Gloucester claims Peninsula lead
Gloucester took over sole possession of first place in the Peninsula District on Tuesday with a 3-0 baseball victory over Menchville at home.
The Dukes (12-1, 11-1 district) were tied for first with the Monarchs (12-2, 10-2) to start the day, but rode the pitching arm of right-hander Gabe Espiritu (7-0). Espiritu allowed just three hits and struck out seven.
“He’s been doing that the entire year,” Gloucester coach Gus Morande said. “He throws the ball over the plate, locates well and has three or four pitches he can throw.”
Menchville left-hander David Ruiz matched Espiritu pitch for pitch for innings, but was undone by bad luck and a pair of errors. Trip Roady reached on a bad-hop single at third base, advancing to second on the play via an outfield error.
Roady scored to give the Dukes the lead when Braden Hudgins singled and advanced to second on an outfield error. Hudgins also scored on a bad-hop single to make it 2-0, the hop coming when James Riley grounded the ball off of the third-base bag.
No. 2 Grassfield cruises to district win in softball
Emma Zieg (11-1) and Gabby Simmons combine on a four-hit shutout over five innings as second-ranked Grassfield defeated King’s Fork 10-0.
Maraya McCann launched her second home run of the season in the first to ignite the Grizzlies’ offense. Zieg and Kam Inman had multiple hits, helping Grassfield rack up 12 total hits.
Baseball
Brycen Hamilton threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts and helped his cause with three hits in Maury’s 15-0 win over Norcom. Derek Baker added three hits.
Jake Smith hit a home run and finished with three RBIs and two runs as No. 15
Hickory beat Indian River 15-6.
Maddox Tsutsui, Joe Fredericks and Jacob Henry were a combined 8 for 9 with eight runs and seven RBIs to lead No. 4 Grassfield to a 17-0 victory over King’s Fork.
Matt Weber struck out 10 over five innings on the mound and added two hits in Landstown’s 5-3 win over Kellam.
Softball
Mackenzie Samuel threw a no-hitter and Cam Hamilton and KK McQuiller each hit home runs to lead No. 3 Granby to a 16-0 win
over Booker T. Washington.
Sydney Clements struck out eight in a complete-game shutout for her second win of the season in No. 4 Hickory’s 17-0 victory over Indian River.
Megan Hobbs hit her third home run — a three-run blast in the fifth inning — and Leigh Hooper hit her first career homer with a two-run shot in the seventh as ninthranked First Colonial topped Bayside 14-1. Kailey Jackson and Kate Beck combined on a three-hitter and struck out 11.
Parker Rowden and Laney Davis combined on a no-hitter as No. 8 Great Bridge blanked Oscar Smith 7-0.