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Wins on the field are always something every athletic team strives for, but winning when not playing is a life experience that will carry with the athletes for a lifetime.
Such was the case for the Amador Valley High baseball team on March 10 when the Dons once again took part in the Pleasanton Little League Challengers annual spring training event.
The Amador players team up with the Challenger players, making friends on and off the field.
The Little League Challenger Division was founded in 1989 and is Little League’s adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual challenges.
That the Dons take the time on a Sunday to spend with the players is amazing. Well done boys!
Amador Valley baseball
On their field, the Dons went 1-1 the opening week of East Bay Athletic League play.
In the first game of the week, Amador fell at home by a 6-2 final against De La Salle.
Aaron Solomon and Evan Berry had back-to-back hits for the Dons, with Berry and Gavin Columbo each driving in a run. Matthew Foley pitched four innings for the Dons, allowing four earned runs, giving up six hits, and striking out three.
Later in the week the Dons got their first EBAL win with a 16-0 thrashing of Dougherty Valley.
Amador tallied 17 hits in the game, as Aiden Foley and Berry each collected three hits for Amador. Solomon, Colombo, Kade Robertson, and Kyle Barbera each collected multiple hits.
Jason Alonso earned the win for Amador, allowing one hit, striking two, and walking one in three innings.
Foothill girls’ lacrosse
The Falcons picked up their first win of the season on March 12 when they topped Clayton Valley 17-7 in their first game.
The last two years have not been too kind for Foothill as the team went 0-13 last year and 1-9 the year before that. With the season-opening win, the Falcons have matched their win total from the last two years.
First-year coach Mackenzie Riddle is part of the Foothill staff along with Ken Cuzzo who returned as a coach after several years off.
The duo got goals from several players. Isabella Kang had four goals, with Jillian Barth, Alena Gurule, and Madeline Rich scoring three each. Gurule added three assists.
Molly White had two goals with Rylan DeCoite scoring the other Foothill goal.
Amador boys’ volleyball
The Dons won their first match of last week but then dropped a pair to finish the week 1-2.
The win came when Amador took out Monte Vista 25-23, 25-11, 26-24.
Leading the way for the Dons were Max Riter (11 kills, 7 assists, 2 aces), Nick Nayak (14 kills), Parker Brookhart (4 blocks, 3 kills, 16 assists, 9 digs), Aiden Lam (10 assists), Nathan Hong (7 digs), Ryan Bury (4 kills, 10 digs), Aiden Husejnovic (4 kills) and Ryan Yu (2 aces).
Next up was a non-league loss to Bishop O’Dowd by a 25-23, 25-19, 25-22. Highlights came from Riter (15 kills, 8 digs, 2 aces), Husejnovic (9 kills), Brookhart (4 kills, 14 assists, 4 digs), Nayak (5 kills) and Lam (12 assists).
Finally, the Dons dropped a 25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 26-24 match to Granada. Top performances came from Riter (21 kills, 8 digs), Brookhart (5 kills, 20 assists, 18 digs), Nayak (14 kills), Lam (25 assists, 11 digs), Ryder Kuckein (15 digs) and Husejnovic (6 kills).
Foothill boys’ volleyball
The Falcons set the pace in EBAL play, winning another pair of matches to move to 4-0 on the young season.
Foothill opened the week with a 25-20, 25-12, 25-16 win over Livermore. Highlights came from Josh Salonga (27 assists, 7 service points), Casey Collins (10 digs, 10 service points, 6 kills) and Kayan Vohra (9 kills, 4 blocks).
Next up was a huge 27-25, 25-23, 25-19 win over De La Salle. The Falcons were led by Vohra (13 kills, 3 blocks), Cameron Hitchan (10 kills, 3 blocks), and Yun Bae (20 assists, 6 kills).
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.