The Varsity Baseball team ended last season with a league record of 8-8 and an overall record of 16-11. They finished 3rd in the PCAL Mission League and advanced to the CCS Playoffs, where they got to the final and fell short to Stevenson in a 12-2 loss. The boys have remained in the same league this season, and Coach Israel Valenzuela has high expectations. “My main goal is to win and win CCS,” Valenzuela said. “We were one game away last season, so we want to win it this year.” He also adds that the team will have to put in a lot of hard work to achieve this.
Graduation hit the team hard, as they lost 10 former players and are only returning 3. This year’s returners are senior team captains Xavier Mendez and Isaiah Andrade, as well as senior Jay Serrato. The new additions are senior Sebastian Del Real; juniors Caleb Gabriel, Vince Paredes, Efren Posadas, Ricardo Balcazar, and Alexander Loredo; sophomores Gianpierre Serrato, Jesiah Ramos, Jeremy Olivas, and Angel Barajas; and freshman Julian Valadez.
With the many new additions, Coach Valenzuela feels his team is strong and has a high chance of getting to the playoffs. “I believe I have a stronger core with this year’s team than I did last year,” Valenzuela said.
One of the team’s main goals is the same as their coach: to win. “Our goal for the season is to go out there and win because we’re young,” captain Xavier Mendez said. “We’re gonna go out on the field and give it our best.”
So far, the team is on track to get back to CCS. In league, they are currently 6-1 and have recently moved up to second place, over Stevenson. Their overall record is 9-2. From the first game that they’ve played, a lot of improvement has been made and it is evident. “The first games we’ve played, we only scored 1 or 2 runs and got 2 or 3 hits the whole game,” Mendez said. “But in recent games, we have shown a lot of growth as a team.”
