High school sports roundup: Santa Cruz High in NorCal volleyball playoffs; CCS tourneys up next in baseball, softball

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).

Playoffs begin this week for Santa Cruz County high school baseball and softball teams, while the volleyball postseason continues.

The Santa Cruz High School boys volleyball team entered the Central Coast Section Open Division, where the Cardinals won two games before falling to San Jose’s Valley Christian School 3-1 in Saturday’s final. Now Santa Cruz enters the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Boys Volleyball Championships in Division I. The tournament starts Tuesday and the Cardinals will host Pleasanton’s Foothill High School at 6 p.m. Santa Cruz and Foothill opened the season against each other and the Cardinals won 3-2. A victory and the Cardinals would play on Thursday, likely on the road against top-seeded Clovis High School.

The Central Coast Section met Monday to decide the seedings for the playoffs. Scotts Valley High School softball won the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League in the final game of the season, and Aptos High School won the SCCAL baseball crown. Here’s how the local picture looks:

Softball: Four Santa Cruz County squads reached the Central Coast Section playoffs; all of the first-round matchups will be played Saturday.

Watsonville High School (15-4) is the No. 6 seed in the CCS Division I playoffs and will take on No. 3 Monterey High School (19-7).

In Division II, No. 5 Scotts Valley High School (14-6) will take on No. 4 Milpitas High School (17-9). Aptos High School (16-6) is the No. 8 seed and the Mariners will take on top-seeded Valley Christian (16-11).

San Lorenzo Valley High School (15-10) gets the No. 2 seed in Division IV and the Cougars will face No. 7 Cupertino High School (14-6).

Baseball: Six baseball teams from the county advanced to the postseason, including five from the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League. All first-round games are Saturday.

No. 2 St. Francis High School (22-4) takes on No. 7 The King’s Academy (15-10-1) in Division II.

Aptos High School earned the top seed in Division III after finishing 12-11-1. The Mariners will face No. 8 Hollister High School (12-15).

Scotts Valley High School (16-7) is the No. 4 seed in Division IV and the Falcons will take on No. 5 Willow Glen High School (15-12) in the first round. 

Harbor High School, Santa Cruz High School and Soquel High School are all in Division V. Harbor (16-10-1) gets the No. 3 seed and the Pirates will takes on No. 6 Piedmont Hills High School (20-6). Santa Cruz (12-13) takes the No. 2 seed and the Cardinals will square off against No. 7 Milpitas High School (17-7). If Harbor and Santa Cruz both win in the first round, the two SCCAL rivals will matchup in the section semifinals next Tuesday, May 21, at a site to be determined. No. 8 Soquel (14-11) will play top seed Capuchino High School (17-10).

Baseball

Aptos High School won the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League narrowly over Scotts Valley High School. The Mariners finished the season with a 10-4-1 record while the Falcons were 10-5.

Scotts Valley entered the week 1½ games back and won both of its games this week against San Lorenzo Valley High School, while the Mariners went 1-1 against Santa Cruz High School.

The Falcons won 12-4 on Tuesday against San Lorenzo Valley. Senior Blake LaRiviere got the win after striking out nine batters in four innings. He also had two hits including a triple. Seniors Quinn Turowski, Jack Abel and Jack Sanders all added doubles.

Scotts Valley won the second game 12-8 when the teams squared off again. Freshman Bryce McDonnell came into the game in relief and went four innings without allowing a hit to get the victory. Turowski and sophomore Jacob Pauka each had three hits. 

After clinching the league Tuesday, Aptos fell to Santa Cruz 8-7 on Friday. Junior Jason Graff got the win for the Cardinals while senior Emmet Desmond and junior Damos Deworken had two base hits each. 

St. Francis High School narrowly finished in second in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division with an 18-3 record. Carmel High School won the league with a 19-2 record. The Sharks finished off the season with 14 straight wins, including two last week.

Against Palma High School on Monday, St. Francis won 6-3. Senior Trey Silva got the win after allowing one earned run over four innings. Fellow senior Micah Cervantes pitched the last two frames to earn the save. 

On Wednesday, the bats were out for the Sharks, who won 11-1 over Monterey High School. Silva along with juniors Nash Horton and Javier DaRosa-Fonseca each had two hits while senior Adrian Leon didn’t allow an earned run in five innings of work.

Harbor High School topped Soquel High School 8-6 on Tuesday. Senior Colin Karwick got the win while Carlos Cruz got the save for the Pirates. Senior Jacob Fiorenza had two hits while Cruz, Ferris Vitali and Pierce Fanara all drove in two runs. 

The Pirates got another win over Soquel 11-6 on Friday. Senior Dominic DeLorenzo got the victory.

Softball

In a battle that came down to the wire, Scotts Valley High School won the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League over Aptos High School and San Lorenzo Valley High School.

Scotts Valley had to beat San Lorenzo Valley twice on Thursday and Friday to win its first league crown since 2016, and the Falcons got the job done 10-3 and 9-4. 

In the 10-3 victory Thursday, junior Sofie Seese pitched a complete-game masterpiece by striking out eight batters over the seven innings.

“I walked into the game knowing I was the best player on that field,” Seese said. “When you think you’re the best player, you’re going to play like the best player on the team. It’s mind over matter.”

The game was tied 1-1 until the fifth inning, when the Falcons bats went off. Junior Taylor Wilson hit a home run and drove in three runners. Junior Jazmyn Doubek had three hits and freshman Chloe Kent had a pair of base knocks.

Scotts Valley finished with a league record of 13-2. Aptos was 12-3 and San Lorenzo Valley was 11-4.

Seese pitched another great game on Tuesday as she and Kent combined on a no-hitter in a 13-0 win over Soquel High School. Doubek and Wilson each knocked in three runs. 

Monte Vista Christian School defeated Pajaro Valley High School 14-0 on Monday. Senior Mae Martin got the win in the circle while junior teammate Kayla Fullalove-Silviera hit a home run. 

Aptos beat Santa Cruz High School 13-0 on Monday. Senior Mileena Carbajal got the win after pitching three innings and she also had an RBI hit. Sophomore Lanies Nunez and freshman Emma Burgueno each had three hits. 

The Mariners won again on Tuesday 12-1 over Harbor High School. Freshman Mya Najera-White got the win after allowing just two hits over five innings. Junior Bailey Fulton had three hits. Burgueno, senior Kailani Aguayo, junior Lilly McGee and sophomore Cara Allshouse each had two hits. 

On Thursday, the Mariners defeated Santa Cruz again, 9-1. Carbajal picked up another win after going six innings with eight strikeouts. She also had two hits with the bat in her hands including a home run. Fulton and Burgueno each had three hits.

San Lorenzo Valley topped Santa Cruz 15-5 on Tuesday. Junior Abigale Krepelka went five innings, earning the win. Seniors Ali Reger and Olivia Renouf, juniors Angie Fulkerson and Cheyenne Owen and freshman Olive Colby each had two hits. 

Watsonville High School won 15-1 over Gonzales High School on Wednesday. Sophomore Amelia Martinez dominated in the circle, going five innings and striking out nine. The Wildcatz had 19 runners reach base including senior Cameron Llamas and junior Jillian Lerma who each scored four times. 

Soquel High School beat Harbor 8-3 on Thursday. Freshman Emma Niizawa went five innings and allowed one hit while striking out 10. Sophomore Lucy Federspiel had three hits while Eliza Stevens and Kami Montanez each had two hits. 

Boys volleyball

Harbor High School and Soquel High School each reached the first round of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs. Soquel fell to Burlingame High School 3-1 while Harbor narrowly dropped the match 3-2 against Del Mar High School of San Jose.

Santa Cruz High School reached the finals of the Central Coast Section Open Division. The Cardinals opened the week by topping San Jose’s Lynbrook High School 3-0 on Tuesday and then Archbishop Mitty High School on Thursday in the semifinals. 

Against Valley Christian in the finals, the Cardinals got a set, but fell 3-1.

Alumni

Hannah Fleming of Scotts Valley High School finished second in the nation along with her UCLA teammates this beach volleyball season. The Bruins beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Cal and LSU before falling to No. 1 USC in the national title game in Gulf Shores, Alabama. 

As a freshman, Fleming didn’t suit up this season but got to practice against her teammates, four of whom won All-American honors. While at Scotts Valley, Fleming dominated from her freshman season and helped lead the Falcons to multiple postseason performances. 

This week in history

On May 11, 2014, Robbie Erlin of Scotts Valley High School had one of the best starts of his Major League Baseball career. Pitching for the San Diego Padres, Erlin went 6⅓ innings and didn’t allow any runs in a 5-4 win over the Miami Marlins. Erlin struck out seven batters that day as he shut down a lineup featuring stars Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton.

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FOR THE RECORD: This story has been updated with CCS softball and baseball playoff seedings.

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