Over the past few days I'm sure all of you have had a chance to see your favorite baseball team play (cough, Red Sox, cough). It is an exciting time for everyone and there seems to be a special buzz in the air with the new season approaching. The new baseball season is the signature marking that spring is here, the warmer weather is coming and joyous memories are in the near future.

Baseball is called "America's Pastime" for a reason and is full of many historic moments. The new season is also the return and/or additions to teams throughout the league

The Bakersfield Blaze faced an uphill battle against Visalia starting pitcher Andrew Chafin on Friday night.

One that became impossible for the Blaze to win after a plethora of early self-inflicted wounds.

Pitcher Jeff McKenzie found himself in unfamiliar territory, as the junior left-hander needed just three more outs to record his first complete game as a Roadrunner pitcher.

Then the final inning ended just like the first began, with McKenzie retiring three batters in a row on his way to completing a three-hit shutout as CSU Bakersfield opened a three-game series with a 4-0 victory Friday over Santa Clara at Hardt Field.

John Austin and Doug Denesha will carry the local torch into the finals of the SCGA Amateur Net Championship next Monday and Tuesday at Industry Hills Golf Course.

Austin and Denesha, both from The Links at RiverLakes Ranch, qualified at Griffith Park GC in Los Angeles in late March to make it to the championship proper. Austin will compete in the Bobby Jones flight (0-5 indexes) while Denesha will compete in the Arnold Palmer flight (6-10 indexes).

Billy Hamilton is supposed to create havoc with his legs this season for the Blaze. He gave Bakersfield an added bonus with his bat on opening night Thursday.

Before 1,559 at Sam Lynn Ballpark, the Blaze downed the Visalia Rawhide 3-1 behind Hamilton's offense and solid efforts by four pitchers.

Kern County, southern San Joaquin Valley

LAKE ISABELLA: The fish are showing in very good numbers around much of the lake on floating dough baits, Power Mice Tails and inflated nightcrawlers. The catfish bite has also picked up with most of the action in the bays in 10 to 15 feet of water on clams and cut baits. Few reports on crappie, and the bass and bluegill action is just starting to turn around.

Three anglers landed tagged trout worth $10,000 apiece during the 23rd Annual Isabella Lake Fishing Derby held Saturday through Monday. There were a total of 11 tagged trout worth $10,000 (or more), and another 989 tagged rainbows worth cash from $50 to $1,000 planted for this event. Anglers landed 153 of the 1,000 tagged fish over the three days of the derby.

Overall, there were 6,294 entries, and the total payout was $49,800, the second highest in the 23 years of the event. The highest total was in 2010 when six of 10 of the $10,000 tags were landed and the total payout was $75,510.

Baseball

Selma Tournament

SANTA CLARITA -- Kimmie Lockhart pitched a four-hitter with five strikeouts, and Adriana Correira ripped a two-run homer to lead College of the Canyons to a 4-1 victory Thursday over Bakersfield College in a showdown between the Western State Conference's top two softball teams.

Canyons (29-2-1) improved to 8-2 in the WSC. BC 22-8, 7-4. The Renegades' Julie Estep struck out six and walked one. BC hosts Glendale in a doubleheader at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Johnny Carter, the Ridgeview alumnus who won the CIF state triple jump championship as a freshman in 2008, is back in the track and field spotlight.

Carter, now a freshman at Academy of Art University in San Francisco who also competes for the U Knight Track Club, set a new personal record with a triple jump of 15.71 meters (51 feet, 6 inches) last month at the Aggie Open in Davis.

REEDLEY -- Brad Lindsley and Darion Nunn combined on a five-hit shutout to lead Bakersfield College to a 9-0 win over Reedley College at the Sequoias baseball tournament Wednesday.

Lindsley (3-3) allowed four hits in six innings. Nunn finished up with three innings to earn his first save of the season.

Ownership and a long overdue facelift to Sam Lynn Ballpark won't be the only changes for the Bakersfield Blaze when the club opens its 71st season tonight against the Visalia Rawhide.

There will also be plenty of new faces up and down the roster as the Blaze return just four players from 2011 to begin their second season as the Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.

Having won the Bay Cities Racing Association Dirt Midget championship last season, Bakersfield's Shannon McQueen is focused on winning the USAC Western States Midget championship this season.

Saturday night she'll be competing at Bakersfield Speedway for the first time since 2010 as the USAC Series returns to the third-mile clay oval.

VISALIA -- Justin Kelly improved to 4-0 with a complete-game four-hitter to lead Bakersfield College past College of the Sequoias 11-2 Tuesday.

The Renegades (18-8), ranked No. 8 in Southern California, had 16 hits and scored five runs in both the first and eighth innings.

SANTA BARBARA -- Senior right-hander Spenser Messmore tossed his second straight complete game to lead Cal State Bakersfield to an 8-2 win at UC Santa Barbara Tuesday afternoon.

Messmore, who entered the game ranked No. 6 in the nation in ERA (0.67), allowed six hits, walked three and struck out four.

Baseball

Fresno Easter Classic

The first thing Blaze fans will notice when they show up to opening night on Thursday is a re-surfaced parking lot at Sam Lynn Ballpark.

That's one of several improvements that will be in place by the time Thursday's 7:15 p.m. game time arrives and the first batter from the Visalia Rawhide comes to the plate.

Time and again, a victorious athlete will give himself the ultimate vote of confidence: "Even with the odds stacked against me, I knew I had it the whole time."

And then there's D.J. Johnson. The East High senior defended his 18-and-younger division title at the Central California Junior Tennis Championships on Monday at the Bakersfield Racquet Club, beating Eli Whittle of Nipomo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Bakersfield High senior Natrelle Demison won a senior national championship at the NHSCA National Wrestling Championships this past weekend in Virginia Beach, Va.

Demison, who took fourth at the CIF State Championships last month, beat Cole Moseley of Tennessee with an 11-1 major decision in the 138-pound national championship on Sunday.

Baseball

Fresno Easter Classic