Page 9 - Sanger Herald 4-4-19 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019
Mike Nemeth, sports editor
nemethfeatures@gmail.com
Williams heads to Division I program in Pennsylvania
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Playing water polo, Addison Williams dispatched other teams with ease, casting an intense gaze at her opponents and staring down goalies as she threw the ball into the back of their net.
But on Tuesday, Williams, a senior at Sanger High with one foot out the door, was all smiles. She officially signed an athletic scholarship with St. Francis University in Loretto, Penn. to continue her dominating ways in the sport.
“It’s small, but it’s nice,” she said of the college.
The Catholic college, founded in 1847, boasts
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Water polo athlete signs with St. Francis University.
of California San Diego and Fresno State.
Williams mentioned three things that led her to pick St. Francis over three of her other finalists: having a spot on the team, playing time and the coach. She said she spent a good amount of time with a couple of different players and felt she would be a good fit for the program.
Her brother Carter Williams, who graduated in 2016 and also played water polo, said she made the right decision. “I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s a newer program but Division I and the potential to be a solid program in a few years.”
Carter attended Cal Poly
for about a year and a half before taking time off to race automobiles. He said he’s been living in the United Kingdom racing in a program on the “Formula One ladder” and produced a picture of his car, No. 55.
Her Sanger High water polo coach, Hillary Boos, said, “I’m really happy for Addi. She’ll be a really good addition to St. Francis’ team.”
Bailee Poole, her teammate, said, “She’s my best friend, and I’m so proud of her. Pennsylvania is a long way away, but she’ll do great.”
Friend and fellow swimmer Alexia Beck said, “I’m very proud of her. She’s a very hard worker,
and she deserves all of this. All the hard work paid off.” Danielle Williams said her daughter made the right choice of college and
she’s very happy with it. Tyran Williams, her father, echoed his wife’s comment, adding, “It’s an incredible conference,” and she’ll be playing some
really, really good teams. “Sounds like she’ll be doing some traveling,” said Brian Penner, Sanger High athletic director. Sanger High principal Dan Chacon gave Addison high praise. “She’s been a role model here for us,” he said, mentioning her role with student government and student leadership. “She’s
part of the culture here.”
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
After the first of two games last week with Edison, student trainers iced Steven Martinez’s lower leg.
“Shin splints,” he said, referring to an injury of the connective muscle tissue surrounding the tibia. “My shins hurt, but I gotta take care of myself.”
Part of the process. But it didn’t slow Martinez down. Not even a little.
In the top of the fourth inning, Tiger Eleazar Aguirre hit the ball low but hard off a pitch from Apache Jake Harrell. Harrell had just struck out Aguirre’s teammate Guillermo Galaviz, one of 14 for the night on March 26.
Then Martinez, playing shortstop, blasted into the infield, accelerating like a modified engine after a shot of nitrous oxide. He plucked Aquirre’s drive from the air and threw the ball to Alec Flores on first for the second out. Harrell gave Martinez a slight nod, while Aguirre headed back to the dugout and his teammate, pitcher Josh Allison, walked to home plate, bat in hand.
Allison, who at that point had given up four hits for two runs, also hit the ball hard and low. But Martinez staged a repeat performance. Again, he executed the same shot- from-a-gun trifecta of sprint, grab and throw to Flores.
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Ryan Esparza steals second and tacks on third against Edison's outfield and is safe.
and was rewarded with Flores at bat. After a pitch or two, Esparza flipped on the nitrous or Red Bull or whatever and not only stole second base but third. A series of photographs showed Esparza start a leaping dive from about a dozen feet away, reaching the bag a split second before Tigers’ third baseman Michael Fung caught the ball.
Intense to say the least.
Esparza, who like Martinez earned the nickname Flash or Marvel’s version, Quicksilver, that night, said he’d never done a double steal before.
“I’ve stolen second and third,” he said, after he and his teammates had cleaned up the field and put all their gear away. “Separately. Not together.”
He wasn’t as impressed as I was. “Sort of happens every day,” Esparza said, responding to a question about the accomplishments of his team. “Today was a good day. We just have good vibes.”
The rest of that inning continued with the thrill level unabated. Flores’ subsequent single sent Esparza home. Then Nathan Padilla got up to bat, and he, too, singled.
In the top of the sixth, Harrell fanned the first two batters. The third batter, Galaviz, singled. But Aguirre, batter No. 4, got thrown out on the next play.
Again in the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Harrell, the third in Apache rotation to step up
to the plate, singled. Then Rodriguez followed with another single. Herring subsequently singled into left field, and Josiah Covarrubias, running for Harrell, slid into home plate, making it 4-0.
Esparza wasn’t done for the night and singled, sending A-Rod home. Flores, up next, singled, too, sending Herring home. Score 6-0.
“It happens,” said outfielder Alex Avalos. He mentioned he and his fellow Apaches would shoot for a repeat in the March 29 game against the Tigers. “We’ve got the pitchers. He (Harrell) could go high in the draft after college. (Harrell signed with Fresno State.) Alec, he’s a top pitcher, too.”
The Apaches made a statement again March 29, winning 12-1.
Avalos played hard that first game against Edison. He didn’t get a home run, although he said he’s more of a singles or doubles kind of player. But he played with that high energy, that intensity that appears to infuse the Apaches this year.
“It’s fun,” he said. “I mean I grew up with all these guys. We’re just working. It’s fun being out here. And why not? I may not play at the next level.”
Avalos is a senior, and this will be his final season. He and the other Apaches appear to want to make it
memorable.
enrollment of about 2,200 students and a campus that encompasses about 600 acres of historic structures and greenery. The Red Flash women’s
water polo team competes in Division I, playing teams like Harvard, Princeton, the University of Michigan and even West Coast programs like University
Apaches grab Tigers by tail, twice
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Aaron Avalos tilted his head and gave it a little shake to clear the water from his ears.
He had gone from one event to the next at the Sanger swim meet March 27 where the Apaches took on a spirited Bullard squad.
“Very exhausting, It’s my third event for the day,” he said, pausing to correct himself. “Including dive. That’s four.”
He’d just gotten out of the pool after finishing his leg of the 400 meter free relay, racing a little too fast at the outset. “I feel like I could’ve gone faster. Went way too fast in the beginning.”
Avalos, a senior, closed
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Alexia Beck on backstroke.
in on his final high school sport season like others in his class. He spent the fall in the water on the boys varsity water polo team, finishing up in a battle against Bullard’s Knights, some of whom likely competed again that same day alongside him.
Sanger again fielded a strong swim team this season and a particularly robust dive team that dive coach Holidae Vig said is one of her best in years. “I have a lot of great divers,” she said, lamenting that she just had a limited number of slots for the looming championship meet.
Vig said Avalos had been with her three years, and she said her sole female competitor Ashley Schletewitz is having a tremendous first season. “They work hard,” Vig said.
In the swim events, Sanger also performed well with senior Alexia Beck dominating in the backstroke. Beck said she pushed herself hard.
“I still went all out even though it was a dual meet,”
she said. “I prepare every day in practice.”
And she explained her process. Right before the start, she said she hyperventilates “so your body gets prepared for it.”
During the relays, the competitors swam so furiously that few took more than a couple breaths per pool length. Beck said being successful requires putting in the effort and training hard. “But you have fun,” she said. “It all comes together. I love my team. They’re all wonderful and they work hard.” Plus they’re competitive, she said.
The Bullard meet was a lead-in to the Clovis West Invitational that weekend March 30, one that senior Bailee Poole said is a big
deal. “We’re all looking forward to it,” she said.
“It’s a preview of the Valley championship,” Beck said.
Zack Stricker, another senior, said he’s planning to coach next year. He said he plans to head to Reedley College and then likely Fresno State, majoring in kinesiology. As for the team, he said, “We’re very competitive. We have a lot of really good natural talent that I think can take this team to a really good level.”
One of those up and comers is Dom Jones, who played on the junior varsity water polo team last year. Jones competed in dive and swim events. “It’s a good way to stay fit for water polo,” he said. “This team is well-rounded. They’re very
friendly. They motivate me.”
Abby Ellis, a sophomore and varsity water polo player, said she enjoys the 500 meter free. “It’s one of my favorite events,” she said. “I tend to not kick, just use my upper body. It’s a mental race.”
She said she wanted to sprint it, despite the distance. “And I did,” she said, still out of breath. “I got a personal record by about a second.”
However, at a previous meet, she had shaved a lot more from her personal best. Like many on the team, she started in the Sanger Seals, a recreational team. Ellis then had to prepare for another race. She was the anchor on the team’s 200 freestyle relay.
Three up, three down.
Sanger’s varsity baseball team, 12-2 overall, won the game by shutout, 6-0. Martinez doubled in the bottom of the fourth and stole third. He didn’t score because Allison struck out Harrell in the next at-bat for the third out.
“That’s the third shutout in a row,” coach David Cuellar said after the game. “We’ve tacked on, on average, 10 or more hits per game the last couple of weeks.There’saconfidence that we can get the hits, steal the bases.
“Hitting is so mental. It’s contagious when people put the ball into play.”
Cuellar said his two pitchers, Harrell and Flores, have helped raise his team’s performance with their substantive skills on the mound. And when asked to comment on his
shortstop’s contribution, he said, “You make plays like that, and that tells the pitcher, ‘I can do anything.’”
Flores acknowledged as much earlier in the season, saying he knows his team has his back when he’s on the mound. He engineered the 8-6 win against San Joaquin Memorial on March 15 despite every attempt by the Panthers to derail his concentration.
“Our defense plays a huge role, a major role,” Martinez said. “Our defense and our offense make our pitching much more comfortable.”
And if Neil Greenberg’s assessment is correct that the importance of the pitcher, catcher and batter continues to increase in the major league, the already high responsibility felt by Harrell, Flores and catcher Darrin Herring could grow,
by extension, as the game evolves. Greenberg, who writes for the Fancy Stats blog and the Washington Post, said that more than a third of all major league plate appearances end in a home run, walk or strikeout, “the highest rate of all time.”
But that’s the majors. The Apaches provided ample excitement on the field.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Sanger turned on the fireworks. Ryan Esparza singled. He was third in the rotation that inning, and Sanger already had two outs. Alex Rodriguez had been thrown out, and Herring hit the ball deep into center field where it was caught.
Edison’s coach, Cliff Rold, pulled Allison at that point in the game and had him switch with Diego Munoz. Munoz warmed up
Swim & dive teams tame the water in quest for bigger, better