Schools

Pitcher Eric Nielsen struggled in the top of the first inning, loading the bases with only one out on a hit and two walks. The coach called for someone to loosen up. Then Nielsen righted the ship and struck out the next two batters. He gave up no more hits and struck out 11 to win the game, 11-0.

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 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.

This year locals are proud to find both boys and girls soccer teams in the NCS playoff, both in Division 4 in line with their size. And the girls basketball team is in the playoffs as well, in the tougher Division 2. (Unfortunately, all three teams lost on Wednesday night, so Healdsburg High's winter sports season is officially over.)

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.

With winter sports barely in the rear-view mirror, here comes spring down the road to shift focus—to badminton, swimming, boys tennis, and track and field, and especially baseball and softball.

When last we checked in with the boys soccer team, they had just begun their league season with a tie game against Piner, 1-1, on the Healdsburg field. The following Saturday,  Jan. 19, they headed up to Lake County to meet Kelseyville, and came home with a 5-0 win in their non-league column...

The boys team has not been able to get much traction in the rain-soaked field, and neither have most of its opponents. The NBL-Redwood league standings show many of the teams have more tie games than either wins or losses. The Greyhounds, for instance, have two wins and no losses, but four tie games—Piner High, just ahead of them in the league standings, is 3-0-3.

Not everyone is glued to the NFL playoffs this year, for obvious reasons. The NBA has its disappointments, too, and that college football season was even longer than usual. What’s a sports fan to do? The answer is obvious: watch the Greyhounds play.

The Healdsburg softball team had a series of blowout wins against opponents earlier in the season, until it went to Sonoma Valley and encountered a fired-up Lady Dragons team. Often a league contender themselves, the Dragons had been on an unlucky streak until Healdsburg came to town...