De La Salle overpowers San Ramon Valley
The energy inside Rick Steen Ballpark could be felt from across San Ramon Valley's campus.
Local residents from nearby apartments tuned in from their balcony to watch Wednesday's highly anticipated matchup between East Bay Athletic League rivals. While De La Salle and SRV battled it out on the diamond, fans of both teams kept the stands rocking with loud cheers and a little bit of friendly trash talk.
But in the end it was De La Salle that came out on top, dominating on offense and defense to cruise to an 11-0 victory.
De La Salle senior Joe McGee and sophomore Tyler Spangler each had a home run. Graham Schlicht pitched allowed two hits in five innings and struck out six.
“This game was really important to us,” Spangler said. “With SRV being our rivals, we just wanted to play a great game.”
De La Salle got on the board first on Wednesday when Sean Stafford brought home Jamie Mullin on an RBI single to put the Spartans up 1-0 in the second inning.
The Concord school scored two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead. The Spartans put the game away for good in the sixth.
After Mullin got on base with a lead-off double, senior Jack Harper got him across home plate on a line-drive single to right field. Three at-bats later, McGee crushed the second pitch thrown to him for a three-run homer that sailed yards over the right field wall to put the Spartans up 8-0.
“I kind of just sat there and saw the first pitch's location and knew I just needed to make contact,” McGee said about the home run. “I just had to put a nice easy swing on it.”
Defensively, De La Salle kept the usually high-scoring Wolves in check. Schlicht, Trent Cacciola and Tommy Curran combined to give up just three hits. Spartan fielders did not commit an error and had six assists.
Wednesday's win marks the Spartans' fourth in a row that they have scored in double figures. They have a mindboggling 80 runs in their past four games and 89 over the past five while giving up eight over the five-game stretch.
GILROY 1, PROSPECT 0 >> Gilroy was able to eke out a victory despite having just two hits, a number that doubled Prospect's total of one hit.
Winning pitcher Brayden Martinez had 10 strikeouts and issued just two walks as the senior threw 95 pitches. Meanwhile, Prospect freshman Jeremy Wang allowed just two hits and struck out three. Martinez didn't just shine on the mound. He also drove in what would be the winning run in the first inning, hitting a fly ball to left that scored Carter Martinez.
Gilroy improved to 4-15, 4-7 in BVAL Santa Teresa play, while Prospect dropped to 7-9, 5-5.
NO. 1 GRANADA 5, FOOTHILL 1 >> Jake Sekany gave up just four hits and struck out three with no walks in five 1/3 innings as Granada won its second straight since its 16-game winning streak to start the season was snapped by Amador Valley. Cleanup hitter Riley Winchell drove in two runs, and Mikey Boyd also had an RBI. Nate Brown had two hits from the No. 9 spot in the order.
Take Sato-Kreis had Foothill's only RBI in the East Bay Athletic League showdown. Granada improved to 18-1, 7-1 and Foothill fell to 10-9, 4-4.
PIEDMONT 6, CASTRO VALLEY 2 >> Piedmont got contributions from up and down its lineup as the Highlanders improved to 12-2 and stayed a perfect 4-0 in league play.
Peter Krumins, a senior, was 2 for 3 with two doubles and an RBI, and Dimitri Papahadjopoulos was also 2 for 3 and had two RBIs.
Jordan Vo and Will Parker each had RBIs too, and pitcher John Olsen had six strikeouts in six innings. Castro Valley dropped to 11-6-1, 1-2-1.
PALO ALTO 17, GUNN 1 >> Palo Alto routed its crosstown rival Gunn on Wednesday afternoon, turning 21 hits into 17 runs. Paly junior Coco Vonderhaar hit a home run, going 3 for 5 with four RBIs.
Isaiah Walker, Ari SmolarEisenberg and Dexter Cleveringa each had three hits, and Vincent Braga had three RBIs. Charlie Bates hit a double and scored three runs. Cormac White threw six innings and struck out five.
Palo Alto improved to 9-10, 4-3 in Peninsula Athletic League play, and Gunn dropped to 4-13, 0-7.
SOFTBALL
BISHOP O'DOWD 2, NO. 3 ALAMEDA 1 >> Sophomore Tulip Barnes was 2 for 3 with and RBI, and senior Priya Kasling also scored a run to hand the Hornets their first loss since Feb. 27.
Freshman Zoe Bolick pitched five scoreless innings for O'Dowd and allowed just three hits. Alameda, which entered the game on an 11-game winning streak, didn't go quietly into the night though.
Miley Gradney's single cut the deficit to just one run in the bottom of the seventh, and Alameda later had runners on first and third with two outs.
O'Dowd had lost seven in a row to Alameda prior to that victory. Bishop O'Dowd's last victory had come in 2019. The Dragons got out of the jam though, and improved to 10-6, 3-1. Alameda fell to 11-2, 2-1.
NO. 10 BENICIA 14, GRANADA 10 (8 INNINGS) >> Benicia scored seven in the eighth inning to take the lead, and then surviving a threerun bottom of the eighth to hold on to the lead.
Morgan Kacalek broke the 7-7 deadlock with a grand slam over the left field fence, her second home run of the season. Ava Rojas drove in two more on a fly ball into right, and then Emma French singled home Rojas to give Benicia a 14-7 lead.
Delaney Aumua belted the ball over the centerfield barrier for a three-run homer to cut the deficit to four, but Granada could not get any closer.
Benicia improved to 10-1, and Granada fell to 5-9.
NO. 2 ARCHBISHOP MITTY 8, ST. IGNATIUS 0 >> The Monarchs rebounded from back-to-back losses to No. 1 St. Francis with an easy victory over West Catholic Athletic League opponent St. Ignatius.
Lindsey Miller hit a home run and had two RBIs, and Corri HIcks, Mia Roriguez and McKenna Woliczko each had two hits. Mitty outhit SI 11-8.
Kyleigh Mace went the distance for the San Jose powerhouse, striking out three and walking none. Archbishop Mitty improved to 12-3, 1-2 while St. Ignatius dropped to 5-8, 0-3.
GUNDERSON 26, JAMES LICK 0 >> James Lick rolled through another Blossom Valley Athletic League West Valley Division opponent, putting up 23 hits and stealing eight bases against overmatched Lick.
Jaelyn Vejar hit three triples and had five RBIs, and Desirae Regalado and Alanna Martinez Poklong also had five hits apiece. Breanna Bartek and Judah Tillman also had four hits each.