Bay Area prep roundup: Granada baseball survives upset bid, College Park walks it off in the rain, Willow Glen softball stays hot, Salesian and Pinole Valley end game in 18-18 deadlock
Adam DeCampo ended 11 years of futility for Dougherty Valley with one swing.
His single into right field gave the Wildcats the 6-5 victory against East Bay Athletic League opponent De La Salle, giving the San Ramon public school its first win against the Concord powerhouse in 15 meetings since 2013.
“Everyone is on cloud nine, and I told everyone that this is the start of a new program … this is the expectation,” first-year coach Kyle Stewart told the Bay Area News Group on Wednesday night. “I’m trying to build what Mike Hansen has done with basketball.”
Dougherty Valley, which had lost its last three league games by a combined score of 41-4, got off to a dream start after scoring twice in the first inning on singles by Luke Duncan and DeCampo.
The Wildcats then tallied three more runs in the second when Ethan Kim singled, Duncan walked with the bases loaded, and then Jayden Rouse drove a ground ball into left field.
Meanwhile, Ahdil Khan kept the potent DLS offense at bay for the first four innings in a gritty pitching performance.
“It’s not football or basketball, where size matters,” said Stewart, who is in his first year as the varsity coach after leading the JV team for the past two seasons. “My pitcher threw 110 pitches, and he’s 5-foot-3 and throws 68 miles-per-hour.”
The Spartan bats came to life in the top of the fifth. Sean Stafford hit a triple to drive in two runs, Joe McGee singled to make it 5-3, and then Tyler Spangler rocked a line drive into right, a hit that scored McGee after an error in the outfield.
With two outs in the seventh, it looked as if Dougherty Valley would hold on for the win. But in his first game in a DLS uniform since injuring his knee in the NorCal basketball playoffs, superstar junior Alec Blair tied the game by driving in Hank Tripaldi with a double.
“The boys did a great job today of not getting deflated, which as been a problem with us,” Stewart said, adding that he and the team had what he called ‘come to Jesus’ meetings on Monday to refocus the team.
Instead of resigning themselves to extra innings, the Wildcats put themselves in a position to win when Duncan singled into left, and then advanced to third on an error and fielder’s choice.
DeCampo’s single sealed the historic win, one that improved Dougherty’s record to 4-8 and 2-3 in EBAL play. De La Salle dropped to 6-3, 3-2.
“It was a crazy game, one hell of a game,” Stewart said.
Charles Reiland pitched the game of his life against EBAL rival California, allowing no hits and walking just one in seven scoreless innings.
Luke Baker hit his first home run of the season and had three RBIs for the Wolves, and Colin Linteo was 3 for 3 with two doubles and one RBI.
Julian Cambra, Baker’s teammate on the football team, was 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
SRV improved to 6-4, 4-1 and California dropped to 4-7, 1-4.
Pitching ruled the day in a matchup of two ranked teams. Burlingame sophomore Nick Armstrong went six innings and allowed just three hits, while Carlmont junior Henry Massey struck out four while not allowing a single earned run.
Noah Werbinski gave Carlmont a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning with the game’s only RBI, but Burlingame scored in the fourth to tie and then again in the sixth inning to take the lead.
Eric Gee and Will Robbins each had one hit and scored a run for Burlingame, which improved to 8-3, 2-1. Carlmont’s record fell to 8-5, 3-2.
Monte Vista came within a whisker of stunning the No. 1 team in the Bay Area, but had to settle for pushing Granada to a nine-inning thriller.
A.J Martinez’s only hit of the game was the biggest of the night, a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning that broke a 4-4 deadlock.
Riley Winchell was 3 for 5 with two RBIs and three runs scored, and Quinn Boyd was 2 for 5 with an RBI.
Brandon Clizbe was 4 for 5 with an RBI for Monte Vista, and shortstop Luke Claussen was also 2 for 4 with an RBI. Monte Vista led 3-2 after the first inning, and then took a 4-2 lead with a run in the fourth inning.
Granada tied it in the top of the fifth, and then Luke Palma and Mason Ravera ended the game pitching 5.1 scoreless innings.
Granada improved to 11-0, 5-0, and Monte Vista dropped to 5-6, 1-4.
Valley Christian took the lead in the fourth inning when Quinten Marsh doubled and then scored on a wild pitch, and then held on for the win at a tournament at Bishop Gorman-Nevada.
VC pitcher Forest Zelmer ended the sixth inning with a strikeout, and then Kole Laubach closed out the seventh with a scoreless frame as Valley Christian improved to 12-2.
College Park’s No. 9 hitter Trent Lanza made his case for being moved up in the order after he hit a walk-off single in the eighth inning to defeat scorching-hot Heritage 3-2.
“I didn’t want to sit on his curveball because he threw his curveball a lot,” Lanza said. “I was just waiting for that fastball up the middle.”
Lanza was 3 for 4 on the day. Nathan Leffel and Connor Berkowitz drove in College Park’s first two runs as the home team jumped out to a 2-0 lead after four innings.
JJ Kinnaird and Alonzo Alvarez answered in the fifth with an RBI apiece as Heritage tied things up in a rain-soaked game.
College Park had a chance to win the game in the seventh, but flew out with the bases loaded. A few minutes later, Lanza’s hit got College Park (4-4) back to .500 and handed Heritage (9-2-1) its second loss.
Pinole Valley blew a 13-1 first inning lead but was able to somehow salvage a tie in one of the craziest games of the season.
Salesian scored twice in the second, seven times in the third and eight more runs in the fifth to take an 18-14 lead going into the bottom of the frame.
Pinole Valley then scored three times in the fifth and once in the sixth to force a tie.
The game was called after six innings.
Ta’Leysha Thompson was 3 for 4 with four RBIs for Salesian, and teammate Lina Gaskin was 2 for 3 with three RBIs.
Sophomores Gabriella Ornelas and Jaylyssa Elliott combined for five Pinole Valley RBIs, and Julissa Sanchez had two hits for the Spartans.
Pinole Valley had just seven hits, but drew 15 walks, was hit by three pitches and benefitted from three Salesian errors.
Branham senior Abigail Fales was 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs as Branham cruised past Gilroy in a big Blossom Valley Mt. Hamilton Division showdown.
Branham improved to 9-6, 2-2 while Gilroy dropped its first league game to go to 9-4, 4-1.
Bruin senior Kaliya Yco was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, and sophomore Makenzie Navarro was 1 for 2 with a double and RBI as Branham piled up 10 hits against Gilroy.
Dani Wilson and Andrea Alvarez each had an RBI for Gilroy.
Willow Glen remained scorching hot on Wednesday, defeating BVAL Mt. Hamilton opponent Santa Teresa to win its fifth straight.
Haley Ocumen had two hits and an RBI, and pitcher Alanna Clincy had one hit and two RBIs. Clincy also struck out 13 in 5.1 innings.
Freshman pitcher Catalina Medina stuffed the stat sheet when she struck out two in 1.2 innings, stole five bases, scattered one hit and drove in one run.
Willow Glen improved to 5-3, 3-1 and Santa Teresa dropped to 7-4, 3-2
