March 22, 2019
VOL. MMXIX, No. 2
RAM’S EAR R I O V I S TA H I G H S C H O O L
Spectacular Walk-off for JV Followed By Dominating Performance for Varsity
photo by: Ashley Weller
by Henry Rossi, Assistant Editor
Third baseman Zach Davi mobbed by his teammates after his walk-off hit.
Scholarships for Seniors by Henry Rossi, Assistant Editor
Seniors, it is that time of year! Applying for scholarships is essential for those planning to attend college this fall. Recently, all seniors received a packet that included many local scholarship opportunities. It is best not to wait on starting these as I remind you that most of these are due sometime in April. When completing some of these local scholarships, make sure that you are following specific instructions, such as the parameters for the essay, as these will vary from scholarship to scholarship. With all scholarships, make sure that you are aware of the date that they are due, and submit them where it is specified; given to Ms. Alduenda, mailed to their address, etc. Apart from these local scholarships, Ms. Alduenda also posts scholarships that seniors can apply for on the Class of 2019 Google Classroom. If you have forgotten about about these scholarships, it is not to late, but you must act fast. Some of the scholarships’ deadlines have passed, but there are still plen-
ty that you can apply for. Here are a few of these scholarships and who can apply for them; Automotive Scholarships open to anyone planning to attend an accredited U.S. college or university or an ASE/ NATEF Certified post-secondary automotive, heavy duty, or collision repair school, Cal Aggie Alumni Association Leadership Scholarship for students planning to attend a UC, Women’s Cyber Security Scholarship for students pursuing a degree with a focus on cybersecurity or information assurance, Allan Olvera Memorial Scholarship for American Indian students, La Raza Scholarship for students of Latino/Hispanic ancestry, California Judges Foundation Civic Essay contest open to all students, Society of Women Engineers Scholarship for women planning to declare an engineering major, AVID College Horizon Scholarship for students who were enrolled in AVID for three years, and Ligurians in the World Association Scholarships for students of Italian descent.
The Rio Vista High School baseball program kicked off their season with their first game on Friday, March 8. The game was a special one; it was played at the reputable Raley Field, home of the Sacramento River Cats. The JV team would face off against Bradshaw Christian in an afternoon game that started at 3:00 p.m. Varsity would play under the lights versus their rivals, the Delta Saints, as they have done for the past few years. In the varsity game, the Rams offense that was so good last year showed their dominance. The Rams jumped on the board early; Junior Ethan Medders lead off the first inning with a shot over the head of the left fielder, which he managed to turn into an inside-the-park homerun. The team scored five more runs in the inning and followed it up with another two runs in the second inning. They continued to run up the score, and by the end of the fifth inning, the Rams’ offense had scored seventeen runs, which was plenty enough to activate the ten run rule that ends the game if the winning team is up by ten runs or more. On the mound for the Rams was their best pitcher, Ethan Medders. He had found himself in a similar position two years ago when the Rams had played the Saints at Raley Field in 2017. That game was one of the best that he has ever thrown. He had shutout the Saints for seven straight innings allowing the Rams to win by a narrow margin, but he had also not allowed a single Saint’s batter to reach base on a hit. A no-hitter is a feat rarely achieved by baseball pitchers, and Ethan looked to follow up on that outing to show that it wasn’t a fluke. In Friday’s game, Ethan flew through the Saints lineup as he showed just how dominate he is, and by the end of the fourth inning he had yet to give up a hit to the opposing batsmen. However, his pitch count was running high, and Ethan was relieved by senior Chris Kimbrow who continued the excellent performance. Chris pitched the fifth and final inning of the game, and he too did not give up a single hit. It was a combined no-hitter for Chris and Ethan in which they held the Saints to just one run. Overall, it was a great win for the varsity team. It was a combined effort with each of the eighteen athletes playing and contributing to the victory. With the offense and defense performing well, the Rams defeated the Saints by a final score of 17-1 in their first outing of the season. The varsity performance may have been dominate, but the slow paced game was not nearly as exciting as the nail biting JV game which seems to steal the spotlight. Coming into the game, the JV Ram’s squad and their opponents Bradshaw Christian seemed to be evenly matched, and the result of the game would prove this to be true. To those watching, it seemed like it was going to be a high-scoring bat-
Varsity catcher Bryce Ciaramitaro rockets a double into the left-center gap for a double.
tle, as in the top of the first inning Bradshaw Christian led off the game by driving in two runs. The Rams quickly responded with a run of their own in the bottom of that inning to bring themselves within one. The starting pitcher on this day for the Rams was sophomore Eamonn Drury. After the rocky first inning, where he had given up two runs, he quickly adjusted and started to get batters out in rapid succession. He held the Rams scoreless for the next few innings while Bradshaw Christian’s pitching did the same, both team’s defenses playing well behind them. In the fifth inning, the Rams finally broke through, scoring one more run and tying the game at 2-2. Eamonn proceed to throw the final two innings of the game before extras in which he keep the game tied. He finished the seventh inning barely under the pitch count limit, and throughout the seven innings pitched, he gave up only five hits and one walk. His dominance kept the Rams in the game as they headed into the bottom half of the seventh and final inning. This was the Rams last chance to take the lead and win the game before heading into extra innings. With the bases empty, freshman Sam Esperson started the rally by rocketing a pitch into the gap, which he turned into a double. The Rams now had a batter in scoring position just like that, and Sam scoring would mean victory for the Rams. Eamonn then followed up Sam’s hit with a single that moved Sam over to third, a position from which he could score much easier. Next up to bat was Grant Baldwin, who struck out swinging. However, the catcher did not catch the ball, which meant that he had to throw to first in order to get him out. Grant reached base safely after the catcher did not throw to first in fear that doing so would allow the fast runner Sam on third to score the winning run. Up to bat next was the Ram’s third baseman, Zach Davi, who had already knocked in one of the Rams’ earlier runs. With the bases loaded in the last inning and the winning run on third, all of the pressure was on him. Zach hit a bullet to the shortstop, who managed to get glove on the ball but could do nothing with it. With that, the winning run touched home as the team swarmed onto the field in celebration of Zach’s walk-off. And just like that, the Rams had won the game.