DVC Recap for the week of 4/5/17

NEVER-SAY-DIE VIKINGS FALL TO SIERRA
Diablo Valley softball player Terri Taylor showed on Tuesday why she is having such an outstanding season at the plate for the Vikings.
The freshman sent the first two pitches she saw against Sierra into the outfield for a long fly out and a single. In her last at-bat, she displayed patience and walked on four pitches.
"She's very aggressive at home plate, has good power, drives the ball," said DVC coach Dennis Luquet after his team's 4-3 loss Tuesday.
Taylor, a catcher, was batting .468 entering Tuesday's game with a .500 on-base percentage, a .675 slugging percentage, 26 RBI and 26 runs scored. She led the Vikings in batting average, slugging percentage, RBI and runs scored.
"I've been working really hard," said Taylor, a 2015 Acalanes High graduate. "I think it's all mental … Once I started hitting here and saw what I could do … it just kept getting better."
Taylor attended Chabot last year, but did not play softball in the spring season before transferring to DVC.
Luquet remembers the first time he watched her hit.
"I saw her swing in the cage and I said, "Oh my God, she can hit," he said.
Diablo Valley has been hitting well as a team. Entering the week, they had a .348 team batting average and .418 on-base percentage.
The Vikings also showed a never-say-die attitude Tuesday. Trailing 4-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, Katie Kaprive walked with one out, then on a 1-1 pitch, Ciara Whitesell slammed a two-run homer over the left field fence before two groundouts ended the game.
"I thought we played a great game. We had one bad inning," Luquet said. "I thought we brought great energy … I thought our pitcher (Sita Manoa) did great."
Sierra (26-5, 13-3 Big 8 Conference), ranked fifth in last week's state poll and third in Northern California, scored all its runs in the third inning, powered by a three-run home run by Shyanne Winje.
Diablo Valley (15-10, 8-9), ranked 13th in the state and fourth in NorCal, produced its first run in the bottom of the third. The Vikings loaded the bases on a walk by Kaitlyn Van Motman and singles by Marissa Maddox and Taylor. Elvia Alvarado drove in Van Motman with a long sacrifice fly to left field.
 -- Phil Jensen, Special to DVC Sports

TRACK AND FIELD
Facing Division I and Division 2 runners, DVC sophomore Strangenae Campbell was an impressive third place in the Stanford Invitational women's 100 meters, in a swift time of 11.59 seconds. Last year, Campbell won the CCCAA state title in the 100 in 11.44 and placed second in the state 200 in 23.69.
Also, DVC's Antwuin Prowes won his heat and placed 17th overall in the men's 800 with a CCCAA state-leading time of 1 minute, 52.62 seconds. Also in the 800, Geoffrey Weseman ran a state A standard time of 1:54.84. The DVC men's 4x100 relay of Mousawer Safi, Nigel Burnett, Nathan Noble, and Lionel White was second overall with a time of 41.73.
Corey Gilbert won the college discus division with a throw of 48.09 meters.

BASEBALL
The DVC baseball team (8-20, 3-9) endured three losses to Santa Rosa last week, 10-5, 14-1, 19-4. But the Vikings rebounded with a 2-1 win at Sierra on Tuesday, snapping a four-game losing streak.
 -- Horn compiled by Matt Schwab