CIF NorCal roundup: Santa Clara baseball, Liberty softball win semifinals

This time, there was no need for a comeback.

Having traveled nearly 250 miles for this CIF Northern California Division IV baseball semifinal, third-seeded Santa Clara took command with three runs in the first and senior pitcher Drew Diffenderfer did the rest.

Two days after overcoming a five-run deficit to edge Oakland Tech in walk-off fashion, Santa Clara rolled past second-seeded West Valley of Cottonwood 6-0 to advance to the final on Saturday.

Diffenderfer needed 81 pitches to finish a complete-game gem. He struck out five, allowed five hits and walked none.

Jaxton Chao had three hits, drove in two runs and scored once and Connor Houle had two hits, including a double, knocked in a run and scored twice for Santa Clara (29-3).

Dominick Chavarria also had two hits for the Bruins, who will take their storybook season to the final day.

One week after capturing its first Central Coast Section baseball championship, Santa Clara will play for its first NorCal title. The Bruins’ opponent will be fifth-seeded Menlo School or top-seeded Woodland Christian. Their semifinal in Woodland was paused because of darkness in the bottom of the eighth with Menlo leading 15-11. The game will resume on Friday at noon.

Chao opened Santa Clara’s semifinal with a single to left, stole second and scored when Houle singled to center.

Houle later scored on a passed ball, and John Kepner made it 3-0 when he crossed the plate on Greg Salgado’s sacrifice fly to center.

Kepner’s double in the fourth brought in Houle to widen the advantage to 4-0. Chao’s single to center in the seventh knocked in Kalani Tesimale and Salgado to complete the scoring.

Now Santa Clara will await the outcome of the other semifinal. If Menlo wins, Santa Clara will host the title game. If Woodland Christian rallies, the Bruins will travel for the final.

West Valley finished 23-5.

Softball

Division I

No. 2 Del Oro 6, No. 3 St. Francis 5

The magic ran out for St. Francis in this epic NorCal Division I semifinal in Loomis.

But just barely.

As they did when they rallied with two outs for a walk-off win over Rocklin on Tuesday, the Lancers were on the brink of another dramatic comeback, this time in the top of the seventh against No. 1 seed Del Oro.

The Mountain View school loaded the bases with one out and had the strength of its order coming up.

Jaime Oakland, the team’s top hitter, grounded into a fielder’s choice to cut the margin to 6-5.

Oakland then stole second, putting runners at second and third for Peyton Tsao, who had a team-leading 20 extra-base hits this spring, including seven home runs.

But Del Oro got the sophomore to pop out in the infield, ending St. Francis’ season one game shy of reaching the regional final.

Instead, Del Oro will play host to second-seeded Oak Ridge on Saturday for the championship.

St. Francis gave a valiant effort.

The Lancers scored two in the first. Del Oro responded with three in its half of the first. St. Francis scored one in the third and another run in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead.

Del Oro went back in front with two in the fifth and stretched the advantage to 6-4 with one in the sixth.

The insurance run proved valuable.

May Meltz and Ava Bulanti each had two hits for St. Francis. Bulanti also knocked in a run.

Avyn Brower, Caelyn Campos and Emma Johnson each homered for Del Oro, which improved to 30-2.

St. Francis finished 28-4.

Division II

No. 2 Salinas 1, No. 6 The King’s Academy 0 (8 innings)

Katia Nesper, TKA’s dazzling junior left-hander, was at her best again in the NorCal semifinals. But as good as she was, it wasn’t quite enough.

Gigi Rossi doubled to center with one out in the bottom of the eighth, driving home Isabella Hernandez with the only run of the game and sending Salinas to the CIF NorCal Division II final on Saturday at 4 p.m. against No. 4 seed Liberty. Salinas will host.

Hernandez opened the eighth with an infield single and stole second. One strikeout and one hit batter later, Rossi hit the double that sent everyone home

Nesper has been brilliant all season. She has a 16-2 record for the Knights (22-8). Her only other defeat came against Willow Glen in April. She has an 0.33 ERA and 249 strikeouts in 126⅓ innings.. At the plate she hit .306.

This was a very well played game. Both teams had five hits. Neither team made an error. Shortstop Mia Bennette had three hits for the Knights. Salinas will take a 20-8 record to the title game.

No. 4 Liberty 17, No. 1 Vanden 10

Liberty unleashed a 20-hit attack against top-seeded Vanden.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Liberty (25-4) scored eight runs in the second and three in the third to go on top 11-2. The Vikings (22-5) never got closer than five runs after that.

The Lions did damage up and down their lineup. Taylor Jennings had three hits, scored four runs and smacked her 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the seventh. Madison Tuttle drove in three runs, had three hits and scored twice. Kaitlyn Macias had a two-run triple, two hits and two runs scored. Kelsie Skaggs had a double and three RBI. Jewel Cooper had four hits and Savannah Page added three.

This was the third season this season the high-scoring Lions had scored at least 17 runs in a game. They had another game with 16 runs. They were only shutout once and are averaging almost eight runs per outing.

Liberty has hit 49 homers this season, with Isabella Rice (13), Jennings (12) and Macias (10) all in double figures.

Division IV

No. 1 East Nicolaus 1, No. 4 Northgate 0

The defeats don’t get much tougher than the one pitcher Ashley Herman and her Northgate teammates suffered in the CIF NorCal semifinals on Thursday.

Herman, a junior right-hander, took a one-hitter into the bottom of the sixth inning of a scoreless game. She allowed a leadoff triple to Lilly Smith, then Stevie Knight followed with a sacrifice fly for the only run of the game.

East Nicolaus (23-6) will have to wait until Friday before learning if it hosts San Leandro or Aptos for the championship on Saturday.

Herman was outstanding for the most part. She walked no one and struck out eight. She has an ERA well below 2.00, and is 9-3 for the season.

In addition to her sacrifice fly, Knight, who will continue playing softball at Abilene Christian University in Texas, was the winning pitcher. She yielded five hits, walked two and struck out seven.

Taelyn Jriyasetapong and Addison Baxter reached base twice for the Broncos (14-12). Both players singled. Jriyasetapong also drew a walk and Baxter was hit by a pitch.

Division V

Biggs 11, Miramonte 6

A near-storybook season ended for the Matadors when they squandered a 4-0 lead by yielding back-to-back five-run rallies in the fifth and sixth innings.

Miramonte charged to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. Abby Warren singled home the first two runs, then Lucy Daoust doubled for two more.

The Matadors were still ahead 4-1 when Biggs, a school of 177 students located between Sacramento and Redding, erupted for the two five-run innings. Miramonte didn’t help its cause, issuing seven walks and committing three errors.

Still, the Mats’ 19-9 record was a big step forward. It was their most wins ever during a single season in the MaxPreps era (2004) and only the second time they had finished above .500.