Sacred Heart Cathedral rallies for win vs. St. Ignatius
Even though the Bruce-Mahoney Trophy had been secured months ago — landing at rival St. Ignatius — the Sacred Heart Cathedral baseball team had plenty to play for.
Beating the Wildcats is always ultra satisfying for the Irish.
They did that for a second time in three weeks Tuesday with a 9-7 win at Marchbank Park, thanks to a six-run rally in the bottom of the sixth that included a two-run homer from Gianni Conte, a two-run double from Tobey Do and an RBI triple from Barclay Ovalle. Tate Medicoff had earlier blasted his ninth home run of the season, leading to a 3-0 Irish lead.
It was the fifth straight win for Sacred Heart Cathedral (14-6, 5-3 West Catholic Athletic League) and first-year head coach Gregg Franceschi. The run includes 12-0 and 2-1 victories over Riordan last week.
On Tuesday, the Irish overcame a seven-run rally by St. Ignatius (12-6, 3-5), the defending NorCal Division 2 champion, in the fourth inning. DJ Delaney had a two-run double, Evann Smith a two-run single and Rocco Giometti an RBI double in the Wildcats’ rally to take a four-run lead.
It wasn’t nearly enough as the Irish backed up a crisp 1-0 win over St. Ignatius at Oracle Park on March 23 with Tuesday’s slugfest that featured 19 hits — including five doubles, a triple and two home runs — seven walks and five errors.
“There aren’t too many times you’re gonna see seven runs scored against you in an inning (and win), and there aren’t too many times you’re gonna fire back and get six,” Franceschi told Ethan Kassel.
In the eight-inning win at Oracle Park, Aaron Louis and Dylan Adelman combined on a sixhitter with 10 strikeouts and Conte had the only RBI, spoiling a gem by St. Ignatius sophomore Chase Gordon, who struck out seven and allowed two hits in 71⁄3 innings.
St. Ignatius already had secured the BruceMahoney Trophy after wins over Sacred Heart Cathedral in girls volleyball, football and boys basketball. The trophy honors Bill Bruce (St. Ignatius graduate) and Jerry Mahoney (Sacred Heart Cathedral grad), who were killed in World War II.
More WCAL results: Serra (16-3, 7-1) moved into first place with a 9-0 home win over Valley Christian on Friday as winning pitcher Braden Agosta and reliever Davis Minton combined on a one-hitter. Ian Josephson blasted a home run and a double and Josiah Rodriguez added three RBIs for the Padres, who lost 4-1 three days earlier at Valley Christian (18-3, 6-2) on a four-hitter thrown junior Quinten Marsh.
Granada falls, wins: Granada-Livermore, the Chronicle’s top-ranked baseball team (17-1), fell from the ranks of the unbeatens last week. Amador Valley (9-9) prevailed 5-2 as winning pitcher Matthew Foley struck out five and allowed six hits, and sophomore Aaron Solomon had two hits and two RBIs. Granada turned the tables two days later with an 8-2 road win over the Dons, thanks to a two-run homer by Riley Winchell and three hits from Parker Warner. Granada is No. 6 in the SBLive Sports California state baseball rankings.
Acalanes still unbeaten: Third-ranked Acalanes-Lafayette (17-0) posted a 4-3 win over visiting College Park on Tuesday, fighting back from a 3-0 deficit to win in nine innings on a walk-off walk to David Gonzales. Ando Butner had two hits, two RBIs and a double for the Dons, who also had a run-scoring double from Keegan Goddard. College Park, which outhit the Dons 12-5, dropped to 9-6.
St. Francis sweeps Mitty:After a two-hit, 11strikeout gem from Kate Munnerlyn last week in a 6-0 win over Mitty, St. Francis (16-0, 2-0 WCAL), the state’s top-ranked softball team, was finally challenged. The Lancers overcame a five-run Mitty rally in the top of the seventh and won 10-8 Friday on a walk-off two-run homer by Rebecca Quinn in the 10th inning. Lindsey Miller and Corri Hicks each homered for Mitty (11-3, 0-2) which trailed 7-1 heading into the sixth. Munnerlyn had 17 strikeouts in 92⁄3 innings — she was re-inserted after Mitty struck for four runs off a reliever — and drove in three runs, as did Quinn. Quinn, Jaime Oakland and Peyton Tsao each had three hits. Hicks drove in three runs and Cara Edwards and Miller each drove in two runs for Mitty.
Coaching carousel: There are new football coaches at Skyline-Oakland (Virdell Larkins III), Miramonte-Orinda (Nick Safir), Castro Valley (John Trotman Jr.) and James Logan-Union City ( James Barnes). … Former Miramonte, Lowell and Piedmont boys basketball coach Chris Lavdiotis is the new coach at San Marin-Novato.