Page 8 - Sanger Herald e-Edition 5-16-19

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019
Mike Nemeth, editor
nemethfeatures@gmail.com
Softball ends season in the CIF quarter finals
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
At the top of the sixth inning, Monache’s softball team trailed 3-1.
The Marauders still had a chance. Statistically. But Sanger pitcher Emily Fortaney had already struck out one batter and the outfield caught a ball from another, leaving Monache’s hopes for a turnaround of the May 7 playoff game on its next batter, senior Cieanna Correa.
Correa got a hit, a bouncing chopper that appeared it would disappear nicely between Apache defenders into center field. But Alyssa Montejano playing second base made one of the best plays of the game to change that scenario. Although the ball looked as if it had clear sailing, it didn’t. Montejano quickly sidestepped, dived sideways and somehow extended her glove, covering the distance using
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Catcher Katelyn Estep receives a strike from pitcher Emily Fortaney against Monache.
Interscholastic Federation Central Section Division II championship game. This manifested despite some extremely passionate fans who dominated the stadium seats and even camped out in the outfield behind the fence. (Shoutout to Candy Delfin and Breanna Barajas.)
And the Marauders topped the Apaches again this year at the Tulare Union Easter Tournament by a score of 7-2.
“Whenever we play a team a second time, we improve,” coach Erica Pennington said. “We held them the whole time. Really good for us.”
Pennington said her girls had to adjust to the slower pitches thrown by Monache. “That off-speed pitching is not our favorite,” she said.
Fortaney said working with catcher Katelyn Estep, who is a close friend, really helped her throw the right pitches for each batter. Estep said she uses facial expressions to telegraph
the signal.
“We looked good on
defense and offense,” Estep said. “It’s going to be harder, but we just have to push on.”
No. 8 seed Sanger advanced but lost in the quarter final to No. 1 Kingsburg on May 9. Score was 5-0.
The Monache win provided some vindication. Sanger continued to improve over the season, showcasing the skills of some very talented players. With just three seniors, Mata, Fortaney and Danessa Castro, the team should stay relatively intact for next year.
“It’s great we finally came together,” said Janiece Gallardo, a freshman. “We all just got along and cheered for each other.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Vern Summers leaned on the fence just beside the Apache dugout, watching Sanger take on rival El Diamonte from Visalia in the California Interscholastic Federation Central Section Division II playoff quarter final.
Summers had a stake in the outcome. Sort of. He played on the 1950 Apache baseball team, considered the most accomplished in school history. The 1950 Apaches won the North Sequoia League with a perfect 6-0 record that year and won the Central Section Sequoia Division Championship. The Apaches hosted Visalia High in the championship, entering in the ninth inning tied 8-8.
“The Apaches pulled out the win in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth when Swede Johnson drove in Bill Krider with the winning run,” said the entry in this year’s Sanger Athletic Hall of Fame program. The 1950 team
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
was inducted May 4. A day later Johnson died.
Sanger wants a repeat this year. Wants it bad. And that desire registered strongly in the May 10 home playoff game against the Miners, which the Apaches won 6-3. Despite El Diamonte’s Angel Valdez scoring in the top of the first inning off teammate Parker Boswell’s double, Sanger had a swift response.
Alex Avalos blasted a triple to lead off for the Apaches in the bottom of the first. He ran home on a play by the next batter, Steven “the wizard” Martinez, to tie the score.
“Win every inning,” assistant coach Sam Bejeckian said at the end of the first, with no more scores. “Good job.”
El Diamonte scored again in the second with Cole Yashida finding home plate. But the 2-1 lead was the Miners’ last. Sanger blew it out in the bottom of the second.
“I’ll tell you what, I like
every millimeter of her body.
She caught the ball and tossed it to Maddy Mata without missing a step. Mata got the out.
The play ended the inning for the Marauders and likely killed any momentum they had to win a game that
had been dominated by the Apaches on their home field.
Montejano said she just felt she could get that ball. “We practice most of those plays,” she said after the game. “And she (Mata) does it the other way around.”
Montejano said prior to
that play, she was a little worried. A little. And the win? “If feels good,” she said.
Sanger has history with Monache. The Porterville team beat the Apaches at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond two years earlier, 6-1, in the California
Baseball wins redemption vs. El D
Sanger lead batter Alex Avalos slides into third. He started off with a triple in the bottom of the first to set the tone.
See Baseball, Page 2B Volleyball team loses a heartbreaker to Clovis in semi final
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Coach Scott Okada hugged many of his varsity volleyball players and offered encouragement as they left the classroom that serves as a temporary locker room.
“You’re good,” he said. “You’re good.”
His Apaches had just lost a hard-fought playoff match against a very physical and high-jumping Clovis team 3-1 on May 7 in the Coach Dean Nicholson Gym at Sanger High. Sanger, the No. 2 seed, faced a very motivated Clovis High squad, seeded No. 3, in the semi-final of the California Interscholastic Federation Central Section Division I Championships series.
Clovis faced No. 4 Clovis East in the final May 10 and won 3-1. The Timberwolves beat No. 1 Clovis North in
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Kennedy Navo airwalks his way to delivering the ball.
and the very big contingent of fans and fellow students from Clovis flooded the gym floor. “We had a hiccup in game three. (But) once we get momentum going, it drives me to play harder. I love it when the crowd’s loud.”
Many of those in the stands cheered Sanger, standing and yelling so long and loud that some lost their voices by the end of the night. And the Apaches fought until the end, trading the lead back and forth in the fourth and final set.
“That was a good game,” Eduardo Martinez, associate superintendent of Sanger Unified, said afterward.
Definitely.
“We loved the crowd,” Grant Harrison said. “Coaches said, ‘That’s the loudest we ever heard the gym.’”
Harrison, a junior, got the “Next year, it’s your time” from Okada. But that moment he and the other younger Apaches didn’t worry so much about the upcoming season. “We’re bringing back a lot of guys,” he said. “Our seniors helped build chemistry, and that will last.”
Setter and senior John Her had walked up to Harrison and said, “You got next year.”
Her said he’s headed to Fresno State and will likely major in psychology. “I’ll probably come back to coach,” he said. “Help the guys out until we win that Valley championship.”
Sophomore Aaron Ly said Clovis was good. “We did our best,” he said. “Next year, for sure. It’s not over.”
Sanger split the regular season games with rival Clovis, and both times the match went to five games.
Clovis had the height. While Hawkins delivered one kill after another, the Cougars’ front line had the ability to leap and block a high percentage of what the Apaches delivered, or tried, to the Clovis side of the net. With Hawkins was 6-foot- 3 junior Samuel Johnson, 6-foot-3 sophomore Harmeet Kang and 6-foot-2 junior Grant Lake.
They frequently lined up and deflected whatever Apaches Harrison, Aidyn Jalao, Jesus Gomez, Brennan Taylor, Ethan Ly or Kennedy Navo sent their way.
Ethan Ly, a junior, slipped on a black hoodie bearing a Playboy bunny logo before heading out to cheering fans after the game. The crowd waited around until the team emptied the classroom locker. Ly said
See Volleyball, Page 2B
five games the same night Sanger lost.
The Apaches battled, but the Cougars, led by 6-foot- 5 junior David Hawkins,
delivered a response for nearly every tactic they dished out. “Sanger’s tough,” Hawkins said as teammates embraced him