Stanislaus-area athletes make their dreams come true at 2023 National Signing Day

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The early signing period for every sport besides football began Wednesday, Nov. 8, with the first national signing day for the high school class of 2024. A number of Stanislaus District athletes signed letters of intent to NCAA Division I, II and III, as well as NAIA schools.

In the Mark Gallo Health and Fitness Center at Central Catholic High School, Adrian Garcia and TP Wentworth signed to play Division I baseball and Miranda Temple signed to play Division I softball.

Temple missed her junior season with a knee injury, but her pedigree on the travel ball circuit and in her first two high school seasons at Enochs High earned her a scholarship offer from Cal, where she signed Wednesday. She is looking forward to finishing her high school career on the field.

Garcia is heading to Fresno State next season. He was one of the Raiders’ aces last season. In the Division III section championship game against Pioneer, Garcia lined a single down the third base line in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walk-off win.

He finished third on the team in RBI (28) and had a .311 batting average. On the mound, he went 7-2 in 13 appearances with a 2.27 ERA and 89 strikeouts.

Wentworth and Garcia helped lead the Raiders to section and NorCal championships last season.

Wentworth is a three-sport athlete: quarterback on the football team, a post player on the basketball team and one of the top baseball recruits in the nation. He signed to play at Clemson.

An outfielder and pitcher on the diamond, Wentworth led the Raiders with a 9-0 record, a 1.29 ERA, 115 strikeouts and threw a pair of no-hitters. At the plate, he was seventh in the section in home runs (6). He also finished tied for first with 38 runs scored and second in hits.

At Enochs High, soccer player Hayden Crotty-Romero, baseball player Kannon Sharpe and softball player Natalie Camarena signed.

Crotty-Romero signed to play for Fresno State. As a junior, the first-team all-CCAL selection scored 22 goals for the Eagles in 18 games. She helped Enochs finish second in the league.

Sharpe was one of the best pitchers in the CCAL last season. He finished third in the league in ERA (1.38) and second in strikeouts (85). He will attend the University of San Francisco.

Like Sharpe, Cal Poly-bound Camarena was one of the best pitchers in the CCAL. In her junior season, the ace led Enochs to a perfect 15-0 league record and a 20-3 overall record. She finished 13th in the section in wins, led the team with a .516 batting average and had 32 hits and 25 RBI, also team highs.

At Escalon High school, three-sport athlete Macie Vickers signed to play softball at Nebraska. Vickers has won section titles in volleyball and league titles in basketball and has made the postseason as a softball player. She has also been named to The Bee’s All-District Girls Basketball team.

In her junior softball season, the catcher was 15th in the section in batting average (.605), 15th in slugging percentage (1.075) and 10th in on-base percentage (.667). She finished the season with 32 hits and four home runs.

Downey High soccer player Caroline Souza is the third Souza daughter to sign a college soccer scholarship. The first-team all-league forward signed to play at Chico State.

One of her older sisters, Abigail, graduated from Downey in 2022 and currently plays at Nevada. The other, Hannah, a 2017 Downey grad, played five seasons for the Wolfpack.

As a junior, Caroline scored 14 goals in 14 games for the Knights.

Ripon High pitcher Kharime Caratachea signed to San Francisco State. She finished her junior season with a 10-1 record and a 1.48 ERA in 16 appearances. This past summer, she won a PGF Premiere 16u softball national championship.

Oakdale soccer player and The Bee’s 2023 Soccer Player of the Year, Kyndra Obermeyer, will play her next four years at Stanislaus State.

Ripon Christian volleyball players Jordan Vander Veen (Concordia University, Irvine) and Sydney Hoffman (Stanislaus State) signed as well.

Turlock High’s Clark Van Gaalen, one of the best prep golfers in the country, signed to continue his career at Oklahoma.

At Pitman High, a number of athletes will sign in the coming days:

Blayne Siebert- UC Davis track and field

Lilly Rodriguez- San Jose State women’s soccer

Madison Rosebrough – Stanislaus State softball

Rylee Reeves- UC Davis softball

Ella Underwood- Menlo College softball

Ella Sniezek- UC Santa Cruz women’s volleyball