By Pat Turner
Contributing Writer

The baseball season began this week, and Clark is off to an impressive start.

The Cougars (5-0-1) opened the season with a 1-0 over Judson and then registered four victories en route to the Northside Tournament title.

Pitching was solid, starting with E.J. Salzar and Chucko Bernal’s three-hit combination in the win over Judson.

“We had a good week,” said Clark coach Aldo Velasquez, whose Cougars also had a 5-5 tie with Clemens in the tourney. “We still need to work on things. We gave up too many walks and we want to eliminate that. We need to work on other things. I’m still pleased with the start.’

Holmes also had a good week, finishing third in the Robstown Tournament.

The Huskies lost a 7-2 decision to defending 4A champion Corpus Christi Moody in the semifinals, but bounced back with a 9-2 win over Hidalgo

In softball, Warren stole the show for the week by zipping to the Northeast Tournament title. The Warriors topped the weekend with a 10-0 victory over Incarnate Word in the finals.

Track season opened this past weekend and several athletes had big beginnings.

At the SAISD Invitational, Warren’s Anthony Johnson won the high jump with a 6-6 clearing.

Clark’s Hayden Greenbauer won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.07. Also in the boys’ division, Clark took the 1,600-meter relay (3:29.50) and Sam Perez was second in the 400-meter dash (51.76).

Strong showings also occurred in the girls’ competition.

Clark won the 400-meter relay with a time of 50.03 and finished second in the 1,600-meter relay with a 4:09.57.

Warren took third in the 1,600-meter relay (4:10.78) and was second in the 800-meter relay with a time of 1:48,39.

Anna Drewry of Clark was second in the shot put with a heave of 35-3.

Stevens’ Jean’ne Bucker was third in the 100-meter hurdles (17.70) and the 300-meter hurdles (49.84). Teammate Sonja Scales earned a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash (59.38).

At the Southwest Dragon Relays, Holmes’ Nathan Pineda gave every indication his success from cross country will carry over into the track.

He won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:27.96. Prior to the gold medal showing, Pineda was locked into a competitive 3,200-meter race with Churchill’s Paul Snyder.

Snyder won the event with a 9:29.64, while Pineda was second with a 9:34.41.

Holmes’ Daniel Barlow was second in the 800-meter run with a 2:00.14 and Anthony Polk placed third in the long jump with a leap of 20-7 ?.

O’Connor had a big beginning.

In the boys’ competition, Brady Brown topped the discus competition with a 134-9 ? toss.

Brantley Vaughn highlighted the O’Connor girls’ performances. She won a gold in the long jump with a 16-11 leap. In the running events, she took second in the 100-meter hurdles (15.31) and placed third in the 300-meter hurdles (48.28).

O’Connor also placed third in the three relays.

District 28-5A soccer continues to be a wild race in the boys.

Clark (8-2-4, 5-0-4) was the leader after the first round, but started the second round by tying Holmes.

Taft (7-7-1, 7-2-1) took a major leap.

Zach Mahon and Richard Slawinski scored two goals in a 4-0 victory over Stevens and Andres Ramirez kicked in the game-winner in the 1-0 triumph over O’Connor.

O’Connor (9-4-1, 5-3-1), which has lost three of its last four matches, recorded a 1-0 victory over Del Rio earlier in the week.

Warren (8-4-1, 7-2) had a brief appearance this past week, but the Warriors made it count as goals from Luis Ramirez and Stephen Gamez led to a 2-0 victory over Marshall.

In the girls’ competition, Marshall (13-1-2, 9-0-1) remained in the top spot with a 3-0 win over Warren and a 6-1 hammering of Del Rio.

Courtney Hutchinson highlighted the Lady Rams’ offense, kicking in two against Warren, before recording the hat trick in the Del Rio contest.

O’Connor (11-2-2, 8-1-1) stayed within striking distance with an 8-1 win over Del Rio and a 1-0 victory of Taft.