It was a busy week for several Escalon High School teams, with all spring sports seeing competition. That included the tennis team, volleyball boys, track and field, baseball, softball and the golf boys. Following is a recap of the contests.
TENNIS
The co-ed Cougar tennis team kept up a hectic pace, with three matches this past week, all three going in the books as victories.
They took on Ripon on April 14 and were 7-2 winners over the Indians. Nathan Rose and Brien Novetzke were winners in boys singles, while Ben Ferreira and Luca Cerasi, Co Northcutt and Conner McDowell were winners in boys doubles. Also, Marina Franzia and Emma Rangel, Haven MacKinnon and Alaina Mancilla were winners in girls doubles. Selah Jansen and Christian Ramirez won in mixed doubles, with the only losses on the day in girls number one and number two singles, Brianna Gallo and Chloe Green.
Hosting River Islands on April 15, Escalon saw the visiting team sweep the singles matches but Escalon won all the doubles matches, edging out the visitors, 5-4. The doubles teams for the Cougars were all the same as in the contest against Ripon.
Friday, taking on Hughson, Escalon won by a 6-3 final.
Crafting the wins were Nathan Rose, 6-0, 6-2 in boys number one singles, Brien Novetzke, 6-4, 6-2 in boys number two singles.
Ben Ferreira and Luca Cerasi swept to a 6-1, 6-0 win in boys number one doubles, while Logan Wentzell and Co Northcutt teamed up for a win at boys number two doubles.
After losing their first set 4-6, Emma Rangel and Marina Franzia came back to win the next two, 7-5, 6-2, to win at girls number one doubles, with Selah Jansen and Christian Ramirez winning in straight sets in mixed doubles.
Escalon entered the week at 10-1 in league and looking to edge out Ripon Christian for the title. They were scheduled to play Tuesday at Sonora, weather permitting, then host Ripon Christian on April 22 and travel to close out league play at RC on Thursday, April 23.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Two out of three matches went in the win column for Escalon’s varsity volleyball boys this past week.
“Our Riverbank game was moved to Tuesday, April 14,” head coach Alyssa Cogburn said. “We beat Hilmar and Riverbank in three this week.”
The 3-0 victories for the Cougar boys came against Hilmar on April 13, Riverbank on April 14 and then the boys were on the home court for a tough match up with the visiting Big Valley Christian Lions on Wednesday, April 15.
Though they lost that match in three, it was a solid effort by the home team.
Escalon battled to a 22-25 loss in the first set, coming back several times to push the Lions. The second set was a 12-25 loss but the Cougars regrouped and battled Big Valley in the final set, eventually falling 19-25.
Several players put together strong efforts, with the team looking to continue growing together on the court. They had one match scheduled for this week, on the road at Ripon Christian on Wednesday, April 22 at 6 p.m.
TRACK AND FIELD
Head coach Arend Jones reports that the Escalon track and field team members were “extra busy this past week” and will continue to be for the next few weeks.
During the Spring Break, the team was training and preparing for an Invitational meet at Bret Harte High School that ended up getting cancelled due to the intense storms that rolled through the region.
“The weather was better this past week and the team had a tough dual meet on Wednesday against the Hughson Huskies, and then hosted a middle school invitational on Friday,” Jones explained.
At the Trans-Valley League dual meet against the Huskies on April 15, Escalon lost in overall team points; the Cougar boys falling 109-27, and the Cougar girls taking a 94.5-41.5 defeat.
However, there were some individual highlights.
BOYS
Junior Caleb Boatman placed third in shot-put throwing a Personal Record 39 feet 5 inches; sophomore Spencer Sousa placed fourth with a PR of 34 feet 4 inches.
Sophomore Ian Trejo placed second and jumped a Personal Record in high jump, clearing 6 feet, 0 inches, placing him ninth overall in Escalon High history.
GIRLS
Sophomore Georgia Northcutt placed second in the 400 meter dash and ran a Personal Record of 1:02.8. She also placed first in pole vault and got a PR of 8 feet 3 inches.
Sophomore Ava Rodriguez placed second and got a Personal Record in the 100 meter hurdles with 17.75 seconds.
Senior Marissa Terry placed third and threw a Personal Record in discus with 94 feet 11.5 inches.
On Friday, April 17, the high school hosted its first middle school meet, the Roger Beeman Invitational. Nine schools came to compete, El Portal, Cardozo, Ross, Oakdale, Salida, Somerset, Ustach, Riverbank Language Academy, and Saint Stanislaus Catholic.
“The meet went very well, Escalon’s own El Portal athletes placed second overall in the boys eighth grade division,” said Jones, with the sixth/seventh grade girls also finishing in the top three in their division.
“The athletes and fans seemed to have a fun time. The meet was created in recognition of Roger Beeman’s contributions to the school and the community over the years, teaching, coaching, and being a student and athlete himself,” Jones said, “still currently holding the second best high jump in Escalon’s school records.”
This week, the Cougars will be going to Ripon High for another tough dual meet in TVL action and on Friday the underclassmen will be going to the Twilight Frosh/Soph Championship Meet at Edison High School.
BASEBALL
Hosting Hughson in Trans-Valley League play on Wednesday, April 15, the varsity Cougar baseball boys took a 9-1 lead into the seventh inning and then had to withstand a six-run rally by the Huskies. Ultimately, the Cougars won the game 9-7.
“Zach Wells pitched six strong innings,” said head coach Gino Franceschetti. “We had multiple hits from Brody Abbott, Wyatt Riesenbeck, Lorenzo Teixeira, and Drew Hagan.”
Escalon jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, added three more in the fourth and two in the fifth to lead it 8-0 before Hughson pushed across a run in the top of the sixth. Escalon scored a run in the bottom of the sixth and had the 9-1 lead entering the seventh. The Huskies made it interesting but couldn’t quite come all the way back.
Logan Huebner had a double, drove in a run and scored two runs in the game; Hagan, Cole Elsholz, Abbott, Riesenbeck, Alex Girardi and Wells all drove in runs as well.
Friday, the Cougars traveled to Hughson and this time, lost a close battle, 2-1.
“We had a really bad defensive day,” Franceschetti said. “We committed four errors and that’s how they scored their two runs.”
Hagan drove in the only Escalon run and Riesenbeck had two this. Abbott went the distance on the mound, striking out five and walking one, allowing three hits and no earned runs.
“We are currently in second place in the TVL,” the coach said, with games this week at Ripon on April 22, then hosting the Indians on April 24.
Ripon Christian leads the TVL, entering this week at 7-1; Escalon is 6-2.
In their games with Hughson this week, the JV boys were 6-5 winners at home on April 15, then lost 11-7 at Hughson on April 17.
“Landen Decroix had a no-hitter through four-and-a-third innings but lost the no-hit bid,” JV Coach Roman Gonzalez said of the April 15 game. “Cade Riesenbeck and Dom Rissetto both had clutch doubles to score RBIs after the fifth inning and Luis Pimentel was the winning run and scored on a passed ball which led to a walk off win.”
In the road game, Gonzalez said several of his players had strong efforts, despite the 11-7 loss.
“Archer Sanders and Cade Riesenbeck both collected three hits each on the day, Riesenbeck and Ryan Looney both brought in two RBI each,” said Gonzalez.
SOFTBALL
Splitting their games this past week, Escalon’s varsity softball girls fell in a lopsided 12-2 contest at home to Hughson but then ran out to an 18-1 win over Ripon Christian on the road.
In the Tuesday, April 14 game, Hughson used a nine-run third inning to propel themselves to the win. They added three more runs in the seventh. Escalon had a 1-0 lead after scoring in the bottom of the first; they added one more run in the fourth but couldn’t get any closer.
Madi Babasa had two doubles and a run scored; Lizzy Allan had an RBI and Ari Velasco had a double and a run scored.
In the April 16 road game, Escalon scored in every inning but one, with a run in the first, one in the second, five in the third, three in the fourth and then putting an exclamation point on the win with eight runs in the sixth. They rapped out 20 hits and allowed just one run to Ripon Christian, which came in the bottom of the first to briefly tie the game at 1-1.
Tenley Adams went 3-for-3 with a double, four RBI and a run scored. Babasa was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three runs scored; Velasco had a triple, two RBI and a run scored.
The JV girls were scheduled to play Hughson on April 14.
“Due to the lack of umpires, JV had Coach (Andrew) Beam umpire our game … it was a scrimmage and we didn’t keep stats,” explained JV coach Letty Gutierrez.
She said her team fought hard against Hughson and held them off through the first four innings, keeping the score 0-0.
“I think being thrown off at the fact there was no umpire put them in a slump,” Gutierrez said of her team. “After they (Hughson) scored one, they (Lady Cougars) just were making errors they wouldn’t normally make.”
Though not official, Escalon lost the scrimmage by a 14-1 final.
Weather permitting, the softball squads were scheduled to host Ripon on April 21 and travel to Orestimba on Thursday, April 23.
BOYS GOLF
Hosting Buhach at the Escalon Golf Course on April 15, the JV golf boys came away with a 172-180 victory. Leo Serrano shot a 30 for Escalon and Drake Gillihan shot a 32.
The varsity team, meanwhile, hosted a TVL Meet at Pine Mountain Lake golf course on Thursday, April 16.
Escalon finished in sixth at 473, just five strokes behind fifth place Sonora; Ripon carded the top score. Brenden Berchtold shot an 82 to lead the Cougars, followed by Donovan Martinez at 91, Joey Calcagno, 94; George Harding, 102; Matix Trimble, 104; Luke Gutierrez, 109.
Editor Marg Jackson contributed to this report.
