Track and Field joins Football, Softball, Baseball, and Water Polo in Prep Sports

ATASCADERO

The Atascadero Greyhound football team took a trip to San Luis Obispo on Friday night to open their Ocean League schedule but were entirely outmatched by Mission Prep, losing, 56-6. Atascadero trailed the Royals 42-0 at halftime. Sophomore running back scored the lone touchdown for the Hounds in the fourth quarter and finished with 80 yards rushing on 13 carries. 

Saturday, the Atascadero softball team traveled to Santa Maria for a doubleheader against St. Joseph but fell in both games 7-3, 9-1, respectively. The Greyhounds struggled to generate offense all afternoon and are still working to find their next ace as their starting pitcher for the past four years is now throwing shutouts for the Cal Poly Mustangs. AHS is now 1-3 on the season, with their lone win coming against Mission Prep, 4-0. 

The Greyhound baseball team is also off to a slow start and having trouble generating offense. Still, under head coach Joe Davis, Atascadero teams have come on late in the season, and with little practice this year and athletes in multiple sports, it might take timing a while to get the offense going. Atascadero is 0-3 after falling to Nipomo 5-1 on Wednesday. 

TEMPLETON 

Friday night, the Templeton Eagles hosted their second consecutive game to start the football season and welcomed in their rivals, the Morro Bay Pirates, for a hometown beatdown, winning 42-0 and keeping the Clash of the Coast trophy safe at home. For the second consecutive game, quarterback Tyler Kaschewski and running back Josh Berna combined for over 200 yards, rushing and did so while sitting out the majority of the second half. 

Berna rushed for 133 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns, while Kaschewski ran for 177 yards on only ten carries. Kaschewski’s lone score came on an 80-yard gallop through the middle of the Pirates defense in the second quarter. Not only did Templeton’s offense show up, but its defense also received valuable reps, intercepting two passes before the Eagles start their daunting Mountain League schedule to finish the season. 

Templeton is 2-0 on the season and will host Arroyo Grande this Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Templeton girls softball team played twice in the last week to begin their season and split the games defeating Pioneer Valley 8-2 on Wednesday and dropping a heartbreaker to Arroyo Grande 6-5 on Saturday. This weekend’s game against Arroyo Grande was a back-and-forth exhibition of excitement. Arroyo Grande opened up the scoring by putting four runs on the board in the top of the third inning. Templeton responded immediately with four runs of their own in the bottom half. AG added an additional run in the fourth, and Templeton responded in the fifth. Heading into the final frame, it was tied at five apiece. However, Arroyo Grande was able to hit long ball in the seventh and ultimately won 6-5. 

Charlotte Forniss gave up six hits and two earned runs in seven innings of work and struck out five. Offensively, Bella Backer and Alex Dahlen led the way for Templeton as each recorded multiple hits and accounted for three RBI. 

The Templeton Eagle boys baseball team also began their season with two games last week, one against Mission Prep and one against Morro Bay, winning them both by a combined score of 14-3. On Wednesday, Templeton opened their season in San Luis Obispo and won thanks largely to a giant fifth inning where they scored eight runs. Up until the fifth inning, the game was knotted at zero. 

Saturday, The Eagles hosted the Pirates in their home opener and soared to victory on Merek Hall and Robbie Lardner’s arms. Hall got the ball to start the game and kept the strong Pirate lineup, who scored 30 runs against Atascadero in two games, off-balance and guessing for his three innings before handing the ball to Lardner who closed out the games final four. Hall gave up one hit, no runs, and recorded four strikeouts over three while Lardner gave up three hits, one run, and struck out seven. 

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Local track and field teams have also begun their spring action as Atascadero hosted Templeton on Saturday morning. The Templeton boys won 55-18 while the girls lost 35-31. The Eagles track and football teams see quite a bit of cross-over as some boys had weekends to brag about. After rushing for 130 yards and three touchdowns on Friday night, Berna set a personal best in the 100-meters with a time of 11.30. Following a night in the trenches, Chase Richards dominated both throwing events hitting 43’8″ in the shot put and 138’5″ in the discus. 

 The Eagles swept the sprints against Atascadero on the girls side. Merran Grindley showed she is still one of the top sprinters in the county with a 100-meter time of 13.76, while Emily Bundy took first in the 200-meters with a time of 29.11 and Maya Gutierrez won the 400-meter with a time of 1:14.69.

PASO ROBLES

The Bearcat baseball team kicked off their season last Saturday and are off to a hot 3-0 start to the year. Paso Robles played two games this past week, hosting Taft on Friday night and heading to Pioneer Valley on Saturday afternoon and won 12-0 and 9-8, respectively. 

Both offenses were strong on Saturday, but the Bearcats were stronger as they recorded 14 hits through the seven-inning contest. Pioneer Valley jumped out to an early 3-2 in the first inning, but the Bearcats dropped a touchdown on the Panthers in the third to go up 9-3 and held on in the final innings. 

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Austin Taylor got the start and earned the win for PRHS against Pioneer Valley. Taylor surrendered seven runs on six hits over three and a third innings, striking out four. Anthony Garcia came on in relief and closed the game recorded the final 11 outs and the save. 

Offensively, Chase Stratman and Brandon Bonham led the way with three hits apiece. Bonham also recorded two RBI along with designated hitter Drew Wade. 

The Bearcat softball team played a doubleheader on Saturday and remained perfect as the offense bludgeoned their way to 12-3 and 13-4 victories. With Jaiden Ralston resting her hamstring, it was up to pitchers Hannah Chambers and Brooklyn Pesenti this weekend. The two girls were fantastic in the circle and are quickly showing that the Bearcats have far and away the best and deepest pitching rotation in the county.  

In the first game, the sophomore Pesenti got the start, the first of her PRHS career, but she didn’t need to worry as her running mate, Chambers, put the game well out of reach with the bat in her hand. Chambers hit not one but two home runs in the game, the first a three-run shot and the second a grand slam to total six RBI. Pesenti pitched four and one-third innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts. 

After her herculean effort at the plate in the first game, Chambers started the second game pitching and surrendered four runs in the second inning, but it wasn’t nearly enough to catch the PRHS offense that recorded 15 hits in the game. While Chambers led the offense in the first game, it was first baseman Andie Dizon that led the Lady Bearcats in the second. Dizon finished 4-for-4 with five RBI and a home run of her own. 

In the pool, the Paso Robles water polo teams faced off against the Greyhounds and swept their rivals, winning 12-7 on the boy’s side and 10-6 on the girls. Tre Eade and Reily Lowry led the way offensively for the Bearcats. Eade finished as the leading scorer with five goals, while Lowry finished four.