As a sophomore last spring, David Simon came up to varsity for Lodi High’s baseball playoff run and started both games.

A bounce-back season for the Lodi Flames varsity softball team came to an end on Saturday, as the Flames were eliminated with a 9-3 loss to the Vintage Crushers at the Sacramento Softball Complex.

Austin Vickers stayed unbeaten, and his team moved to within a win of the championship match. Behind a 10th victory from their senior ace, the Elliot Eagles varsity baseball team defeated rival Valley Christian Lions, 7-3, in Saturday’s opening game of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII, best-of-three semifinal.

The latest news on local athletes who are continuing to play at the college or professional levels.

It was a transition the Elliot Eagles varsity softball team knew it would have to make. Slugfests, not shutouts. Marathons, not mercy-rule wins. And by the end of the season, the Eagles were getting the hang of it.

The first time she walked out to track practice this spring, and found out she would be a pole vaulter, Berkeley Anderson had the reaction of a befuddled student in a final exam:

The shots kept flying, and Glory Smith kept darting from corner to corner for returns.

ELK GROVE — The first time she walked out to track practice this spring, and found out she would be a pole vaulter, Berkeley Anderson had the reaction of a befuddled student in a final exam:

Two days between games, a world of difference between opponents. After teeing off on an inexperienced Gregori Jaguars club in its postseason opener, the Lodi Flames varsity baseball team found the going much tougher on Wednesday night against three-time defending champ St. Mary’s Rams and their Cal Poly-bound ace.