(Editor's note: The softball girls won their Tuesday afternoon semifinal game on the road at Sutter - played after print press time for The Times - and advance to the Section final in Division 5; they will face Casa Roble at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23 at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.)
Escalon varsity softball, baseball and the track and field team continued on past the regular season into postseason play and all saw action this past week. Here is a look at how the teams did.
SOFTBALL
Opening up their Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 playoff schedule at home, the varsity softball Lady Cougars hosted Woodland Christian on Wednesday, May 13.
It was an overwhelming victory for Escalon, as they shut out the visitors by an 11-0 final, winning in four-and-a-half innings via the 10-run rule.
Escalon scored two runs in the first, added five more in the second and broke it open in the third with four more runs to lead it 11-0. The mercy rule came into effect after the visiting Cardinals failed to score in the top of the fifth. Woodland Christian had two hits on the day and also committed two errors. Escalon rapped out 10 hits and played cleanly in the field.
The Lady Cougars went into the playoffs as the number seven seed in D5, getting the opportunity to host the No. 10 Woodland Christian team.
Ari Velasco had two triples, drove in three runs and scored two to lead the offensive attack. Addy Lopez had a hit, drove in three runs and scored, while Madi Babasa had double, an RBI and scored two runs. Also adding hits were Jessy-Lynn Kesler, Peyton Merrill, Emma Isernhagen and Tenley Adams. Kyla Holback had two hits on the day and drove in a run, along with scoring two runs. Kesler scored two runs, as did Lauryn Siegel.
Getting the start on the mound was Tenley Adams, who went four strong innings, with eight strikeouts, allowing one hit. Kyla Holback pitched the fifth inning, allowing one hit and notching three strikeouts.
The first round win for Escalon put them into the quarterfinals, where they traveled to take on number two seed Calaveras on Friday, May 15.
There, it was a much closer game, but the Lady Cougars came out on top, earning a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the host Lady Red Hawks.
Driving in the runs were Ari Velasco and Tenley Adams; scoring the runs were Velasco and Madi Babasa.
The Lady Cougars had two runs on eight hits and committed one error; Calaveras had one run on five hits and committed one error. The visiting Escalon squad scored a run in the first and one in the sixth; Calaveras scored their run in the fourth inning.
Madi Babasa, Lizzy Allan, Emma Isernhagen, Lauryn Siegel and Tenley Adams each had a hit, Ari Velasco had three, with Velasco and Adams each notching a double.
Tenley Adams pitched the complete game, earning the win, scattering the five hits, allowing one earned run, walking three and striking out 14.
“I am incredibly proud of this team. Many teams were looking down on us due to our record,” said head coach Lexy Underwood, as Escalon stood at 13-11 overall following the May 15 win. “We have been able to prove many people wrong this season. This group of girls is working very hard to be the best they can. This is the furthest the softball team has gone since 2019.”
Escalon was scheduled to travel to face number three seed Sutter on Tuesday, May 19 after The Times went to press, playing in the semifinal round. Teams on the opposite side of the bracket in the semifinal were number five Casa Roble hosting number eight Orestimba. Winners of the May 19 contests will battle for the D5 Section crown in the championship game on Saturday, May 23.
BASEBALL
After a first round win and then knocking off the defending Section champion in the quarterfinals, the Escalon varsity baseball team ran into a buzzsaw in the semifinal round best-of-three series. They fell to Wheatland in two straight, ending their season and the playoff run. The Cougars defeated Casa Roble in a match of the eight and nine seeds on May 6, then went on the road to get past reigning champ Lincoln by a 5-4 decision on May 8.
The best-of-three semifinal round saw Escalon go on the road first, traveling to Wheatland – the fifth seed team in Division 5 – for a game on Tuesday, May 12. The host Pirates edged past the Cougars in a 3-1 final.
Escalon took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Wheatland tied it up with a run in the bottom of the third. They added a run in the fourth and another in the fifth, while Escalon couldn’t get their offense going and took the loss.
The Cougars had one run on just one hit and had one error. Wheatland had three runs, five hits and two errors. Lorenzo Teixeira had the only hit and the only RBI in the contest for Escalon.
Zach Wells pitched five innings for the Cougars, Teixeira came on in relief in the sixth.
“Game one was a pitcher’s duel,” said head coach Gino Franceschetti. “We faced a very polished pitcher, best pitcher we have seen all year. Zach Wells pitched a great game; he was able to keep us in it but we couldn’t produce offensively.”
On the home field for the second game of the series on Thursday, May 14, Escalon once again struggled offensively and lost via the 10-run rule, falling 10-0 in five innings to Wheatland.
“We were in the game the first three innings and had a couple opportunities offensively to produce some runs but we were unable to get the clutch hit,” Franceschetti explained. “That’s what happens sometimes in baseball. It’s one of those games where you give credit to the other team. They had a really good approach against our pitchers and they were able to have some big innings.”
The Pirates scored five runs in the third, four in the fourth and added one in the top of the fifth.
Escalon had just three hits on the day, one each from Dylan Ball, Brody Abbott and Wyatt Riesenbeck.
Pitching for Escalon were Abbott, Teixeira and Ethan Haskin.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the D5 bracket, number two seed Woodland won their best-of-three series two games to one over number three Sutter and will face Wheatland in the Section title game on May 23.
For the Cougars, the semifinal round loss ended their season but they compiled a 20-10 overall record and put playoff wins on the books for the first time in several seasons.
Franceschetti said the team worked very hard throughout the campaign, and two seniors were especially crucial.
“Zach Wells and Wyatt Riesenbeck, both have a really unique baseball journey,” the coach explained.
He noted that Riesenbeck was “stripped of two years of baseball due to season-ending ACL tears” but he ended this season as Escalon’s leading hitter with a .409 batting average.
“That is very impressive considering he didn’t have live at bats for nearly two years,” said Franceschetti.
For Zach Wells, the growth from one year to the next was impressive as well.
“Zach was the heart and soul of our team. His junior year he was a role player,” Franceschetti pointed out. “Zach worked extremely hard to get to where he was his senior year. He was our game one pitcher and dominated all year; he is an amazing human being and a great role model.”
TRACK AND FIELD
On Wednesday, May 13, the Escalon Cougars sent 17 athletes to the Division 5 Sac-Joaquin Section Trials, hosted at Riverbank High School.
“Impressively, 14 of those 17 athletes advanced from Trials, qualifying for Finals,” said head coach Arend Jones. “But with conflicts, primarily Prom, 11 athletes went to Divisional Finals at Hughes Stadium on Saturday.”
For most events, only 10 to 12 athletes could qualify across all five divisions to move on to Masters and then to the State Championship.
“Although no Cougars advanced from Saturday to Masters, many still performed quite well and even managed to medal in Division 5 of San Joaquin,” Jones noted.
The following were the medal winners for Escalon:
Best Male in Field Cougar recipient, junior Jaecy Aldasoro, placed 3rd in discus with a throw of 131 feet 10 inches.
Best Female in Track Cougar recipient, sophomore Ava Rodriguez, placed 4th in the 100 hurdles with a PR of 17.11 seconds.
Best Male in Track Cougar recipient, senior Co Northcutt, placed 2nd in the 400 dash with a time of 52.09 seconds.
Last year Divisional thrower, senior Gracie Airola, placed 4th in shot put with a PR of 32 feet 10.75 inches.
“The Track and Field Cougars are now done, but had a very good season and look forward to an even better season next year,” Jones said. “Now fall sports begin to train including cross country, and over the summer the track team plans to host its Second Annual Community Fun Run at the stadium at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 11.”
