Schools

Only two teams in their league, the NBL-Redwood, have gotten the better of the Greyhounds this year: first-place Analy and second-place Montgomery. The NBL playoffs come up this week, starting with Analy vs. Healdsburg on May 13...

The winter prep sports season gets underway just as the “atmospheric rivers” hit Northern California, forcing most athletes indoors—unless their chosen sport is soccer.

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.

“This opening league win sets the tone for a season of growth and high expectations,” said coach Todd Au following the Sept. 16 match in Ukiah.

“Today we joked that we were going to have to throw away the balls after the match, because everyone was hitting so hard,” said coach Mary Beth Chandler after the match. “It isn’t an exaggeration.”

There’s more than one high school in Healdsburg. As well as the public Healdsburg High School, three miles up Bailache Road south of town is the Rio Lindo Adventist Academy, a private boarding school for grades 9-12. The total enrollment is only 108, on...

Varsity boys and girls land high seeds in NCS tournament

The week just passed encapsulated the great baseball program built by coach Joey Gomes with the Healdsburg Prune Packers. Tons of powerful offense paired with fantastic pitching and defensive web gems, on a team built with rising stars from across the country. It is frankly surprising to see the determination and great chemistry within a team like the Packers after only a month of playing together.

The softball team turned up for Tuesday’s game against Piner about the same time the rains began to fall, so the meeting of the NCS Redwood teams was postponed to a later date. The Greyhounds were hoping for an upset to reverse their four-game losing streak—the last time they won a game was against Willits, 13-3, on March 9.

It’s been a strong showing under first-year coach Cassidy Jourdan, who herself was a Healdsburg High star athlete—not only in basketball but volleyball and softball as well during her four years at HHS, from 2008–2012. “I loved sports,” she said. “I loved them all. I even went to college for sports management. It really was my entire life.”