Palomar College Athletics

One former H-DNL athlete played for a state championship this past weekend, while another will do so next weekend.

Former Del Norte Warrior Josephine Heuberger made it all the way to the California JC softball championship game with Palomar on Sunday, where the Comets fell 7-4 to San Mateo.

And former Eureka Logger Jackson Giacone will play for a state championship in baseball after qualifying for the four-team event with Mt. San Antonio.

Heuberger finished 1-for-4 and scored one of her team’s runs in the final loss.

Palomar was one of eight teams to make it to the state tournament, and after dropping their opening game to San Mateo on Thursday, the Comets won four straight elimination games on Friday and Saturday to make it to Sunday’s championship game.

The Palomar women defeated Modesto (3-1), West Valley (9-0), El Camino (4-1) and Yuba (10-1).

Heuberger hit successfully in four of the six tournament games with her best two performances coming in Saturday’s elimination games.

She finished 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and three RBIs against El Camino, and followed that later in the day with two more hits and three more RBIs against Yuba, including a home run.

For the season, Heuberger started 48 games for the Comets and batted a very impressive .424.

Palomar College Athletics

She scored 52 runs, which was second best on the team, and had eight triples, eight doubles and three home runs.

Heuberger also had 45 RBIs.

The high-flying Comets finished the season 44-5 overall and went 15-0 on the way to winning the Pacific Coast Conference.

Giacone and the Mounties, meanwhile, have won seven of eight playoff games this month to qualify for the upcoming state tournament, which gets under way on Saturday.

Submitted photo – Jackson Giacone in action for the Mounties this spring.

They took a pair of games against Glendale in the regional finals over the weekend, winning 14-2 and 9-8 in 10 innings.

Giacone, who graduated from Eureka High in 2022 and also has played for the Humboldt Crabs, was 1-for-5 with a double and five RBIs in the opening game against Glendale.

He walked twice and scored two runs in the extra-innings win.

For the season, Giacone is hitting .230 with seven doubles, two home runs and 31 RBIs.

He also has eight stolen bases on nine attempts.

The Mounties are 42-6 overall this year and they went 22-2 on the way to winning the South Coast Conference.

Mt. SAC opens the four-team state tournament against Sierra (33-14).