Services scheduled

Robert Lee Atchison, 64, Bakersfield, May 21. Visitation 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. May 28, Basham Funeral Care; service 2 p.m. May 28, Bakersfield National Cemetery. Bakersfield Funeral Home.

He was pretty effective during the regular season, but Condors forward Jordan Knackstedt has been at his best during the playoffs.

Specifically, the ECHL Western Conference semifinals and finals.

MESA, Ariz. -- Cal State Bakersfield's Taylor Aikenhead pitched a complete game and faced only six batters over the minimum Thursday, helping the Roadrunners to a 4-1 victory against top-seeded Sacramento State in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament at Cubs Park.

Aikenhead (8-7) allowed seven hits, struck out two and walked one. He threw 107 pitches on the way to his seventh complete game.

An overflow crowd spilled out of a room in Mira Monte's administrative offices on Thursday afternoon, but there was more than that.

Palpable joy and pride were in that room, too, because Braxton Huggins -- who had just become Mira Monte's first Division I-bound athlete -- was celebrating his signing to play basketball for New Mexico State.

David Vidal had two of Bakersfield's 13 hits, including a three-run homer, to help the Blaze to an 8-2 victory Thursday over the Lancaster JetHawks at Sam Lynn Ballpark.

Winning pitcher Mike Dennhardt (3-2) allowed five hits and two earned runs in five innings. He struck out two. Beau Amaral had two hits and two runs, and Marquez Smith had two hits and two RBIs for the Blaze, which also had two hits apiece from Kyle Waldrop, Seth Mejias-Brean and Juan Perez.

Zach Ewing, The Californian's prep editor for the past five years, has been named sports editor, the company announced Thursday. Longtime hockey and motorsports writer Mike Griffith was named assistant sports editor.

Ewing, a native of Omaha, Neb., grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He covered Missouri football and baseball for the Columbia Missourian as an undergraduate.

Services scheduled

Sergio Fonseca Acuna, 58, Taft, May 20 in Bakersfield. Visitation 2 to 6 p.m. May 24, Lori Family Mortuary, Taft. Lori Family Mortuary, Taft.

Softball

Central Section playoffs

The Condors haven't spent much time on the ice this week.

Two games into the ECHL Western Conference finals, coach Troy Mann said rest is far more important.

The amount of oil that can be recovered from California's sprawling Monterey Shale formation using existing technology is far less than thought, according to a new federal estimate that potentially deals a blow to oil companies looking to extract the resource.

About 600 million barrels of oil can be tapped from the formation, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

It won’t cause an exodus from Kern County oil fields, but a lowering of federal expectations for petroleum production along California’s vaunted Monterey Shale may change the state’s fracking debate, which could add to its local repercussions.

Kern oilmen familiar with the difficulties of tapping the giant “source rock” underlying much of the southern Central Valley were unfazed by a report Wednesday that the U.S. Energy Information Administration believes the Monterey contains 96 percent less recoverable oil than it previously estimated.

TAFT -- All season long the Taft High softball team has overwhelmed opponents with the stellar pitching of Arizona Pilgrim and an offensive attack that averages more than 11 runs a game.

It's been an unstoppable combination and it was once again on Wednesday, as the top-seeded Wildcats easily defeated No. 5 Fresno-Washington Union 9-2 to earn a third-straight trip to the Central Section Division IV championship game.

CLOVIS -- The bases were loaded, the ball was bound for the left-field grass and the scoreboard was poised to light up on Stockdale's side.

Then -- from out of left field and into left field -- Buchanan shortstop Sienna Swain came into the picture, extending her body to all 66 of its inches to dive and rob Stockdale's Aryka Chavez of a hit. When Swain made the catch, she snatched back momentum, and eventually victory, for host Buchanan, 7-3, on Wednesday in a Central Section Division I softball playoff semifinal.

MESA, Ariz. -- Soloman Williams capped a 3-for-3 day with a game-ending RBI single down the right- field line with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday to lift Cal State Bakersfield to a 6-5 win over Seattle.

It was the opening round of the Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament.

When teams capitalize on clutch hitting, it dramatically increases their winning chances.

When teams struggle in that department, it can be a long day.

Services scheduled

Antonio Sebastian Costamagna, 73, Bakersfield, May 19. Visitation 4 to 8 p.m. May 28, Hillcrest Memorial Chapel; service 10 a.m. May 29, St. Francis Church. Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary.

Short of a technological breakthrough, the vaunted Monterey Shale oil formation underlying much of the southern Central Valley will yield no more than about 600 million barrels, or 96 percent less than previously believed, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The lower estimate, reported Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times, could be a big disappointment to Kern County's oil industry, which in recent years has attracted large investments from companies anxious to tap what the EIA had said was nearly 14 billion barrels of California shale oil.

Cal State Bakersfield should have a good idea of Seattle's strengths and weaknesses heading into today's Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament opener.

The same can be said for the Redhawks' knowledge of Bakersfield.

The ECHL announced on Tuesday that the Board of Governors has approved a request from the Las Vegas Wranglers for a voluntary suspension for the 2014-15 season.

The Wranglers were in informed in December that Boyd Gaming, the owner of the Orleans Arena where they had played the past 11 years, was not renewing their lease.

The ECHL announced on Tuesday that the Board of Governors has approved a request from the Las Vegas Wranglers for a voluntary suspension for the 2014-15 season.

The Wranglers were in informed in December that Boyd Gaming, the owner of the Orleans Arena where they had played the past 11 years, was not renewing their lease.