The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 162

$w1ievet thee' woe intl a ennei- it (0) 10 IEMMOMOMM Sr 141 '19k' '04 Pe 41 Oglesby Junior pitcher Larry Rinetti talks with River City coach Andy Lo Forte during practice Rinetti was a pleasant surprise for the Raiders until a finger injury sidelined him for the playoffs 7 4i I' I I A a 4140--- 140 likivs 14-) '4-''''' -) i 1k 611K61 4 1 i 4 P' itEI Olberding's the one for UCD coaching job Mark Pynes Neighbors i Rising stars of West Sac Young pitchers take River City further than expected By Tim Oglesby Neighbors worts writer Alittle more than a week into preseason basketball drills last November I was amazed by what I saw on the hardwood surface at Delta High School Boys and girls were performing basic skills as capably as one might expect well-seasoned prep players Mark Olberding the ex-Sacramento Kings power forward was in charge He was patiently leading players through intricate maneuver calmly but firmly reminding them of their assignments and being careful not to shatter the teenagers' fragile egos He didn't overreact to mistakes He made corrections only when necessary He knew when something needed to be said and when it didn't Once he pointed out a problem he forgot who had made the mistake and moved on Practice after the few brief lessons' flowed as if nothing had gone wrong Fun was No 1 in this hard-working environment Then and there 1 knew my prediction about Mark Olberding would come true He would indeed become an excellent coach some day And that day has already arrived Olberding led the Delta girls to a Butte View League title and a 214 overall record in his rookie season He recently resigned the post and is currently considering career options One of those options is to be a college coach first as an assistant and then perhaps as a head coach As of the start of this week the University of California Davis was which finished 23-5-1 The Raiders concluded the 1990 campaign at 15-13-1 overall and in a mild surprise wound up second in the section playoffs after losing 10-3 to Ceres in Friday's finals They did it even though their top pitcher was unavailable because of injury River City had lost the rust game of the double elimination playoffs 7-3 to Ceres but rallied to beat East Union 15- 8 Thursday Pre-tournament favorite Lindhurst meanwhile lost its first two games of the playoffs Juniors Larry Rinetti and Cory Cregar carried the bulk of the pitching load Although capable they were hardly proven commodities at the outset Rinetti who missed the playoffs with a broken finger ended the regular season with a 9-3 record and a respectable 325 earned run average Cregar was less spectacular but effective enough finishing at 3-5 and 303 "When we got a good pitching performance there was a good chance we were going to win" Lo Forte said "That's because we generally hit the ball well and played good defense "The key for our pitchers was control They were able to spot pitches more often and weren't throwing the real fat pitches toward the end of the season" Rinetti had to be constantly reminded to concentrate while on the mound Once he accomplished that he was tough to beat LoForte said "I told Larry that he had to think of every pitch as the most important pitch of the ballgame" the coach said "Early on he was ready to throw the next pitch without a lot of thought about what he wanted that pitch to do He improved on that (concentration) tremendously" Cregar meantime was well-focused See River City Page 15 The swan song season of the River City High School baseball team in the Sierra Foothill League proved to be as upbeat as an Irish jig It very well could have been as forlorn as a funeral hymn But the Raiders danced around the SFL basepaths and into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs It was an unexpected journey "When the season started I hoped we'd hit the ball and score a lot of runs That way we could be competitive" said coach Andy Lo Forte who with his team will move to the Superior California Athletic League next season "The big question mark was our pitching With good pitching we were more successful than I thought we would be" River City finished 10-4 in the SFL good for second place behind Lindhurst See Oglesby Page 15 Optimist Club calls foul on state basketball gala Jennifer Manfredi Rio star is looking forward to state game 10111 -A1400' 7it 4 By Pete LeBlanc eighbors sports writer The decision of three high school basketball players to attend a state all-star game has slam-dunked the Sacramento Optimist Club Placer's Christa Gannon Rio Americanots Jennifer Manfredi and Golden Sierra's Kristy Ryan will play in the first annual California Fabulous 44 State Basketball Classic June 24 at the University of California Irvine The boys and girls all-star games will pit the top prep talent from Southern California against its Northern California counterparts One of the game's organizers Greg Katz said it is the first state boys all-star Katz said "We don't want to upset anyone's apple cart The last thing we wanted was a conflict "We're billing this as a celebration of high school basketball in the state Please tell the people in Sacramento to give us a chance We're here to make a positive contribution" That is little consolation to members of the Sacramento Optimist Club and others in the Sacramento-area basketball community They are unhappy because the state game conflicts with their annual Optimist All-Star game which will be held at Rio June 23 Joe Duarte the Optimist Club's game director is distraught over losing three of the 'area's premier female players "Sure I'm upset but there's not much I can do about it" Duane said "I can certainly understand the kids' decision It's a free trip and they're getting a chance to play with those top level players How much will they play is the only question I have But it's a great trip" The three players weren't the only ones to jump at the chance to play in the all-star games Katz mailed 44 invitations to the top male and female players in the state and all 44 were returned with each player accepting Gannon averaged 171 points and 10 rebounds while leading Placer to the Division III state championship Manfredi established herself as one of tc top three See Basketball Page 15 game of its kind since 1971 and the first ever for girls Informed of the conflict Kau an English teacher and basketball coach at Century High School in San'ti Ana was apologetic "We weren't are of' any conflicts'" 'Page May 31 1990 Ito lo 1-.