Eagles baseball tops Shasta

The West Valley varsity baseball team outscored Shasta High School 8-3 in an impressive counterblow to the team that beat them 2-9 just weeks before.

"They are an extremely good team," West Valley coach Don Doiron said of the Wolves. "I think they are favored to win or do very well in the EAL (Eastern Athletic League) this year.

The Eagles win is a testament to how quickly the baseball team is growing, the coach said.

"We are definitely improving," Doiron said. "Our errors have been down, and our bats are really coming around. We are getting a lot more hits lately as opposed to the beginning of the season."

West Valley's Justin Naber led the team with four hits, while Gary Vanderberg, Joseph Clark and Justin Clark each had two.

Eagles junior Luke Alward pitched the entire seven innings. Shasta scored three points in the first inning, but Alward was able to hold them scoreless for the rest of the game.

The Eagles lost to Central Valley (6-8) later in the week. Central Valley may be the team to beat in the Northern Athletic League, according to Doiron. Although West Valley has lost to the team twice, they've both been close games.

Coach Doiron said his team is aiming to go all the way.

" The number one goal, first of all, is to win league. Number two is to try and make some noise in the playoffs," he said. "We'd really like to win it all. We feel like we are in every game, and we definitely feel like we have a chance."

The Eagles were scheduled to play against Anderson on Tuesday. Visit www.andersonvalleypost.com for photos and an update of this game.