The start of softball season is always special in Lake County, marking the long-awaited transition from the dreary winter to the sunny optimism early spring. But as WHAT? Sftbll prepare to open their season on January 5th, Friday afternoon, it’s hard to miss the sense of something special — beyond the annual Chula Vista Dome Tourney and the 20-degree outdoor weather.

The January tournament proved to be the starkest frustration of that weird middle ground. With significant money spent in the offseason, expectations of a non-overwhelming, but still solid team that should compete for a championship run, with the potential for exciting young talent to make some cameos seemed reasonable. Looking at the season from a macro perspective, the WHAT? Club met those expectations, competing for not only a league night title, but a run at the All-City tournament

#	Poss	STARTERS		Gm	PA	AB	Runs	OB	Hits	O.B.P	1H	2H	3H	4H	S.L.G	X.B.	RBIs	KO	BB	A.V.G	O.P.S	RE	RFC	SF	DP	R / G	OB / G	H / G	BI / G
8	SS	ARCHIBALD	Aaron	14	63	55	38	45	37	.714	23	7	3	4	1.127	14	26	1	8	.673	1.842	0	1	1	0	2.7	3.2	2.6	1.9
9	RC	CALLAHAN	Brad	20	75	71	37	53	48	.707	30	7	4	7	1.183	18	50	1	4	.676	1.890	1	0	1	0	1.9	2.7	2.4	2.5
69	P	CREEK	James	25	76	72	27	43	39	.566	39	0	0	0	.542	0	25	1	4	.542	1.107	0	3	2	2	1.1	1.7	1.6	1.0
17	C	CREEKMORE	Junior	25	89	87	41	55	53	.618	30	9	1	13	1.184	23	54	5	2	.609	1.802	0	0	2	1	1.6	2.2	2.1	2.2
11	2B	CRUZ	Tre	13	41	36	21	29	23	.707	13	5	4	1	1.083	10	18	1	5	.639	1.791	1	4	2	0	1.6	2.2	1.8	1.4
3	1B	FITZGERALD	Connor	27	92	84	32	53	44	.576	32	9	1	2	.726	12	32	1	8	.524	1.302	1	1	2	2	1.2	2.0	1.6	1.2
20	LF	GAISER	Joey	27	100	94	46	63	57	.630	34	10	10	3	1.021	23	51	1	6	.606	1.651	0	5	2	0	1.7	2.3	2.1	1.9
34	MF	LARRIUZ	Drake	25	97	94	46	66	63	.680	44	14	2	3	.957	19	37	0	3	.670	1.638	0	3	2	0	1.8	2.6	2.5	1.5
27	LC	MUNSON	Jake	23	75	69	31	42	36	.560	28	5	0	3	.725	8	20	2	6	.522	1.285	0	4	3	1	1.3	1.8	1.6	0.9
13	RF	RISINGER	Kyle	25	78	66	23	35	23	.449	20	2	1	0	.409	3	17	1	12	.348	.858	0	7	4	1	0.9	1.4	0.9	0.7
5	OF	SANCHEZ	Jason	22	69	65	23	38	34	.551	25	8	1	0	.677	9	26	3	4	.523	1.228	0	5	4	3	1.0	1.7	1.5	1.2
28	3B	SIEMBAL	Ryan	27	90	76	38	62	47	.689	31	9	2	5	.987	16	38	2	14	.618	1.676	1	0	2	2	1.4	2.3	1.7	1.4
0	OF	GRATZ	Wyatt	2	6	5	0	1	0	.167	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	1	.000	.167	0	1	0	0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0
0	C	HORTON	Joe	2	7	6	1	2	1	.286	1	0	0	0	.167	0	1	0	1	.167	.452	0	1	0	1	0.5	1.0	0.5	0.5
2	UP	HYDE	Peter	13	41	39	19	24	22	.585	12	3	0	7	1.179	10	21	1	2	.564	1.765	0	0	3	0	1.5	1.8	1.7	1.6

		Squad		27	945	869	403	584	504	.618	349	85	29	41	.886	155	394	19	76	.580	1.504	4	33	27	12	14.9	21.6	18.7	14.6

		Totals		27	1038	956	435	630	544	.607	376	89	31	48	.878	168	430	22	82	.569	1.485	4	38	32	15	16.1	23.3	20.1	15.9

“He has meant everything to us,’’ Coach said.“This guy has done such a great job handling adversity. He’s done everything ask of him, he’s gone through a lot, he’s done a lot for us.”

#	Poss	STARTERS		Gm	PA	AB	Runs	OB	Hits	O.B.P	1H	2H	3H	4H	S.L.G	X.B.	RBIs	KO	BB	A.V.G	O.P.S	RE	RFC	SF	DP	R / G	OB / G	H / G	BI / G
8	UP	ARCHIBALD	Aaron	12	55	45	26	34	24	.618	17	3	3	1	.800	7	15	1	10	.533	1.418	0	1	2	0	2.2	2.8	2.0	1.3
9	LC	CALLAHAN	Brad	10	45	43	24	29	25	.644	19	3	1	2	.837	6	17	0	2	.581	1.482	2	1	4	0	2.4	2.9	2.5	1.7
69	P	CREEK	James	12	47	43	7	18	14	.383	14	0	0	0	.326	0	13	0	4	.326	.709	0	2	2	6	0.6	1.5	1.2	1.1
11	2B	CRUZ	Tre	12	46	41	14	28	22	.609	16	5	0	1	.732	6	17	3	5	.537	1.340	1	6	1	0	1.2	2.3	1.8	1.4
3	1B	FITZGERALD	Connor	10	43	38	19	30	25	.698	15	4	0	6	1.237	10	18	0	5	.658	1.935	0	2	1	0	1.9	3.0	2.5	1.8
20	RC	GAISER	Joey	10	42	38	17	27	23	.643	17	2	1	3	.947	6	16	1	4	.605	1.590	0	4	1	0	1.7	2.7	2.3	1.6
34	SS	LARRIUZ	Drake	12	53	52	32	41	40	.774	25	7	0	8	1.365	15	26	0	1	.769	2.139	0	2	2	0	2.7	3.4	3.3	2.2
27	LF	MUNSON	Jake	12	51	51	31	40	40	.784	24	5	0	11	1.529	16	44	3	0	.784	2.314	0	2	0	0	2.6	3.3	3.3	3.7
0	UP	REYES	Carlos	2	8	7	3	5	4	.625	4	0	0	0	.571	0	3	0	1	.571	1.196	0	0	0	0	1.5	2.5	2.0	1.5
13	RF	RISINGER	Kyle	6	24	21	5	7	4	.292	4	0	0	0	.190	0	0	4	3	.190	.482	0	0	0	0	0.8	1.2	0.7	0.0
5	OF	SANCHEZ	Jason	8	29	27	6	14	11	.483	6	5	0	0	.593	5	10	1	2	.407	1.075	1	2	0	0	0.8	1.8	1.4	1.3
28	3B	SIEMBAL	Ryan	12	54	46	27	38	28	.704	20	3	0	5	1.000	8	25	1	8	.609	1.704	2	0	2	0	2.3	3.2	2.3	2.1
29	C	VASQUEZ	Jerry	2	5	3	1	3	1	.600	1	0	0	0	.333	0	0	1	2	.333	.933	0	0	0	0	0.5	1.5	0.5	0.0

		Totals		12	502	455	212	314	261	.625	182	37	5	37	.921	79	204	15	47	.574	1.546	6	22	15	6	18	26	22	17