Mariners play spoiler in CCCAA playoffs

Jack Morken's pinch-hit two-run homer in the seventh inning breathed fresh life into College of Marin's baseball title hopes and helped end the longest winning streak in the nation, as the Mariners went on to defeat Ohlone College, 5-2, Friday.

The two teams meet again Saturday in the second game of the best-ofthree CCCAA baseball championship series.

“It was a heck of a game,” Marin coach Steve Berringer said. “We just have to try to do as well the next game.”

The Mariners were trailing 2-0 after three innings until Morken came up to the plated in the seventh for a game-tying blast. Donovan Ratfield followed with a single to score Riley Cronin for a 3-2 lead. The Mariners added two more runs in the final two innings to secure the win.

Ryan Shimabukuro pitched seven innings for the Mariners and Jake Vermeil closed out the game in the final two innings.

Prep swimming

A pair of Redwood High School divers earned podium finishes in Friday's North Coast Section boys and girls diving championships in Concord.

Redwood's Valeriya Bondarenko placed second in the girls diving competition.

Clayton Valley's Molly Gray, who had a higher degree of difficulty than Bondarenko, led through all four rounds for the top score of 508.70. Bondarenko finished with 410.50 points.

Tam's Nataja Vazquez (337.85) placed seventh and teammate Claire Rubinstein (303.95) was 12th.

Archie Williams' Tula Loveland advanced as far as the semifinals before the field was pared to the top 16. Terra Linda's Olivia Kim and Rhea McKenzie and Tam's Lyla Tipton also competed.

On the boys side, the Giants' Owen Peterson was runner-up to first-place finisher Scott German of Amador Valley. Peterson had the highest degree of difficulty in the competition, which helped boost him through the standings as he finished with 438.60 points. German scored higher on his attempts to finish with 544.25 points.

Tenth-place finisher Bennet Matazzoni (306.00) led a trio of Tam divers, including 14th-place Hayden Dali (275.40) and 16th-place Ben Hasen (262.20).

The boys and girls swimming preliminaries were held Friday, with the finals slated for Saturday.

Tam junior Marre Gattnar had the fastest preliminary time in the boys 50 free (20.87 seconds) to come away with All-America honors. Redwood freshman Gavin Green placed eighth in 21.06 seconds for an automatic CIF bid. Archie Williams junior Micah Sher (21.20) was ninth, good enough for CIF consideration.

Gattnar was second in the boys 100 backstroke in 49.80 seconds, followed by Redwood junior Max Matthews in fourth (50.17). Both times are fast enough for All-America consideration.

Green was seventh in the boys 100 backstroke in 58.23 seconds.

The Marin Academy duo of Ines Lovato and Sydney Brakebill both finished in the top 10 in the 50 free prelims. Lovato was fourth in 24.77 seconds, an automatic CIF qualifier. Brakebill placed seventh in 23.99 seconds for CIF consideration. Redwood freshman Catherine Watrous earned CIF consideration with a time of 23.78 seconds, good enough for a 12th-place finish.

Redwood's boys 200 medley relay team finished second in 1:33.93, with Tam third in 1:34.32 as both squads earned All-America consideration. Novato placed 24th, with Marin. Academy 33rd, San Marin 35th and Marin Catholic 38th.

Redwood's girls 200 medley relay team finished sixth in the preliminaries with a time of 1:47.83, good enough for CIF consideration.

Marin Academy's quartet finished 10th, followed by Terra Linda (18th), Tam (26th), Marin Catholic (32nd) and Novato (34th).

In the boys 200 free, Novato's Bryden Thielenhaus (1:41.61) placed sixth and Redwood's Nicholas Scruton (1:42.02) placed seventh as both earned CIF consideration.

Thielenhaus touched the wall first in the 100 butterfly with a CIF automatic time of 49.44 seconds.

San Domenico's Emma Keith-Brown was fast enough in the girls 200 IM (2:06.89) for CIF consideration, as she finished ninth. The Giants' Matthews was second in the boys 200 IM in 1:52.32 for CIF consideration.

Keith-Brown was fifth in the girls 500 free (5:01.03), while the Giants' Scruton was seventh (4:39.56) in the boys 500 free.

Watrous was fourthfastest in the girls 100 free (51.42), with Lovato seventh (51.94). Tam's Nicky Glenn was sixth in the boys 100 free (46.53).

Redwood placed fifth and Marin Academy was seventh in the girls 200 free relay as both earned CIF consideration. In the boys 200 free relay, Archie Williams was fifth and Novato sixth to earn CIF consideration.

Redwood's boys 400 free relay team placed third (3:06.32), with Archie Williams seventh (3:12.90).

Boys tennis

Terra Linda's Ryan Hoang advanced to the North Coast Section Division II individual semifinals with Friday's 6-2, 6-0 quarterfinal victory over Saahil Mishra of Lick-Wilmerding. Hoang is scheduled to face Michael Evans of HeadRoyce in Saturday's semis at Santa Rosa High School.

In Division II doubles action, Branson's Tommy Higgins and Leighton Fraser kept their title quest alive with Friday's 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal victory over Evan Drown and Zach Lor of Del Norte High School. Higgins and Fraser started the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Arcata's Finn Murphy and Aiden Waters. The Bulls duo will face University's Zac Ashtiani and Ozan Ozturk in Saturday's semifinals.

Archie Williams' No. 1 singles player Jake Magnusson

earned a pair of victories on the opening day of North Coast Section individual and doubles competition Friday at Heritage High School. Magnusson advances to Saturday's semifinals against Lucas Bollinger of Vintage. Magnusson defeated Deer Valley's Alex Scott, 6-2, 6-1, in the opening round, and Amador Valley's Minsung Kim, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

In Division I doubles play, Redwood's Charlie Boyden and Liam Carpenter earned a semifinal matchup against Vintage's Paul Saleh Ethan Kincaid. The Giants rolled through Friday's first two rounds of competition with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Irvington's Aryaman Gautam and Aryan Yenni, then a 6-0, 6-0 quarterfinal win over Miramonte's Cameron Berg and Leo Cardozo.

Boys volleyball

Jordy Freeman stepped in at setter and dished out 48 assists to lead Archie Williams to a 25-15, 24-26, 25-13, 25-20 victory against No. 11 Piedmont in the North Coast Section DIII playoffs Thursday night.

Libero Finn Deery Devine had 23 digs to anchor the defense. Alexander Lucich had 23 kills and Zach Wulff added 17 kills for the No. 3 Peregrine Falcons.

Archie Williams advanced to the semifinals for a road game against No. 2 Moreau Catholic at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

• Tam bowed out in the NCS D-II quarterfinals, falling in three sets against No. 5 San Ramon Valley, 2125, 20-25, 20-25.