SPORTS

WestValleyView.com /WestValleyView For more sports visit WestValleyView.com

Wrestling sisters look to take state championship titles

Erica and Lisa Pastoriza have been training together since the beginning of their wrestling careers. The junior and freshman are state champion hopefuls as they compete for their fi rst season at Sierra Linda High

School. (Photo courtesy of David Pastoriza)

You Can Make a Difference for the [Future of Healthcare.]

Your gift will help educate compassionate healthcare professionals for tomorrow. Call 623-806-7990 for more information.

Midwestern University Body Donation Program

BY LAUREN SERRATO

West Valley View Staff Writer

Standing at 4-foot-10-inches, a junior at Sierra Linda High School has proven that her size does not play a factor in her ability to win.

Erica Pastoriza began wrestling at 8 years old, after watching her older brother become a high school state champion. She’s now looking to achieve the same feat for the Sierra Linda Bulldogs when the season starts Feb. 19.

Erica has many wrestling accolades under her belt. It includes winning the women’s wrestling 88-pound weight division fi nals at the 2021 World Cadet Championships in Budapest.

“It was really fun going out there and wrestling people from other countries. I never thought I would do it, but it was really fun,” she said.

Aside from the trophies, for Erica it’s the places wrestling has taken her and the friends made along the way that makes the sport her absolute passion.

“It’s all the traveling and the friends I make. I get to see a bunch of new places, and I get to meet a bunch of new people,” she said.

Just like Erica watched her older brother wrestle, Erica’s younger sister Lisa is right on her tracks at the age of 14 and already a state champion hopeful in her weight class.

For Lisa, wrestling has been part of her life for as long as she can remember, as she grew up watching her siblings compete and then began training at 6 years old.

“I feel like I’m used to it. To me, it’s fun. Wrestling is really all we do, it’s a lifestyle,” she said.

The freshman and junior are training partners, with a strict routine that keeps them at the top of their game during the season and the offseason.

Their mornings start at 5 a.m. with a 3-mile run, then it’s off to Sierra Linda for a full day of school. After returning home, the girls have two-hour practices at their gym, Grand House Wrestling in Glendale.

“Training with my sister, there’s always someone there to push you,” Erica said.

Lisa’s goal is to make the world team, like her sister, and compete in the next competition in Russia.

In what many still assume is a male-dominated sport, the Pastoriza sisters took that notion by the horns and have competed against boys for most of their athletic careers, and won a vast majority of the time.

During Erica’s freshman year on the varsity wrestling team at Raymond S. Kellis High School, she competed in 20 matches against male opponents, only losing twice.

“We’ve wrestled a lot of boys, just because there weren’t girls on the other varsity teams. Now that the sport is growing and there are more girls wrestling, we will wrestle more girls,” Erica said.

Erica was unable to compete during her sophomore year, as the pandemic red-lighted the season. Now, as a junior, Erica will compete in the 100-pound

WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Avondale sets fall adult softball tourney schedule

BY WEST VALLEY VIEW STAFF

Registration is open for Avondale’s adult fall softball tournaments.

Tournaments are played at Festival Fields, 101 E. Lower Buckeye Road, Avondale, and are organized, conducted and administered under ASA guidelines.

Team registration is $175 for each upcoming tournament. The games are played at Festival Fields, for one day with two game guaranteed tournaments.

The tournaments are Oct. 16, Best of the West Men’s Tournament; Oct. 23, Monster Smash Coed Tournament; and Dec. 11, Winter Meltdown Coed Tournament.

Register online at avondaleaz.gov/ rec or in person at Avondale City Hall, 11465 W. Civic Center Drive, Avondale, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays. For more information, call 623-333-2400 or visit avondaleaz.gov/ recreation.

As a member of Team USA, Erica Pastoriza looks forward to competing in her first varsity season as a Bulldog at Sierra Linda High School after a successful first year at Raymond S. Kellis High School and missing her sophomore season due to the

pandemic. (Photo courtesy of David Pastoriza)

Sisters...continued from page 16

weight class.

Their father and coach, David Pastoriza, said “proud” doesn’t begin to describe how he feels about his children’s accomplishments on and off the mat.

All four of the Pastoriza children are successful wrestlers, and David credits that to their training schedules and commitment to their sport.

“I always tell them tournaments are the fun part. That’s when you show off what you’ve trained for. But we are very, very proud of all of them. Erica is favored to take state, and even my youngest son in the seventh grade is on the up and up,” he said.

Carpet • Tile • Grout • Upholstery • Air Duct Cleaning • Commercial & Residential Cleaning BUSY LIFE?

Call Today! Clean Today!

Prices Include: Truck Mounted Units • Pretreat Vacuum • Optical Brightener • General Soil Removal Also Available: Carpet Stretching • Carpet Repair

Mention West Valley View for an Exclusive Offer!

ANY 3 ROOMS ANY 5 ROOMS

$5900 Reg. $129.00 $8900 Reg. $169.99 Up to Up to 450 sq. ft. total 750 sq. ft. total

We only have one care. It’s Your Satisfaction. VALLEYWIDE SERVICE • 602-550-7732

Abrahamsbr

CONSTRUCTION