Prep roundup: Granada softball hammers rival under home run barrage
SOFTBALL
No. 5 Granada 9, No. 7 Livermore 2
Some home runs barely clear the fence, suspensefully hanging in the air as an outfielder tries to track it, and graze over the wall just beyond an outstretched glove.
Then there are the no-doubters, the rockets everyone in attendance knows will leave the yard the moment the bat makes contact.
Sophomore Delaney Aumua’s two home runs in Granada’s 9-2 victory over East Bay Athletic League rival Livermore were in the latter category.
“She’s the strongest kid I’ve ever coached, ever, and I’ve been coaching for 25 years,” Granada coach Johnny Heinz, 58, said.
The victory helped Granada (12-3) keep pace with San Ramon Valley at the top of the EBAL standings with a 5-1 league record, and Livermore dropped to 11-6 and 4-3 in league.
It was also a bit of payback for last season, when Livermore defeated Granada twice.
“Knowing that this is our crosstown rival, that gave us a big push to stomp on them,” said Aumua, who went 3 for 4 and had four RBIs. “And we obviously know what happened last year.”
Aumua wasn’t the only one who thrilled the Granada section of the crowd with a long ball — teammates Leanna May and Sarah Deplitch hit jacks in the first inning to give Granada a 4-0 lead, and outfielder Saskia Raab followed Aumua in the top of the fifth inning with a solo shot.
Overshadowed by the incredible hitting was a solid performance by pitcher Alex Mello, who pitched seven innings and struck out eight for a Granada team that has now won four straight after losing games to St. Francis and Archbishop Mitty at the Livermore Stampede.
“We started out as a team that would hang our hat on our hitting mostly,” Heinz said. “Our pitching and defense have been solid, but our bats went a little quiet for a while. Seems like they’re starting to wake up.”
May went 3 for 4 and Raab, Lauren Deplitch, Melton and Hannah Temple all had two hits. Livermore’s Alizabeth Ruiz and Kaitlyn Aguilar each contributed an RBI.
The teams will meet again for the regular season finale on May 5.
Half Moon Bay 11, Mills 9
Half Moon Bay’s Angelina Yeakley belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to walk off the Cougars and keep Half Moon Bay (5-3-1) a perfect 4-0 in league play.
HMB led 8-5 entering the top half of the seventh, but that lead evaporated when Mills (3-9, 2-3) freshman Audrey Jang, sophomore Isabella Leary and freshman Hailey Pedroza drove in one run each to take the lead.
Kalista Lowe’s single gave Mills the 9-8 lead, but HMB’s Emily Chaves answered with a solo home run to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Kendall Barmore held Mills scoreless in the top of the eighth, and set the stage for Yeakley’s home run.
Mills stole eight bases and had 13 hits. Meanwhile, Half Moon Bay totalled 15 hits, and sophomore Mia Modena had three of them, one being a home run.
Amador Valley 8, Foothill 2
Foothill and Amador Valley met in a game that, a few years ago, would have been the premier matchup in Bay Area softball.
The schools combined to win five of six North Coast Section championships between 2014-19.
2023 sees both teams trying to get back to that championship level, as Amador Valley (8-10) inches closer to .500 with the victory while Foothill (7-7) falls back to it in an EBAL showdown.
Amador Valley played like the team that defeated Top-10 opponents Archbishop Mitty, San Ramon Valley and Livermore, rather than the one that lost to Monte Vista the night before.
Bay Area News Group Athlete of the Week Aleena Helms drove in four runs for the Dons, and freshman Mai Falcone hit her second home run of the week. Kaylee Davis pitched a complete game, striking out nine and issuing no walks.
Foothill’s Kaycie Burdick drove in a run and went 3 for 3, and Marissa Anderson went 2 for 4 and drove in the other Foothill run.
California 5, No. 9 College Park 3
California scored two runs in the top of the seventh to secure a road win over a College Park team that had won three in a row.
Senior Alyssa Villarde doubled in one run to give the Grizzlies a lead, and Noelani Ching drove her in a few batters later to give the team an insurance run.
California junior Kaitlyn Le pitched all seven innings, achieving the rare feat of neither striking out nor walking any of the 29 batters faced.
College Park had gotten the lead thanks to RBIs from Emma Wood, Ava Davis and Jessica Delatorre.
De Anza 18, Kennedy-Richmond 8
De Anza stole 16 bases on its way to reaching 150 SBs on the season in its dominant victory at Kennedy in league play. De Anza (7-3, 5-0) sophomore Riana Everetts stole five bases and Sydney Cervantes grabbed four.
Junior Giselle Taylor went 5 for 6 with a home run and four RBIs, and Raina Figgs, Scarleth Deanda and Michelle Herrera all had three hits apiece.
Terra Nova 16, Castilleja 5
Maddie Donati hit two triples and drove in two RBIs to lead Terra Nova to an easy victory over Castilleja in league play. Sophomore Shannon Twomey and senior Gianna Tassio also hit triples for Terra Nova. Terra Nova got 12 baserunners on without swinging the bat: eight were walked and four were hit by pitches. Castilleja’s Emma Foster had two RBIs.
BASEBALL
No. 6 Dublin 2, No. 2 Amador Valley 1
Dublin (13-3) avenged Wednesday’s loss to Amador Valley (12-2) with the kind of dramatic extra-innings victory fans will hopefully see again in the postseason.
Tied 1-1 heading into the ninth inning, Brendan Moddelmog changed that when he lined a ball into center field and scored Zach Wong from second base. Moddelmog then closed out the win in the bottom of the ninth with a scoreless inning.
Two days after Amador Valley routed Dublin 2-1, the Gaels recaptured the form it had when it defeated De La Salle 4-3 on Tuesday.
Senior Cole Gaynor pitched the first six innings and allowed just one earned run on three hits. Moddelmog took over from there, and allowed one hit while striking out two.
Dublin’s pitching was also stellar — Matthew Foley allowed one unearned run in five innings, and Tyler Kubo’s one run in four innings pitched was also unearned.
Dublin is now third in the EBAL standings at 5-2, and Amador Valley is right below it at 4-2.
No. 4 De La Salle 6, Monte Vista 3
Rather than relying on one big inning to push De La Salle past EBAL opponent Monte Vista, the Spartans scored steadily.
De La Salle put one run on the board in each of the first four innings, and then scored twice in the sixth.
Senior Kai Smith hit a solo home run, and Tanner Griffith drove in two runs and scored twice himself. De La Salle junior RJ Meyn pitched six innings, struck out six and walked just one.
Monte Vista’s Jacob Johnson drove in two runs as the Mustangs dropped to 5-10-1. Meanwhile, De La Salle improved to 12-4 and tied for the top spot in the EBAL at 6-1 in league play.
Mt. Eden 11, Tennyson 0
Freshman Jayden Schafer pitched a six-inning no-hitter, striking out 10 and walking just two on 79 pitches. It was his first win, and counting the previous game vs. Westmoor, Schafer has struck out 19 in his previous 9.1 innings pitched.
Schafer had two RBIs as well. He also got run support from Bryan Zamora, who went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Andy Figaroa, who hit two doubles and scored two runs.
No. 1 Valley Christian 9, Pioneer 1
Valley Christian made sure John Diatte’s 1,000th game as coach ended on a high note, with the Warriors defeating a talented Pioneer team 9-1 in a non-league game.
Jordan Ortiz went 3 for 4 and had two RBIs to lead the Warriors (15-3). PJ Moutzouridis had two hits and one RBI, and scored one run. Michael Castenada scored twice and had one hit.
Alec Belardes, Hudson and Kieran Subramanian combined to strike out six for Valley Christian, which led just 2-0 until blowing the game open by scoring seven combined runs in the final two innings.
Nathan Tichy had two hits for Pioneer, which dropped to 10-6-1.
Serra 9, Sequoia 3
The Padres scored five runs in the sixth inning to put away Sequoia in a non-league game. Sophomore Ian Josephson drove in three runs, and junior Jake Downing had two RBIs. Senior Ben Cleary had two hits and also scored two runs for Serra, which improved to 11-5 while Sequoia dropped to 7-6-1.
California 10, Dougherty Valley 1
Eighteen different California (7-10) players had at least one plate appearance in the Grizzlies’ EBAL victory over Dougherty Valley (7-9). Zac Ragland, Elijah Cernak and Ryan Giffins each had two RBIs, and no California player had more than one hit. California led 8-0 after the second inning.
Skyline 5, Oakland Tech 4
Freshman Isac Okajima walked Skyline off with an RBI single in the eighth inning to defeat visiting Oakland Tech in an Oakland Athletic League showdown. Keanu Hennings pitched 5.2 innings in relief and gave up just one run. Hennings, Joe Salazar and Andre Hardy also had RBIs for Skyline.