BearTalk

Former Cal star Jorge Gutierrez and ex-Oregon State standout Jared Cunningham faced off Monday at the Golden State Warriors’ facility in preparation for the upcoming NBA draft.

Word is Cunningham, the former San Leandro HS star, had the upperhand.

Here’s a link to a blog post by our Warriors beat writer Marcus Thompson.

Former Cal middle-distance running star and East Bay resident David Torrence has cleared a huge obstacle in his quest for a spot in the London Olympics.

Torrence, 26, achieved the Olympic “A” qualifying standard in the 1,500 meters on Friday, clocking a time of 3 minutes, 35.41 seconds at the Occidental College High-Performance Meet in Los Angeles.

Torrence needed to run faster than 3:35.50 to get the “A” mark, which means that he now qualifies for London if he secures a top-3 finish in the event at the U.S. trials next month in Eugene.

It’s a big deal, because often events such as the 1,500 become slower, tactical races at the trials as athlete compete for positions more than times. So getting the “A” standard at the trials is less likely. Now it’s out of the way for Torrence.

For those who don’t pay attention to track, his 1,500 time translates to 3:52.64 for the mile. Pretty fast.

Torrence burst onto the scene as a Cal junior in 2007 when he ran 3:58.62 to break Don Bowden’s 50-year-old school record in the mile. In 1957, Bowden became the first American to break the 4-minute mile.

Ex-Cal star Ryan Anderson was among 13 players chosen to the USA Basketball Select Team that will help prepare the U.S. Olympic team for this summer’s London Games.

Also chosen to the squad were Warriors rookie Klay Thompson and NBA sensation Jeremy Lin of Palo Alto.

In his fourth pro season, Anderson was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season after producing 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds for the Orlando Magic.

The top-seeded Cal softball team didn’t flinch after losing Saturday to Arkansas.

Instead, the Bears (54-5) won three in a row — including by scores of 10-2 and 7-0 over the Razorbacks on Sunday — to captured the NCAA Berkeley regional.

On the brink of having their spectacular season ended two weekends early, the Bears now await a Super Regional assignment at Levine-Fricke Field against Pac-12 rival Washington.

ESPN, which will televise the Super Regional round next weekend, will announce the dates of the Cal-UW series on Monday. The teams will either play Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday.

Here’s my full game story.

– BASEBALL: The Bears (27-24, 10-17 Pac-12) closed out their home schedule with a 6-5 win over No. 11 UCLA (38-14, 17-10) at Evans Diamond, scoring four times in the eighth inning to rally from a 4-2 deficit. Chadd Krist singled and homered and drove in a pair of runs for Cal, which ends the season next week with a three-game series at Stanford.

Cal softball remains alive.

Senior Frani Echavarria capped a 4-for-4 performance with a grand slam in the fifth inning and the top-seeded Cal softball team beat Arkansas 10-2 on Sunday evening to force a winner-take-all showdown for the NCAA Berkeley regional title.

The teams were scheduled to play again Sunday, beginning at about 7:10 p.m., with the winner advancing to next week’s Super Regional.

Cal (53-5), which lost 3-2 to the Razorbacks (29-27) in Saturday’s winners-bracket semifinal, never trailed in the rematch.

Echavarria, who also had a single and two doubles, was greeted by the Levine-Fricke Field crowd with a chant of “Hip, hip Frani,” a nod to Cal basketball star Jorge Gutierrez, her boyfriend.

Jolene Henderson (33-2) struck out the side in the fifth inning to end the game as the “mercy” rule was invoked.

Cal drew first blood with three runs in the second inning.

Victoria Jones and Jamia Reid each singled before Britt Vonk laid down a two-out bunt. She outran the throw, which bounced away, allowing both Jones to score.

Arkansas starter Hope McLemore — pitching just her fifth game of the season — then intentionally walked Pac-12 Player of the Year Val Arioto, loading the bases. Echavarria responded with a two-run double to right-center for a 3-0 lead.

But Arkansas cut the margin to a single run in the third inning when Tori Mort beat out an infield hit before SEC Freshman of the Year Devon Wallace drilled a 2-run homer to center.

The Bears answered with three runs in the top of the fourth for a 6-2 lead. Arioto walked to open the inning — her 10th in 14 regional plate appearances — before Echavarria doubled for the second time. Arioto scored on a groundout by Jace Williams, then freshman Danielle Henderson blasted a two-run homer to right.

Top-seeded Cal (52-5) bounced back from a second-round loss to Arkansas and now will face the Razorbacks (29-26) in Sunday’s Berkeley regional final of the NCAA tournament.

The Bears beat Boston University 8-0 in six innings and now must defeat the Razorbacks twice to win the regional title and advance to next week’s Super Regionals. Sunday’s first game is at 5 p.m. at Levine-Fricke Field.

Arkansas beat Cal 3-2 in Sunday’s winners-bracket semifinal.

Jolene Henderson struck out 11 in six innings and allowed just three hits while improving to 32-2.

Cal scored in every inning after the first to methodically pull away from the Terriers (41-16) in the elimination game.

Victoria Jones homered in the second inning while Jamie Reid, Britt Vonk and Val Arioto each had two hits.

The Cal men’s golf team will compete in the NCAA championships for the third straight year after winning the Stanford regional by six strokes on Saturday.

The Bears have won six of 13 events they entered this season, but this was their first regional championship.

Cal will be among 30 teams participating in the May 30 through June 3 collegiate nationals at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.

 The Bears had three top-10 individual finishers at the regionals, led by Brandon Hagy, who finished third with an 11-under-par score of 199. Michael Kim tied for fourth one stroke back and Max Homa tied for 10th with a four-under 206.

San Diego State, Alabama-Birmingham, Stanford and Central Florida nabbed the next four places in the team race and also qualified for the NCAA championships.

– BASEBALL: No. 11 UCLA (38-13, 17-9 Pac-12) scored an 8-5 victory over the Bears (26-24, 9-17), giving the Bruins wins in the first two games of the series at Evans Diamond. The teams play again Sunday at 1 p.m. Cal’s Chad Bunting went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI and Danny Oh was 2 for 3 with two RBI.

UPDATED

Arkansas, which finished 7-21 in the Southeastern Conference and endured a 10-game losing streak at one point this season, knocked off top-seeded Cal 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Berkeley regional.

The Bears (51-5) must now win three straight games to survive the regional and advance to the Super Regional round a week from now.

Boston U (41-15) outlasted Iona 4-3 in 13 innings to survive in the losers-bracket and set up an elimination game with Cal. Originally scheduled for 7 p.m., the game is expected to begin between 8:30 and 9 p.m. 

The winner moves on to Sunday’s championship series, beginning at 5 p.m.

Cal would need to beat the Razorbacks (29-26) twice to claim the regional title and advance.

One more defeat and the Bears’ spectacular season is over.

 Arkansas scored three times in the first inning, knocking starter Valerie Arioto out of the game, and the Bears never recovered. Arioto retired just one batter and allowed two runs before Jolene Henderson came on, surrendering the third run.

Jamie Reid stole home to get Cal on the books in the third inning, then Britt Vonk scored on an error in the fifth. But the Bears managed just five hits for the game, and freshman Breana Kostreba fouled out with two runners on in the seventh to end the game.

Top-seeded Cal (51-4) routed Iona 8-0 in a five-inning NCAA tournament opener in front of 1,059 fans at Levine-Fricke Field.

The Bears will play Saturday at 3 p.m. against Arkansas (28-26), which beat Boston U 3-2 in the first game.

Cal scored three runs in the first and five in the fifth before the game was stopped. Freshman Breana Kostreba singled and homered and drove in three runs. Frani Echavarria added a pair of hits.

Two-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Jolene Henderson (31-2)  allowed two hits in five innings, striking out seven and walking no one.

– BASEBALL: No. 11 UCLA (37-13, 16-9 Pac-12) posted a 7-2 win over the Bears (26-23, 9-16) at Evans Diamond. The loss was Cal’s fourth in its past five games.