With the last of the winter sports wrapping up on the campus of Escalon High School, athletes and coaches have now turned their attention to the spring.
The final event of the winter campaign was a trip to the State Meet for wrestler Helena Arroyo, the senior attending the tournament this past week.
Head coach Derek Scott said Arroyo had a tough draw in her opening round, having to battle a second-place finisher from a different section on Thursday, Feb. 27 and losing in that round.
“She went 0-2 to end her (high school) career,” said Scott, adding that a match on Friday, Feb. 28 against another top ranked competitor also went in the loss column for Arroyo.
“She wrestled very hard,” Scott said. “I think it made her want to continue wrestling at the next level.”
Qualifying for the State Meet provided an opportunity for Arroyo to be seen by some college scouts, with the chance for her to possibly continue wrestling as she moves on from high school.
Turning to the spring, squads ready for action include baseball, softball, tennis, track and field, boys golf and boys volleyball.
Baseball: The varsity squad took a 5-4 win over Merced on Feb. 25 behind five strong innings from Josh Fiori, striking out eight. Logan Huebner was 3-for-3 with a double and a walk. Zach Wells came on in relief to close out the game.
Feb. 26, it was a 10-4 win over Buhach Colony. Ian Burk pitched six innings and struck out eight.
“Having a good hitting day were Ryan Murphy, Lorenzo Teixeira and Josh Fiori contributing a total of six RBI,” said head coach Gino Franceschetti.
Closing out a busy week at Livingston, it was a 7-5 loss for Escalon on Feb. 28.
“We pitched all our pitchers that didn’t pitch early in the week,” Franceschetti said, noting that there were a few too many walks issued to the Wolves. “Offensively, Logan Huebner had a three-run home run and Cole Fox was 2-for-3 with an RBI.”
The coach said the team is showing signs of playing good baseball but need to avoid mental mistakes and play clean fundamental baseball.
They are scheduled to host home games Wednesday through Friday, March 5 through 7, against Downey, Enochs and East Union.
League play starts Wednesday, March 12 at home against Sonora.
Softball: Getting their season going at the Rainbow Classic at Rainbow Fields, the Escalon varsity softball girls went 2-2 in their four games.
They beat Buhach Colony 12-11, lost to Big Valley 20-2 and Turlock 10-3, then came back to defeat Modesto High School, 12-4.
“Offensively we did well in the tournament. Genevieve Casazza pitched the majority of the innings during our four-game span,” said head coach Caitlin (Brooks) Schulte. “Madison Babasa picked up a win during the Buhach game.”
The coach said they also brought up a freshman for the tournament, Kaylynn McCutcheon, who “did a great job stepping up for us in the circle” during the win over Modesto.
For the tournament, Babasa was 5-for-9 with six runs and two stolen bases; Ari Velasco was 6-for-10 with three RBI, five runs scored and two stolen bases. Jayci Trimble went 4-for-8 with four RBI and Lizzy Allan went 4-for-9 with two doubles and a triple.
The girls will play at Riverbank on Thursday, March 6 and will host Manteca on Friday, March 7 for their first home game.
The girls open up TVL play hosting Hughson on Thursday, March 13.
Tennis: A couple of early matches went in the books as wins for the Cougars this past week, as they defeated Ripon by an 8-1 final and handled Orestimba, 7-2.
“We only lost one senior from last year, we have a well-rounded and great team this year with a lot of returners and a few new kids on our varsity team,” said head coach Julianne Eavenson. “We have five strong doubles teams and solid singles girls and boys; we feel confident with their ability to do well this season.”
Players also enjoyed a mixed doubles tournament on Saturday, featuring current players and some Cougar tennis alumni.
“We had 10 mixed teams and the top three teams were, first place Nathan Rose and Marina Franzia; second place Daniel Adams and Ella Adams; third place Landon Underwood and Kali Castellanos,” Eavenson said.
The Cougars are next scheduled to host Millennium in a Thursday, March 6 match at 3:30 p.m.
Track and Field: Head coach Arend Jones reported the track and field team will attend the San Joaquin County Meet on Friday, March 7, which will qualify athletes to take part in the Tri County Meet later this season, to be hosted at Oakdale High School. They were also to be in Oakdale on March 4 for a practice meet.
“Our first meet at Escalon’s track will be an All-League Invitational on March 19,” Jones explained. “Seven schools will come to EHS.”
Boys Golf: The Cougar golfers had a scrimmage at Chavez on Feb. 27, but didn’t get in a full nine holes due to darkness.
They were scheduled for a preseason tournament at Turlock Country Club on March 3.
“Our JV has a home match Wednesday (March 5) against Livingston and varsity has their first league tournament on Thursday (March 6) at Orestimba,” said head coach Brandon Hoover.
Boys Volleyball: Opening up with non-league action Feb. 25 against Merced, the Cougar boys fell in a 3-0 contest, 19-25, 16-25, 10-25. They then faced off with River Islands High School and battled in a 3-2 loss to the Riptide, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 18-25, 15-17.
“This is our second year having a boys volleyball program,” said head coach Shay Beam. “Last year we learned the game and had a fun season, this year we’re looking to capture a few more tallies in the win column.”
She said Merced was a talented team and proved to be too much for the Cougars but the Friday night game against River Islands was a battle.
“We came out and handled business in the first set but were just too inconsistent overall,” Beam said.
They will travel to Ripon for the league opener on Monday, March 10 and then host Orestimba on Wednesday, March 12 at 6 p.m.
