WASHINGTON FANS 15
BATTERS IN MANTECA
VICTORY
Thirty years ago, on May 30, 1986, East Union High came oh-so-very-close to winning the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II baseball title at American River College in Sacramento. The Lancers rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat Mesa Verde High 8-7 and force a decisive third game. Then, in the nightcap, EU extended Mesa Verde to the ninth inning before losing 6-5 when the Mavericks pushed across a run with none out. In the first game of the evening, Raul Cudal singled home Kevin Carr with the game winner. Carr had doubled earlier in the inning. Scott Heaton got the pitching win in relief.
In other sports stories
from the Bulletin files:
90 years ago: June 3, 1926 – The newly organized baseball team sponsored by the Manteca DeMolays defeated the Livingston Peppers in its initial appearance at Livingston on Sunday. The DeMolays crashed out 20 hits off three Livingston pitchers. The final score was 16 to 0. Tom Washington, DeMolay chucker, allowed but two hits, which were of the scratch variety. Only one man reached third and the outfield handled but three balls. He fanned 13 men.
70 years ago: June 6, 1946 – The Sunset Post’s Junior Legion team of San Francisco traveled down to Manteca on Memorial Day to defeat the Junior Legion team sponsored by Hope McFall Post in a game on the high school diamond by the score of 4 to 1. Bob Grunsky, pitcher of Manteca, managed to keep the visitors scoreless for six of the nine innings. Vic Solari, shortstop of Manteca, also helped with some beautiful infield support in holding the bay city’s score down.
60 years ago: June 5, 1956 – Manteca High School’s outstanding spring athletes were presented their annual trophies at an awards assembly in the high school gym last Monday morning. Don Ganes was given the outstanding baseball player trophy for the second year in a row. Ganes led the local varsity into second place in the Valley Oak League and was picked, along with Ron Blakemore, to play in the Police All-star game held recently in Stockton. Coach Louis Jordan presented Sheldon Wettack with the outstanding swimmer award. Wettack was defeated in only one race throughout the season, while setting new school records in three events. The track trophy went to Leo Omlin, leading varsity scorer and top hurdler.
50 years ago: June 5, 1966 - The Ceres High Bulldogs ended the Manteca High season on Thursday by dumping the VOL baseball champs 11-5 at Ceres. The Buffaloes ended the season with a 12-4 record and the VOL title for the second year in a row.
40 years ago: June 1, 1976 – A scant half-second was all there was between the East Union High girls 440 relay team and a spot in the State track meet at Berkeley. The quartet competed in the Sac-Joaquin Section meet last Friday at Roseville’s Oakmont High and placed a respectable fifth with a time of :51.6, a tenth of a second off its best. The Lancer tracksters, juniors Irene Tokunaga and Remie Vea, freshman Gretchen Strahan and senior Marilyn Clarkson, were the only local representatives at the Section meet.
30 years ago: June 1, 1986 – Eric Hill twirled a three-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday to ensure Frank’s Exxon of Manteca a sweep of visiting Pizza Machine of Stockton during opening day play of Babe Ruth 16-18 Baseball. Robbie Woods fired a five-hitter in game one, a 7-2 triumph, and Joe Dias broke loose for a pair of hits—including a two-run triple in the first inning—and four RBI’s. Dias and Troy Hardcastle had run-scoring singles in the second game, a 3-1 victory.
Mike Gaynor, Tony Mello, Robert Randall and Eric Wohle made quite a combination Saturday for the Manteca Dolphins Swim Club as the foursome teamed up for two relay victories and individually accounted for five more wins. The Dolphins, with 150 swimmers strong, opened the season at Lincoln Park pool, hosting Ripon and Escalon-Linden in a three-way meet. Ripon took the event with 869.5 to 624.5 for the Dolphins.
After Friday’s loss to Del Oro High of Loomis, East Union High’s softball team fell 7-2 in the second game of the best-of-three series and dropped the championship Division II playoff on Monday. EU, 18-5 this year, collected eight hits and had one less batter reach base than did the Eagles. JoAnn Estrada led the Lady Lancers with three hits, including a triple.
Nearly three dozen athletes were honored by Manteca High at its annual spring sports social Wednesday night. Seniors Robbie Woods and Jim Lindsay, who pitched the Buffaloes into a tie for second place in the VOL, were named co-MVP’s on the baseball team. Other MVP’s: golf – Kevin Wentworth; tennis – Eric Reis; track and field – Tony Perez and Dan Eavenson; gymnastics – Lisa Crockett; and softball – Kim Sloan and Tammy McBride.
Manteca High’s Tony Perez qualified for today’s finals in the 800 and 1600 meters at the CIF State track meet in Norwalk. He ran a 1:53.3 in the 800 and a 4:12.5 in the 1600.
20 years ago: June 3, 1996 – Led by several East Union High players, the County All-stars unloaded for 11 runs in the first two innings en route to an 18-7 shellacking of the City stars at Sunday’s Tracy Sunrise Rotary All-star Baseball Classic at Billy Hebert Field in Stockton. EU’s John Sheridan had two hits in two trips, including a two-RBI single. Eric Denton was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Jeff Abrew and Joey Sergent each had a base hit for the winners.
Tuff Boy Trailers used a heavy barrage of hits and solid defense to power past Sonora B 10-5 and 10-0, while Sierra pulled out a 4-3 11-ining victory, but then lost 9-6 in a doubleheader split with the Tracy Angels in Tri-County Babe Ruth 16-18 Baseball play on Sunday afternoon. Tuff Boy, in action at Manteca High, had sterling relief pitching from Paul Rebeiro and a five-run sixth inning rally in the first game. Rebeiro helped his team at the plate with two hits, including a triple. In the second game, Tuff Boy erupted for six runs in the first two innings and coasted to the five-inning shutout win. Geoff Perry, Steve Smalley and Nick McCreery each had two hits.
In Tracy, Brian Bagley scored on a pair of errors in the 11th inning for the hard-fought, extra-inning win for Sierra. John Thomson and Daniel Almeida each had a pair of hits for the winners. In the second game, Sierra rallied from a 6-0 deficit to tie it up with a pair of three-run outbursts, but the Angels plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to seal the contest. Thomson and Josh Ferguson each collected two hits in a losing cause.
Nine of the Manteca Dolphins swept all three of their individual events to help the local swim club win its opener of the Mid-Valley Swim Conference on Saturday. The Dolphins stroked past the Tracy Tritons 1,019-861. The Manteca 11-12 girls had two triple winners as Lynne Brown won the 100 IM, the 50 butterfly and the 50 breaststroke, while Stacy Brock was tops in the 50 back and both the 50 and 100 freestyle races. Other triple winners for the Dolphins were Devin Tailes (6-under girls), Beau Riley (6-under boys), Michael Buccieri (11-12 boys), Sonia Tuchtenhagen (13-14 girls), Seth Lowry (13-14 boys), Nathan Toone (15-16 boys) and Wes Tuchtenhagen (16-17 boys).
Two Manteca High graduates and one from East Union High have been invited to play in the 21st annual Kiwanis High School All-star Basketball game. MHS’s Bryan Lucas and James Ward and East Union’s Shane Lewis will play together on the North all-star squad that will battle the South all-stars next Saturday at Lincoln High in Stockton.
10 years ago: June 7, 2006 – A list of local prep athletes who have committed to a four-year college includes: Cherise McNair (Sierra HS track) to the University of Utah; Gilbert Martinez (Manteca HS football) to Minot State ND; Benny Garcia (Manteca HS wrestling) to Cal State Fullerton and Amanda Vickers (East Union HS softball) to Armstrong Atlantic State GA.
