High school softball roundup
Brawley finishes 5th in Vegas Spring Jamboree
The Brawley Union High softball team emerged with the best record of the five Valley teams that competed in the 12th annual Spring Jamboree tournament last week at Majestic Park in Las Vegas.
One of the two CIF-San Diego Section Division I teams in the Southeastern Conference, Brawley made its fourth appearance at the Spring Jamboree after missing 2020 and 2021 because COVID-19.
The Wildcats won their first two games, advancing to the tournament’s top Gold Division, where they finished fifth out of 25 teams, picking up four wins in five games for coach Kevin Kerns.
“I’ve got four seniors who have been our leaders and two freshman and overall a good mix with some sophomores and juniors,” Kerns said. “We are pleased with them. As a coach you feel there is always room for improvement, but we were definitely happy with how we did.”
The Wildcats opened on Thursday downing Mingus High (Cottonwood, Ariz.) 4-2. They followed by a 3-0 win against Fernley (Nev.) High, setting up a game on Friday that saw Green Valley High (Henderson, Nev.) shut out the Wildcats 10-0.
Brawley finished up tournament play Saturday with two wins, getting past Holtville 9-7 and scoring the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh to beat Hertiage Christian (Northridge, Calif.) 5-4.
“Bats went quiet a couple of times, but it all starts in the circle with our pitcher,
Dylann Baker, who’s been solid and pitched the four wins,” Kerns said.
Facing tough pitching, five Wildcats collected five hits each. They were junior Abbey Ruiz, who had a home run and five RBI; sophomore Tamara Carranza, who had four 4 RBI; freshman Isbella Yescas; Baker, and senior Aly Tapia, who homered twice.
Coach Melissa Snyder’s Holtville Vikings started the Spring Jamboree strong, picking up two wins to join Brawley in the Gold Division before dropping single games on Friday and Saturday to finish eight overall.
On Thursday, Holtville opened with an 8-2 win over Bingham High (South Jordan, Utah) and followed that with an 8-5 victory over Liberty High (Henderson, Nev.) before falling 3-2 in extra innings to Palo Verde High (Las Vegas) and Brawley.
Thursday, Calexico lost twice, falling 9-1 to eventual champion San Benito High (Hollister, Calif.) and 7-5 to Birmingham High (Lake Balboa, Calif.) 7-5 before bouncing back Friday to shut out Central 7-0 then crush Valhalla (El Cajon) 16-1.
That set up a Saturday game where Calexico rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning but still came up two runs short, losing 7-5 to Bingham High.
Central opened Spring Jamboree play against Chaminade High (West Hills, Calif.) with no score reported, but the Spartans ended the tournament officially 0-1-1, playing Faith Lutheran (Las Vegas) to an 8-8 tie and losing to
Calexico.
The Southwest Eagles of coach Stephanie Niebla opened tournament play Thursday by dropping a 12-0 decision to Heritage Christian. They then fell 16-1 to Arbor View (Las Vegas) and ended on Friday with a 9-7 loss to Valhalla.
On April 12, in local non- league action, the Imperial Tigers lost on the road to the Imperial Valley League’s Holtville Vikings 6-1. The Tigers were also among the teams in Vegas, where they split a pair of games: an 11-2 loss to powerhouse Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) on Thursday and a 9-1 win over Lowry High (Winnemucca, Nev.) on Saturday.
Also on Thursday, the Calipatria Hornets picked up a non-league win for coach Ted Hughes when they traveled to Mt. Empire High and crushed the Redhawks, 26-5.