. Escamilla could also swing the stick, including going 3 for 3 with a home run, triple and six RBIs against Clear Brook, as did Michael Tweed, Reese Brewer, Adam Atwell and Grayson Thallman, Ethan Mann and Josh Flory.
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Team of the Week: Lake Creek Softball presented by Allegiance Bank
Team of the Week: Lake Creek Softball presented by Allegiance Bank
HOUSTON – In 2021, Lake Creek suffered just two losses in a 38-2 campaign.
They came against Barbers Hill on May 26 and 27. It was the Region III-5A Championship series. One step from advancing to the UIL State Softball Tournament.
The pair of losses – 3-0 in Game 1 and 6-5 in eight innings in Game 2 – stuck with Lake Creek through the entirety of the offseason.
“They’ve had those two games in the back of their head all year long,” Lake Creek coach Michelle Rochinski said. “They knew they could do it.”
It fueled the team motto for the 2022 season of #UnfinishedBusiness.
As Maddie McKee slapped down the tag to complete a game-ending double play to secure a 7-2 Game 2 victory over Santa Fe on Thursday night it moved Lake Creek to 39-0 overall and punched their ticket to the UIL State Tournament.
“It was very motivational to lose last year and come into this round better than we came in last year into Round 5,” McKee said.
Coming into the 2022 season, Lake Creek was the heavy favorite in the City of Houston to make a run like this.
The Lions have collegiate talent up and down the roster led by Florida-commit Ava Brown, LSU-commit McKee, UTSA-commit Kalee Rochinski, Syracuse-commit Madelyn Lopez and Texas Lutheran-signee Caelee Clark.
Sometimes a lot of the attention will shine on Brown, who is now 28-0 in the circle with more than 312 strikeouts on the year. Or on McKee, who leads the team with 47 RBIs followed by Lopez’s 45 and Brown’s 40.
But being 39-0 entering the UIL State Tournament next week comes down to a lot more.
On Thursday, it included a diving catch in left field by Piper White, who then got up and threw it to Lopez at third for an inning-ending double play in the fifth, ending a Santa Fe threat and preserving a 5-2 lead. It was the courtesy runners who come in and make heads up decisions on the basepaths. Finally, it was a perfectly executed back and forth run down to close out the game in the seventh.
This was a team effort.
“This team they play for each other,” Rochinski said. “We’re not a one or two-man show. It’s a full team and it took every single one of us. From everybody on the bench, to the starters to the pinch runners. It took them all.”
Region III-5A Championship - Game 2 (Lake Creek leads series 1-0) @LakeCreek_SB - 5
Santa Fe - 2
Top 6th
Wow!! A huge play by Piper White in LF! Diving catch and throw to third for inning ending DP!! @avajbrownn @kalee_rochinski @LopezMadelynn @KPRC2RandyMc @TXPrepSoftball pic.twitter.com/BrBhT6b8Pv
— VYPE Houston (@vypehouston) May 27, 2022
Lake Creek junior Ava Brown added: “Every win we’ve had has been a team win. We’ve all worked so well together. I think just being able to know that we’re playing for each other and moving on with each other feels so much better.”
Despite all the hype around Lake Creek – being No. 2 in the country by MaxPreps and No. 1 in Texas, being the USA TODAY Sports/NFCA High School Super 25 No. 1 team in the country for a ninth-straight week – the Lions have just been playing this one game at a time.
“We try to block it out,” McKee said with a smile. “But it comes at us sometimes. You just have to stop looking at it and keep your head down and just keep winning.”
Rochinski added: “We’ve tried to not pay too much attention to it. They know they’ve had a target on their back all year long. I would say they’ve done a pretty good job of keeping it together.”
“We’re going to the Ship”: @LakeCreek_SB Junior @avajbrownn breaking out the celebratory dance moves as Lake Creek is Austin bound!! @KPRC2RandyMc @mmaddiemmckee @kalee_rochinski @coachrochinski @ClarkCaelee @KPRC2 @LakeCreekHS @TXPrepSoftball @UIL_AD @LopezMadelynn pic.twitter.com/qNYBdohUWa
— VYPE Houston (@vypehouston) May 27, 2022
Throughout the playoffs, Rochinski and staff have talked with their team about winning “two games a week”.
Lake Creek did that against Magnolia (11-0, 8-5), Waller (5-3, 7-3), Friendswood (8-0, 10-0) and now Santa Fe (5-0, 7-2) to advance to the UIL State Softball Tournament.
Now, it is two more games – the Class 5A State Semifinal and State Championship – they will need to win next week to complete the perfect season at 41-0 and bring home the program’s first-ever State Championship.
“It’s very exciting, I’m very excited to go there,” McKee said. “I know we’ve got it in us. We’ve been waiting for this for three years.”
Rochinski added: “Our motto all season has been unfinished business and they’ve done it. We’re not done yet.”
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