CHOWCHILLA Kevin Jones knows what he's getting from his pitchers.
The Dos Palos High baseball staff has been as consistent as the sunrise, giving the Broncos a solid chance to win just about every time they've toed the rubber.Tuesday's local softball scores (5-14-13)
Greg Wakefield has spent the past couple days trying to figure out the best plan to get his Buhach Colony baseball team to the double-elimination portion of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 playoffs.
LODI Golden Valley's Connor Hoppe swam his way into the section record books on Saturday in the finals of the section meet at Tokay High, winning the 100-yard breaststroke and drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd as his time of 54.81 seconds went up on the scoreboard.
ATWATER Brandy Coward has learned to take nothing for granted.
The Buhach Colony sophomore had high hopes going into Friday night's Central California Conference meet, but acknowledged that until she crossed the finish line nothing was certain.HILMAR The knock on soccer has always been offense, or the lack there of. The Hilmar girls did a little better than that on Thursday afternoon. Throwing conventional wisdom to the wind, the Yellowjackets struck five times in their first nine shots. Oliviah Gemperle was at the heart of that efficiency, netting a hat trick to lead Hilmar to a 5-2 victory over Calaveras in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 playoffs.
Steve Eccles and his voice will be missed. As a water polo and swimming coach at Merced High the past 19 years, Eccles' booming voice is easily recognizable. Eccles surprised people in the water polo and swimming community when he made it known he was retiring from coaching after this year. Saturday's Sac-Joaquin Section Championships at Tokay High in Lodi will be his last swim meet.
Serina Castillo never played a round of golf before high school.
LOS BANOS After this season's first two meetings between Los Banos and Ceres softball were decided by one run each, it would be safe to assume the third, a seeding game prior to the playoffs, would be equally close.
STOCKTON Alyssa Ruiz turned in one final moment of brilliance for the Atwater girls soccer team. The senior striker used her speed to beat the last defender to the outside and then fired a blast to the far post from about 16 yards out to give Atwater a fighting chance with 20-plus minutes to go on Tuesday afternoon.
ATWATER Catrina Wilson didn't want to overthink her at-bat. Wilson belted an Aliyah Ricks pitch to right field, just glancing off of the tip of the right fielder's glove for a walk-off double. The 3-2 victory over Atwater gives BC sole possession of second place and the Central California Conference's second seed in the playoffs.
MERCED Chelsea Evans had to battle the heat and the Atwater High softball team on Thursday afternoon.
Despite the soaring temperatures, the Merced pitcher wasn’t seeking a shady spot in the dugout in between innings.MERCED The Merced baseball team didn't put a lot of good swings on balls on Wednesday night.
Yet the Bears never had shortage of base runners.TURLOCK Ryan Sanchez was flat on the grass as his legs started cramping after the game. The Atwater pitcher had given everything he had for seven innings in the hot sun.
His teammates were silent as they gathered their gear in the dugout.LOCAL SCORES
