KING CITY — Hard work is paying off for the King City Mustangs baseball team as they opened Cypress Divisional play with two wins against the Pajaro Valley Grizzlies.
In road and home games, the Mustangs scored 34 combined runs while limiting the Grizzles to just three runs.
“The boys played as our pitchers were able to make the opponent put the ball in play eliminating walks, which was huge,” said King City Head Coach Jake Stephens. “We got the bats going against Pajaro, which was coming at some point. The ball finally found some gaps and we were able to capitalize with some extra base hits. Right now we are focusing on limiting the mental mistakes and the boys did a good job of that this past week.”
On March 25 in Watsonville, Mustang pitcher JC Navarro earned the pitching win, allowing just one hit and striking out seven in the 16-3 win. Jacoby Chavez pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and finishing with five strikeouts.
Navarro helped his own cause with two hits, while Mateo Blair added two hits and three runs batted in. Axel Chavez had one hit and was credited with four RBIs. King City had 10 total hits in the Pajaro game.
Two days later in King City, Joey Pina allowed just one hit and struck out five batters to earn the victory, as the Mustangs shut out the visiting Grizzles, 18-0. Juan Paramo, Anthony Manriquez and Axel Chavez had two hits apiece for King City and Navarro had three hits.
King City began a two-game series with the Marina Mariners on Tuesday. The Mustangs will host the Mariners on Thursday afternoon.
NMC breaks Greenfield’s winning streak
Greenfield High had its unbeaten streak snapped as the opened Mission Division play with losses to North Monterey County.
Last Wednesday in Castroville, Fabian Gonzales took the 6-3 loss on the mound as he allowed seven hits and six runs, while striking out eight Condors. Naythen Hernandez, Kenny Pajas, Danny Nava and Damien Martinez had base hits for the Bruins.
Then, on Friday, the Bruins were edged at home by a 3-2 score to the Condors.
In games this week, the Bruins play at home Wednesday to Monte Vista Christian and will play the Mustangs on the road on Friday.
Gonzales is 0-2 in the Cypress Division as the Spartans lost 10-0 at home against Watsonville and 13-11 to the Wildcatz on the road.
Gonzales had a game Tuesday at North Salinas and hosts the Vikings on Thursday afternoon.
Soledad is 1-5 in the Gabilan Division after being swept in a home and away series with the Carmel Padres.
Last Tuesday in Soledad, the Padres defeated the Aztecs by a 17-1 score. The visitors had 16 hits in the contest, while Soledad finished with five hits.
Anakin Tavares led the Aztecs with two hits, while teammates Daniel Valenzuela, Anthony Medina and Ethan Sanchez had single hits. Ethan Sanchez took the loss on the mound.
Two days later in Carmel, the Padres claimed a 5-0-shutout victory as winning pitcher Kenny Sanchez allowed four hits and struck out five batters. Vidal Perez pitched 4.2 innings for Soledad. Tavarez, Perez, Valenzuela and Medina had the Soledad hits.
Soledad will be participating in the South City Spring Classic in South San Francisco this week.
