baseball
First League
No. 4 De La Salle 5, No. 5 Rocklin 4
Tyler Spangler's grand slam within the fifth inning turned a one-run deficit for De La Salle right into a three-run lead that proved simply enough to offer the Spartans a narrow victory over visiting Rocklin and advance to the Division I semifinals, which can happen in Granada on Thursday.
De La Salle's last game against Granada last Friday and Saturday was simply a 14-inning marathon that took up two days, two districts and two fields.
Granada won 1-0, ending De La Salle's 33-game postseason winning streak.
On Thursday, the Matadors have a likelihood to finish De La Salle's quest for 3 consecutive Division I regional titles.
De La Salle's reign atop NorCal was in jeopardy in Tuesday's opening round against Rocklin, when the Sac-Joaquin Section school scored two runs in the primary inning and held the lead until De La Salle scored a run within the fourth on an RBI from Jamie Mullin and 4 runs an inning afterward a blast from Spangler.
Rocklin scored within the sixth and added one other within the seventh before De La Salle made the ultimate out.
De La Salle improved to 21-7. Rocklin is at 24-11.
Department II
No. 2 St. Ignatius 6, No. 7 San Marin 3
The reigning NorCal Division II champions got off to a powerful start, constructing a four-run lead after two innings and defeating visiting San Marin of their opening game.
Archer Horn had a success and two RBIs, and Evann Smith and Makai Susor each scored a run to prepared the ground for SI, which rebounded well from a loss to Archbishop Mitty within the Central Coast Section Division I finale on Saturday in San Jose.
Chase Gordon and Spencer Guido combined for nine strikeouts for SI.
The Wildcats (21-10) host third-place Redwood on Thursday.
San Marin finished the sport with 22:9.
Department III
No. 5 Christopher 12, No. 4 Liberty-Madera 4
Christopher held a seven-run lead after 3 1/2 innings and defeated host Liberty in a NorCal first-round game.
Although the Cougars had only seven hits, they benefited from three errors and entered the sport against top-ranked Oakmont on Thursday.
Sam Guenther, Mason Dubenko and Aiden Simeon each had two RBIs for Christopher (20-8).
Liberty finished the sport with a rating of 30-3.
No. 6 Justin-Siena 10, No. 3 The King's Academy 2
The King's Academy couldn’t stop Justin-Siena's offense and the Braves scored a dominant road win.
The Knights cut Justin-Siena's result in two within the fifth inning, however the Napa school scored a run within the sixth inning to win the sport.
Ethan Johnson hit a house run within the loss and TKA finished 18-11-2.
Department IV
No. 1 Piedmont 13, No. 8 Capuchino 1 (5 innings)
Three days after losing to Justin-Siena by 10 runs within the sectional final, Piedmont bounced back impressively in its NorCal opener, sweeping past Capuchino in a mercy rule result to advance to the semifinals at home against fourth-seeded Colusa on Thursday.
Peter Krumins had two doubles and scored three runs, Dimitri Papahadjopoulos and Markos Lagios each hit three runs and Shafer Dando struck out two to offer the Highlanders the lead.
Seve Sanchez pitched 4 innings for Piedmont, which improved its record to 18-9.
Capuchino is 20-11.
No. 3 Mountain View 8, No. 6 Leroy Greene Academy 4
The Spartans reached the semifinals after defeating Leroy Greene Academy at home.
Mountain View scored three runs within the third, one within the fourth and two within the fifth after Leroy Greene led 3-2.
Christian Wenks led Mountain View with three RBIs. Luke Orrock, Christian Bandy, Clay White and Chase Caringella each scored a run.
Mountain View travels to Sacramento on Thursday to face No. 2 Bradshaw Christian.
Department V
No. 1 Menlo School 8, No. 8 Redding Christian 0
Ryan Schnell, Jackson Flanagan and Ben Salama combined for a two-hitter and Jack Freehill had two hits and three RBIs to guide Menlo School to a house victory over Redding Christian in NorCal play.
Luke Rogers added two hits, including a double, and two RBIs as Menlo improved to 22-9.
Redding Christian is 17-14-1.
No. 5 Oakland Tech 5, No. 4 Lowell 4
Gyasi Rapier had two hits, including a double, and three RBIs to guide Oakland Tech past Lowell and into the Division V semifinals.
The Bulldogs also got two hits and two runs from freshman Kalen Thomas.
Tech plays at No. 1 Menlo on Thursday.
Soft ball
First League
No. 7 Whitney-Rocklin 2, No. 2 Archbishop Mitty 0
Top-seeded St. Francis was not the one top-seeded team within the West Catholic Athletic League to suffer a surprise first-round exit within the NorCal Division I playoffs.
Madilyn Novello scored Whitney's first run within the third inning and Mya Flindt gave the visitors one other run within the sixth inning when Whitney struck out second-seeded Mitty.
McKenna Woliczko was left stranded at second base within the sixth inning and Megan Sutton also ended the sport at second base in a game wherein the Monarchs simply couldn’t get any of their 4 runners across the plate in favorable position.
Mitty's Mia Rodriguez, Keira Brady and Corri Hicks all had hits against Hannah Duncan, who had 10 strikeouts. Monarch pitcher Kyliegh Mace also struck out 10 times in a whole game.
Mitty finishes the season 23-5. Whitney travels to No. 6 Oak Ridge, which defeated defending champion Hollister.
Department II
No. 3 Willow Glen 1, No. 6 Oakdale 0
Alanna Clincy made her impression within the circle and on the plate in Willow Glen's Division II first-round win over Oakdale.
After Katelynn Dilbeck hit a triple to left field, Clincy brought her into center field with a sacrifice fly in the primary inning. Clincy added a double later, but after that she made her biggest impact as a pitcher.
Clincy pitched the whole game, managing five strikeouts and allowing just 4 hits. Willow Glen improved its record to 23-7 with the win and can host Tracy on Thursday.
Department III
No. 7 Capuchino 3, No. 2 Cardinal Newman 2 (8 innings)
Capuchino senior Liz Do helped the Mustangs win Division III when she scored the game-winning run with a single to center field within the eighth inning.
This goal capped a furious comeback late in the sport that saw the CCS Division II champions trail 2-0 firstly of the seventh inning in North Bay.
Lola Sierra led off the seventh inning with a double and Avery Motroni hit her second home run in as many games into left field to tie the sport.
Sierra managed a strikeout, a flyout and a swinging punchout in the fast seventh inning, then closed the eighth inning to assist Capuchino improve his record to 18-11.
Capuchino will travel to No. 3 Dixon for the semifinals.
Department V
No. 3 Christopher 16, No. 6 Lowell-San Francisco 5
After declining to play in NorCal, CCS Division IV champion Aragon was given one other likelihood and defeated Lowell-SF within the Gilroy school's NorCal Division V opening game.
Alyssa Farrow led the Cougars with a triple and 6 RBIs, and Bella Loredo and Brianna Diaz Cruz each scored two runs. Jenessa De La Cruz had three hits for Chrisopher, which had 15 total hits.
Christopher improved to 16-10 and can travel to No. 2 Los Molinos for the following round.
No. 4 Leigh 11, No. 5 St. Bernard's 1
After the 320-mile trip from Eureka to San Jose, the visiting team, St. Bernard's, played just five short innings as Leigh claimed the Division V run-rule victory.
Elise Haneta had three RBIs and three steals, probably the most on the team, and Camryn Manning-Alarcon had two RBIs. Freshman Liliana Pon and sophomore Madison Oliver each had two hits for the San Jose school, which improved to 12-14.
Leigh will travel to face No. 1 team Big Valley Christian-Modesto within the semifinals.
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