Daniel Descalso, St. Louis Cardinals: The former St. Francis star hit his first career home run Thursday, a go-ahead, three-run shot in the seventh inning to lead a 7-5 victory over the Florida Marlins. The rookie infielder had made 13 starts through Monday and was hitting .229 with 10 RBIs and eight runs. After hitting .276 with 27 homers and 31 stolen bases in parts of four seasons in the minors, Descalso was called up to the major leagues for 11 games last season. He has been a valuable backup infielder for the Cardinals and has only two errors in 31 career games while shuffling among second base, third base and shortstop. Descalso was selected in the third round of the 2007 draft after hitting .397 in three years at UC Davis. He was the 2004 West Catholic Athletic League MVP at St. Francis and also was a first-team all-league selection in football.
Craig Hertler, San Jose State baseball: Hertler is hitting .320 and leads all San Jose State regulars with a .448 on-base percentage. He also is tied for the team lead with 33 runs and has a homer and 18 RBIs. The senior left fielder has a team-high 12 stolen bases in 15 attempts. Hertler was a three-sport standout at Branham, making all-league teams in baseball, football and soccer. He was the Santa Teresa Division MVP as a senior after hitting .505 with four homers and 23 RBIs.
Matt Horton and Jason Shepardson, Cabrillo baseball: The former Los Gatos standouts helped Cabrillo reach the postseason for the first time in more than a decade. Horton, the starting shortstop, was an All-Coast Conference selection after hitting .310 with 21 runs and 16 RBIs. Shepardson helped clinch the playoff spot with the winning RBI in Cabrillo’s final conference game.
Robyn Araujo, Notre Dame de Namur softball: The Westmont alum was named to the All-Pacific West first team after leading the conference in home runs (15), on-base percentage (.510), hits (73) and total bases (127). Araujo, a junior, was also second in batting average (.432) and RBIs (51). Araujo had the best statistical season in program history and was the first Notre Dame de Namur player to achieve first-team honors.
Hayley Tharp, Cal State Monterey Bay cross-country: The junior was named CSUMB Female Scholar Athlete of the Year because of a 3.97 GPA as a kinesiology major. Tharp was the Otters’ top finisher in all six races last fall and was the first CSUMB runner to be named California Collegiate Athletic Association runner of the week. Tharp was a four-time Central Coast Section qualifier at Willow Glen.
