Baseball
Leigh’s on the brink of a league crown
Leigh arrived at the field Tuesday with a two-game cushion in its league standings with four to play. Three teams were tied for second, including the opponent in the home dugout, Branham.
As the saying goes, this was no time to ease up.
Leigh clearly did not do that. The Longhorns scored five in the visitor’s half of the third to take charge and went on to pound Branham 14-3 to stretch their win streak to 11 games.
The San Jose school maintained a two-game advantage over Pioneer. Leigh leads Live Oak by 2 1/2 and Branham by three.
The Longhorns — ranked 15th by the Bay Area News Group — can clinch at least a tie for the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division title with a win at home over Branham on Thursday.
Leigh finishes league play next week with two games against Live Oak.
Tuesday, Nate Miller hit two doubles, knocked in four runs and scored two runs and Dom Panella went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs as the Longhorns improved to 16-7, 12-3.
Panella also scored three runs and Carter Williams went 3 for 4 with two RBIs.
Branham fell to 16-7, 9-6.
No. 3 Archbishop Mitty 8, St. Ignatius 3
Mitty won’t catch Valley Christian for first place in the West Catholic Athletic League standings, but the Monarchs were clearly the league’s second-best team.
They hold a 4 1/2-game advantage over third-place St. Francis and a five-game edge over fourth-place Bellarmine and Serra after winning at home against St. Ignatius.
Mitty took the lead with two in the fourth and padded the advantage with four in the sixth.
Luka Brocilo and Tanner Kern each knocked in two runs and Jarren Advincula had two hits and an RBI as the Monarchs improved to 20-5, 11-2.
Mitty closes the regular season Friday at Valley Christian.
SI fell to 13-11, 5-8.
No. 13 Serra 4, Archbishop Riordan 2
Serra, playing at home in San Mateo, built a three-run lead after two innings and held on to beat Riordan in a WCAL game.
Jeremy Gory, Ben Cleary and Justin Sechler each drove in a run and Mason Wehmeyer pitched five innings of one-run ball for the Padres, who upped their record to 14-8, 6-7.
Riordan is 11-15, 0-13.
No. 16 Liberty 3, Heritage 0
David Roberts struck out 12 over six scoreless innings and Colby Mingus hit a home run as Liberty defeated Heritage to tighten the Bay Valley Athletic League standings.
Liberty improved to 15-7, 6-2. Heritage is 15-7, 7-2.
Josiah Wallace and Joshua Rhodes also drove in runs for Liberty, which visits Heritage on Thursday.
No. 5 Clayton Valley 7, College Park 0
Ryder Oakley struck out seven and Myles Walton, Ryder Helfrick and Nico Olson each had two hits to lead Clayton Valley to a victory at home over College Park in Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division play.
Clayton Valley is 16-4, 7-0. College Park dropped to 10-10, 4-3.
Pioneer 7, Christopher 5
Pioneer trailed 4-0 midway through the first inning and 5-3 in the middle of the second. Both times the Mustangs rallied. They went on to win the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division game to stay two games behind first-place Leigh with three games left.
Ryan Haun had two hits and knocked in two runs and Nathan Tichy hit a double, scored twice and drove in a run for Pioneer (14-7-1, 10-5).
Christopher is 13-8, 8-7.
Softball
No. 15 Amador Valley 5, No. 3 Granada 3
Amador Valley once again served notice that it could be dangerous when the playoffs roll around. Trailing 1-0 on the road against Granada, the Dons struck for four runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh, then held off Granada to win the East Bay Athletic League game.
McKenna Charbonneau went 2 for 4 with a home run and scored twice to lead an offense that finished with 13 hits.
Lauren Tran, Kaylee Davis, Taylor Oxe and Mai Falcone also finished with two hits apiece as Amador Valley improved to 13-10, 8-4.
Saskia Raab and Alecsis Phillips each had two hits for Granada, which fell to 18-4, 10-2.
No. 5 Capuchino 4, No. 4 Sequoia 0
Nohemi Livingston scattered five hits and struck out eight and Avery Motroni went 2 for 3 with a home run as Capuchino beat Sequoia to maintain a one-game lead over Carlmont in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division.
Sequoia fell 1 1/2 games back.
Madison Choi also had two hits and Kira Forsberg doubled and scored a run for Capuchino (18-4, 9-2).
Jamie Elkington and Emerson Seevers each had two hits for Sequoia (15-4, 7-3).
Los Gatos 4, No. 17 Wilcox 3
Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, Los Gatos rallied for three runs to beat Wilcox in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division play.
Alexa Musser’s double drove in two runs to tie the score 3-3. A fielding error accounted for the winning run as Los Gatos improved to 12-9, 7-3. The Wildcats are a game behind first-place Milpitas.
Justine Valdivia had three hits, Jessica Gutierrez finished with two hits and Athena Gonzales knocked in two runs for Wilcox (12-7, 6-3).
No. 9 Clayton Valley 16, Acalanes 1
Soo-Jin Berry finished 2 for 3 and drove in five runs and Annika Scheafer, Laci Evanson, Marisa Vazquez and
Isabella Scolini each knocked in two runs to power Clayton Valley over Acalanes in a Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division game that ended after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run rule.
Angelina Vargas added two doubles and an RBI for Clayton Valley, which improved to 14-4, 2-1.
Acalanes is 9-8, 3-3.
No. 11 Benicia 4, Berean Christian 0
Alana Robinson pitched a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts and Morgan Kacalek doubled and knocked in two runs to lift Benicia over visiting Berean Christian in a DAL Foothill Division game.
Ary Banks-Lockhart and Robinson each had two hits as Benicia improved to 12-7-1, 2-1.
Berean Christian slipped to 4-12, 0-5.
No. 12 Westmont 9, Pioneer 2
Kaili Esters Capilla doubled and had three RBIs and Eleanor Rodhouse, Elizabeth Flatley and Jacqui McLean each finished with two hits as Westmont cruised on the road over Pioneer in BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division play.
Westmont upped its record to 16-5, 9-1. Pioneer is 4-17, 0-11.
Source: www.mercurynews.com