Sports

In October as the Balers walked off the field in Monterey in a daze, a Central Coast Section championship wasn’t even in the minds of San Benito players and coaches. Instead the Balers simply needed to win a game. Seven weeks later, the same goal is still present for the Balers but under slightly grander circumstances.

A little more than a year into the second tenure under David Kaplansky, it has become easy to expect at least one thing every time the boys basketball team takes to the court: They will play strong defense.

The San Benito High cross country career of Vanessa Estrada ended Saturday with an eighth place finish in the 2012 California Interscholastic Federation State Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Inside the Salinas High “Pit,” the San Benito football team doesn’t need to search far for success, having gone 5-0-1 since 2001 in the Cowboys’ home. On Friday in the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals, the Balers extended that recent history with a dominate 30-13 win to advance to their seventh CCS title game since 2000.

When San Benito’s Vanessa Estrada toes the starting line at Saturday’s California Interscholastic Federation State Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno, it will be the beginning of the end for her career in the Baler uniform.

After winning its first ever Central Coast Section playoff game and finishing with a 19-10 record, the San Benito girls water polo team was rewarded with four individuals on the all-league team this week.