Sports

For the second year in a row, a Greyhound won the Most Valuable Pitcher award as Eric Nielsen followed 2024's co-winner Mauro-Manos into the exclusive circle. Nielsen’s finishing record of 10 wins and 83 strikeouts led in the league and placed him among the top 10 high school pitchers statewide.

For the first time in Mark Domenichelli’s 16 years as a baseball coach at Healdsburg High, his team has reached the semifinals in the division championship series. That means they’re just one win away from the finals, two from the title.

With this season’s NBL play now passed, both the boys baseball and girls softball teams look forward to the North Coast Section tournament of the top 16 teams in each division. The girls play in Division 5, the boys in Division 4.

The Healdsburg varsity has won nine of their last 11 games and is on a four-game winning streak. This week, they end the Redwood schedule with a pair of games against Piner, whose 4-9 record places them fifth in the six-team league.

Swimmers from Healdsburg and Windsor high schools, neighboring campuses with a long shared history and intertwined roots, have been nipping at each other’s heels all season. For one, they share the same pool at Healdsburg High—so they stagger their daily practices, schedule their meets around each other and rub shoulders in the locker room...

The season ends with two games against Piner, on May 7 (in Healdsburg) and May 9 (at Piner). League and division playoff schedules are yet to be announced, but the Greyhounds have had good luck in post season play in recent years, under coach Mark Domenichelli.

“Greatest loss of my career,” Coach Mike Domenichelli said. “The players gave it everything they had. The crowd was electric and it was like playing at Yankee Stadium. It was just unfortunate that someone had to lose.”

Hopes are always high at the beginning of a baseball season, and when they are rewarded by a five-game winning streak midway through league play, hopes can soar. That’s the position the Healdsburg High varsity baseball team is in this week, having won 5 in a row and looking for more...

Last year, the girls team had their best season in Clark’s half-decade as a coach, winning gold in the division and bronze in the league. This year, they’re down a couple of swimmers to 11 team members—just under the ideal threshold of 12—but they’ve been holding their own in a tough field.

For the student-athletes of the Healdsburg Track & Field team, the Santa Rosa Field Event Jamboree, March 15, and the Dublin Distance Fiesta, March 21-22, bookend the start and end of spring break. “These meets highlight the two extremes of track and field,” said head coach Kate Guthrie.