It was a clean sweep in varsity baseball action this past week, as the Oakdale Mustangs took three straight contests from the Mountain House Mustangs in Valley Oak League play.
The varsity boys started it off with a March 16 win at home, 1-0. They traveled to play at Mountain House on Wednesday, March 18 and were back at home for the finale on Friday, March 20.
In the March 18 road game, it was a 6-3 win for Oakdale. Peyton Wallace had two hits and two runs scored. Chance Ravalin had an RBI and a run scored. Oakdale scored single runs in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and got two in the seventh.
Friday, it was a much closer contest, Oakdale prevailing 2-1. Wallace was on the mound and was the winning pitcher, striking out 11. Oakdale scored single runs in the second and fourth innings while Mountain House scored one run in the sixth.
Brayden Avila had a hit, a run scored, an RBI and two stolen bases for Oakdale while Kane Gray also had a hit.
The JV boys had a strong week as well, outscoring Mountain House 39-8 over the three games. They won 10-3 on March 16; 17-1 on March 18 and 12-4 on March 20.
SOFTBALL
Splitting their Valley Oak League games this past week, the varsity Lady Mustangs took a hard-fought loss to Central Catholic but bounced back with a win at Patterson. They lost a 2-1 decision to Central on the home field on Tuesday, March 17. Ella Christensen had the lone RBI for Oakdale in the game, which saw Central score one run in the first inning and one in the seventh. Oakdale tied it up in the bottom of the sixth but Central regained the lead in their final at bat.
Thursday, March 19, the girls were in a battle with Patterson but came out on top, 8-6. Reese Donaldson went 3-for-5 with a triple and a run scored, Katee Conde had a double and Taylor Lowry was 2-for-3.
Oakdale scored three runs in the first, two in the second, two in the sixth and added an insurance run in the seventh. Patterson countered with singles runs in the first and third, pushing two across in both the sixth and seventh innings.
The JV girls put an impressive 20-7 win on the books at Patterson.
The Lady Mustangs are set to travel to East Union for a game on Thursday, March 26.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Monday night, March 16 Oakdale hosted Central Catholic and the Mustangs won in four sets over the Raiders for a Valley Oak League victory. Oakdale took the first set 25-23 in a thriller. In the second set Oakdale won 25-11. Oakdale jumped to an early 1-0 lead when Lucas Freitas got an ace. Trent Long found an empty spot on the court to give Oakdale a 3-2 advantage. Oakdale fell behind 5-3 but a block by Armando Meza made it 5-4. Meza tied the match at 5 with an ace. Meza continued to help the Mustangs as he served up seven consecutive points (including four aces) to make it 12-5. Oakdale continued to roll as Long served up three straight aces of his own making it 16-6, resulting in a time out for the visitors. Freitas made it 20-9 on a block. Iker Juarez made it 21-9. Moments later Oakdale won the set.
The third set saw Oakdale battle – including tying the match late – but ultimately they fell by a 22-25 final to Central. They regrouped and went on to capture set four by a 25-13 final to win the match, 3-1.
“Tonight was progress, we still have lots to work on though,” said head coach Kelly Naswari. “Overall, I am pleased with the way the guys played but we still have some work to do.”
This week Oakdale had a pair of road games on the schedule, at Sierra on March 23 and at Mountain House on March 25.
BOYS TENNIS
Continuing to stack up the wins, Oakdale’s varsity tennis boys put a couple more in the win column this past week. They were at Patterson for a Tuesday, March 17 contest and at East Union for a Thursday, March 19 match.
Against the Tigers, it was an 8-1 win for Oakdale while they also edged out the Lancers, 6-3.
Wins for Oakdale against East Union came from Jaxton Marler, number two singles and Camden Knight, number three; Tristan McCathy, number four and Max Birchall, number five singles.
The number two doubles team of Lincoln Kim and Abraham Jeevan came away with a win as well, along with the number three doubles Levi VonRiesen and Henry Willingham.
They were scheduled to host Mountain House on March 24 and will be at Manteca for a contest on Tuesday, March 31.
Editor Marg Jackson and Reporter Dennis D. Cruz contributed to this story.
