Local roundup: PHS baseball beats Chavez

Isaac Gonzales gave the Porterville High baseball team another strong outing on the mound in a 9-4 win over Cesar Chavez on Friday.

Gonzales (4-0) needed just 86 pitches to pitch a complete game. “Isaac pitched really, really well,” Porterville coach A.J. Watts said. “Real, real efficient.”

Gonzales got his only two strikeouts in the last inning. “Obviously he got stronger as the game went on,” Watts said.

Porterville (3-2 in the East Yosemite League) scored six runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 lead. Offensively for PHS in his first game back after recovering from injuries, Michael Forrester doubled. Also for PHS, Tyler Davis went 2-for-4, Robert Burcham and Jordan Duran each doubled, Matt Watson had a hit and Sultan Alfara had a single that sparked a two-run rally in the seventh that gave PHS a 9-4 lead.

STRATHMORE 10,
OROSI 2
Winning pitcher Clay Sharp allowed one run on five hits while striking out eight and also went 3-for-4 with two RBI and three stolen bases for Strathmore (2-3 in the East Sequoia League). Also for SHS, Eric Lopez went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Chris Holt was 2-for-4 with one RBI and three stolen bases and Ryan Horner went 1-for-3 with two RBI.

SWIMMING
MONACHE SWEEPS GRANITE
Monache’s boys and girls swept their meet against Granite Hills at MHS. For Monache’s girls, Allegra Fritz had an excellent time in winning the 100-yard freestyle in her first meet back after having knee surgery as she finished in 1:02. Elizabeth Jacobs (first), Bailey Likewise (second) and Mary Crocker (third) went 1-2-3 in the 500 free and Likewise (first) and Crocker went 1-2 in the 50 free for Monache. Among the top swims for Monache’s boys were Geoff Camarena in the 500 free, Caleb Parnell in the 100 butterfly and Camarena and Matt Lalanne in the 50 free.

GRISSOM UPDATE
Porterville High’s Kyle Grissom finished 19th in the 100-yard freestyle in 51.50 at the USA Swimming Far Western Championships on Friday in Morgan Hill.

BOYS TENNIS
GRANITE 5, DELANO 4
Granite Hills pulled off the huge East Yosemite League win by sweeping all three doubles matches after Delano won four of the six singles contests. Both teams now have two losses in the EYL and are effectively in a three-way tie for second in league with Porterville.

Granite’s Milton Ramirez and Victor Yanez came through with the comeback to give the Grizzlies the win as they overcame a 7-4 deficit in the third set super tiebreaker to win 4-6, 6-4, (10-8). Earlier in doubles, Winston Thao and Martin Ayala won 6-3, 6-2 and Juan Jaimez and Jose Solis won 6-4, 6-3 for Granite (6-2 in the EYL). In singles, Ramirez won 6-3, 6-2 and Ayala won 6-4, 7-5 for Granite.

STRATHMORE 9, OROSI 0
In singles for Strathmore (6-0, 4-0), Austin Della won 8-3, Sakthi Serelathan won 8-0, Justin Reyes won 8-2, Hector Gonzalez won 8-1, Ivan Ceja won 8-0 and Andrew Pearson won 8-4. In doubles, Della and Reyes won 8-5, Ceja and Pearson won 8-4 and Doug Murdock and Oscar Arroyo won 8-5.

LINDSAY 6, SIERRA PACIFIC 3
LIndsay (4-3, 2-3) won all three tiebreakers and that proved to be the difference. In singles, Jaime Frias won 8-7 (7-2) and Leng Yang won 8-7 (10-8) for Lindsay. In doubles, Tony Mendez and Nick Buckridge won 8-7 (7-4) for the Cardinals. Also for Lindsay, Angel Rusiles won 8-2 and Nelson Guiza won 8-4 in singles and Josue Magana and Guiza won 8-4 in doubles.
PORTERVILLE 7, KENNEDY 2
Robert F. Kennedy’s No. 1 and 2 players were tough as Porterville’s Patrick Lewis and Mitch Walters both lost in third set tiebreakers, but PHS (5-2 in the East Yosemite League) swept the rest of the matches on Thursday in Delano.

Lewis lost 7-5, 4-6, (2-10) and Walters lost 6-4, 4-6, (10-12). Also in singles for Porterville, Giacomo Catalina won 6-1,m 6-1, Andrew Fernandez won 6-2, 6-1, Mario Aguilar won 6-1, 6-0 and Dale Murray won 6-1, 6-2. In doubles for PHS, Lewis and Catalina won 8-1, Stephen Cooley and Christian Marquez won 8-5 and Raymond Zamora and Gabe Marquez won 8-1.

BOYS GOLF
STRATHMORE 298, LINDSAY 311
Even though both teams weren’t at full strength, it was still a big win for the Spartans against one of the East Sequoia League’s top teams on Thursday at River Island. Jack Lewis shot the low score with a 43 for SHS, beating Lindsay’s No. 1 player, Michael Carranza, who fired a 45. The difference of the match came on the final hole when Lewis shot a par-3 while Carranza took a double bogey 6.

“It was nice to get our first league victory in the book,” Strathmore coach Phillip Ferraro said.  “I was beginning to worry a little. It was also nice to be able to play on our home course again.”