Page 14 - Mid Valley Times 3-3-22 E-Edition

Thursday, March 3, 2022 | A14 | Mid Valley TiMes
Tigers baseball drop pair to Fresno City College
By Will Goldbeck
For The Times
After one week of Cen- tral Valley Conference base- ball action, the Reedley Col- lege Tigers are looking up at three teams in the conference standings.
The 10-4 Tigers took a 1-2 conference record into a March 1 contest at Taft Col- lege. The two teams face off at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in Reedley before a 1 p.m. con- test Saturday, March 5, in Taft.
After winning the series opener at Fresno City Col- lege 4-3 on Feb. 22, the Ti-
SOCCER
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more emotions that night for Reedley’s senior forward Levy Alcantar, who scored the game’s long goal off a penalty-kick in the 59th minute. After the game, the star of Friday night’s championship victory held up a shirt bearing the image of his late father, who died last year of an unexpected illness.
“I know he was watching,” Alcantar said after the game. “He helped me take that pen- alty.”
The Pirates had played with the big boys before. In fact, as Sanger was marching through the D-II playoffs in 2020, Reed- ley was earning its stripes in the D-I playoffs but would lose a close 2-1 match against Cen- tral High, who would go on to take the title that year.
Reedley would avenge that loss this season twice-over; the first time with a 2-1 victory in the season opener on Nov. 20, and finally on Feb. 18 as the team knocked off the No. 1 seeded Bears in the quarterfi- nals of this year’s Div. I play- offs, winning 3-0. That victory propelled the Pirates, who en- tered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, to a 2-1 victory at No. 4 Clovis North in their semifinals matchup on Feb. 22.
“We knew we could compete with them,” said Velarde of his team’s upset victories over top Div. 1 schools. “And I think a huge part of that was believe, believe in the plan that we were putting together, believe in each other, and believe that if we were organized and that if we had the grit and determina- tion that we could compete with anybody. And they did that.”
gers dropped a 9-6 decision at home to the Rams on Feb. 24 and a 13-1 loss in Fresno on Feb. 26.
In the Tuesday contest, Justin Tiger’s run scoring sin- gle in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie. Koby Kropf drove in the first three runs with a two-run single in the fifth place and a solo home run in the seventh. On the mound, Jayden Jones got the win in relief of Ryan Garza, who struck out nine in six Innings.
Mike Rios hit a leadoff home run to start the Thurs- day scoring. It was the first of three hits on the day for
the Reedley High product. Ti- ger had two hits and two RBI while Nathan Padilla had a two-run single.
A seven-run first inning by Fresno City was the key on Feb. 26. The Tigers used seven pitchers in the loss.
Softball slips to .500
Reedley College will take a season record of 6-6 into a Thursday, March 3, 2 p.m. Cen- tral Valley Conference opener against Fresno City College, after losing two games in San Mateo on Feb. 26.
The Lady Tigers are sched- uled to travel to Coalinga Tuesday, March 8, to take on the Falcons in a 1 p.m. dou- bleheader. Thanks to hiring a new coach as the season be- gan, the Falcons were sched- uled to open the season with that twinbill.
With a four-game winning streak, Fresno City takes a 10-3 record into the Thursday CVC opener. The highest oth- er win-loss percentage in the conference is Taft’s .273 with a 4-12 record.
Last Saturday's action had Coach Amy Bailey’s Ti- gers drop an 11-7 decision to
Shasta and an 8-0 loss to Sac- ramento City College. Reedley was held to two hits in the Sac City contest.
Men's golf has first 'home' match this week Fans of the Reedley Col-
lege Tiger men’s golf team will finally get a chance to see the team play without driving too far when they host a Big 8 South Conference tournament on Monday, starting at noon at Kings River Golf and Country Club in Kingsburg.
The Tigers are coming off a team championship in the Van Sweet Invitational tour- nament last week in Stockton.
Arroyo 2-2, Martinez 1-2 at state
wrestling
MVT Staff Report
Dinuba's Javier Martinez and Reed- ley's Phillip Arroyo both were bounced in consolation rounds at the CIF State Wres- tling Meet in Bakers- field on Feb, 24-26.
Martinez, Central Section champion and number two seed, won his opening match by decision but then was pinned in the second round by eventual state runner-up Sam Hino- josa of Stagg-San Jose. Martinez lost 1-0 in con- solations to finish 1-2.
Arroyo went 2-2 at 145 pounds, dropping his opener by deci- sion before taking two straight wins in conso- lation including a pin. He then dropped his next match by pin.
In the girls state meet, Sanger's Ashley Schletewitz went 1-2 at 143 pounds.
GIRLS
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Mclain and freshman Abigail Cano all scored goals for the hosts.
Regional playoffs continue on March 3 and March 5.
12-0 at SHS diamond. Dinuba (1-5) dropped its third straight with a 9-7 loss at Golden West on Feb. 26 in Visalia. The Emperors will host Lem- oore Saturday, March 5, at noon and then play at
Sanger on March 9.
REEDLEY COLLEGE
A packed Sanger High cheering section looked on as Reedley High's Levy Alcantar (11) sent a header toward the net while being challenged by Sanger's Jonathan Cibrian (7) during the Feb. 25 Central Section Division I title game. The rival schools ruled Division I for 2022, with the Pirates edging the Apaches, 1-0.
With No. 2 Sanger defeating the other two Clovis schools in their Div. I playoff run (3-1 against Clovis West on Feb. 18 and a thrilling overtime victory against Clovis East on Feb. 22 with Sanger advancing on a 5-4 penalty kicks advantage) a matchup was created for the Div. I title game between per- haps one of the longest running rivalies in the Valley.
And the game lived up to the hype. The two top teams in the Valley played a back-and-forth first half that saw several shots at both goals, with Alcantar pressing much of the action.
That pressing paid off in the second half after the Pirate’s forward was fouled just inside the box, setting up a penalty kick. As Apaches’ junior goal- keeper Julian Mejia dove right, Alcantar’s kick found the back- left side of the goal.
Sanger followed with sever- al opportunities to tie the game, with four shots at goal in the fi- nal five minutes of regulation, a free-kick in stoppage time that sailed just high and a late header that was a few feet wide with time expiring.
The magnitude of the match- up was felt and appreciated on both sides, as Velarde admitted both he and Sanger coach Alex Gutierrez were excited about the game.
“We know this atmosphere. No two other teams could bring this,” Velarde expressed. “No two teams because of the prox- imity, because of the rivalry (Reedley-Sanger), the passion that both towns have for soc- cer...It was incredible to see that.”
What’s even more incred- ible is that the two teams both entered the state playoffs
on March 1 with yet another chance at competing against one another — but this time it would be for the CIF NorCal Boys Soccer title in Divsion I.
Reedley entered the NorCal state playoffs as the No. 4 seed and defeated Branham High of San Jose, 2-0. The Pirates will next play on Thursday, March 3, at No. 1 seed Whitney High of Rocklin, which edged No. 8 Redwood High of Larkspur by a 2-1 score on March 1.
Sanger entered as the No. 6 seed and traveled to Concord to takeonNo.3DeLaSalleina night game. A victory would set up a March 3 matchup against the winner between No. 2 Wat- sonville and No. 7 Modesto.
The CIF NorCal Boys Soc- cer championship game is scheduled for Saturday, March 5 at 5 p.m. with the top-seeded team hosting.
Rick Curiel / For The Times
PREPS
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BASEBALL Pirates improve to 4-0 with road win
Reedley High's base- ball team won its fourth straight game to open the season, posting an
11-7 road victory at Madera South in the Central Valley Diamond Classic on Feb. 26.
Will Gagnon picked up his second pitching victory of the season, and also drove in two runs on offense. Sammy Estalla paced the Pirates
attacking by going 3-for- 4 with three runs scored. In addition, Dustin Wang drove in three runs, Josiah Freidenberg went 2-for-4 and Darren
Ortiz belted a double. Reedley returned him to its new ballpark for a March 2 game in
Javier Martinez
Dinuba High Wrestling
Dinuba high senior Javier Martinez went 1-2 in the 285 pound class at the CIF State Wrestling tournament last weekend. The Central Section heavyweight champion posted a decision win before losing by fall to the eventual state runnerup and then being eliminated by a 1-0 decision loss.
the CVD Classic against Kerman. The Pirates then play city rival Im- manuel in a 6 p.m. CVC Classic game at The Nest (Immanuel Sports Complex). That's fol- lowed by a Wednesday, March 9 CVD game at Selma, with the tourney
finals set to be played on Saturday, March 12.
In other CVD Classic action, Sanger (3-1) suf- fered its first loss of the season by an 8-2 score against Kingsburg on Feb. 26. A day earlier, the Apaches blasted Hoover
AMVETS Post 98 Fish Fry
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Friesen
Immanuel High Girls Basketball
Junior Alli Friesen scored a game-high 26 points in a 52-49 upset of No. 3 Reedley, spurring the No. 14 seed Eagles (12-20) on a three- game win streak that reached the Division V championship game. Despite losing in the nals, Immanuel advanced
to the Northern California regional playo s as an at- large quali er.
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