By Ray Conner
Early offensive success and quality pitching led Kern Valley to a victory over the Stars.
Playing on their home field, the Broncs shutout North 6-0 on March 5 and moved to 3-0 on the season. Kern Valley pitcher’s combined on a two-hitter, collecting 13 strikeouts. The Broncs hitters paced their way with seven hits, including a pair for extra bases.
North opened the game by going quietly in the top of the first. The Broncs took the early lead and never looked back. Zack Wargo opened the bottom of the first with a single. He promptly swiped second. Jordan Mead was plunked by the Stars pitcher to put runners at first and second. Ethan Stockwell came to the plate and reached on an error. The error allowed Wargo to score leaving runners on the corners. E. Stockwell added a steal of second to move into scoring position. Cameron Thomas delivered a sac fly to plate Mead. Carson Strange cracked a single that scored E. Stockwell to give the Broncs a 3-0 margin. Kern Valley added another run in the second and finished it with a pair of runs in the third.
Wargo (2-0) in picking up the win tossed four and two-thirds innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit. He fanned 11 and walked two. Wargo also collected a milestone as he struck out his 200th batter in his varsity career at Kern Valley. Wargo becomes the 11th pitcher in school history to record 200 strikeouts.
Coming on for the save was Aiden Madden (S1). He went the final two and one third innings. Madden gave up one hit, while striking out two. He walked two batters, but did not allow a run.
Leading the Broncs on offense was Wargo with three hits, including a double. He knocked in one run and scored twice. Chris Lopez had two hits, including a double. He would also score a run for the Broncs Mead and Strange each had one hit in the game. Mead picked up an RBI, while Thomas had the sac fly for his lone RBI.
Head coach Mike Genthner said, “We played well. In the first three innings we were able to put together some hits, ran the bases well, and took advantage of a few errors. Wargo had a great game both pitching and hitting.”
He would go on to say, “It was a confidence builder beating a big school like North.”
Game two of the week saw Kern Valley keep its winning streak going.
The Broncs went on the road to take on Parlier. This was another dominating performance from the Kern Valley squad. They clobbered Parlier 14-2 in just five innings. The Broncs banged out 10 hits, including two for extra bases and recorded 10 RBIs in the game.
Kern Valley took the early lead as they sent nine batters to the plate. Five hits and wildness from the Parlier pitcher, along with a poor defensive effort allowed the Broncs to jump out to a quick 5-0 lead.
The big hit of the inning came off the bat of E. Stockwell. He cracked a double that scored a run giving the Broncs the 1-0 cushion. Wargo, Thomas, Strange, and Lopez all had one hit in the inning. Thomas was credited with a pair of RBIs, while Strange knocked in one run in the opening inning uprising.
Kern Valley would also be aided in the rout as they were walked eight times and hit by the pitch three times. The added base runners allowed the Kern Valley team to win their fourth in a row and stay undefeated at 4-0.
Strange was the hitting leader for Kern Valley as he collected three. He would drive in three runs and scored three times in the contest.
Wargo and E. Stockwell each had two hits, while the law office of Thomas, Lopez, and Madden each had one hit. Madden collected a pair of RBIs in the game.
Kern Valley’s Seth Stockwell (2-0) was a force on the bump as he went four plus innings. He gave up two unearned runs on a pair of hits. He walked four and struck out five batters. Thomas in relief was credited with one inning of pitching. He set down all three batters he would face to put an end to the game.
In hopes of keeping their winning ways alive, the Broncs faced off against Woodlake on road Tuesday. On Thursday they will travel to play Granite Hills.
