Baseball
Varsity: Central Valley 4, Downey 3
In the Baseball Showcase at John Thurman Field on Saturday night, the Hawks came ready to play against the Downey Knights. CV kicked things off in style in the bottom of the 1st as Juan Alonzo launched a 3-run homer well over the left field wall to give the Hawks an early 3-0 lead. In the 3rd inning, CV would tack on another run with a Mason Whitworth RBI single. The Hawks hurler, Nate Dominguez, would control things on the mound early as he went 4 solid innings, allowing 2 unearned runs while striking out 8 Downey Knights. Hunter Shaw and Eddie Stewart would come into the ballgame as relievers and they combined to hold the Knights to 1 earned run; putting the score at 4-3 Hawks entering the 7th inning. The final 3 outs would be a wild sequence for the Hawks. CV turned to recently activated ace, Chris Garcia. Chris is recently returning from injury and is easing his way back into the CV pitching rotation. The first 3 hitters reached base for the Knights as 2 Downey singles and a CV error loaded the bases. With the bases loaded and no outs, the Hawks were clinging to a 1-run lead. The Downey hitter chopped a groundball towards 1st base and the CV defender snared it, and rapidly fired it towards home plate in an attempt to get the force out to preserve the lead. In a very bizarre sequence, the throw hit the Downey baserunner that hit the ground ball (and was running towards first base) and the umpire ruled interference on the Knights for the runner being inside the baseline. This resulted in an automatic out which reset the bases loaded and the Hawks maintained their 4-3 lead. With the bases still loaded and now 1 out, Chris was able to strike out the final 2 hitters to secure the thrilling 4-3 win of the Hawks. Overall, it was a great experience for the baseball team to play on a professional field and the CV crowd was amazing! Thank you to all of those that came out to support the Hawks; the Director of the event let me know that CV led all schools involved in ticket sales. The good news is that we are already invited back for next year! CV will begin league this week and will have a pivotal 2-game series with the 1st place Golden Valley Cougars (2-0 in CCC). These will be the first league games for the Hawks as they had the league bye in week 1.
Softball
Varsity: Central Valley 11, Atwater 3
The Hawks battled to a 1-1 week in CCC play as they shook off the 13-12 loss to Merced with a dominant win over the Atwater Falcons. In the win over Atwater, the Hawks were led by Gabriella Delatorre (3-4, 3 runs, RBI, 3 stolen bases), Reylena Herrera (2-3, 3B, 2 runs), Alicia Espinoza (2-5, 3 RBI, 3B), Priscilla Hamidat (2-3, RBI), and Jannet Valencia (2-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs, 3B). On the mound, Brooklyn Steeley went 5 innings for the win and Jannet Valencia came in to close out the final 2 innings. The Hawks (5-8 overall, 1-1 CCC) will look to keep things going on Wednesday when they host the El Capitan Gauchos.