Sports

A pair of one-run losses to Pacific Grove will have to be forgotten for bit as the Soledad Aztec baseball team is battling with two other Mission Trail Athletic League teams for the automatic Central Coast Section playoff berth.

Seven South County runners were among the top placers at Saturday’s Salinas Valley Half Marathon and 5K.

The competition was tough for local high school cross country runners at the 23rd Annual North Monterey County Earlybird Invitational Cross Country Meet at Toro Park on Saturday.

Facing elimination in the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs forced the Soledad High Aztec soccer team to take some risks against the Mt. Pleasant Cardinals. Unfortunately for Soledad, the Cardinals had enough firepower to roar back and handle the Aztecs 6-3 and advance to the finals.

South County’s first-ever traveling soccer team was honored by the City of Soledad on July 11 during its regular council meeting.

Heavy smoke that has spread from the Camp Fire in Butte County to much of Northern California, the Bay Area and the Tri-county area has forced the rescheduling of many Central Coast Section sporting events.

The road was rough for the Soledad High boys basketball team with road losses to Robert Louis Stevenson and Pacific Grove. The setbacks dropped the Aztecs to 7-6 in the Mission Trail Athletic League and fourth place in league standings.

With four games left in the regular season the Soledad High Aztec baseball team is taking aim at first place this week with just one game separating them from the first place Pacific Grove Breakers.

Mission Trail Athletic League baseball champion Soledad High earned the top individual awards for the league with the Most Valuable Player in Isaac Lopez and the Pitcher of the Year with Andru Holguin.

Hundreds of runners and walkers will take to South County backroads on Saturday to take part in the eighth annual Salinas Valley Half Marathon the will start at the Soledad Mission and finish at Pessagno Winery on 1645 River Road.