The Bellarmine baseball team had plenty of momentum coming into its Central Coast Section Division I playoff opener on Saturday at Los Gatos.
But the Wildcats were not fazed.
They have been on a roll themselves – pretty much all season, in fact – and that continued on their home field Saturday as third-seeded Los Gatos won 3-0 over sixth-seeded Bellarmine to advance to the semifinals next week against No. 2 seed Valley Christian.
Ethan Williams pitched a complete game for Los Gatos, scattering four hits and a walk and striking out five against an opponent that beat St. Francis, Serra and Valley Christian in consecutive days last week to capture the West Catholic Athletic League tournament championship.
Los Gatos (24-4) gave Williams all the scoring he’d need with two runs in the first and added an insurance run in the fifth.
Brayden Smith had a hit and two RBIs to lead Los Gatos’ offense.
Los Gatos had won 15 in a row before losing its regular-season finale to Wilcox, the only blemish on the Wildcats’ record in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division play. Los Gatos won the league by three games.
Bellarmine finished 17-14.
No. 2 Valley Christian 3, No. 7 Soquel 2
Jordan Ortiz knocked in a run in the first and one in the fifth and Quinten Marsh had an RBI to help lead Valley Christian to a victory at home over Soquel.
Brock Ketelsen allowed two runs in 4 ⅔ innings and Rohan Kasanagottu pitched two scoreless frames to end Soquel’s season.
Soquel scored two in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead. But Valley responded with two in the bottom half of the frame as Ortiz and Marsh accounted for the RBIs.
Valley improved to 24-6-1. Soquel finished 25-2.
No. 1 Serra 8, No. 8 Palma 3
Serra scored three in the second, three in the fourth and two in the fifth as the Padres cruised to an opening-round victory over Palma on its home field in San Mateo.
Ian Josephson had a double and three RBIs, Evan Bradshaw had two hits and drove in three and Davis Minton had two hits and knocked in two for Serra (24-6).
Palma (21-7) scored all of its runs in the seventh.
Division IV
No. 8 Santa Clara 5, No. 1 Carlmont 4 (9 innings)
Greg Salgado’s home run to left leading off the top of the ninth completed a wild comeback as Santa Clara stunned top-seeded Carlmont in a quarterfinal thriller.
Carlmont scored in the fifth to even the score and added three in the sixth to take what seemed like a safe cushion.
But Santa Clara, coming off an impressive regular season but seeded low because of its strength of schedule, responded with three in the seventh to force extra innings.
Zach Gallegos’ double brought home Santiago Lopez to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Jaxton Chao followed with a single to drive in Dominick Chavarria, and Connor Houle’s single to right knocked in Gallegos to tie the score 4-4.
Santa Clara (25-3) will play Branham in the semifinals next week.
Carlmont finished 13-15.
No. 5 Branham 7, No. 4 Mountain View 4
Trailing 4-3 after four innings, Branham rallied for a run in the fifth and three in the sixth to beat host Mountain View in a quarterfinal game.
Ethan Vietvu had three hits and scored a run and Chris Von Barloewen went 2 for 3 with a walk and scored a run to lead Branham (14-10).
Kyle Shachal and Preston Huang each had two hits and combined to drive in three runs for Mountain View (16-12).
Branham advances to the semifinals next week.
Softball
Open Division
No. 4 Capuchino 4, No. 5 Valley Christian 3 (9 innings)
Brianna Lopiccolo two-out single to left brought home Nadia Keishk with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as Capuchino prevailed at home in an epic quarterfinal game against Valley Christian.
Capuchino forced extra innings when Lola Sierra’s two-out single to center knocked in Lily Thomas to tie the score 3-3.
Valley Christian had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh on Hannah Paquiz’s two-out double to left that scored Gabrielle Ho and Makenzie Leon.
Capuchino scored two in the first, and Valley Christian cut the margin in half in the fifth to set up the dramatic final innings.
The Mustangs (21-6) advance to the semifinals next week.
Valley Christian finished 21-7.
Division II
No. 4 Notre Dame-Belmont 2, No. 5 Piedmont Hills 1
Notre Dame tied the score in the sixth and won it in the home half of the seventh when Hailey Truong’s single to right knocked in Eliana Crespin with the walk-off run.
Truong and Allison Lui combined to hold Piedmont Hills to one run while striking out nine.
Michelle Torres had two hits and drove in a second-inning run for Piedmont Hills, which finished the season 18-7.
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Notre Dame (20-4-1) advances to play top-seeded Hillsdale in the semifinals next week.
No. 1 Hillsdale 10, No. 8 Branham 0
Hillsdale scored four runs in the first and broke open the game with six in the fourth, cruising at home to a five-inning, run-rule rout of Branham.
Mia DeMartini went 2 for 3 with a home run and a triple and knocked in three runs and Lola Jones struck out 12 of the 17 batters she faced as Hillsdale (17-9-1) powered its way into the semifinals.
Branham finished 14-13.
Division III
No. 6 Sobrato 2, No. 3 Prospect 0
Sam Zimmerman allowed two hits and struck out eight in six innings to help lead Sobrato past host Prospect in an opening-round game in Saratoga. Sophomore Amber Rodriguez pitched a hitless final inning to pick up the save, navigating a one-out error to close out the game.
Zimmerman also drove in the first run, grounding into a fielder’s choice in the first inning. Senior Zoe Rodriguez hit into another fielder’s choice in the second, giving Sobrato an early insurance run.
Sobrato (12-10) advances to face No. 7 Aptos in the semifinals next week. Aptos (16-7) upset No. 2 Alisal of Salinas 8-1 on Saturday.
Prospect finished the season 17-6.
Check back for updates all day Saturday.