The Clovis East Timberwolves make an adjustment to defeat the Redwood Rangers after losing to the same team three days before
CLOVIS – After beating the Clovis East Timberwolves earlier this week, the Redwood Rangers were defeated 6-2 when they faced the Timberwolves again.
The Timberwolves turned around a loss to the Rangers in a tournament on Monday, April 3 by defeating them when they met again on Thursday, April 6. Though the Rangers scored two runs, the Clovis East pitchers were able to effectively shut down the Rangers for six out of seven innings.
“We just played cleaner defense,” Clovis East head coach Sarah Santana said. “Our pitchers did a much better job of being efficient, and our hitters did a much better job of making adjustments early in the game.”
After scoring two runs in the top of the third inning, the Rangers committed an error that allowed Clovis East senior Katrina Rodriguez to score the first of the game for the Timberwolves. After that, it was all downhill for the Rangers. They couldn’t seem to stop the Timberwolves from scoring, nor could they score anymore runs for themselves.
Unfortunately for Redwood pitcher Michaela Brown, the Timberwolves scored six runs in two innings before she was replaced on the mound by Reagan King. With King leading the defense, the Rangers held the Timberwolves, but couldn’t score on offense to make a comeback.
“Honestly, we didn’t bring our best defense,” Redwood head coach Stevi Johnson said. “We didn’t bring our best at bats. We have days like that and today was one of those days that we didn’t put all the pieces together.”
Even though they pitched against the Rangers on Monday, Clovis East Pitchers Aubryelle Aguilar and Chloe Solis took the mound again. Aguilar started the game and persevered even when the Rangers scored two in the third. She threw strikes and the Rangers struggled to catch up to her at bat. When Solis came in for the final three innings, she didn’t allow the Rangers to score a single run and foiled any attempted comebacks.
Both teams play in tough conferences. The Timberwolves are 5-4-1 in league play, taking the third spot in the Tri-Rivers conference, which includes the powerhouse Buchanan and the other three Clovis schools. They’re heading into their second round of league play after spring break and the non-league game against Redwood offered them an opportunity to sharpen their game.
“Every single team in our conference is really good, but I think that our team is just as good,” Santana said. “We’re gonna stick to our game plan and keep fighting. We’re gonna keep competing.”
The Rangers are heading into their first round of league play after spring break. They’re 8-8-1 in non-league play and are moving into the East Yosemite League with the other three Visalia schools. Even though it’s a new league, they will face familiar opponents. It’s another league in which any team could win on any day and the Rangers will have to play hard to earn the top spot.
“El Diamante was definitely our biggest competition besides Hanford last year,” Johnson said. “This is the biggest game we have in league so we’re really looking forward to it. We want to come out with a bang and grow from there.”
The Rangers will face the El Diamante Miners on Tuesday, April 11 at El Diamante.
