Baseball
No. 11 San Ramon Valley 8, No. 4 De La Salle 2
For the second year in a row, the East Bay Athletic League baseball final will not include De La Salle.
Last year, Granada beat the Spartans in the semifinals.
Wednesday, San Ramon Valley toppled the Concord powerhouse, prevailing on the road behind Marco Jones’ two-run homer and two hits and three RBIs from Julian Cambra.
The Wolves scored two in the first, a run in the third and another in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead.
De La Salle responded in the fifth, scoring on an infield error, and made it 4-2 in the sixth on Sean Stafford’s RBI double.
But SRV added four in the visitor’s half of the seventh – two on Jones’ home run – to advance to the championship game Friday at Granada.
It’ll be a rematch of last season’s league final, which SRV won on its home field 3-2 in nine innings.
Charles Reiland pitched 4 ⅔ innings on Wednesday for SRV. Owen Morgan worked the next two and Nate Simonton got the final out as the Wolves improved to 16-9.
De La Salle fell to 17-6.
Palo Alto 3, Wilcox 0
Henry Harding pitched a no-hitter and Stanford commit Charlie Bates knocked in two runs to lead Palo Alto to a victory on the road over Wilcox.
The win pulled the Vikings even with Los Gatos and Los Altos atop the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division standings with one game to play.
On Friday, Palo Alto plays host to Wilcox and Los Gatos visits Los Altos.
If Palo Alto completes the sweep of Wilcox, it will finish tied for first with Friday’s Los Gatos-Los Altos winner.
Palo Alto is 15-11, 10-3. Wilcox slipped to 15-11, 7-6.
No. 1 Granada 9, Monte Vista 0
Granada certainly looked like the Bay Area News Group’s top-ranked team in this one, scoring seven runs in the third to turn the EBAL semifinal into a rout.
Parker Warner and A.J. Hattaway each pitched three innings and Luke Palma worked the seventh to keep visiting Monte Vista off the scoreboard.
Quinn Boyd, Mikey Boyd and Warner had two RBIs apiece to lead the Granada offense.
The Matadors improved to 24-1. Monte Vista is 15-11.
Granada is 2-0 against SRV this season, winning 6-1 in league play on March 13 and 9-4 to capture the Bishop Gorman Invitational championship on April 6 in Las Vegas.
No. 2 Valley Christian 13, No. 9 St. Ignatius 2
After the teams split two games last week, each winning on the other’s field, Valley Christian made sure the comforts of home meant something this time.
St. Ignatius scored in the top half of the first.
From there, it was all Valley Christian as the Warriors belted four home runs – two by Tatum Marsh – to advance to the West Catholic Athletic League tournament final.
The Warriors will play host to Serra on Thursday.
In addition to his home runs, Marsh had a triple and six RBIs in four at-bats. Nathan Choi and Brock Ketelsen also homered for Valley as the Warriors improved 25-4.
Kole Laubach, who pitched a perfect game to beat SI 3-0 on Friday, allowed two runs and five hits in six innings on Wednesday.
SI dropped to 18-9.
No. 3 Serra 13, No. 14 Archbishop Mitty 10
In a wild game in San Mateo, host Serra rallied from an 8-1 deficit to turn back Mitty to win this WCAL semifinal.
Serra scored five in the bottom of the second to cut the deficit to 8-6, added one in the fourth to make it 8-7 and took the lead for good with four in the fifth.
Josiah Rodriguez had a home run among his two hits and knocked in six runs and Joey Damelio had three hits and scored four runs to lead the Padres.
Serra improved to 22-5. Mitty is 16-12-1.
Softball
No. 1 St. Francis 13, St. Ignatius 0 (5 innings)
Brooke Wiegand homered and had two RBIs and Kate Munnerlyn had two hits and four RBIs to lead St. Francis to a victory over St. Ignatius in a WCAL game.
The Lancers also got two hits and three RBIs and Shannon Keighran, who dominated in the pitcher’s circle as well. She allowed one hit and struck out seven.
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St. Francis is 23-0, 8-0. SI is 10-10, 4-5.
No. 4 Willow Glen 2, Live Oak 0 (8 innings)
Alanna Clincy and Katelynn Dilbeck each drove in runs in the visitor’s half of the eighth and Clincy pitched a one-hitter with 15 strikeouts as Willow Glen won to remain tied for first with Gilroy in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division game.
Willow Glen improved to 20-6, 13-2. Live Oak is 5-17, 1-14.
No. 6 Gilroy 10, Christopher 0
Dani Wilson had two hits and three RBIs and Andrea Alvarez, Bella Sousa and Bam Mendoza each drove in two runs as Gilroy breezed past Christopher in non-league play.
Gilroy is 20-6. Christopher fell to 12-9.
On Friday, Gilroy closes out BVAL Mt. Hamilton play at home against Santa Teresa and Willow Glen visits Westmont.
If Gilroy and Willow Glen, they tie for first.
