Oakland Tech tops Lowell in opener
If Lowell’s baseball team hopes to win its second straight and fifth Transbay title in six seasons, it will have to fight from behind.
That’s just what Oakland Tech did Wednesday, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in eight innings at Laney College.
Two misplayed pop flies to the Lowell outfield and a walk loaded the bases with one out before Will Larkin was hit by a pitch to end the game and improve Tech’s record to 20-5.
Lowell (22-10), which managed just two hits, hopes to get even in the best-of-three series at 4 p.m. Friday at San Francisco State.
The Cardinals took a 3-1 lead on an RBI groundouts by Devlin Stanley and Jack Schonherr and a run-scoring double from Alex Bradshaw.
Tech tied the game with a two-run rally in the sixth. Lowell’s Owen Mahoney pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs with seven strikeouts.
This is the sixth straight year the teams have met in the series, which dates to 1985. This is the ninth straight season Oakland Tech has represented the Oakland Section.
“It wasn’t our best game of the season, that’s for sure,” Lowell assistant coach Romeo Aurelio said. “But we have two games to make up for it.”
Central Coast Section playoffs: Dustin Greenwood hit a home run, Connor Henrique and Reed Sparling added RBI doubles and pitcher Michael Mitchell did the rest, leading top-seeded Bellarmine (23-7) to a 4-0 victory over Lincoln-San Jose (19-9) in a Division 1 opener. Bellarmine will host eighth-seeded Homestead-Cupertino, a 4-1 winner over ninth-seeded Lynbrook-San Jose, at 11 a.m. Saturday in quarterfinal play . ... All the other higher seeds prevailed in the 16-team tournament, other than sixth-seeded Alisal-Salinas (17-8), which lost 9-0 to 11th-seeded Los Altos (15-14). … Other winners were third-seeded Mountain View (16-12), seventh-seeded Wilcox-Santa Clara (18-10), second-seeded-Piedmont Hills-San Jose (20-6) and fifthseeded Carlmont-Belmont (16-11), a 3-2 win over Alvarez-Salinas in 12 innings . ... In Division 2 play, Joe York delivered a walk-off RBI single to lift third-seeded Mitty (21-7) to a 1-0 home win over 14th-seeded Westmont-Campbell (12-15) in eight innings. Westmont pitcher Austin Tremelling held Mitty scoreless for seven innings. … Second-seeded St. Francis (21-8) scored eight runs in the first inning en route to a 10-0 win over Half Moon Bay (18-10). St. Francis had six hits in the first, including a two-run double by Cooper Foard, and Half Moon Bay walked four batters.
North Coast Section: In East Bay Athletic League semifinal playoff action, Nick Cirelli, Trace Tammaro and Austin Elder all drove in two runs as third-ranked De La Salle-Concord (21-4) posted an 11-1 home win over Amador Valley-Pleasanton (15-10-1), which ended the Spartans’ 14-game winning streak last week. Winning pitcher Kyle Harrison fired five scoreless innings, struck out six and walked one. Elder had two doubles. De La Salle next hosts fourth-ranked Foothill-Pleasanton (20-4) in Friday’s 4 p.m. championship. The Falcons defeated Monte Vista-Danville 8-3 behind five strong innings from winning pitcher Brett Hansen (five strikeouts) and Corey Steinhauer (3-for-4, homer, two doubles). Jake Simons and Roman Sahagun each had two hits for Foothill.
Softball
Lowell and Oakland Tech open the Transbay best-ofthree series at 4 p.m. Thursday at San Francisco State.
Lowell earned a spot in the series with a 7-4 San Francisco Section title win over Balboa on Tuesday at San Francisco State. It was Lowell’s 20th section crown.
Central Coast Section: In Division 1 first-round play, Paige Maier fired a one-hitter with nine strikeouts and Vanessa Moore hit a home run as 14th-seeded Presentation (11-9) won 3-0 at third-seeded Mountain View. … Other first-round winners included 11th-seeded San Mateo (12-9) and eighth-seeded Los Altos (16-9) . ... In Division 2 first-round play, freshman Genevieve Belmonte blasted a tworun homer and the pitching of Chloe Moffitt and Grace Garcia made it stand up as third-seeded Half Moon Bay (14-10) won 2-1 at home over 14th-seeded The King’s Academy-Sunnyvale. … Other first-round winners included seventh-seeded Notre Dame-Belmont (17-6) and topseeded Hillsdale-San Mateo (21-6), which beat Mercy-Burlingame 15-0.