Action on many fronts was featured during the past week for Escalon High School athletes. The Cougars took part in league contests in several sports, while the TVL Relays for track and field were hosted at Engel Field. Following is a recap for the various teams.
BASEBALL
Hosting Hilmar on Wednesday, Escalon’s varsity baseball boys took a 2-0 win; Friday they played at Hilmar and lost a 7-3 decision.
The Wednesday game was moved to Escalon from Hilmar due to poor field conditions at Hilmar and Josh Fiori used home field to his advantage, allowing no walks, striking out 11 and giving up just a couple of hits in the victory.
Logan Huebner was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Dylan Ball was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk in the win.
Friday, on the road, head coach Gino Franceschetti said the Cougars took the loss and it was a “pretty heated, intense” game between the squads.
“We had a few opportunities to win the game but we were not able to execute,” the coach said. “Hilmar capitalized on a bad pitching outing from us. Hopefully this loss will humble us and get us back to playing team baseball.”
Huebner had a home run, Ryan Murphy notched a double and Ben Gonzalez had a single in the contest.
At the JV level, Hilmar took a 9-7 win on Wednesday in Escalon while Escalon returned the favor and got a 7-4 win at Hilmar on Friday.
“Wednesday we struggled a bit with the little things; six errors turned in to seven unearned runs,” said JV head coach Carlos Herrera. “But, something I love about this team is their grit. They never give up; they never feel they are out of a game. We battled back to get the winning run to the plate but came up short.”
Aiden Ramirez got the start in Hilmar on Friday, said the coach. Escalon had seven runs on nine hits, while Hilmar had four runs on seven hits.
“We played Escalon baseball; we threw strikes, hit the baseball and collected outs,” Herrera said. “Aiden pitched outstanding; we had some rough patches, but we battled out of it. Very proud of this team.”
SOFTBALL
Escalon’s varsity girls lost in a shutout to visiting Ripon, 7-0, in Trans-Valley League play on Thursday, March 20.
“Despite our loss, our freshman Kaylynn McCutcheon pitched a great game for us,” said head coach Caitlin Schulte. “She had six strikeouts, no walks and limited Ripon to just two earned runs.”
Offensively, the Lady Cougars struggled at the plate and were unable to cash in on a couple of run-scoring opportunities. Madi Babasa, Lizzy Allan and Ari Velasco had one hit apiece.
They had a make-up game with Hughson on Friday, March 21 in Escalon and fell in that game by a 9-4 final.
Babasa was 3-for-4, Velasco and Jessy Kesler each had a hit and an RBI. McCutcheon was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Velasco had three stolen bases.
“Defensively, we had six errors, which was the difference maker in the game,” Schulte said.
The girls are scheduled to be back on the home field March 27, hosting Sonora.
“We have been really focusing on situational hitting and going up to the plate with a plan,” the coach explained. “Making adjustments each at bat to change our focus from hitting as an individual to hitting for our teammates.”
The JV girls took losses to Ripon and Hughson in TVL action.
They fell 18-5 to Ripon on Thursday.
“We struggled to hold the Lady Indians back from scoring early,” said coach Lexy Underwood. “Offensively we were very patient at the plate but it wasn’t enough.”
Mia Bracamontes, Tyliann Hollback and Mylah Lehman had one hit each while Holley Oliver and Riley Miranda had two walks apiece. Brooklyn Dugo, Miranda and Oliver each drove in a run.
Against Hughson, it was a similar outcome, as the JV girls fell to the visiting Lady Huskies. Bracamontes struck out five and walked five in the loss, going the distance. Underwood said the JV girls played strong defense early but had a tough day at the plate.
Miranda had two runs batted in, Kristina Mendoza had two hits.
“We know what we need to work on in practice and are hoping for a turnaround in the next few games,” said Underwood.
TRACK AND FIELD
All Trans-Valley League teams gathered for the TVL Relays on Wednesday, hosted by Escalon at the track and field complex inside Engel Field. Riverbank athletes also attended.
“The stadium was full with fans and all the teams; between 500 and 600 athletes competed during the meet, and they competed in groups of four for points in each event,” explained head coach Arend Jones.
In the varsity boys division, Ripon dominated the competition.
“Escalon’s throwers managed first place in discus; seniors Nathan Belletto, Nicholas Fernandez scoring second and third, and sophomores Caleb Boatman and Jaecy Aldasoro scoring seventh and 12th, all four throwing over 100 feet,” Jones said.
Escalon’s varsity girls just missed out on a first place showing, beat out by Hilmar by one point.
“The girls dominated in the field events, placing first in three of six events and the other three placing second.”
Junior Gloria Segura was second in shot put, junior Marissa Terry was fourth in discus. Sophomore Rachelle Barker was fourth in high jump, junior Annabelle Armstrong was fourth in the pole vault, while senior Alondra Gonzalez was sixth in long jump and sophomore Emilia Jimenez scored sixth in triple jump.
“On Friday, some of the distance runners went to Dublin for the largest distance track meet in the nation,” the coach said. “A number of Escalon’s athletes placed in the top three of their heats, earning a coveted T-shirt.”
The coach added that the two-day meet has the slower runners compete on Friday and faster runners on Saturday.
“Senior Nate Millard left on Friday evening with the best 1600-meter time of the day, improving his best time along with moving him up in Escalon’s school records of best times,” Jones pointed out.
The team goes to Sonora for the first league dual meet on Thursday, March 27 and Escalon qualifiers from earlier in the season will go to the County Clash being hosted Friday, March 28 at Oakdale High School.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Two Trans-Valley League victories and a non-league loss made for a busy week for the varsity volleyball boys.
“We took care of business against both Riverbank and Hilmar, winning both matches in three sets,” explained head coach Shay Beam.
They were at Riverbank on March 17, hosted Hilmar on March 19 and then welcomed Beyer to the Cougar Dome on Thursday, March 20.
At Riverbank, it was a 25-22, 25-13, 25-9 sweep for the Cougars. They battled Hilmar on Wednesday night, winning 25-15, 26-24, 25-15.
“Against Riverbank our middles dominated on offense,” Beam said. “Preston Berhorst had 10 kills and Danny Gonzalez had eight. Setter Ben Ferreira had 18 assists, four aces and one block. Mikie Lourenco did well at the net as well with three blocks.”
Berhorst had another 10-kill night on Wednesday against Hilmar, Ferreira added seven.
“All around the boys had a fun two matches Monday and Wednesday,” Beam noted. “We knew Thursday against Beyer would be a faster paced game.”
Beyer came in with a 12-6 record and got the better of the Cougars, 25-16, 25-16, 23-25, 25-10.
“We hung in during sets one and two and managed to take a set off them in set three,” said the coach. “We lost in four sets but the boys had fun and got better this week.”
Berhorst had five blocks and six kills against Beyer; Aydun Melo had 14 digs, Carson Medina had nine kills and seven digs.
“He was an aggressive player at the net and that’s what we need against a good team,” Beam said of Medina.
The JV boys took a straight sets win over Beyer on Thursday, 25-11, 25-23.
“Ryder Killingsworth led us with seven aces, Noah Martin had three kills,” said head coach Alyssa Cogburn, adding that Nathan Green had a block and Ezra Rameno had seven digs. “Our record is 3-3 and we are getting better each week.”
TENNIS
Escalon notched two wins in three Trans-Valley League matches this past week.
The team opened up with a 5-4 loss to Ripon Christian on the home court Tuesday, March 18 but regrouped and handed Hughson a 7-2 loss on Wednesday. Then they went to Ripon for Friday action and won that contest by a 6-3 decision.
Against Ripon, wins came in boys singles, boys doubles, girls number one doubles and mixed doubles.
Against Hughson, boys singles and girls number one singles got wins, as did the boys doubles, girls number one doubles and mixed doubles.
Notching wins in the RC match were boys number one singles, the boys number two doubles, and the girls doubles teams.
“Nathan Rose, our number one singles, beat the number one from RC (March 18), which was a huge win for him,” said head coach Julianne Eavenson.
GOLF
The latest TVL match was hosted by Sonora at Teleli Golf Course. Escalon, with a team score of 547, came in sixth. Leading the way was Brenden Berchtold with an 89, followed by Dominic Arauza with a 99. Donovan Martinez carded a 103, Matix Trimble a 105 and Ethan Tellez a 151.
“We ended up taking sixth place as a team because we had a player get disqualified due to a rules violation,” said head coach Brandon Hoover. “We would’ve finished much high as a team if not for that. Brenden took 16th out of 44 players. He’s not far off from consistently placing in the top 10.”
First year players Arauza and Martinez had their best rounds of the season, as did Trimble.
The JV golf team beat Sonora on Thursday at Escalon Golf Course, with Luke Gutierrez and George Harding having the best rounds of the match.
