Alex Piscotty ran his record to 6-0 by pitching six shutout innings Wednesday as Granada beat Dublin 4-0 in a battle of two teams ranked in the Bay Area News Group Top 20.
Piscotty allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven while lowering his ERA to 0.51. Connor Raridan pitched the seventh, allowing one walk and striking out three.
The gem by the two pitchers helped No. 3 Granada maintain its half-game lead over De La Salle in the East Bay Athletic League. The Matadors are 9-1 in league play and 17-4 overall. DLS is 8-1 in the EBAL.
No. 13 Dublin is 16-6, 5-6.
Granada jumped on top 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Peyton Richards reached base on an error, then came around to score on another error and a ground out.
The Matadors added three more in the sixth. Jarrett Fahnhorst hit an infield single, Estevan Duarte was hit by a pitch, and Adrian Zambrano drove in both baserunners with a double. Zambrano scored on a single to left by Mike Boyd.
Granada had just four hits. Dublin managed two hits, one each by Elijah McNeal and Evan Salvador.
No. 1 De La Salle 7, No. 18 Amador Valley 2
The game was a little tighter than the score. De La Salle led 2-0 before tacking on two runs in the home half of the fifth and three more in the sixth to make it 7-0.
Senior Ethan Sullivan led the way for the Spartans with three hits and a pair of RBIs. Freshman Jacob Gray had two hits, two runs and two RBIs. Antonio Castro homered in the first. It was his fourth of the season.
Roman Bartosh went the distance on the mound, pushing his record to 5-0. He yielded six hits, one earned run, walked one and fanned 11.
Amador Valley (13-8, 5-6) scored both of its runs in the seventh, the first on a homer by Kade Robertson.
The King’s Academy 5, No. 17 Menlo-Atherton 4
For the Bears, this was the kind of defeat that could keep a coach up all night.
Menlo-Atherton outhit the visitors 9-6. Four of those hits were doubles. And to reiterate, M-A was playing at home.
But the Knights’ University of Missouri-bound first baseman Ethan Johnson drove in four runs with a homer and a single, then got the final two outs after M-A scored three runs in the seventh to make it a one-run game.
TKA was leading 5-1 in the seventh when the Bears mounted their near comeback.
Jack Molise hit an infield single. Masataka followed with a double that drove in Molise, making it 5-2. But Masataka was thrown out trying to advance to third. David Lopez singled to right, then JT Anderson doubled in the same direction, sending Lopez to third. Gianni Olivero doubled both runners home, and it was suddenly 5-4.
Enter Johnson. He got his first out, and the second out of the inning, on a called third strike. Then after intentionally walking Ryder Kelly, which put the winning run at first, Johnson retired the next batter on a pop out in foul territory near first base.
Menlo-Atherton (15-7, 7-2) still has a 1½-game lead over Capuchino in the PAL Bay. TKA is a bit further back at 9-8, 4-5.
No. 6 Los Gatos 3, Gunn 0
Three hurlers combined to shutout Gunn as Los Gatos won its 10th game in a row.
Chase Oberthier pitched the first four innings and was the winning pitcher, Nicholas Olcott pitched the next two and Baker Robinson received the save with a scoreless seventh.
Los Gatos (17-3, 9-0 SCVAL De Anza) scored twice in the fourth and one in the seventh. The Wildcats had eight hits. Julian McMahon, Hudson Schrader and Max Thomas each drove in runs.
Gunn (8-10, 2-7) had doubles from Jonah Weinstein and Ryan Fitzhugh.
James Logan 3, Irvington 2
The Colts scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to run their record to 7-2 in the Mission Valley Athletic League, allowing them to keep pace with Newark Memorial, which at 8-1 has a one-game lead.
The seventh began with the teams deadlocked at two apiece. Ricky Scarborough singled to left for the visitors and eventually came around on Jordan Medina’s sacrifice fly to left.
Evan Yau, Logan’s third pitcher, closed it out to earn the win. He pitched 1⅔ innings, walked one, fanned four and didn’t allow a hit.
Irvington (7-12, 5-4) scored single runs in the first and second innings, one on the fourth homer of the season by catcher Brayden Jaksa, an Oregon commit who is rated the 80th-best prospect in this year’s upcoming Major League Baseball draft by Baseball America.
Newark Memorial 6, Washington-Fremont 5
The visiting Huskies failed to take advantage of a 9-5 advantage in hits and three Newark Memorial errors. That allowed the Cougars to retain first place in the MVAL with a slim one-game lead over James Logan. Washington is 5-6 in league play and 8-10 overall.
A three-run third allowed the Huskies to take a 5-4 advantage, but Newark Memorial jumped back in front with a two-run fifth. Connor Murphy doubled, driving in Anthony Medrano and Fabian Guzman.
Murphy was the winning pitcher. King Lopez-Archibald picked up the save. He pitched the seventh, allowing one hit and striking out two.
Softball
No. 1 St. Francis 9, No. 3 Valley Christian 2
The Warriors struck first when freshman sensation Shyla Paredes hit a two-run homer in the top of the third. But St. Francis (20-2, 5-0 WCAL) answered with eight runs in the bottom of the inning.
Paredes, who plays first and third base, has been quite the story for Valley Christian (15-5, 4-1). She is hitting .478 and leads the Warriors with 27 RBIs and 13 extra-base hits. The homer was her third of the season. She also has eight doubles and two triples.
But that wasn’t enough to overcome Hayden Hummel of Peyton Tsao of St. Francis. Hummel stroked a pair of doubles and drove in three runs. For Tsao, twos were wild. She had two doubles, drove in two runs and scored twice.
Winning pitcher Ava Bulanti went the first five innings and struck out 10. Hailey Nguyen worked the final two and had two strikeouts.
No. 10 Archbishop Mitty 2, Sacred Heart Cathedral 1
Monarchs right-hander Kyleigh Mace went the distance, striking out 16 and allowing only three hits and one unearned run.
The Scotts Valley resident and Brigham Young University commit was staked to a 2-0 lead in the home half of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Rylie Hicks and a wild pitch. The Monarchs are 11-5-1 overall and 3-2 in the WCAL.
Sacred Heart Cathedral (10-7, 2-3) made it a one-run game in the sixth. Sydney Endo scored for the visitors. She also had a double.
Gracie Giovacchini had two of Mitty’s four hits.
No. 20 St. Ignatius 11, Presentation 0
A young St. Ignatius team that has struggled thus far showed off its potential Wednesday behind a couple of freshmen.
Second baseman Vicky Carrillo went 3-for-3 with a homer and four RBI while Olivia Dollard pitched a five-inning no-hitter to help the Wildcats end a six-game losing streak.
St. Ignatius (10-6, 1-4 WCAL) scored in every inning but the first in the 4½-inning game. A two-run single by Carrillo in the second started the avalanche of runs by the Wildcats, who were blanked four times during their six-game skid. She homered during SI’s five-run fourth.
Dollard walked no one and struck out seven. Three SI errors prevented Dollard from having a perfect game.
Presentation slipped to 6-12, 0-5 this season.
Gunderson 6, Independence 5
The Grizzlies trailed 5-2 after three innings, then scored the contest’s last four runs, including the game-winner in the home half of the seventh.
Related Articles
Prep roundup: Foothill scores 16, Santa Clara tops Monta Vista, Capuchino pitcher throws no-hitter, drives in 5 runs
Prep spotlight: East Bay pitcher lights up scouts’ radar guns, dominates competition
Prep roundup: Acalanes edges Alhambra in extra-innings pitchers’ duel
Prep roundup: Foothill rallies to beat No. 1 Granada in EBAL baseball clash
Prep roundup: St. Francis beats Gilroy in extra innings; Alhambra baseball rolls past Acalanes
Sophia Ocanas’ double to right field was the walkoff hit. She delivered after Dezirae Regalado drew a base on balls, then stole second.
Despite the loss, Independence (11-4, 10-1) still holds a half-game lead over Gunderson in the BVAL West Valley. The Grizzlies are 11-4, 10-2. The teams split their two league games. Gunderson won a non-league game played last month.
The Grizzlies scored a single run in the third and two in the fourth to tie the game at 5-5 before Ocanas provided the game-winner. Jaelyn Vejar and Talia Abuhamid each drove in two runs for the Grizzlies. Chiemi Wong had two hits.
Independence was led by Julieta Ramirez. She delivered a three-run inside-the-park homer in the third that put the 76ers on top 5-2.
Salesian 10, St. Mary’s-Berkeley 9
The Pride battled back from as many as four runs behind with a three-run home half of the sixth to hold off upset-minded St. Mary’s.
Salesian is in a dead heat with Pinole Valley for the TCAL Rock lead. Both teams are 8-1. The Pride is 11-5 overall.
Gloria Alcaire and Matea Gaddies each supplied three hits for Salesian, which had 14 hits in all. Alcaire drove in three runs. Gaddies had three doubles. Aleah Navarro and Cristina Martinez-Adalco both drove in two runs.
St. Mary’s (5-10, 4-5) was led at the plate by Aoife Shen, who went 4-for-4 with four runs scored and four driven in. All four of her hits went for extra bases (two homers, two doubles).