High school sports roundup: Aptos, Santa Cruz, Soquel battle for SCCAL baseball supremacy

Welcome to Lookout’s high school sports coverage. Thomas Frey, an alum of Cabrillo College who has covered high school sports locally, leads our coverage. His column appears weekly. We welcome your tips and stories — email thomas@lookoutlocal.com and news@lookoutlocal.com (with high school sports in the subject line).

There is a logjam at the top of the Santa Cruz Athletic League baseball standings as Aptos High School, Santa Cruz High School and Soquel High School are fighting for the top spot. 

Right behind them are Scotts Valley High School and Harbor High School, which are more than capable of defeating any team on any day. On Tuesday, Scotts Valley narrowly fell to Aptos 4-3. On the same day, Santa Cruz escaped Harbor 5-4 and then won 14-1 in a Friday rematch with the Pirates. The Mariners won 6-2 on Friday over the Falcons.

This week will see a showdown between Santa Cruz and Soquel, which play on Tuesday and Friday. Harbor also has a big two-game series against Scotts Valley on those same days.

Baseball

St. Francis High School topped Pacific Grove High School 13-3 on Tuesday. Junior Evan Dyer allowed one earned run over four innings to earn the win for the Sharks. Senior Micah Cervantes and junior Nash Horton each had three hits while senior Junior Ibarra and junior Javier DaRosa-Fonseca each got two.

The next day, St. Francis defeated Palma High School 9-5. Senior Trey Silva went six innings and allowed two earned runs – and added a pair of hits at the plate. DaRosa-Fonseca had three hits while Horton and Cervantes each got two, along with freshman Nicholas Fantl.

The Sharks came ahead 7-6 in their third game of the week on Friday, against Palma High School. The bats were on fire as Cervantes and junior Evan Dyer each went yard. 

Senior Jordan Espinoza struck out 10 batters over four innings in Aptos High School’s 4-3 win over Scotts Valley High School on Tuesday. Junior Isaiah Work had an RBI double for the Mariners. 

The Mariners won again over Scotts Valley on Friday, a 6-2 victory. Work went fiving innings and struck out six to get the win for Aptos. He did more damage with his bat by hitting a home run. 

On Wednesday, Soquel High School shut out San Lorenzo Valley High School 2-0 with three sophomores on the mound. Dylan Hull pitched the first four scoreless innings for the Knights while Conner Corlett pitched innings five and six to pick up the win. Kane Humecky then came in to record the save in the seventh inning. 

The hits for Soquel came from another trio of sophomores in Brady Downs, Cash Moran and Jake Escalante. Senior Cody Houston had two hits for San Lorenzo Valley.

The two teams met again Friday as junior Nativo Gonzalez picked up the win in Soquel’s 6-1 victory. Senior C.J. Claydon came up big with two hits for the Knights.

Softball

Santa Cruz High School defeated Harbor High School 12-1 on Tuesday. Junior Poppy Coursey pitched all five innings for the Cardinals, striking out five in the process. Freshmen Ellia Dunton and Izzy Fetke each had two hits for Santa Cruz. Senior Morgan DeVillires pitched a complete game for Harbor and drove in a run for the Pirates. 

Junior Sofia Seese of Scotts Valley High School pitched a complete game in the Falcons’ 3-1 win over Aptos. Seese struck out 11 batters in seven innings. Junior Taylor Wilson had two hits for Scotts Valley. 

Aptos was led in the circle by senior Mileena Carbajal, who struck out 10 batters over six innings. Seniors Raegan Fulton and Kailani Aguayo along with freshman Nova Neu each had two hits for the Mariners. 

San Lorenzo Valley High School defeated Soquel High School 10-1 on Tuesday as junior Abigale Krepelka got the win in four innings of work while striking out seven. Fellow junior Jori Fields-Rapley pitched the final three innings for the Cougars and didn’t allow a run while striking out four. Junior Reagan Atkinson had two hits while sophomore Brooke Reed drove in two runs. 

On Thursday, San Lorenzo Valley fell to Aptos 4-2. Carbajal went 6⅓ innings and struck out seven in the win. Fulton, sophomore Cara Allshouse and freshman Emma Burgueno each had two hits. 

Krepelka pitched very well for the Cougars, allowing two earned runs in seven innings. Field-Rapley, who had pitched on Tuesday, hit a home run for San Lorenzo Valley on Thursday while junior Angie Fulkerson had a pair of hits. 

The bats were on fire for Scotts Valley on Thursday as the Falcons defeated Harbor 16-3. Seese picked up her second win of the week while striking out seven for Scotts Valley. Junior Gracie Delgado hit a home run. Senior Ellen Eagle and junior Jazmyn Doubek each had two hits. 

Santa Cruz took down Soquel 9-7 on Thursday as freshman Rona Lewis allowed just two earned runs over five frames. She struck out nine batters in the process.

Fetke led the way with two hits on offense for the Cardinals, who scored four runs in the first inning and three in the third. Sophomore Lucy Federspiel struck out eight batters for Soquel in 4⅔ innings. While eight runs crossed the plate during her time in the circle, zero of those runs were earned. Joey Burgos and freshman Katie Niizawa each had two hits for the Knights.

Watsonville High School took down Gonzales High School 11-0 on Thursday after scoring six runs in the third. Junior Ashley Jimenez and sophomore Audrina Gonzalez each had three hits while senior Cameron Llamas and freshman Esperanza Sigala each had two. Sophomore Amelia Martinez was lights out in the circle, throwing six innings and striking out 10. 

Watsonville High School took down Santa Catalina School 15-0 on Friday. Sophomore Mia Espinoza earned the win for the Wildcatz after pitching 3⅔ innings, striking out five and allowing just one hit. On offense, the pitcher had two hits including a double. Senior Julia Maldonado, junior Jillian Lerma and freshman Esperanza Sigala each had three hits. 

Boys tennis

In a matchup of the two top teams in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, Aptos High School defeated Scotts Valley High School 7-0 on Tuesday. The two teams split the season series with a week to go in the season. The teams are projected to finish the season tied up in league play.

For Aptos, Koosha Safari, Ben Zaretsky, John McGowan, Jack Eldridge, Sean Spencer, Samar Awad, Jack Taylor, Adam Allen, Nico Salinas and Owen McGinty picked up victories.

Two days later Aptos won again, this time over Soquel High School 6-1. Safari, Zaretsky, McGowan, Eldridge, Spencer, Awad, Taylor and Allen won again for the Mariners. 

The same day, Scotts Valley won 4-3 over Santa Cruz. Henry Spitzer, Jules Dudek, Aditya Hannon, Wesley Theisen, Gabriel Dodge, Hunter Young and Lincoln Verinsky won for the Falcons. The Cardinals saw Julian Arulanantham, Che Castro and Sammy Lambert pick up wins in singles. 

On Tuesday, Soquel topped San Lorenzo Valley High School 6-1 as Jack Irving, Colby Negro, Adrian Hagedorn and Nate Marcus won for the Knights. The Cougars had August Hughes and Asher Schwarzbach find the win column. 

Monte Vista Christian School defeated Monterey High School 6-1 on Thursday. Sam Towle, Brady Fortin, Matthew Nielsen, Erlin Zhao, Kye Kaiser, Lucas Ferlito, Johnny Finney, Spencer Lane and Vinni Fluegge got the victories for the Mustangs. 

Boys swimming

Harbor High School won against Scotts Valley High School as the squads battled on Friday. Logan Manildi, Kai Henrikson, Eddie Brooks, Elias Keen Server, Jameson Venus, Kasper Berg Mills, Sawyer Onorato and Sam Primavera picked up wins for the Pirates.

The Falcons were led by Brent Kong, who won two events. 

Santa Cruz High School beat Soquel High School in a close one Friday night.  The Cardinals saw Tate Wilson, Pa’Kalani Saxton-Vaca, Elijah Smuga-Otto and Grant Atkinson pick up victories.

The Knights won all three relay events as Mateo Paiva, Justin Amaral, Oliver Santana, Kane Mitchell, Mark Hanson, Gavin Durant and Austin Bar all scored wins.

Girls swimming

Harbor High School defeated Scotts Valley High School in Friday night’s meet. The Pirates were led by Zia Jaggar, Scout Bauman, Serena Manildi, Abigail Higgins, Ayla Nelson, Mia Lingens, Alissa Brunette, Gillian Laub and Lily Grauman. Annika Kiesby got the win for the Falcons. 

Santa Cruz High School won against Soquel High School in a narrow finish as Vanessa Marroquin, Malia Cooper, Tessa Jeffries, Renata Nobile-Orozco, Guilia D’Souza and Ava Storm picked up wins.

For Soquel, it was Natasha Ackerstein, Makena Hansen, Autumn Anstey, Jocelyn Kosek and Taylor McMillan who emerged victorious. 

Alumni

Chase Watkins of St. Francis High has been effective out of the bullpen through three appearances for the South Bend Cubs, the High-A affiliate for the Chicago Cubs. In 5⅔ innings of work, the former Shark has an earned run average of 1.59, recording nine strikeouts while walking only two batters. 

This week in history

On April 15, 2009, San Lorenzo Valley High School softball won 10-0 over Harbor High. The stars were out for the Cougars, who ended up winning the league title that season. 

Senior Samantha Lipperd struck out 15 batters in five innings. She went on to play softball at Sonoma State.

Fellow senior Whitney Heuser went on to play at St. Mary’s College and also had a day with the bat in her hands. In four plate appearances, she got four hits and drove in two runs. She also scored three runs herself and recorded a stolen base. 

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