Clovis East High School won its very first Valley Championship on Friday May 27th with a 4-3 score over Central in the Division II Central Section championship.
The “Wolfpack” faced Templeton at home in round one of the playoffs who they promptly beat by a score of 8-3.
This was the first baseball playoff win for Clovis East Baseball in ten years according to previous Clovis Roundup sportswriter Gabe Camarillo.
Clovis East then faced off against crosstown rival Clovis North and there was no love lost in this second-round matchup.
Playing at home again, trailing by four in the bottom of the 5th inning, after an RBI double by a Clovis East player, benches cleared towards second base where the batter turned base runner participated in an altercation with both the Clovis North second baseman and catcher.
Upon moving the score to 5-4 at that point, Clovis East would continue its comeback finishing off Clovis North 6-5 in eight innings after a controversial balk call in the bottom of the 8th.
Number six ranked Clovis East then traveled to number two ranked Arroyo Grande where they would face off in the Division II semi-finals.
After a two home run performance from Clovis East’s Dax Bolton, the Timberwolves would win the game 6-3.
Facing off in the D-II championship against Central, the game was set at Fresno State’s Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.
Clovis East would take a quick two-run lead in the first inning after an Erik Perez RBI triple. Perez would later score in the inning.
A scoreless four innings from Alex Righetti went a long way for the Wolfpack as they then turned the ball over to Tre Williams in the 5th.
Central would tie the score in the top half of that inning to the tune of back to back homeruns by Dallan Alles and Skylar Dwiggins.
Williams found himself in another jam in the top of the 6th after back to back singles led off the inning for Central.
However, he composed himself and would strike out the side to keep the score tied at two apiece.
That’s when in the bottom of the 6th, Carson Sandoval hit a go ahead solo home run that at the time looked to be the dagger to Central.
But as everyone in baseball knows, in a championship game, no team goes lightly.
Skylar Dwiggins of Central would score from first base on a Logan Pontecorvo RBI single with two outs in the final inning.
This is where the score would stay until the bottom half of the 7th inning with two outs.
Paul Martinez chopped a soft ground ball into no man’s land in between the third baseman and the pitcher for an infield single to load the bases.
The situation lined up for none other than Clovis East’s starting pitcher, Alex Righetti, to come to the plate and earn a bases loaded walk-off walk to win the game by a score of 4-3.
Clovis East would then go on to face Archbishop Mitty in the state playoffs on May 31st.
They were down early in the second inning 1-0 but battled to tie it 1-1 in the top of the 5th.
Archbishop Mitty took another lead 2-1 to which Clovis East responded once more tying the score at 2-2.
The game would go into extra innings where having home field advantage would prove all too dangerous for the Wolfpack.
Archbishop Mitty would win the game in the bottom of the 8th on a sacrifice fly to deep left center field.
This is where the run would end, but quite a run it was indeed.
No matter the results from the state playoffs, a Valley Championship is something this team will never forget.
Coming in as the sixth seed in the middle of the pack, the “Wolfpack” found itself in quite the predicament in multiple games, but proved that in any day, any team can come out victorious.
Headed in more than the right direction, Clovis East Baseball should look to enjoy its championship and the road of competition that lies in years to come.