Star performances help Sacramento-area teams advance in CIF Northern California playoffs
Of the 15 Sacramento-area baseball and softball teams that advanced to this week’s CIF Northern California regional championships, seven are left standing.
The single-elimination tournaments started Tuesday. They will continue Thursday and conclude with championship games on Saturday at home sites.
Still alive in baseball: Franklin, Oakmont and Sutter.
Still alive in softball: Whitney, East Nicolaus, Ponderosa and Capital Christian.
Here’s a closer look after Tuesday’s first-round games.
Softball
Division I
Whitney 9, Mitty 3 — Fourth-seeded Whitney pounded a Mitty of San Jose team that was state-ranked No. 1 for several weeks this spring by Cal-Hi Sports. Now, the Wildcats will get a shot at Hollister, the top-ranked team in the state, in a semifinal showdown Thursday in San Benito County.
Alyssa Flindt’s three-run triple in the fourth inning gave Whitney an 8-0 lead. She had four RBI on the day. Sara O’Dea drove in two and Hannah Duncan scattered six hits while striking out seven for the Wildcats (22-7).
Hollister presents quite a challenge for Whitney. The Haybalers won their 13th Central Coast Section championship Saturday after beating Mitty 4-1 in the Open Division semifinals and Saint Francis of Mountain View in the finals. Hollister on Tuesday improved to 28-3 with a 2-0 victory over section D-I champion Oak Ridge as Sophia Mariottini tossed a one-hitter with no walks and five strikeouts to improve to 27-2 in the circle.
Division II
East Nicolaus 6, Vacaville 4 — The No. 2 Spartans were led by Adriana Nebuloni, who drove in two, and Meika Lauppe, who drove in a run and struck out nine, pushing her team’s record to 29-1-1 and her own pitching mark to 22-1.
The Spartans stole seven bases and pounded out 10 hits while ending Vacaville’s season at 29-3. They will next host No. 3 Notre Dame of Salinas, a 9-2 winner over Inderkum. Lauppe, Jerzie Brown and Jordyn Brogard each had two hits for East Nicolaus.
Division III
Ponderosa 8, Cardinal Newman 1 — Three days after celebrating their first Sac-Joaquin Section championship in 41 years, the Bruins backed up their NorCal No. 1 seed in downing the Cardinals of Santa Rosa.
Ponderosa (24-4-1) scored four runs in the third inning and four in the sixth. Ace Ana Niles was nails as the senior tossed a two-hitter with no walks and 11 strikeouts. Niles also homered, one of her three hits, and drove in two. Molly McFarland doubled and scored two runs. Iri Perez had two hits and an RBI for Ponderosa, which next hosts fourth-seeded Pinole Valley (29-1).
Division IV
Capital Christian 2, Del Norte 0 — Freshman star Ayla Tuua struck out 16 and hurled a one-hitter to help the third-seeded Cougars, fresh off their first section championship in program history, top the Warriors of Crescent City.
Briana Johnson had an RBI and Maddilyn Woodcock scored a run for Capital Christian. The Cougars will now visit No. 2 Fowler, which won its 15th consecutive game on Tuesday when the Redcats of Fresno County beat beat Summerville 10-2. Fowler is 27-3 and Capital Christian is 17-5.
Baseball
Division I
Franklin 5, Hollister 4 — Jordy Lopez drove in Tim Johnson with a base hit in the bottom of the sixth inning. A double-play ended any comeback hopes by the Haybalers as the No. 3 Wildcats won their 16th consecutive game in improving to 30-4, thus earning a semifinal shot at defending NorCal champion and state preseason No. 1-ranked De La Salle of Concord.
DLS beat Buchanan of Clovis 6-0 for its 15th win in 16 outings.
Lopez, Franklin’s center fielder and leadoff hitter, had two hits, scored two runs and drew his 43rd walk of the season. Johnson, Dylan Minatee and Noah Meaux each drove in a run, starter Nolan Stevens struck out nine after struggling a bit in the first two innings, and Dylan Wood allowed one hit and struck out two in two innings of relief.
Nic Abraham (10-0) will start at De La Salle.
Top-seeded Valley Christian of San Jose beat Clayton Valley Charter of Concord 7-3 and will host No. 4 Cardinal Newman, which eliminated Whitney 2-1 on a walk-off.
Division II
No. 4 St. Ignatius of San Francisco eliminated Granite Bay 3-2 and No. 2 Pleasant Valley of Chico defeated Rio Americano 6-0.
Granite Bay beat Rio Americano 3-0 in the section D-II title game.
Division III
Oakmont 3, Liberty 2 — Ayden Dringeberg, Adam Reyes and Trevor Wilson each drove in a run, Kurt Marton had two hits, including a triple, and he scored two runs to power the No. 5-seeded Vikings past the Hawks of Madera.
Wilson allowed three hits and struck out seven in five innings of work and Marton struck out two in an inning of relief as Oakmont (20-13) now heads to top-seeded Carmel, which eliminated Pioneer of Woodland 3-1.
Division IV
Sutter 4, Athenian 0 — Jagger Beck threw a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts and one walk while Rylan Giovannoni had three hits and scored two runs to power the Huskies. Landon Sable had two hits and an RBI and Jordan Lee had an RBI for Sutter, which moved to 24-5-1.
Sutter will host No. 5 Hillsdale of San Mateo, which eliminated Leroy Greene Academy of Natomas, 10-3.
A 6-foot-6 mulitsport performer, Beck is 10-1 on the mound this season with an 0.73 ERA.
