Prep roundup: Serra baseball gets revenge on St. Francis, Lancers blank St. Ignatius in softball, Pittsburg stays hot
MOUNTAIN VIEW — If at first you don’t succeed, get ‘em later in the week.
That’s the opportunity Serra baseball was afforded on Friday night in Mountain View three days after losing 4-0 to St. Francis in San Mateo. The Padres, the No. 1 team in the Bay Area News Group rankings, had begun the season 10-0 with a big nonleague win over Los Gatos and a sweep of Bellarmine to commence West Catholic Athletic League play.
After Serra was blanked by St. Francis on Tuesday, the Padres made the trip down Interstate 280 and salvaged a series split, winning 5-3.
“It was good to see the team bounce back,” Serra coach Mat Keplinger said. “We suffered our first loss on Tuesday, and we hadn’t been punched in the mouth. So it was good to see us respond today.”
Serra (11-1) led the entire game on Friday, going up 2-0 in the top of the first inning and stretching its lead to 5-1 by the fifth inning. St. Francis got two runs back in the sixth and brought the tying run to the plate in both of the final two innings.
But junior Nate Hui slammed the door shut for Serra, pitching the final 1 2/3 innings without allowing a run to pick up the save.
“In the league, every series is big,” Keplinger said. “We played a pretty competitive nonleague schedule, so we’ve had some big games and some big moments. We’ve played in tight games. So the group’s learning how to finish games right now.”
St. Francis (9-3) was disappointed it couldn’t complete the sweep, but overall, the No. 2 Lancers are pleased with where they’re at at this point in the season.
“When I saw our WCAL schedule, and it was Valley (Christian) and Serra (first), it was like, ‘Well, this could go either direction real easy,’” St. Francis coach Erik Wagle said. “Especially with how young we are. If you would have told me before that, ‘Hey, you’re gonna get through Valley and Serra at 3-1, I would have been pretty pumped.
“In this league, there’s just no room to breathe. Looking back, playing these Valley and Serra early has actually been the best thing for us, because we grew up a little bit and we figured out, like, ‘Hey, we are one of the best teams in the section.’”
No. 5 Pittsburg 9, American Canyon 1
Pittsburg continued its perfect start to the season, improving to 11-0. Ty Thompson batted in three runs on three hits, including a triple.
Santino Valle picked up the win for the Pirates, pitching four innings and allowing just one run on two hits. American Canyon dropped to 5-6.
No. 7 Valley Christian 4, Bellarmine 0
Valley Christian (8-3, 2-2 WCAL) picked up its second WCAL win with a shutout, sweeping its two-game series with the Bells (6-6, 0-4 WCAL) this week.
Senior ninth-place hitter Quinten Marsh was the offensive star for VC, driving in three runs on a pair of hits that included a home run. Senior Brock Ketelsen pitched three hitless innings to pick up the win.
No. 8 Los Gatos 2, No. 17 Los Altos 1 (F/9)
A tight ballgame required extra innings for Los Gatos to come out on top at home.
Beau Musser was the hero for Los Gatos in the bottom of the ninth, singling home Trenton Welsh to give the Wildcats (9-3, 2-0 SCVAL De Anza) the win. The win gave Los Gatos a series sweep over its similarly named rivals to the north.
Musser also drove in Los Gatos’ other run on a single in the second inning. Los Altos dropped to 6-3 and 0-2 in the De Anza Division.
Softball
No. 1 St. Francis 10, No. 4 St. Ignatius 0
St. Francis handed SI its first loss of the year in humbling fashion on Friday. The Lancers led 8-0 after the fourth inning and cruised to the win in San Francisco.
Gabby Rocha led St. Francis (7-0, 2-0 WCAL) with three runs batted in, while Hayden Hummel, Ava Bulanti and Peyton Tsao each drove in two runners. Maddie Freidin had the other RBI for the Lancers.
Bulanti picked up the win in the circle, firing five scoreless innings while striking out five hitters and allowing only two hits without a walk. SI fell to 9-1 (0-1 WCAL).
No. 5 Archbishop Mitty 9, Branham 3
Mitty (6-1) used a six-run seventh inning to pull away from Branham (6-8) in this nonleague matchup in San Jose. Olivia Anderson and Payton Burton had run-scoring hits to key the decisive big inning for the Monarchs.
Kyleigh Mace pitched a complete game for Mitty, picking up the win with three runs allowed (two earned) on five hits with seven strikeouts.