How De La Salle beat Foothill again to reach DI final
CONCORD >> From the bullpen to the middle of the diamond Thursday, Donovan Chriss was on his game. The De La Salle right-hander threw his breaking pitches for lots of knee-buckling strikes and his fastball hummed, just as it did while he warmed up before another huge matchup against Foothill.
“Donny's been shut down all year,” catcher Anthony Martinez said.
Chriss pitched a threehitter and Martinez drove in De La Salle's first three runs, two on his 10th homer of the season, as the top-seeded Spartans prevailed 5-1 over Foothill to advance to the CIF Northern Regional Division I championship game.
De La Salle (26-6) will return to its home field in Concord on Saturday to play second-seeded St. Francis, a 3-2 winner over Valley Christian, for the title.
Six days after it broke Foothill's heart in the North Coast Section Division I final, overcoming an early four-run deficit and surviving in extra innings, De La Salle wasted no time gaining the advantage Thursday.
Facing 14-game winner Tyler Gebb for the third time in three weeks, De La Salle scored a run in the first when Alec Nava opened with a walk and advanced to third on Tanner Griffith's ground-rule double to left.
Martinez's ground out to second knocked in Nava for a 1-0 lead.
Gebb hit the next two batters, Cade Cushing and Connor Harrison, but a double play prevented more damage.
In the third inning, Martinez widened the lead to 3-0 when he sent a ball sailing over the right-field fence for a two-run homer and his 43rd and 44th RBIs of the season.
Fourth-seeded Foothill (26-6) cut the margin to 3-1 in the fourth with its only rally against the UC San Diego-bound Chriss. Evan Bilter walked, Brendan Comerford singled to right and Nick Walsh singled to left to drive in the Falcons' only run. But Chriss got the next two batters to keep Foothill, which had a 10-run second inning Tuesday in a 15-5 rout of Palo Alto, from a big inning.
Chriss finished with six strikeouts and walked one. He threw 86 pitches.
The breaking ball was key.
“He was throwing it kind of where he wanted to today,” Foothill coach Angelo Scavone said. “If he wanted to locate it at the shoelaces or the shins or the knees ... you've just got to tip your cap.
“These kids,” Scavone added about his players, “played their hearts out the entire year. As I told them, in every practice, every game they gave us everything they had. Took us to a league title. Took these guys to one out away from an NCS title and here we are.”
Chriss' performance underscored De La Salle's depth. The Spartans pitched Cal Randall against Foothill in the East Bay Athletic League championship game on May 13 (Foothill won 4-1) and the NCS final last week. He will be
well-rested for the NorCal title game Saturday.
“We didn't save Cal Randall,” coach David Jeans said. “We trust our guys.”
Chriss was De La Salle's closer for much of the season, moving over from his regular position, shortstop. He was the starting pitcher against Liberty in the NCS semifinals and was on the mound to close out Foothill in the ninth inning of the NCS final.
Thursday, knowing he was starting and the high stakes, Chriss made sure he was ready from the get-go.
“I felt good in warmups,” he said. “I told myself I was going to try to throw every pitch for a strike in the bullpen because, usually, I am pretty nonchalant. I had to lock it in today.”
Now De La Salle, which has won five consecutive section championships, is one win from capturing its first NorCal crown.
ST. FRANCIS BEATS VALLEY
CHRISTIAN IN SEMIFINAL >> Whenever it mattered most Thursday night in the CIF NorCal Division I baseball semifinals, St. Francis catcher Ryan Lee found himself involved.
The UC Davis-bound senior proved instrumental in a back-and-forth battle with West Catholic Athletic League rival Valley Christian.
Lee tagged out a wouldbe tying run at home plate in the top of the fifth, threw out a runner at second after a wild pitch for the final out of the next inning,
crushed the game-winning home run in the bottom of the frame and then caught a called third strike to close out the 3-2 victory.
Second-seeded St. Francis (31-4) will travel Saturday to Concord for a 4 p.m. championship game against No. 1 seed De La Salle (26-6) to determine the best baseball team in Northern California. On March 12, St. Francis lost 5-0 at home to DLS.
“Not many teams in this area, in the country, know when their last practice is,” St. Francis coach Matt Maguire said. “A lot of them have been here for four years and they've worked really hard. They've sweated out here, bled out here, so tomorrow we get to come out here and have a last practice.”
Valley Christian left unsatisfied, but with a promise of what's to come in 2023.
“We had a great year,” Valley Christian coach John Diatte said. “We're really young and we made some mistakes early in the season, but we fought back. We won 25 games, it's a good group of kids, most of them coming back. I feel bad for the seniors, but somebody is going to win, somebody is going to lose.
“And we just happened to be on the losing end today.”