Baseball
Division I
No. 4 De La Salle 5, No. 5 Rocklin 4
Tyler Spangler’s fifth-inning grand slam turned a one-run De La Salle deficit into a three-run cushion, which turned out to be just enough, as the Spartans edged visiting Rocklin to advance to the Division I semifinals on Thursday at Granada.
All that happened the last time De La Salle played Granada — this past Friday and Saturday — was a 14-inning marathon that took two days, two counties and two fields to complete.
Granada won 1-0 to end De La Salle’s 33-game postseason winning streak.
Thursday, the Matadors have a shot to squelch De La Salle’s quest for three consecutive Division I regional titles.
De La Salle’s reign atop NorCal was in jeopardy in the opening round on Tuesday against Rocklin as the Sac-Joaquin Section school scored two runs in the top of the first and held the advantage until De La Salle pushed across one in the fourth on Jamie Mullin’s RBI and four an inning later on Spangler’s blast.
Rocklin scored one in the sixth and added another run in the seventh before De La Salle got the final out.
De La Salle improved to 21-7. Rocklin is 24-11.
Division II
No. 2 St. Ignatius 6, No. 7 San Marin 3
The reigning NorCal Division II champions got off to a strong start, building a four-run lead after two innings and holding off visiting San Marin in an opening-round game.
Archer Horn had a hit and two RBIs and Evann Smith and Makai Susor each drove in a run to lead the way for SI, which bounced back nicely from a loss to Archbishop Mitty in the Central Coast Section Division I final on Saturday in San Jose.
Chase Gordon and Spencer Guido combined for nine strikeouts for SI.
The Wildcats (21-10) will play host to third-seeded Redwood on Thursday.
San Marin finished 22-9.
Division III
No. 5 Christopher 12, No. 4 Liberty-Madera 4
Christopher opened a seven-run cushion after 3 1/2 innings and went on to defeat host Liberty in a first-round NorCal game.
The Cougars had only seven hits but took advantage of three errors as they advanced to play at top-seeded Oakmont on Thursday.
Sam Guenther, Mason Dubenko and Aiden Simeon each had two RBIs for Christopher (20-8).
Liberty finished 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 as the Braves rolled to a dominant win on the road.
The Knights cut the Justin-Siena lead to two in the fifth inning, but the Napa school exploded for six in the sixth to put the game away.
Ethan Johnson had a home run in the loss as TKA finished 18-11-2.
Division IV
No. 1 Piedmont 13, No. 8 Capuchino 1 (5 innings)
Three days after losing to Justin-Siena by 10 runs in a section final, Piedmont bounced back in a big way in its NorCal opener, roaring past Capuchino in a mercy-rule result to set up a semifinal game at home on Thursday against fourth-seeded Colusa.
Peter Krumins had two doubles and scored three runs, Dimitri Papahadjopoulos and Markos Lagios each knocked in three runs and Shafer Dando drove in two to lead the Highlanders.
Seve Sanchez pitched four innings for Piedmont, which improved to 18-9.
Capuchino is 20-11.
No. 3 Mountain View 8, No. 6 Leroy Greene Academy 4
The Spartans advanced to the semifinals after beating Leroy Greene Academy comfortably at home.
Mountain View scored three runs in the third, one in the fourth and two in 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 knocked in a run.
Mountain View will travel to Sacramento on Thursday when they play No. 2 Bradshaw Christian.
Division V
No. 1 Menlo School 8, No. 8 Redding Christian 0
Ryan Schnell, Jackson Flanagan and Ben Salama combined on a two-hitter and Jack Freehill had two hits and three RBIs to lead Menlo School to a victory at home 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 lead Oakland Tech past Lowell and into the Division V semifinals.
The Bulldogs also got two hits and two runs from freshman Kalen Thomas.
Tech will play at No. 1 Menlo on Thursday.
Softball
Division I
No. 7 Whitney-Rocklin 2, No. 2 Archbishop Mitty 0
Top-seeded St. Francis wasn’t the only highly-seeded West Catholic Athletic League team to crash out of the NorCal Division I playoffs in a first-round stunner.
Madilyn Novello drove in Whitney’s first run in the top of the third and Mya Flindt gave the visitors a sixth-inning insurance run as Whitney shut out second-seeded Mitty.
McKenna Woliczko was stranded on second in the sixth inning and Megan Sutton finished the game stuck at second too in a game where the Monarchs just couldn’t get any of their four runners in scoring position across the plate.
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 in a complete game.
Mitty finishes the season 23-5. Whitney will travel to No. 6 Oak Ridge, which upset defending champion Hollister.
Division II
No. 3 Willow Glen 1, No. 6 Oakdale 0
Alanna Clincy made her mark in the circle and at the plate in Willow Glen’s first-round Division II victory over Oakdale.
After Katelynn Dilbeck tripled into left field, Clincy drove her in on a sacrifice fly into center field in the first inning. Clincy later added a double, but she made her biggest impact as a pitcher after that.
Clincy threw a complete game, striking out five and allowing just four hits. Willow Glen improved to 23-7 with the victory, and will play host to Tracy on Thursday.
Division III
No. 7 Capuchino 3, No. 2 Cardinal Newman 2 (8 innings)
Capuchino senior Liz Do helped the Mustangs pull off the Division III stunner when she drove in the winning run in the eighth inning on a single into center field.
That hit completed a furious late-game rally, which saw the CCS Division II champions start the seventh inning down 2-0 in the North Bay.
Lola Sierra doubled to lead off the seventh, and Avery Motroni hit her second home run in as many games into left field to tie the game.
Sierra got a strikeout looking, flyout and swinging punchout in a quick bottom of the seventh, and then closed out the eighth to help Capuchino improve to 18-11.
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Capuchino will travel to No. 3 Dixon for the semifinal.
Division V
No. 3 Christopher 16, No. 6 Lowell-San Francisco 5
Given a new chance at life after CCS Division IV champions Aragon declined to participate in NorCal, section runner-up Christopher routed Lowell-SF in the Gilroy school’s NorCal Division V opener.
Alyssa Farrow had a triple and six RBIs to lead the Cougars, and Bella Loredo and Brianna Diaz Cruz each drove in two runs. Jenessa De La Cruz had three hits for Chrisopher, which had 15 knocks overall.
Christopher improved to 16-10 and will travel to No. 2 Los Molinos for the next round.
No. 4 Leigh 11, No. 5 St. Bernard’s 1
After making the 320-something mile trip from Eureka to San Jose, visiting St. Bernard’s played just five short innings as Leigh got the run-rule Division V victory.
Elise Haneta had a team-high three RBIs and three steals, 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 No. 1 Big Valley Christian-Modesto for the semifinal.
