These Sacramento-area baseball and softball teams will play for CIF NorCal championships

Joe Davidson
·5 min read

Four Sacramento-area teams are left standing in the final leg of the 2022-23 high school sports year.

Ponderosa and Capital Christian will compete for CIF Northern California regional softball championships Saturday after winning semifinal games Thursday. Oakmont and Sutter have a shot to celebrate the season’s final day in baseball.

Capital Christian and Ponderosa softball in Divisions IV and III and Sutter baseball in D-IV will host championship games and Oakmont baseball will hit the road as the region seeks its first softball NorCal championship and second in baseball. Bradshaw Christian won the D-IV baseball championship 3-0 over Colusa last season, beatiing a team that came in 33-0.

There is no state championship in these sports. The CIF regional tournaments are in their second season after years of plotting and planning. A state championship would extend seasons well after most school graduations.

A closer look at the Northern California regionals:

Softball

Division I

Hollister 3, Whitney 2 — Alyssa Jeffrey and Sarah O’Dea each had RBIs and ace Hannah Dunch struck out six, but it wasn’t enough for the gritty Wildcats as they fell to the top-ranked team in the state.

Sophia Mariottini had two RBI at the plate, and in the circle, she struck out five for Hollister, a 13-time Central Coast Section champion that is state-ranked for the first time. The Haybalers (29-3) will host Saint Francis of Mountain View for the title.

Whitney (22-8) won the area’s toughest league in the Sierra Foothill League and then won the Sac-Joaquin Section D-II championship. The Wildcats moved up to D-I under the CIF’s competitive-equity formula.

Division II

Notre Dame 3, East Nicolaus 0 — The Spirits of Salinas eliminated the second and last-remaining Sacramento-area team in the bracket. JulieAnn Lopez crushed a three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to power her club into the finals at top-seeded Willow Glenn of San Jose, which beat Bullard of Fresno 1-0 in the other semifinal.

Notre Dame (22-7) on Tuesday eliminated Inderkum 9-2. East Nicolaus, which eliminated Vacaville 6-4, finished 29-2-1 after winning another Northern Section championship and being top-ranked by The Bee for a stretch late this season.

Division III

Ponderosa 7, Pinole Valley 1 — The top-seeded Bruins broke it open with a six-run fifth inning, Tatum Silva had a home run in the first inning to set the pace and ace Ana Niles pitched a three-hitter with one walk and six strikeouts to topple a team that came in at 27-1.

For Ponderosa, Silva had two hits and two RBI, Whitney Montoya had a hit, an RBI and scored a run, and sisters Brynn and Ellie Escobar drove in runs to set up a rematch with No. 2-seeded Central Catholic of Modesto, which rolled No. 3 Pleasant Valley of Chico 8-1 in the other semifinal.

A week after winning the program’s first section championship in 41 years, Ponderosa (25-4-1) will host Central Catholic (29-4) in Shingle Springs. Ponderosa beat the Raiders 1-0 in the section D-III finals at Cosumnes River College. Ponderosa has won nine of 10 games.

Division IV

Capital Christian 12, Fowler 5 — The Cougars’ breakthrough season rolls on.

Allanah Tuua had a home run and three RBI, Hailey Alkire drove in three, Abigail Rhee had two RBI, and Ayla Tuaa allowed one hit and one walk and struck out five in five innings to make the 6-hour round trip to Fresno County worth it.

Five days after winning its first section championship in the sport, Capital Christian (18-5) pounded out 16 hits and did not have a single batter strike out in halting the 15-game winning streak of the Redcats (27-3) of the Central Section. As the No. 3 seed, Capital Christian will host Orestimba, a 5-2 winner over top-seeded University Prep of Redding.

Baseball

Division I

De La Salle 6, Franklin 5 — Tanner Griffith won it with a walk-off into deep center in the bottom of the ninth inning as the top-seeded and defending champion Spartans won a thriller in Concord by halting the 16-game winning streak of the Sac-Joaquin Section champions.

Nolan Stevens tied it 5-5 with a solo home run in the bottom seventh inning for Franklin, which ended its greatest season since opening in 2002 at 30-5.

Jordy Lopez and Stevens each had two hits and Derek Pham drove in two for Franklin, which was seeded third. De La Salle (26-5) has won 16 of 17 games and will play at top-seeded Valley Christian of San Jose for the championship after the Warriors beat Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa 2-1.

Division III

Oakmont 6, Carmel 1 — Tony Lira hammered a two-run homer to left center and ace Kurt Marton struck out 10 and walked none to improve to 8-1 as the Vikings bounced the top-seeded Padres.

Adam Reyes had two hits and two RBI and scored two runs. Ayden Dringenberg had two RBI, Cooper Kunis had three hits and KC Tibbits and Trevor Wilson had RBIs for Oakmont (21-13), which plays at No. 2 Central Catholic of Modesto (23-8-1), a 7-4 winner over Arcata. Marton’s seven-strikeout effort led Oakmont past Woodland 10-0 in the section D-IV title game.

Division IV

Sutter 6, Hillsdale 5 — Logan Yacavace’s two-run base hit to left scored Jordan Lee in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the top-seeded Huskies past the Fighting Knights of San Mateo. Sutter will host former Northern Section opponent and third-seeded Gridley, a 2-0 winner over Stevenson of Pebble Beach.

Sutter (25-4-1) trailed 5-2 in the sixth inning before chipping away. Matt McCall, Andrew Hanson and Carson Bishop each drove in runs for the Huskies, who received a two-hitter with one walk and five strikeouts from Kasey Combo over 5⅓ innings.