Sports

Matteya Raffelson competes in 4-H junior showmanship with Bandelero Bey during the 4-H/FFA Horse Show at the Lassen County Fairgrounds Saturday, June 1.  Photo by Maddie Musante

The winning teams in horse judging and hippology pose together with their awards at the 4-H educational expo Sunday, June 2.  Photo submitted

June 7 — Young riders from all over California and Nevada and their horses traveled to the Lassen County Fairgrounds Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2 for a horse show and educational expo put on by local 4-H and FFA programs.

Sandy Raffelson, local representative of Bald Mountain 4-H and the Lassen County horse project, put together the show with the help of Shauna Bond, who organized Sunday’s educational expo. The show was a qualifier for the California State Fair and California 4-H Classic. According to Raffelson, many past Lassen County winners have gone on to compete at the state fair and win in their age group and other events.

On Saturday, participants competed in showmanship, riding classes and gymkhana. The top three participants in each class received ribbons and many more awards were given out.

While the horse show is in its 11th year, last year was the first time the educational expo on Sunday was added, and it has been considered a huge success. The expo consists of horse judging, horse hippology, educational boards and I.D. tables. 

The Lassen County Hoof Beats’ junior and senior teams, which include 4-H members from all over the county, won first place in both judging and hippology. The Hi Sierra Riders’ junior and senior teams, from Washoe County, took second place in judging and hippology.

High point awards were given out for the horse show and gymkhana and included halter classes, showmanship, English, Western, trail and six speed events.

Matteya Raffelson was the high point buckle winner in junior 4-H. Dyllan Bond was the reserve high point winner.

In senior 4-H, Trini Suarez was the high point buckle winner and Allison Welling was the reserve high point winner.

Kerston Fletcher was the high point buckle winner for FFA, while Clareissa Barr was the reserve high point winner.

Raffelson described it as a wonderful day. “This show and educational day could not be possible without all my Susanville and Reno sponsors, parents, friends and family volunteers. It’s all about the kids, nothing more, nothing less,” she said.

June 6 — Lassen High School will be holding a youth basketball camp called Camp Grizz between 12 and 5 p.m. Monday, June 17 through Thursday, June 20 for boys and girls ages 8 to 15.

Campers will be placed with a trained camp counselor on teams of no more than 10 players. Counselors will provide constant supervision and act as a positive role model to all campers.

According to the camp’s brochure, “(The camp and its directors) believe sports are a valuable part of life, in which many life skills can be taught and reinforced in a fun and meaningful way. Our first priority is to provide a positive experience in which campers are taught teamwork, conflict resolution skills and individual responsibility. We promote physical activity and encourage a healthy lifestyle through participation in sports. We provide in-depth instruction in the fundamentals of basketball. Camps will provide opportunities to improve and to compete at higher levels.”

Campers should bring appropriate athletic attire, comfortable, non-marking basketball shoes, a water bottle, snack and basketball.

The camp will be broken up into two age groups: 8-11 and 12-15. The older group will be at Lassen Community College, while the younger group will be at Lassen High School’s big gym.

Player drop-off begins 30 minutes before the start of camp.

Players are encouraged to sign-up early, but may sign-up the day of camp.

For more information, email or call camp director, Dorinda Schaffer, at dshaffer@lassencollege.edu or 260-3706.

The Lassen High School varsity softball team and its coaches pose together outside of the Susanville Pizza Factory after celebrating the season with an awards ceremony Wednesday, May 29. Photo by Maddie Musante

June 5 — The Lassen High School varsity softball team came together for a fun night of pizza, awards and reminiscing over memories from this year’s championship season on Wednesday, May 29 at the Susanville Pizza Factory.

The Lady Grizzlies won the league title this year, for the first time since 2009, and ended their season with an impressive 10-2 league record.

The evening began with pizza and drinks, as the Lady Grizzlies softball team and their parents laughed and talked about the softball season and plans for the summer ahead.

Head coach Paul Moore soon began the awards part of the evening by announcing and honoring his assistant coaches and those who have supported the Lassen High School softball program. Moore, along with coaches Kase Camacho and Greg Dickerson, then presented the players with awards, each sharing personal stories from the season and introducing each player with praise and admiration.

Kelsey Pinneo was given the coaches’ award. As she was called up to receive the award, Dickerson explained, “there isn’t anyone on this team who works harder.” Lindsay Northrop also received a coaches’ award.

Abbi Scheff was then called up to receive the Lady Grizz award. Laken Cagle was awarded best offensive player. The award for most outstanding player was a tie between Taylor Knecht and Kennedy Ford.

Cagle also received all-league honorable mention and was elected player of the year by MaxPreps.com. Jacqui Smith was awarded all league and Moore described her as a player who, “put in the time and did the extra things.” Northrop was also awarded with an all-league honor. Knect and Ford got all-league awards by a unanimous decision, meaning that every coach in the league, except for Moore who wasn’t allowed to vote for his own players, voted for them.

The Lady Grizzlies then took the opportunity to say thank you to their coaches by presenting each coach with a signed card from the team and a framed photo collage. The team also made Moore a purple, black and gold canvas printed with memories and slogans from the softball season.

Moore and the team are already looking forward to next year’s season and are planning to raise funds to attend an elite softball tournament in Orange County next spring.

Despite low lake levels, boats are still able to launch at Eagle Lake. Forest Service personnel were at the lake over Memorial Day weekend to help boaters launch in the deep water and Eagle Lake staff used an electric car to drive people between the parking lot and boat launch area. Photo submitted

June 4 — For the first time in three years, Eagle Lake has not seen snow on Memorial Day weekend and campers, anglers and boaters took full advantage of the spring-like weather. Eagle Lake opened its fishing season Saturday, May 28, much to the delight of local and traveling fishermen. Despite the lake level being substantially low, boats were still able to launch from the ramp at Eagle Lake’s marina, allowing them the opportunity to reel in fish and enjoy sunny days on the water.

According to Scott McCullough, manager at the Eagle Lake campgrounds, the campgrounds were mostly full all weekend. Reservation campgrounds were 90 percent full before the start of the weekend and still saw walk-ins.

A weather system appeared to be moving in later in the weekend, making conditions windy, but that didn’t stop boats from launching or fish from being caught. People were catching fish on the lake all weekend, regardless of what fishing method they chose to use. “Fish are all over in the water,” McCullough said.

Forest Service personnel were at Eagle Lake all weekend helping people find parking and assisting with boating launches, as well as helping boaters coming back in to the marina. “They stayed most of the day, until the parking lot was almost empty,” McCullough said. “They did a great job out here helping us help the fishermen.”

The marina also used an electric car to shuttle boaters to their cars from the boat ramp. Since the parking lots were so full, McCullough said they didn’t want people to have to walk so far after launching a boat.

Due to the low water level, boaters could not use the marina’s slips. However, according to McCullough, the majority of campers just tied up their boats to the shore.

Overall, opening weekend was a huge success. The Eagle Lake Recreation Area is looking forward to seeing and serving campers, boaters and fishermen until the season ends.

The Eagle Lake Recreation Area is managed by the Lassen College Foundation under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service, Lassen National Forest.

For more information on Eagle Lake, visit eaglelakerecreationarea.com.