Prep baseball, softball championships: Fresno-area teams notch section titles
Xavier Cantu came through at an opportune time for the Madera South High baseball team.
His solo home run in the fourth sparked the offense and Jair Alvarez added a two-run double later in the inning, highlighting a 5-3 victory for the Stallions over Lemoore in the Central Section Division IV championship game Saturday afternoon at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.
“They were throwing me inside the entire time,” said Cantu, whose home run was his first this season. “I was just waiting and finally I got one and turned on it and put it over there somewhere. I’ll never forget this one.”
The title is the first in school history for Madera South, according to section historian Bob Barnett.
“No one will ever take this away from us,” Cantu said. “We’re all happy and we thank our crowd, They showed up the entire time. It was an overall great game for us.”
When things turned a little bleak for the Stallions, it was Fresno State-bound Murf Gray’s turn to come to the rescue. Madera South gave up a run in the fifth to force a 3-3 tie and Lemoore still had runners at second and third with no outs.
Gray got the first two batters on groundballs and ended the threat with a strikeout.
He pitched the first three innings Saturday before he was taken out, then returned to pitch one more. He only could go a maximum of four on the day after lasting six innings earlier in the week. Prep baseball pitchers are held to a 10-inning weekly limit by rule.
The game plan all went according to the script for Madera South coach Alan Sandoval.
“That was huge,” he said. “We knew we had him for four innings today and we managed him well. He’s our guy and he’s our dude and he stepped up big time.”
Anthony Gamiz’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth gave the Stallions the lead for good. Lemoore had taken a 2-0 lead before Madera South answered with three in the fourth.
▪ Madera South roster: Bryan Malagon, Joseph Cosio, Gilbert Moisa, Xavier Cantu, JJ Villanueva, Anthony Gamiz, Brian Monges, Bryce Johnson, Jair Alvarez, Kaelei Kajitani, Jonathan Spraggins, Triston Gray ,Elijah Tang, Jorge Gutierrez, Eric Gallegos, Jasir Alvarez, Aldo Cardenas, Alberto Alonso, Aiden Sua, Joeziah Meza, Victor Palomino, Jacob Medley, Jose Mendoza
▪ Lemoore roster: Dominic Najar, Katman Glennon, Gage Pasley, Justin Montoya, Izzy Ramos, Jess Tischmacher, Rudy Amaya, Jonathan Gomez, Jacob Montes, Marshall Rhew, Cameron Campos, Alex Underwood, Chris Amaya, Gavin Kyker, Jack Ferguson, Nick Johnson, Zach Underwood, Riley Zubiri, Gavin Puga, Andrew Mora, Isaiah Gonzalez, Emiliano Murrilo
DIVISION III: The Bullpups lost 1-0 to Bakersfield at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia. Hanford was aiming for its 12th section championship.
DIVISION V: Immanuel’s bid for a sixth section championship fell short in a 5-4 loss to Kennedy at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia. The Eagles had a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning, but the Thunderbirds scored twice to take the lead for good. Sergio Gonzalez had two RBI for Kennedy.
DIVISION VI: Down 6-2 in the fourth inning, Mendota broke through in a big fashion against Sierra.
Mendota scored 11 runs in the top of the fourth to take a 13-6 lead en route to an 18-10 victory.
Mendota notched its first section title since 2011.
Softball: Orange Cove dominates D-IV title game
In just six innings, Orange Cove defeated Mission Prep 10-0.
Orange Cove scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and the umpires ended the game via the 10-run rule.
The Titans won the section for the first time.
Madeline Powers scored three runs for the Titans.
Mia Castillo dominated in the circle, pitching a one-hitter and striking out eight.
DIVISION V: Caruthers was much too much for Boron.
The Blue Raiders scored early and often en route to a 14-4 victory for their third section title in school history and the first since 2014.
“Coming in we thought this was going to be a really tough game,” Caruthers coach Jeff Day said. “Hats off to these girls. We had had one practice before our first game. A lot of these girls were on the basketball team and went far in the state playoffs.
“We started out really slow, and as the season went on and on we really picked it up and got better and look at the final outcome right here. Great team effort.”
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One of the players who had to wait for basketball season to wrap up was pitcher Morgan Trigueiro, who finished Saturday with eight strikeouts in a complete game.
“We won a section championship in basketball, but to do it for Paige (Sterling), this is her main sport, it feels great to win it for her,” Trigueiro said.
Caruthers scored four times in the fourth inning for a 6-1 lead.
Gizelle Aguirre drove in four runs, scored three times and had a double and a triple.. Kayla Carpenter finished with two RBIs.
DIVISION VI: Nipomo rolled to a 16-3 victory over Arvin for its first section title.
The Bears were seeking their first section championship.
This story was originally published May 28, 2022 at 6:28 PM.
