Sports

Darrin Gillies could not have asked for a better start to his professional baseball career. On Tuesday night, Gillies was pitching in the Midwest League All-Star Game. The next morning, he was on a flight to join his new team, the Bakersfield Blaze. Gillies went from the low-A level to the high-A ball level in half a season. The timing was fortuitous for Gillies, who still has roots in Hollister.

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.

Conner Menez grew up watching the San Francisco Giants and 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.

Pati Hughes-Fudge can’t imagine the emotions she would feel if she ever got to meet her donor’s family. All Hughes-Fudge knows is the liver that saved her life—she underwent liver transplant surgery last September after being on the waiting list for six years—came from a 14-year-old boy.

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.

Jake Bourdet and Lilla Bell have been friends for all of their lives—literally. Bourdet’s parents, Mitch and Kristy, and Bell’s parents, Dean and Nikki, are close, getting together every couple of weeks. Jake is an eighth grader at Spring Grove, and Lilla is an eighth grader at Southside.