Baseball: 17 locals selected to ALL-EYL teams
Carranza leads ALL-EYL honors as MVP
There wasn’t much that Porterville High School’s Ricky Carranza couldn’t do this season and teams took notice by naming the junior the All-east Yosemite League’s Most Valuable Player.
Along with Carranza, eight other Panthers and eight Marauders of Monache received ALL-EYL selections for their play during league. Porterville (18-9-1, 10-5 EYL) finished second in the EYL while Monache (11-16, 4-11 EYL) placed fifth.
Carranza was the Panthers’ starting centerfielder and made only one error throughout the entire season, according to PHS head coach Mike Hill. Doubling as a relief pitcher, Carranza wore many hats including No. 3 batter where he led the Panthers in nearly every hitting category.
“Ricky had an outstanding year both offensively and defensively,” Hill said. “Led us in most offensive categories. The great thing is he was consistent the entire year. Great player.”
Carranza had a .488 batting average in not only the EYL but also the overall season and was a hit away from batting .500. He led the team in batting average, on-base percentage (.600), slugging (.720), hits (21), runs (13), RBIS (13), triples (three). He was second on the team in doubles with four and walks with 11.
Making up the first team for Porterville were juniors John Herrera at first base, Cameron Fish at second and Daniel Perez as an infielder. Senior Derek Harris was also an allfirst team selection as an outfielder.
“Derek was extremely important to us this year both offensively and as our No. 1 pitcher,” Hill said. “He just knows how to pitch. Derek is the definition of a baseball player.”
In EYL, Harris had a 1.37 ERA and 46 strikeouts. At the plate, he batted .391 with 10 RBIS and 12 runs scored while leading the team in doubles with five. Herrera finished with an .413 batting average and was second on the team with 12 RBIS.
“John learned how to play first base this year and got better every game defensively,” Hill said. “Had a great year offensively and drove in a lot of runs for us this year.”
Perez led the team in walks drawn with 14 and had a batting average of .283 while Fish hit .277 through the EYL season.
“These two have to be mentioned together because defensively they were two of the best in our league,” Hill said. “Both had successful seasons offensively at times. Daniel was a good lead-off guy and CJ is the perfect No. 2 hitter because he understands the game and knows how to hit behind runners.
On the ALL-EYL second team for the Panthers were sophomore pitcher Noah Munoz (3.28 ERA) and junior outfielder Brandon Clingerman (.270). Junior first baseman Matt Rangel (.457 BA, .514 SLG) and junior catcher Santiago Sanchez (.333 BA) were honorable mentions.
Porterville went 2-1 against Monache this season and closed the year with a 6-4 loss to fourth-seeded Fresno (22-51) in the CIF Central Section Division II quarterfinals. It was the Panthers first season in Div. II and they received a fifth seed.
From Monache, outfielder Bobby Sandoval was the team's lone first-team selection. The sophomore hit .293 in league but had a fielding percentage of .968 with only one error.
“Pretty consistent player for us,” MHS head coach AJ Watts said about Sandoval. “Really developed defensively for us as an outfielder. Offensively, the kid's a
good hitter. He does a lot of things well, he has repeat abilities to his swing. Obviously as a sophomore he's growing for us, he's kind of learning the game more on the mental side of it. Understanding an approach and a plan but physically speaking, he swings the bat very well for us.”
Monache's second team selections were sophomore outfielder Daniel Andrade (.260 BA) who had a .971 fielding percentage and senior infielder Marlon Johnson (.242 BA) with a
.881 fielding percentage.
“Daniel Andrade probably hit the ball as hard as anyone we had on our team this year but unfortunately for him, the balls that he hit really hard were hit right at guys,” Watts said. “His last 15 at-bats, if the ball would've fallen, or not been caught, or been hit right at somebody, the kid could've been very easily hit .350-.400 for us in a league season where you're only getting 65-75 at-bats anyways. A few hits here and there really change things.”
On Johnson, Watts said, “He did a lot for us. Really came on strong late in the year, offensively. He's a senior that we're really going to miss. “
For the Marauders, five players were named honorable mentions in senior catcher Lane Page (.218 BA, .978 FPCT), senior pitcher Reed Passmore (4.02 ERA), senior outfielder Bryson Pettit (.185 BA), junior infielder Matthew Cloyd (.233 BA, .820 FPCT) and junior pitcher Ricky Alba (3.29 ERA).