By: Vincent Aldridge
Even though they had a rough start, Ranger Baseball has found a way to not only get competitive, but have absolutely dominated the WYL. They started out the season at 5-5 overall, but have quickly found themselves at 14-10 overall, and 9-5 in League. Redwood is currently 2nd in the West Yosemite League. They also lead the league in runs for, with 112, and are 2nd best in runs against, with 62. The only team having less runs against is El Diamante, with 31.
Redwood started off this dominant run with their first three League games, which have already been covered. They beat Golden West 15-2, lost to El Diamante 4-3, and shutout Lemoore by the final score of 11-0. They have thankfully kept up this streak since.
The past three games they’ve played have been extremely close, with Redwood beating Golden West 4-3 on May 21, then followed that with a 6-5 win against Lemoore on May 24, then followed that with an unfortunate loss to El Diamante, 7-3 on May 26.
Here’s how the Golden West game went: Ethan Garcia, ’21 tossed a complete game, got the win, and held Golden West’s batters to just 3 runs on 6 hits.
Golden West would get the scoring started with an RBI single into center, 1-0 Golden West. Golden West actually no-hit the Rangers until they entered the bottom of the 3rd. The no-no was broken up by a single right back up to the first baseman from Silas Beltran, ’23. Then, with two outs, Dakota Brown, ’21 hit an RBI triple into deep right, which would tie the game up at 1 a piece. 1-1 tie game. After that, Redwood would take the lead, thanks to an RBI single into center, 2-1 Redwood.
Scoring wouldn’t come again until the bottom of the 4th. Lee Trevino, ’21 started the inning with a single into left. Shortly after, Trevino would advance to 2nd on a fielding error by the pitcher. Trevino would then advance into 3rd after a groundout to short. Joey Rico, ’23 would bring home the runner with an RBI single into right, 3-1 Redwood.
Golden West would schedule a comeback tour in the top of the 5th. It started with an RBI double into left to make it 3-2, Redwood still leading. Then, with two outs and runners on 1st and 3rd, Golden West would make a huge mistake, as their runner on 1st got caught in a rundown! Unfortunately, this excitement was short lived, as Lee Trevino, the second baseman, seemed to have forgotten about the runner on 3rd, and Golden West punished him for that, as the runner from 3rd would come home to score, tying up the game up at 3-3. Thankfully, Redwood would end the madness with a caught stealing at 2nd.
Redwood would get their revenge, as they would bring home the potential winning run in the bottom of the 6th, courtesy of an Edgar Gonzalez, ’21 RBI single into right. 4-3 Redwood leading once again! Unfortunately, Redwood wouldn’t get any more run support, as Dakota Brown, ’21 would pop out to short to end the inning, and the scoring once and for all, as Ethan Garcia, ’21 would strike out two out of the three batters in the top of the 7th to end the threat for good.
Redwood will finish off their season with a rivalry game against Mt. Whitney. Although WYL won’t be won for now, they still have something they can fight for!
