Novato baseball team advances, rematch set up against Campolindo

Novato High bolted past Encinal for a 10-3 first-round victory in the North Coast Section Division III baseball playoffs. A big five-run first inning proved to be all the offense the No. 6-seeded Hornets needed Tuesday. Novato's first three runners singled to load the bases and a hit batsman forced in a run to start the Hornets rolling.

The Hornets' starting pitcher Jacob Rabb struck out six batters in five innings, then JP Harmon struck out four batters in the final two innings of relief work.

Novato's Andy Gates was 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs, while Evan Black doubled, singled, was hit by a pitch, scored twice and drove in a run. Julian Oliver scored all three times he reached base for the Hornets.

Julian Oliver on base three times three runs

Novato (18-8) is scheduled to travel to No. 3 Campolindo for the quarterfinals Friday.

“Last year, we had Campolindo on the ropes, but we ran out of pitchers,” Novato coach Don McQuarrie said. “This year, we're younger, but better. We're going in with a good pitcher with a lot of

innings to give.”

Prep softball

Marin Catholic's hopes of avenging its MCAL championship loss to Redwood were dashed when the Wildcats were eliminated in Tuesday's first round of the NCS D-II playoffs. The No. 8 Wildcats fell 12-3 to No. 9 Northgate Broncos.

The Wildcats (15-7) took a one-run lead after scoring twice in the fourth inning, but their advantage was short-lived as the Broncos put up five runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Northgate advances to play the winner of Tuesday's matchup between No. 1 Redwood and No. 26 Ukiah. The score was not available at press time.

Boys tennis

Marin Academy's Charlie Hyman and William Young placed fourth in the North Coast Section Division II doubles tournament on Tuesday. The duo took the early lead before narrowly losing a semifinal match, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2), to Dylan Chan and Mikey Evans of Head Royce.

Hyman and Young then lost, 6-2, 6-1, to Lick-Wilmerding's Saahil Mishra and Este Liu in the third-place match.