Baseball hits in two wins over Willows

By Aaron Geerts Express staff writer

Although it suffered two losses to East Nicolaus last week, the Winters High School varsity baseball club came out ready to rock and roll last week against Willows High School.

One of the Warriors’ lethal lefties, Anthony Duran, took the mound in the first game against the Honkers at home on Tuesday, April 25, and delivered a no-hitter. Duran’s performance included eight strikeouts and no earned runs. Unfortunately, the Warriors racked up a handful of errors that yielded three runs for the Honkers.

However, the Warriors’ bats were awake and ravenous as the team would rattle off six hits with two doubles before winning the game 8-3.

Two days later on Thursday, April 27, the Warriors hit the road and faced the Honkers in their home nest. This time around, Jordan Calvert was on the bump for the Warriors and tallied up eight strikeouts, and allowed only one earned run.

Meanwhile, the Warrior offense remained as potent as ever with AJ Pignataro hitting a triple and a double, with Calvert hitting a triple himself. As a team, the Warriors racked up seven hits and plucked the Honkers 5–1.

“After last week’s losses, I’m happy about how we responded and came out and played. I think it showed a lot of maturity that we were able to, not necessarily flush last week, but just put it in the back of the mind and move on. That just shows a lot of growth and maturity with the team,” said head coach, Austin Calvert. “That’s very important heading into playoffs because, in playoffs, every game is the most important game in the world. If you bring one game into another, you’re at a huge disadvantage,” Calvert said. “I also wanted to highlight the success of Antho- ny Duran, especially after last week in East Nicolaus.

To have a rough outing and then to turn around and perform the way that he did against Willows was just fantastic. And the Warrior bats in general too. From struggling last week to this week finding barrels and putting the ball in play and making the other team make plays, it’s really cool to see,” Calvert said.