NBC 11 Sports: Imperial Valley teams prepare for state tournament, several Gila Ridge Hawks commit to the next level

YUMA, Ariz., (KYMA, KECY) - Championship weekend has passed but there's more ahead for three local Imperial Valley teams who punched their tickets to the California state tournament.

For the Holtville Vikings, the road has been a wild one since the same group of core players helped build this team into a winning program when their first promising season was cut short due to Covid in 2020. Now, it has all come full circle by winning both an Imperial Valley League title and a CIF title in the same season for the first time.

Since that was the goal from the start, everything from here on out is bonus softball for the Lady Vikings after earning the No. 3 seed in the CIF SoCal Division IV bracket.

"The goal that we set out to accomplish, we've already done that. We first wanted to be IVL champions and then we moved onto CIF champions," said head coach Melissa Snyder. "We've done both of those things so everything from here on out is even more of the cherry on top. We're just excited to have one more chance to play in front of our community and in front our fans - continuing doing what we love to do and enjoying the rest of time we have together as a team."

In the very same bracket stands the Imperial Lady Tigers who captured a CIF San Diego Section Division III title on Saturday with a win over Christian - by scoring two runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to take the late lead.

The Tigers now head on the road as the No. 5 seed to play No. 4 JW North on Tuesday. The Lady Tigers look to continue an already impressive 22-win season that had a perfect record as Desert League champions with a roster that has no seniors on it.

Also in the CIF SoCal Division IV bracket but on the baseball diamond sits the Calexico Bulldogs who celebrated a CIF San Diego Section title over the weekend by taking down top seeded Bishop's in convincing fashion.

The Bulldogs will also travel on the road as the No. 7 seed to play No. 2 Crean Lutheran on Tuesday.

In an up and down ride for the Bulldogs in 2023, coach Ricky Guzman explains that it was some late season adversity that turned things around into a championship team.

"I really think our loss on Tuesday to Imperial is really where things took a turn. We've been through a lot of injuries you know health's been a problem for us. A lot of rain early in the year. So we've always had these games where we struggled, but it's alright," said Guzman. "When there is no more tomorrow these guys just seem to turn it up a notch. So at the end of the day we're just going to keep riding that wave."

Meanwhile, on a break from playoff baseball and softball, there were some more college signings from Gila Ridge that rounded out a packed week of signings last week.

From the baseball diamond, both Keaton Young and Jack Scanlan put pen to paper to continue their baseball journey at the collegiate level with the help from head coach James Kuzniak.

Young is headed to the NCAA Division II level at Dakota State after a career as a Hawk where he hit .368 at the plate. He plans to major in cyber operations with the hopes of one day working for the government.

As for Scanlan, he will take his talent to the junior college level to play for Glendale Community College. The Hawks first baseman and pitcher hit for a career average of .337 with an impressive sophomore campaign where he hit a blistering .533. Off the field, Scanlan plans to major in fire science in hopes of becoming a firefighter one day.

Both young men gave huge credit to Kuzniak for his coaching style and persistence to make each of them better.

Lastly, a signing from the links on the golf course. Hawks golf star Alba Kindelan signed her comittment to play for York University - an NAIA school out in Nebraska. 

While the move from Yuma will be a journey, it won't be the furthest she's moved before as Kindelan is originally from Spain where she came to the desert southwest as an exchange student.