The Pioneer High School varsity baseball team was represented by two recent graduates this weekend at the 52nd Optimist All-Star Game at the Army Depot Park in Sacramento.

Pitcher Carson Timothy and catcher Ryan Pearson suited up for the Patriots one last time on Sunday night in the annual senior showcase.

“It feels great to come out here repping them because I’ve never done this before. It feels good to be out here with my best friend, Carson,” Pearson explained.

Timothy and Pearson competed for the small school south team on Sunday. Both players said their most treasured moment of the game came in the first inning when Pearson got to catch Timothy for the final time.

“Being able to catch his one inning, that will be our last time, me being able to catch him in uniform since he’s going to Santa Barbara next year,” Pearson said. “Just playing with him one last time (was my favorite part).”

The north prevailed 6-3 after nine innings of play. Four runs in the top of the fourth inning for the north ultimately proved to be the difference. The north added one run in each of the third and eighth innings, respectively.

The south scored once in the third and mounted a comeback attempt with two runs in the bottom of the ninth but fell short. Timothy had a strong all-around performance to earn himself Most Valuable Player of the small school south team.

“It’s always fun to represent my school one last time, it was a fun time to do it,” Timothy said. “(I was) out there with confidence and having a lot of fun. It’s cool to represent Pioneer and what we do.”

The future Gaucho tallied one hit, one walk and one run scored offensively. Timothy pitched a scoreless first inning and spent time in left field and at shortstop defensively.

“I could see that because I’ve been playing with him since I was 8-years-old and he’s always been like that,” Pearson recalled. “Winning MVPs, throwing hard, it’s just how he does it.”

Pearson is now on his way to Butte College where he will play alongside Timothy’s older brother, Hunter.

“A lot of things to work on, I need to work on hitting,” Pearson foreshadowed. “I can’t wait for it to come!”

Timothy will now compete in the Big West Conference on the Division I level at UC Santa Barbara.

“I just gotta keep going,” Timothy said. “I’ve got a lot to work on so I need to do that first.”

During Pearson and Timothy’s three years on varsity at Pioneer, the Patriots were a combined 50-17 overall and 34-6 in Golden Empire League play. Pioneer won two GEL titles and earned a berth into the 2023 CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Baseball Championship game.

“There was a lot of ups-and-downs but mainly ups and we won a lot, so that was always fun,” Timothy said.