Vikings tame Tigers on the diamond
IMPERIAL — Exploding for four runs in the first and fifth innings, the Holtville High School Vikings baseball team defeated the Imperial High Tigers 11-4 in an Imperial Valley League game here on Tuesday night.
“Anytime we get a win, it’s a good day because we’ve learned you can’t take anything for granted,” said Holtville Coach Benny Carter. “For the most part, this was on the players, their talent, their working hard on their own this year in hopes of a season.”
Proving Carter’s point despite having just a little over a week to get ready to play games, the Vikings got a strong six- inning pitching performance from junior right-hander JR Garewal.
“I throw three pitches, and all of them were working tonight,” Garewal said. “I felt great, and I’ve been working out since our season stopped last year and staying in shape.”
Garewal struck out five consecutive batters in the middle innings, ending the game with seven strikeouts and four walks. He took a shutout into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Holtville senior Bryce Buscaglia pitched a scoreless seventh inning, striking out three and walking one.
Garewal had reached his pitch count total, and we wanted to get Bryce some work, so we brought him in,” Carter said.
Garewal’s two-run double in the top of the first inning helped the Vikings stake him to a four- run lead before he ever took the mound.
Imperial’s Andy Rivera started and went four innings, striking out four. Kael Hernandez pitched the final three innings for the Tigers.
Holtville stretched its lead to 8- 0 in the fifth with four runs and then added three more runs in the sixth.
Garewal continued to make his presence felt with his bat as well as his arm, doubling and picking up two RBIs in the fifth, then tripling with the bases loaded in the sixth to drive in two more runs.
Trailing 11- 0 in the bottom of the sixth, Imperial rallied for four runs including a tworun double by senior catcher Ryan Bonillas.
While Bonillas is happy to have a semblance of a senior season, he knows that preparing for just one week has not been ideal for a young Tiger team.
“I’m glad to be back on the field and playing, but we are not anywhere near where we should be as at team,” Bonillas said. “I miss practice because it taught us where to be and what to do, which is especially important with a young team.”
Imperial Coach Javier Ramos echoed Bonillas’ sentiments, noting that conditioning and most sports opening up simultaneously have been issues.
“It has definitely been a challenge this season, the unknown left some of our players out of shape and we lost some to other sports we would not normally lose,” Ramos said. “It’s still our job to get them physically and mentally ready, but it has been especially tough with a young team.”
With the victory, Holtville evened its record at 1- 1, while Imperial fell to 0- 2 on the young season.