Yep, you read that headline right. Rick Steen, longtime San Ramon Valley coach (the ballpark is named after him at SRV), has signed on to coach the Spartans of De La Salle. My colleague Chace Bryson just received word this afternoon via email and he’ll be working on tracking down some more details as the day wears on.

Steen coached at SRV from 1974-2007 and racked up 490 wins. According to the release sent out by De La Salle, Steen’s son Andy is a Spartan alum. And, as Chace points out, Steen will be coaching an EBAL team this year as the Spartans join the EBAL. SRV fans, are you ready to see Rick Steen coaching from the visiting dugout at Rick Steen Ball Park?

 Hello everybody. Welcome to our live blog coverages of the East Bay baseball championship at McAfee Coliseum.

The blogging for these games is going to be happening on our sister blog, Prep Corner. But since blogger Kyle Bonagura got caught in traffic on his way here, I thought I’d get this thing rolling.

Let’s get to the details shall we. It’s No. 1-seed Northgate (24-2) vs. No. 7 Piedmont (19-7-1). By virtue of a coin toss, the Broncos will be the home team.

Here is Highlanders’ starting lineups:

1. Alex Steady CF

2. Jordan Remer P

3. Bryce Chu 3B

4. Alex Menke LF

5. Kyle Bonacum RF

6. Lawrence Davis DH

Trevor Fleshman C

7. Trevor McCalmont SS

8. Ryan Patee 1B

9. Jeremy George 2B

Here is the Broncos’ lineup:

1. Jack Cartwright CF

2. Michael Kosturos RF

3. Blaine Johnson C

4. Kevin Krueger 1B

5. Chris Pelayo LF

6. Joey Dell’Anno SS

7. Daniel Kent DH

Luke Bartlett P

8. Daniel Moore 3B

9. Mike Navolio 2B

Now that Kyle is here in the press box. You can catch all the action at Prep Corner.

For those looking for baseball results, the guys over at Prep Corner are going to do their best to put some updates up tonight. I’ll be out at the El Cerrito/Northgate game and I’ll be doing my best to send updates to Jimmy Durkin. So, check out our sister blog for periodic updates.

I’m right on deadline so I’ll have my impressions of the Heritage/Albany game (12-3 Albany wins) later but for now, here are today’s scores.

 Softball
Albany 12, Heritage 3
Concord 3, BOD 2 (9 inn)
California 3, Foothill 1
Freedom 5, James Logan 2

Baseball
Northgate d. Albany (score n/a yet)
El Cerrito 4, Alhambra 2
Piedmont 6, St. Mary’s 5
Livermore 2, Irvington 1
College Park 3, Monte Vista 0

This evening’s Berkeley-at-Irvington North Coast Section 3A East Bay game was baseball theater at its finest. Scoring opportunities for both teams, but great pitching dominating most all the way through. Oh, and what a finish! Last of the seventh, two outs, runners at first and second, and Irvington batter Ryan Tella facing an 0-2 count against Berkeley’s Tyler Bremer. And then Tella blasts a two-run triple to center field to win the game.

Baseball just does not get any better.

Alrighty, as promised, here are tonight’s scores. The only one missing is the late game between Livermore and Clayton Valley but I’m told that Clayton was leading 4-1 in the third inning. Baseball is at the top, softball on bottom.

NCS baseball

Our photographers made it out to a ton of events last week so enjoy the fruits of their labor. Here are this week’s photos of the week.

Photos of the week.

We’re back with even more action-packed photos from the week that was. Check it all out below.

Photos of the Week

P.S. Check out Jose Carlos Fajardo’s photo slideshows from the USA Rugby Championships. Cal defeated St. Mary’s and BYU to win another national title. There are a ton of locals playing for Cal these days so check out the galleries. You may see someone you know!

A bit late, but here are the photos of the week from last week’s high school sports action. Enjoy!

Photos of the week