If Centennial baseball coach Randy Roberts is correct when he say the key to the Golden Hawks' playoff run is the bottom third of their batting order, Thursday was a very good sign.

Centennial beat host Liberty 11-5 as its final three hitters collected five hits and two walks, scored five runs and had five RBIs.

Baseball

Frontier 12, Independence 3

The local, and national, racing community lost a huge member last Saturday when David Calderwood of Bakersfield died. He was 69.

The longtime owner of MP Environmental Services was smitten with racing at the age of 16 when he served as a pit crew member for Frank Seacrest at Daytona.

One likes to pierce the skin, one gets on the skin and one burrows under it. For those heading outdoors this time of year, all three are best avoided.

Talking about rattlesnakes, poison oak and ticks. Or, as I like to call them, the Three Evils of Spring.

Kern County, southern San Joaquin Valley

LAKE ISABELLA: The lake level has been coming up rapidly and that with cooler weather has put the crappie bite off. The fish are still there in good numbers, but they are in deeper water and less accessible from shore. Most are in 10 to 20 feet of water now, but the quality of the fish has been excellent with fish in the three-pound class reported. The best bite has also been in the afternoons and evenings, not mornings, and a good day is a handful of fish. The catfish bite has remained very good on minnows and shad with fish to six pounds reported. The trout remain pretty fair off the points and at the auxiliary dam. Quite a few bass being caught and the bluegill bite is improving.

Ivan Gonzalez's first love is soccer, but not by much anymore. Running track has become a close second for the Ridgeview junior.

And with good reason, considering the way he's performed his first year in the sport. On Wednesday, Gonzalez was more impressive than ever, winning three races during the South Yosemite League track and field finals at Liberty High.

NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. -- The CSU Bakersfield men's golf team's three-round total of 968 tied for ninth among 12 teams in the America Sky Men's Golf Conference Championship on Tuesday at Lake of Isles Golf Course.

CSUB, playing in its first NCAA Tournament qualifying competition since transitioning to the Division I level, posted rounds of 326-307-335 to tie for ninth place with Binghamton and above the University of Texas-Pan American and Chicago State.

It's the rare sports ruling that will make all involved happy.

In a tight, three-team race for boys golf supremacy in the Southwest Yosemite League, only the top two teams qualified for Monday's Central Section's South Area meet at Mifflin-Buena Vista Golf Course.

Baseball

West 13, Golden Valley 11

There was a slight breeze for the small crowd at Sam Lynn Ballpark on Wednesday night, but it was difficult to tell if that was natural or made by Lancaster's bats.

Blaze pitchers struck out a season-high 14 batters, all swinging, as Bakersfield snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory over the JetHawks.

Despite a three-run rally in the ninth, the Bakersfield Blaze fell to the Lancaster JetHawks 5-4 in Game 1 of three-game set Tuesday at Sam Lynn Ballpark.

The JetHawks got to starting pitcher Josh Smith for two runs in the first inning and stymied a Blaze offense that had just seven hits -- three in the ninth.

VALLEY GLEN -- One play summed up what kind of day it was for Bakersfield College in Tuesday's opening round of the Southern California baseball playoffs against L.A. Valley.

With the Renegades looking to rally late in what had been a frustrating day at the plate, Monarchs shortstop Sam Johnston made an over-the-head catch on a dead run in shallow left field on Jordan Turner's pop fly, then turned and fired to first to double up Brent Peterson to end the eighth inning.

Stockdale golf coach Jim Keene was nervous going into the last Southwest Yosemite League boys mini tournament of the year.

His team locked in the three-way battle with Centennial and Liberty for SWYL supremacy, Keene urgently needed the Mustangs to turn in a solid performance Tuesday at The Links at RiverLakes Ranch.

Baseball

Tehachapi 5, Shafter 1

Frontier High senior Meghan Shain has added another title to her resume as the current Women's Kern County Amateur champion won the 45th Santa Catalina Island Championship April 14-15 at the Catalina Island golf course. Shain competed in the girls 15-18 age group.

The tournament was part of the SoCal PGA Junior Tour Series and included a field with many current college-bound players. The Santa Clara University-bound Shain shot rounds of 68-67 on the par-64 course to win by a record 13 strokes over runner-up Sachi Hamada from Fullerton, who shot 74-74.

Bakersfield College catcher Kara Frankhouser was named first team all-state after leading the Renegades with nine home runs, 55 RBIs and a .424 batting average this season.

Frankhouser was also the only BC player named first team all-Western State Conference Blue Division after helping the 'Gades to a fourth-place finish in conference and the No. 8 seed in the Southern California Regional playoffs, which open this weekend.

NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. -- The CSU Bakersfield men's golf team cut 19 strokes off its team score to move from 11th to 10th place in the team standings Monday on the second day of the America Sky Men's Golf Conference Tournament at Lake of Isles Golf Course.

After totaling a 326 in cold and windy conditions on Sunday, the Roadrunners combined to shoot a 307 in warmer weather Monday.

Boys tennis

BCHS 8, Taft 1

In 2010, the last time the Amgen Tour of California came to Bakersfield, the city hosted the finish of Stage 5, a 121-mile trek that started in Visalia and meandered though the Southern Sierra foothills. Peter Sagan sprinted across the finish line on Panorama Drive to win the stage nearly 5 hours after he started.

The course for this year's fifth stage, which takes place May 17, is an 18.4-mile individual time trial from Bakersfield College to Lake Ming and back. The professional riders are expected to finish in about 35 minutes. That's 35 minutes of pain.