Brawley’s Gomez, Imperial’s Ortiz headline AllIVL wrestling teams

ESCONDIDO — After a mildly rocky start to the 2020 season in the form of back-to-back losses to Eastlake and University City on Tuesday and Friday last week, the Brawley Wildcats have rebounded to win four straight games, including two on Monday over Valhalla (3-1) and Mission Hills (7-5) to secure a first-place finish in the Bronze Division of Escondido High’s Cougar Classic tournament.

In the Wildcats’ win over Valhalla in the Bronze semis, Lilly Martinez pitched seven excellent innings, giving up three hits, striking out seven and walking none, while her teammates squeezed out three two runs in the first inning and another in the fifth to give her just enough run support to get the W.

The troika of Dilynn Gill, Mikalyn Emanuelli and Haylee Garcia provided most of the offense for Brawley, with Gill driving in Emanuelli twice and Garcia once.

Things were much wilder in the final against Mission Hills.

With Martinez spent from pitching in the early game, freshman Dylann Baker got the start, and Mission Hills logged six hits and three runs in her four innings.

Sophomore Marissa Peña took over after that and had more success, but the Wildcats were still down 3-0 heading into the final inning. That’s when they exploded for all seven of their runs, with Garcia, Gill, Emanuelli, Peña, Aly Tapia, Brianna Sandoval and Dana Alvarado all scoring once.

Gill had an RBI double, giving her four RBI for the doubleheader, and Sandoval, Emanuelli and Peña each drove in one.

Now 4-2 on the year, the Wildcats are set to trade one tournament for another, kicking off the “March Madness Class” today at Sweetwater High.