High School Sports

Although high school football games are contested in the fall, the real work goes on in the winter and summer months. That’s when players get bigger, stronger and faster through months of conditioning, strength-training, drills and camps. San Benito High has prided itself on its work ethic over the years, and new coach Bryan Smith has plans to make sure the school’s tradition of outworking their opponents continue.

At Anzar High School, beneath the shade of a sparkly orange mortarboard with a drawing of Frida Kahlo, San Juan Bautista resident Adeline Martinez prepared to graduate.

Few athletes in any sport have made a meteoric rise to the top as Nolan Sanchez just did in his recently completed junior season competing for the San Benito High track and field team. Before the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division Championships on May 6, Sanchez was running well but short of his own goal and expectations.

Back in the CIF State Track and Field Championships for the second straight year, Marisa Villegas enjoyed her experience every bit as much from last season. Villegas, who just completed her junior year, ran the 1600-meter race in a time of 5 minutes, 2.71 seconds to take 16th overall last Friday at Buchanan High in Clovis.

Last Saturday, the San Benito High baseball team advanced to a section final for the third time in the last six years. However, the Haybalers were denied that elusive first-ever Central Coast Section championship, as they lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to St. Francis in the Open Division playoff title game at San Jose Municipal Stadium.

Pain evident after their races, Nolan Sanchez and Marisa Villegas knew all the training and suffering was worth it. The San Benito High juniors earned berths to the CIF State Track and Field Championships after their performances last Friday in the Central Coast Section Finals at Gilroy High.

When the San Benito High softball team fell behind by four runs entering the bottom of the second inning in the Central Coast Section Division I playoff championship game on Saturday, the Balers had no doubt they would come back and win. In fact, first-year Balers coach Andrew Barragan told his players they had them right where they wanted them—no joke.

The San Benito and St. Francis baseball teams will play after all. The two perennial Central Coast Section powers had a game scheduled in the first week of the season only to have it rained out. The game never got made up, and it looked as if it wasn’t going to—until now.

The San Benito High baseball team finds itself in a familiar position: In the semifinals of the Central Coast Section playoffs. The No. 7 seed Haybalers (18-7) play No. 11 Bellarmine (20-9) on Wednesday at San Jose Municipal Stadium at 7 p.m.

The San Benito High baseball team had to watch league rival Palma celebrate on its home field on May 2, when the Chieftains won 4-2 to clinch at least a share of the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division championship. Palma knocked off Salinas two days later to win the title outright, denying the Haybalers a 12th league championship in the last 13 years.