Central Section championships: Fowler baseball, Woodlake softball claim titles
Fowler High baseball coach Bill Feaver has earned his share of section titles.
But Thursday’s game against Morro Bay was likely the brightest moment of his 28 years coaching the Redcats.
Jerod “Bubba” Smith pitched a two-hitter and was backed by his teammates as Fowler rolled to a 10-1 victory over Morro Bay in the Central Section Division III championship at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia.
“They put in a ton of work and last year getting close, losing that game to Kingsburg ... they were probably the best team in the Valley and we lost that game,” Feaver said.
“They were even talking about it tonight. We worked really hard, and we’ve been getting better as the year has gone on and playing a tough schedule.”
The tough schedule played dividends for Fowler, which improved to 28-3. The only losses were to Mt. Whitney, Madera and Tulare Western, games the Redcats probably they wish they had back, but nonetheless the Redcats redeemed themselves in winning the school’s 14th section title, according to historian Bob Barnett.
Smith drove in two runs in the bottom of the first inning and that is all he needed to keep the Pirates at bay. He finished with eight strikeouts.
“We played our best baseball down the stretch,” Feaver said. “We rolled through the playoffs, and we were firing on all cylinders.”
Softball: Woodlake rolls past Coalinga
Just a year ago, Woodlake won the Division V championship.
The Tigers were moved to Division IV.
No problem.
Woodlake scored eight runs in the fourth inning to take the lead to defeat Woodlake 8-1 for back-to-back section titles at Margie Wright Diamond.
“We’ve done it all year,” Woodlake coach Ramon Lara said. “No different today: We were able to hit the ball hard.”
Lara said when his team trailed 1-0, he knew the players would rally.
The Horned Toads didn’t want a long inning and hoped to preserve a 1-0 lead, but Mareli Zamora had a three-run triple to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead. Woodlake went on to tack on five more runs.
“We had girls that committed year-round; put in the work. And for us, it was anything less than a championship would have been disappointing.”
Baseball schedule
Central Section championships
At Valley Strong Ballpark, Visalia
Wednesday
Division IV
No. 1 Lemoore 3, No. 7 Wasco 1
Thursday
Division III
No. 1 Fowler 10, No. 3 Morro Bay 1
Friday
Division V
No. 2 Shafter vs. No. 4 Corcoran, 4 p.m.
Division II
No. 2 Kingsburg vs. No. 5 Ridgeview, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Division VI
No. 3 Mendota vs. No. 9 Torres, 1 p.m.
Division I
No. 5 St. Joseph vs. No. 6 Centennial, 6 p.m.
Softball schedule
Central Section championships
At Margie Wright Diamond, Fresno State
Thursday
Division V
No. 1 Orcutt Academy 3, No. 2 Dos Palos 0
Division IV
No. 1 Woodlake 8, No. 3 Coalinga 1
Friday
Division VI
No. 5 Torres vs. No. 10 Roosevelt, 4:30 p.m.
Division III
No. 7 Pioneer Valley vs. No. 5 Liberty-Madera Ranchos, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Division II
No. 3 Monache vs. No. 4 Bakersfield Christian, 4:30 p.m.
Division I
No. 2 Clovis North vs. No. 5 Buchanan, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 11:15 PM.
