Generals baseball, softball sweep in SSL

The Shafter High School baseball and softball teams swept their series last week, both teams dominating Kennedy High School. The baseball team beat the Thunderbirds 8-0 on Tuesday and 9-3 on Thursday in a home-at-home series.

In the first game, the Generals racked up seven hits, with Andy Gomez grabbing two of them, with an RBI. Matteo Martinez had a strong performance on the mound, giving up only two hits and striking out seven in the game.

In the second game of the week, Jesus Paez pitched a gem, striking out 11 batters, allowing just three hits. Four batters for the Generals had multihit games, with Martinez, Joaquin Garza, Alexander Casanova-Baldarrama and Christopher Espinoza each having two hits, with the team getting 13 hits in total.

The squad now has a 5-1 record in the SSL, with a key series against Taft coming this week, at Taft on Tuesday and at home against the Wildcats on Thursday.

On the softball diamond, the Lady Generals were even more dominant, outscoring the Thunderbirds 31-0 in the two games. On Tuesday, Shafter won 10-0, following that win with a 5-inning romp, winning 21-0. In the first game, Maddison Ortiz and Emily Pugh each had two hits to lead the way. On the mound, Ortiz pitched a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

In the second game, the Lady Generals piled up 22 hits, with four batters getting three hits apiece. Cassidy Torres took the mound and struck out five on the way to a one-hit victory, shortened by the mercy rule to five innings. Shafter now has a 5-0-1 record in the SSL, with the lone tie against Chavez. Shafter will be in Taft on Tuesday in a battle for first place, and follow that with a game on Thursday at home against the Wildcats. The games start at 4 p.m.