Ceres High’s Jaiden Boss and Central Valley’s Nicholas Dominguez have been named the Courier’s co-Male Newcomer Athletes of the Year for the spring sports season.
Bulldog Elizabeth Figueroa and Hawk Brooklynn Steeley earned co-Female Newcomer Athlete of the Year honors.
Boss and Dominguez made names for themselves in boys track and field and baseball, respectively.
Figueroa and Steeley were both major contributors during their first season of varsity softball.
Figueroa, a sophomore leftfielder, was named to the Western Athletic Conference Second Team.
She fell one vote shy of earning first-team all-league accolades.
Figueroa batted .385 from the plate on the year with two doubles, 17 RBIs, 22 runs and five stolen bases.
She had a 1.000 fielding percentage.
Figueroa finished with on-base and slugging percentages of .440 and .415, respectively.
“She has a high softball IQ,” Ceres High leader Mike Corsaut said. “She can hit any pitcher. She does her job. She works hard. She’s a great teammate.”
Steeley, a freshman, was selected to the Central California Conference Second Team.
“She competed in the circle and showed out with her bat this year,” Central Valley head coach Jimmy Bates said.
Steeley accumulated eight wins, 46 strikeouts and one save at pitcher on the season.
She battted .400 from the plate with three home runs, seven doubles, 18 RBIs and 16 runs.
She had slugging and on-base percentages of .628 and .462, respectively.
Steeley ranked first on the team in doubles, and second in batting average, hits, homers, RBIs, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
“When she connected with the ball, it was with force,” Bates said.
Boss managed to enjoy lot of success junior year despite being sidelined for two-and-a-half weeks with back issues.
He climbed to fifth all-time in the 300 hurdles and seventh all-time in the 110 hurdles in program history.
“To be honest, I’ve done better than my expectations,” Boss said. “Freshman year, I didn’t know what I was doing. Hurdles are a lot more technical than all of the other races. Your form is everything.”
Boss set personal records while finishing third in the 300 hurdles (41.61) and 110 hurdles (15.80) at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-IV Championships.
He took second in both the 300 hurdles (42.59) and 110 hurdles (16.48) at the Western Athletic Conference Finals.
Boss placed 20th in the 300 hurdles (42.83) and 22nd in the 110 hurdles (16.09) while competing at Masters for the first time.
“He had a rough start to the season,” said Bulldogs’ leader Brett Johnson of Boss. “I don’t think he reached his full potential this year. Once he got healthy and his confidence back, that’s when he showed what he’s capable of.”
“Everything was going good,” Boss added. “My back gave out at one meet. My pain level was nine out of 10. It felt like I was getting tasered. After that, I took a break. We were halfway through the season. It wasn’t that big of a deal coming back.”
Dominguez, a junior, entered the season as the Hawks’ No. 3 pitcher.
He became Central Valley’s ace as 2022 Central California Conference honorable-mention selection Chris Garcia was limited to just 101/3 innings on the mound this year due to arm fatigue.
“He pretty much shut down our league,” Hawks’ head coach Brad Bussard said of Dominguez. “He did a great job throwing strikes. He competed. He kept us in a lot of games.”
Dominguez earned first-team all-conference honors.
He posted a 6-3 record on the season with a 1.88 earned-run average, 49 strikeouts and two saves.
Dominguez won five of six starts and collected two saves against CCC competition.
“He kept throwing well and earning innings,” Bussard said.
