In a busy week of action, Escalon’s golf girls carded a pair of victories in match play and took on the Yellowjacket Invitational at Micke Grove.
“We had the 18-hole tournament on Monday (Sept. 14) and a match on Tuesday and Thursday,” said head coach Kristie Cathcart.
The Monday tournament at Micke Grove was on a par 72 course and Escalon’s team score of 430 placed them sixth out of 15 competing teams.
“We could only take five girls,” Cathcart explained. “All five girls play and then you take the top four lowest scores to get the team score.”
Turning in identical scores of 100 were Madison Kindberg and Angelica Fernandez, followed by Mary Adams with 114, Shelby McCune at 116 and Kristen Gutierrez at 128.
“The winning team was Lincoln of Stockton with a team score of 342. One of their players had the low score of 71,” noted Cathcart. “I was very happy with our girls. Madi and Angelica had played the course last year and both improved/lowered their scores. The other three girls had never played in an 18-hole tournament.
“We will have at least two more tournaments at Micke Grove, so this was a nice way to get the girls some experience on the course.
Tuesday the Lady Cougars hosted Calaveras at the Escalon course and had a strong outing, shooting a team 171 to the 190 carded by Calaveras to put the match in the win column.
Kindberg paced the team with a 36, followed by Adams with a 43. Fernandez shot a 45 on the day, McCune carded a 47, Ellie Cunningham had a 51 and Gutierrez shot a 53.
“Although our score was higher than previous matches this was a great victory,” said Cathcart. “I grew up with Calaveras being a huge rival, so it is always nice to beat them. Their low score was 44. One of their girls had been evacuated due to the fire, but still came and played. One of our parents, Mrs. Kindberg, even made dinner for both teams.
Thursday hosting Bret Harte, the host Escalon team escaped with a two-stroke win, 168-170.
Kindberg and Fernandez were tied atop the leaderboard with rounds of 40, followed by McCune turning in a 41, Gutierrez with a 47, Adams at 49 and Cunningham with a 52.
“Personally this was a bittersweet victory since my dad is the coach of Bret Harte,” Cathcart admitted. “He has helped me a lot, giving me advice and pointers where needed.”
With the wins this week in league play, Escalon’s league record now stands at 4-2 and the Lady Cougars are 5-2 overall.
“We finish our first round of league this week with Ripon at home on Tuesday,” Cathcart said of the Sept. 22 match, played after The Times went to press. “Because of the construction on the course we changed all of our away matches so we could get them done before October. The second round we will be on the road for every match. We will play some very challenging courses. Although most of the courses are pretty wide open they have longer holes and hills that we are not used to.”
That will make the second half of league play a bit more difficult, but Cathcart said the team is working hard and will be ready to head out on the road.
Meanwhile, the younger players will also see some action.
“Our JV team will have their first match on Monday against Hughson and Livingston. Last year we were able to get one match, this year they will get to play in five matches,” the coach noted.
