JC roundup: PC baseball rebounds for win
The Porterville College baseball team rebounded from a tough loss against one of the state’s top teams on Friday by coming back to beat another solid squad on Saturday.
After losing to Cuesta 13-0 in San Luis Obispo on Friday, PC came back to beat Allan Hancock 9-8 in 10 innings in Santa Maria on Saturday. Against Cuesta, Mitchell Villarreal had PC’s only hit.
Against Hancock, Porterville overcame a 6-1 deficit for the win. Kyle Gilbreath pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Dylan Watson also came through with a key hit to score the go-ahead run, giving PC an 8-7 lead in the eighth inning. Hancock tied the score 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth. PC scored the go-ahead run in the 10th on a wild pitch.
Dean Burkett went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI and Nate Crocker, Aaron Gray and Robby Bonanno all had two hits for PC (2-4).
“I’m real pleased with after Friday the way we got after it on Saturday,” PC coach Jake Kiser said. “We still made too many mistakes but we did show some resolve. I thought we did a good job of scratching a clawing our way back.”
BASKETBALL
TAFT 74, PC 56
Porterville was tied with Taft 30-30 at halftime and 38-38 early in the second half when Taft went on a 14-0 run to take a 52-38 lead and to take control on Saturday. Regine Mecenario scored 14 points, Maribel Bravo had 10 points, Janette Garado had six points and four assists, Kee’Maya Snowden had six points and Katrina Goulbourne added seven rebounds for PC.
FECHNER HONORED
Granite Hills graduate Emily Fechner was named as the Central Valley Conference co-Player of the Week for the College of the Sequoias with Fresno City’s Sarina Saymara for last week in women’s basketball.
Fechner, a freshman, was honored by the CVC for the second time this season. She led COS to a 61-53 win over Reedley last week, scoring 16 points and pulling down a game-high 18 rebounds.
Meanwhile, West Hills has virtually locked up second place in the CVC and a state playoff berth in men’s basketball. West Hills (16-10) is 7-3 in the CVC while COS (16-11) is 6-5 and Porterville College (12-13) is 5-5. PC will next play at 7 p.m. Wednesday when it hosts Reedley.
