Tulare County athlete of the week: Redwood's Ari Valencia

Redwood High School softball player Ari Valencia was voted by readers as the Visalia Times-Delta Tulare County prep athlete of the week.

In an online poll that closed on April 21, Valencia received 12,237 votes, or a 35.1% majority, of the 34,959 responses.

Valencia smacked a double and knocked in three RBI as the Rangers downed El Diamante 4-1.

Here's a look at past winners:

• Jan. 6: Cole Gilcrest, Redwood basketball

• Jan. 13: Janessa Garza, Farmersville basketball

• Jan. 20: Danae Banuelos, Golden West basketball

• Jan. 27: Ava Ayon, Lindsay basketball

• Feb. 3: Cooper Fish, Porterville basketball

• Feb. 10: Kiersten Shade, El Diamante basketball

• Feb. 17: Reagan Neese, Central Valley Christian soccer

• Feb. 24: Isaak Mendoza, Redwood wrestling

• March 3: Miles Munger, Exeter baseball

• March 10: Trevor Hampel, El Diamante baseball

• March 17: Gage Hastin, Mission Oak baseball

• March 24: J.T. Guerrero, Mt. Whitney baseball

• March 31: Kelan Turner, Central Valley Chrisitan baseball

• April 7: Bryce Crook, CVC baseball

• April 14: Raquel Delgado, Mt. Whitney softball

Editor’s note: Anyone can nominate an athlete of the week for every sport. Nominate next week’s ballot through email. Readers can email nominations to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@visaliatimesdelta.com. Please include a player’s statistics and a photo if possible.

Original Story: Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register readers can now vote for their favorite high school athletes at the newspaper's website, visaliatimesdelta.com. The poll closes on Friday.

Please do not email your votes.

Here are the choices for the week of April 17-21:

• Emily Alatorre, softball, Farmersville: Alatorre pounded a home run and knocked in four runs to direct the Aztecs to an 11-1 win over Strathmore in five innings. She finished with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and also scored three runs.

• Cambria Alderete, softball, Dinuba: Alderete, a freshman, launched a home run and finished with six RBI to pilot the Emperors to a 16-3 victory against Hanford in five frames.

• Justin Cuellar, baseball, Tulare Western: Cuellar tossed nine strikeouts to lead the Mustangs to a 5-2 win over Mission Oak. Cuellar allowed five hits and two earned runs in the West Yosemite League victory.

• Kailee Gilbert, softball, Tulare Union: Gilbert hit a home run and drove in three runs to help the Tribe defeat Hanford 11-4 in a West Yosemite League game.

• Alex Lopez, baseball, Golden West: Lopez led the Trailblazers with four hits in an 8-7 loss to Redwood.

• Selena Lopez, softball, Mt. Whitney: Lopez hurled eight strikeouts in a tie game versus Porterville. She gave up just one hit in the 5-5 contest.

• Brandt Munger, baseball, CVC: Munger registered the save and also had a triple and two runs in the Cavaliers' 4-3 victory against Immanuel.

• Nick Senn, baseball, El Diamante: Senn blasted two hits, including a home run, and three RBI to lead the Miners to a 15-1 win over Porterville. He also scored a pair of runs.

• Ariana Valencia, softball, Redwood: Valencia smacked a double and knocked in three RBI as the Rangers downed El Diamante 4-1.

• Miller Weldon, baseball, Exeter: Weldon went a perfect 4-for-4 hitting, including a triple, and registered four RBI and two runs in a 16-2 rout of Hanford West.

Nominations are based on information available to the Times-Delta.

All high school varsity players from Tulare County can be on the ballot. Nominations must be received for consideration by Monday morning following that week's games.

Anyone can nominate an athlete of the week for every sport. Nominate next week’s ballot through email. Readers can email nominations to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@visaliatimesdelta.com. Please include a player’s statistics and a photo if possible.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Vote for the Tulare County athlete of the week (April 17-21)