NEW: PREP SPORTS MAILBAG
The Bay Area News Group is introducing a high school sports mailbag in May. Get your questions in as soon as possible. Our debut edition is an open forum. Got questions about spring sports playoffs, coaching changes, an early peek at football season, etc.? Send them to highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com. Please include “mailbag” in the subject line.
Baseball
WCAL playoffs
Valley Christian won the West Catholic Athletic League’s regular-season championship last week.
Thursday, the Warriors will go for the outright title.
They advanced to the final on Tuesday with a 9-2 victory at home over Archbishop Riordan as Michael Castaneda and Jacob Hudson hit home runs to lead the way.
Valley (25-3) will face Archbishop Mitty, which won on its home field 8-3 over St. Francis on Tuesday behind two hits from Luka Brocilo and two RBIs from Makoa Sniffen.
If Mitty (21-6) wins at Valley on Thursday, the teams will share the league title.
The playoff format was set up differently than previous years because four teams – Bellarmine, Sacred Heart Cathedral, St. Ignatius and Serra – tied for fourth place.
The league receives five automatic qualifiers for the Central Coast Section playoffs and would likely get a sixth team into the postseason as an at-large.
But a seventh team advancing seems unlikely.
So instead of holding a traditional eight-team bracket, the league put the four teams that tied for fourth in their own bracket, seeding them by a draw.
On Tuesday, St. Ignatius won at Bellarmine 5-0 and Sacred Heart Cathedral prevailed at home over Serra 5-4.
On Wednesday, SI will visit SHC for fourth place – behind Valley, Mitty, St. Francis – and Serra will travel to Bellarmine for sixth place.
The Bellarmine-Serra loser will likely miss the CCS playoffs.
In SI’s win over Bellarmine, Archer Horn allowed three hits in 5 ⅔ innings and Beau Schaffer closed out the Bells the rest of the way as SI improved to 15-11.
Bellarmine is 14-11-1.
SHC rallied in its game against Serra, scoring four in the bottom of the fifth to erase a 4-1 deficit.
Barclay Ovalle went 2 for 2 with a home run and two RBIs to lead SHC (14-13).
Serra fell to 14-10.
EBAL playoffs
San Ramon Valley and Granada advanced to the semifinals of the East Bay Athletic League playoffs with victories at home on Tuesday.
SRV was down to its last out in the bottom of the seventh against Foothill when Julian Cambra doubled to drive in two runs to even the score.
The Wolves won the game 3-2 an inning later when Marco Jones singled with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Granada beat California 8-5 as the Matadors took command with two runs in the first and five in the second.
Parker Warner had two hits, including a home run, and Tommy Brown, Ben Johnston, Colin Johnston and Riley Winchell each had two hits and an RBI as Granada upped its record to 19-6.
In the semifinals on Wednesday, Granada will play at De La Salle and SRV (16-9) will visit Amador Valley. DLS and Amador had opening-round byes.
The winners will advance to the final Friday.
Pioneer 1, Leland 0
Pioneer’s junior ace Nathan Tichy tossed a complete game against Leland, striking out nine and allowing only two hits in the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division game.
That excellent performance helped keep Pioneer alive in the league title race.
Sophomore Andre Valdespino drove in the game’s only run in the fourth inning. He finished 2 for 3 with a double.
The win improved Pioneer to 15-8-1 and 11-6 in the league, while Leland slid to 11-14, 7-9.
If Pioneer wins at home against Leland and Leigh loses at Live Oak on Thursday, Pioneer will capture a share of the title with at least Leigh and Live Oak. Branham also will claim a piece of the championship if it beats Sobrato.
Berkeley 4, Alameda 3
Berkeley got two hits apiece from William Chang, Leo Asfar, Nikhil Beasley and Manny Selles to slip past Alameda and advance in the West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division playoffs.
Berkeley fell behind 2-0 but tied it up with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Alameda (11-13) retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth, but Berkeley (17-7) stormed back to score the final two runs of the game.
Berkeley’s Daniel Beadles pitched all seven innings, with the junior striking out four and allowing two earned runs.
Sacred Heart Prep 2, San Mateo 1
The Gators clinched the PAL Ocean Division championship as sophomore Devin Saltzgaber improved to 11-0 after pitching five innings and not allowing an earned run.
Fellow sophomore Connor Schmalzle earned the save by throwing two scoreless innings in relief. Senior Conrad Wilbur had two hits and both of SHP’s RBIs.
The win improved Sacred Heart Prep to 19-6-1 and 12-1, while San Mateo drops to 8-15 and 5-8.
Softball
EBAL playoffs
San Ramon Valley 4, Granada 3
The Wolves punched their ticket to the EBAL title game with a come-from-behind victory in a showdown between two Top 10 teams in the Bay Area News Group’s rankings.
Granada (19-5) got on the board first, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second. Hannah Temple drove in one run on a groundout, Alecsis Phillips drove in another on a single into center and Madison Hom bunted the last run in.
SRV (19-5) answered in the very next inning, starting the rally with an Ava Lyons RBI single. With the bases loaded, senior pitcher Paige McLeod drove a bases-clearing double into right field to give the Wolves the lead.
McLeod shut out Granada’s prolific bats the rest of the way, tossing a complete game and striking out eight.
San Ramon Valley will host Amador Valley on Thursday in the EBAL championship.
Amador Valley 6, California 0
Amador Valley’s incredible run has continued all the way to the EBAL title game after it went on the road and defeated a scorching hot California team that had won eight in a row.
Now winners of eight consecutive games themselves, the Dons enjoyed an incendiary pitching performance from Kaylee Davis, who struck out 16 of 27 batters faced and allowed just five hits in a complete game.
She worked with a 1-0 lead until the Dons put five runs on the board in the fifth inning.
Amador Valley (15-10) had 11 hits, all singles. Aleena Helms, Caydence Likeness and McKenna Charbonneau each had two hits apiece.
Charbonneau had two RBIs, Mai Falcone scored two runs, and Helms, Oxe and Neves each drove in one run.
Third baseman Noelani Ching had two hits for California, and leadoff hitter Alyssa Villarde hit a triple.
After starting the season 3-8, Amador Valley will compete for the league title on Thursday.
Capuchino 3, Hillsdale 0
Three first-inning runs were all Capuchino ace pitcher Nohemi Livingston needed to get the victory over PAL Bay Division opponent Hillsdale, as she held the San Mateo school to four hits and walked none in a complete game.
Avery Motroni drove in two runs on a fly ball into left field. Then junior Katalina Ngaluafe helped another runner get across home plate by hitting a popup that was mishandled by the defense. Hillsdale pitcher Lexi Kuka was flawless otherwise, allowing just one hit over the last six innings.
Capuchino, winners of eight in a row, is 22-4 and is in first place in the league with an 11-2 record. Hillsdale, third in the PAL Bay with a 9-5 record, is 15-5 overall.
Willow Glen 4, Westmont 1
Willow Glen is still in contention for the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division title after defeating visiting Westmont.
Freshman Alanna Clincy was dominant for the Rams, striking out 17 and allowing just four hits in a complete game. It was her fourth game of the season with double-digit strikeouts.
Senior Aleki Ulu and freshman Lea Crawford each had two hits, and Clincy, sophomore Sienna Wilson and Faamaai Ulu each had an RBI.
Willow Glen (18-6) is now tied with Westmont (17-7) at 10-3 in the division. Willow Glen hosts Santa Teresa on Thursday and Westmont travels to Branham on the same day to close out the regular season.
Lacrosse
NCS boys
In Division I, No. 1 De La Salle took down No. 4 Vista Del Lago 17-10, while No. 2 Redwood routed No. 6 Monte Vista 14-6 in the other semifinal. De La Salle and Redwood will play for the section championship on Thursday at 7 p.m. at De La Salle.
Meanwhile, in Division II, No. 1 Tamalpais dispatched of No. 4 Justin-Siena 15-8 to set up a championship showdown with No. 3 Piedmont, which defeated No. 2 Acalanes 9-8 in their semifinal. That game will also be played at Tamalpais at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
NCS girls
In Division I, No. 1 San Ramon Valley (23-0) easily maintained its unbeaten record with an 18-5 win against visiting No. 5 Redwood. SRV will play No. 2 Oak Ridge, which defeated No. 3 Amador Valley. San Ramon Valley will host that 7 p.m. game on Thursday.
In Division II, No. 3 Campolindo upset No. 2 Marin Academy 7-6 to advance to the championship, where it will face No. 1 Tamalpais after the Red-Tailed Hawks crushed University-SF 20-6. Campo will travel to Tamalpais for a Thursday game at 5:30 p.m.
Boys volleyball
CCS playoffs
The top seeds in the Open Division, St. Francis and Archbishop Mitty, both advanced to the semifinals, with St. Francis beating No. 8 Mountain View 3-0 and Mitty defeating No. 7 Cupertino 3-1.
Mitty will play No. 3 Valley Christian, which defeated Santa Cruz 3-1. St. Francis will play No. 5 Sacred Heart Cathedral, which defeated No. 4 Homestead 3-2.
In Division I, No. 6 Monta Vista will play at No. 2 Branham in one semifinal. In the other, No. 5 Carlmont will travel to No. 1 Bellarmine.
In Division II, No. 3 Monterey will play at No. 2 Carmel, and No. 5 Harbor will travel to No. 1 Harker in the other semifinal.
NCS playoffs
In Division I, No. 3 Amador Valley will play at No. 1 Foothill. In Division II, No. 4 De La Salle will travel to No. 3 Northgate.
In Division III, No. 1 Bishop O’Dowd will host No. 2 Moreau Catholic, and in Division IV, No. 1 Berean Christian will host No. 2 California Crosspoint. All four games will start at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Source: www.mercurynews.com