Thursday, June 19, 2008

Ryan Overland, Atascadero's CWS hero



That up there is Ryan Overland. He's shown in an Athlete of the Week photo taken in 2004, when Overland was a senior at Atascadero High.

Overland's now a senior at Fresno State. He homered in Tuesday's College World Series win over North Carolina, and I had a cell phone interview with him on Thursday talking about that feat and the Bulldogs' chances at a National Championship.

If Fresno State continues its Cinderella run and wins it all, that would put former San Luis Obispo County athletes on both the College World Series and Women's College World Series champs.

Arizona State's Katie Burkhart, a former SLO High star, pitched the Sun Devils to the softball title in the past month.

The unseeded Bulldogs winning the CWS would be a major coup few would have thought possible before the season or — heck — even two weeks ago. There are probably still doubters out there.

But Overland said his team is now getting a whif of what it would be like.

"The way we got here has given us a lot of confidence," the former Greyhound said. "We were in the toughest regional a lot of people were saying. Long Beach, San Diego and Cal. To go beat those teams and then go beat Arizona State, we already feel like we’ve beaten some of the best teams in the country."

To read more of what Overland had to say, CLICK HERE.

And if you didn't see it, here's the video of Overland's homer against the Tar Heels.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Ryan yea A-town power

Anonymous said...

The ride isn't over yet.

Go Fresno State.........

Anonymous said...

How does it feel to be College World Series Champs??????

Way to go Atascadero.......

Congrats to Overland on a fantastic baseball carrer from A-town to College Champs.

P.S. I'm from SLO, don't tell anyone I said anything good about an A-town player. I've got a reputation to keep.

Anonymous said...

For the record. #1 player from #1 Atascadero.

http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=8557271&nav=menu544_5

Anonymous said...

Didn't Lemmie (Earl) Miller from SLOHS play at ASU and win the College World Series in the early 80's? There were several other Central Coast ballplayers that also played in Omaha , but I don't think any of them were on championship teams. The three I'm thinking of all played at Oklahoma State during their hayday when it seemed they were there every year. Tom Keffury from A-Town, John Duvall from SLOHS and the famous Robin Ventura from Righetti. I know Duval and Ventura were there multiple years without winning it all, but they came close.

Anonymous said...

4:33 PM

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