SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - MAY 20: St. Francis' Ned Righellis (19) warms up in the bullpen during their game against Archbishop Mitty in the third inning at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, May 20, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Baseball
In a rematch of last year’s Division I regional championship game, which De La Salle rallied to win, St. Francis had the upper hand this time.
Twice.
The Lancers swept a non-league doubleheader at home in Mountain View over the Concord powerhouse, doing so behind superb pitching, flawless defense and enough hitting.
St. Francis won both games by an identical score, 5-1.
In the first game, the Lancers took advantage of five De La Salle errors and got a pitching gem from Ned Righellis to turn back the Bay Area News Group’s top-ranked team.
With De La Salle the designated home team in the second game, ninth-ranked St. Francis scored three in the fourth and two in the fifth to go ahead 5-0 and then tip-toed through bases-loaded jams in the sixth and seventh innings to hold off the Spartans.
St. Francis improved to 10-5. De La Salle is 9-3.
Righellis allowed a run and four hits with six strikeouts while going in the distance in the opener.
Jedd Chang had two hits and knocked in a run for St. Francis in the first game and a double and two RBIs in the nightcap.
Smith Chandler had two hits for De La Salle in the first game and an RBI in the second.
Matthew Holcomb started the second game for St. Francis, allowing one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings
In Game 1, St. Francis scored a run in the first, two in the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth as they snapped De La Salle’s four-game winning streak.
No. 2 Valley Christian 10, Mira Costa 0 (5 innings)
Valley Christian bounced back from a crushing defeat the previous day to rout Mira Costa in a consolation round game at the National Classic tournament in Orange County.
PJ Moutzouridis hit an inside-the-park grand slam to highlight a six-run second inning as Valley cruised to victory in a game called after 4 ½ innings because of the 10-run rule.
Kole Laubach allowed one hit and struck out six in a complete-game effort.
Michael Castaneda had two doubles and drove in a run and Carmelo Rivera went 2 for 2 for Valley, which will play its third game at the tournament on Wednesday.
Valley, which gave up three runs in the seventh in a 5-4 loss to Bishop Amat on Monday, improved to 12-2.
Mira Costa is 9-10.
No. 3 Archbishop Mitty 11, Whitney-Rocklin 4
St. Mary’s-Stockton 4, Archbishop Mitty 3
Mitty split their first two games at the Boras Classic in Sacramento, rolling past Whitney as David Estrada went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and then losing a tough one against St. Mary’s.
The Monarchs had 14 hits against Whitney. They managed only five against St. Mary’s, which scored three in the second and the winning run in the sixth after Mitty evened the score with three in the fifth.
Matteo Blandino had two RBIs and Jarren Advincula had two hits and scored a run against St. Mary’s.
Mitty fell to 11-3.
Palo Alto 15, Rancho San Juan 3
Palo Alto, which dropped out of the Bay Area News Group rankings this week, is making its case to return soon.
The Vikings extended their winning streak to three games as Charlie Bates, Kanghee Cho and Zachary Thom each had two hits and Vincent Braga did not allow an earned run in five innings to lead a rout of Rancho San Juan at the Sacred Heart Prep tournament.
Palo Alto improved to 7-6. Rancho San Juan is 1-8-1.
Softball
No. 13 Willow Glen 15, Pioneer 5
Haley Ocumen had herself a game. The sophomore went 3 for 4 with a home run, double and seven RBIs as visiting Willow Glen roared past Pioneer in Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division play.
Willow Glen built an early five-run league. Pioneer charged back to cut the deficit to one before the Rams scored 10 consecutive runs to put away the game.
McKenna Campbell added three hits, including a double, and knocked in two runs to help Willow Glen improve its record to 9-2, 3-0.
Pioneer is 4-10, 0-4.
No. 10 Livermore 8, Carondelet 5
Livermore, playing at home, scored seven runs in the first inning to erase an early two-run deficit and held off the visitors from Concord in East Bay Athletic League play.
Jae Cosgriff homered, doubled and drove in three runs and Audrey Sweet doubled and knocked in two runs to lead Livermore.
Gabriella Bush had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs for Carondelet.
Livermore improved to 7-3, 3-2. Carondelet is 4-6, 1-4.
No. 18 Sequoia 7, Burlingame 6
Ainsley Waddell went 3 for 3 with a double, triple and three RBIs, Cassy Chin had two hits and an RBI and Jamie Elkington scored twice and knocked in two runs as undefeated Sequoia rallied to edge Burlingame in a Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division game.
The Ravens scored four runs in the home half of the sixth to erase a three-run deficit and kept the visitors off the scoreboard in the seventh.
Nora Leslie had three hits and three RBIs and Olivia Fleming doubled and knocked in a run for Burlingame.
Sequoia is 10-0, 3-0. Burlingame dropped to 2-2, 0-2.
Originally published at Darren Sabedra