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While the rest of the world may have been watching that other World Cup, former Cal softball superstars Valerie Arioto and Jolene Henderson propelled Team USA to gold at the World Cup of Softball.
California softball standouts Valerie Arioto (2008-12) and Jolene Henderson (2010-13) turned in dominant performances to help the U.S. Women’s National Team capture gold at the General Tire World Cup of Softball IX on Sunday in Irvine, Calif. Team USA went a perfect 7-0 at the tournament, while Canada (5-2) finished second and Chinese Taipei (4-3) took bronze. Rising sophomore Alleah Laxamana and her Philippines (RP Blu Girls) squad finished seventh with a 1-6 record.
Arioto shined among the star-studded Red, White and Blue lineup, as the USA Softball veteran turned in a 6-for-15 (.400 batting average) performance at the plate to lead Team USA with five home runs, 12 RBIs and seven runs scored through the entire tournament.
Fellow All-American Henderson logged 14.1 innings in the circle, earning credit for the wins against Venezuela and Mexico. The ace offered up only seven hits, two earned runs and a walk while striking out 10.
Look at those stats again: Arioto hit a home run on 5 of her 6 hits. That's incredible.
Gymnastics
- Cal's Ryan Patterson finished second at the South African High Performance Artistic Gymnastics National Championships, which qualifies him for a spot on the South African national team in this October's World Championships.
Baseball
- Chris Paul (no, not that Chris Paul) has been chosen to participate in the 2014 Northwoods League All-Star Game. He and six of his Cal teammates are playing in the Northwoods League this summer.
Swimming
- Olympians Rachel Bootsma and Missy Franklin are among the twelve members of the women's swimming and diving team to be named Scholar All-Americans by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Say that ten times out loud.
- Star freshman Ryan Murphy was also named a Scholar All-American by the CSCAA.
Basketball
- Jabari Bird was among 14 wing players to participate in last week's Kevin Durant Skills Academy. Bird says he received valuable advice from the reigning NBA MVP.
Football
- Pac-12 Media Days will stream free (for everyone) on Pac-12.com.
- Uncle Ted moves to special teams with the preseason position preview for kickers. Guess where Cal finished.
- ESPN's Pac-12 blog is planning the ultimate Pac-12 road trip. While they don't choose to go to Evanston for the Cal-Northwestern matchup, they did royally jinx the Bears with this statement: "Week 1 is a bit of a dud (except for when Cal goes into Northwestern and pulls off a shocker, make me a believer, Bears)"
- NFL.com ranks every FBS QB situation. Cal places 28th overall.