Quick Take
"A true team effort" helped the Scotts Valley High boys team send Aptos High to a rare SCCAL loss. Meanwhile, baseball and softball teams were busy on Santa Cruz County diamonds.
Editor’s note: Welcome to Lookout’s high school sports coverage. We’ll send you an email each week as it is published each Monday — just sign up here. Thomas Frey, an alum of Cabrillo College who has covered high school sports locally, leads our coverage, his column appearing weekly and his athlete of the month feature mid-month. We welcome your tips and stories — email thomas@lookoutlocal.com and news@lookoutlocal.com (with high school sports in the subject line).
Scotts Valley High School’s boys tennis team won a nailbiter over Aptos High School 4-3 on Thursday. It was the first time in at least five years that Aptos lost in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League play.
The Mariners won three of the four singles matches, but the Falcons didn’t go away and won all three doubles matches.
“This was a true team effort and I’m so happy for the guys, especially the seniors,” said fifth-year Scotts Valley coach Scott Goodrich. “Aptos coach Sam Brown is a class act, as are his players, and the Mariners have set a high bar in this league year in and year out. My team dug deep today and played clutch tennis at high-pressure moments. It was exciting to watch two solid teams compete.”
Sophomore Ben Zaretskey and seniors Koosha Safari and John McGowan won singles matches for Aptos. McGowan’s victory came in a third-set tiebreaker against Scotts Valley senior Henry Spitzer.
Scotts Valley junior Elijah Diamond then won his singles match in a tiebreaker over senior Jack Eldridge.
The Falcons tied the match up 3-3 after the doubles teams of Wesley Theissen and Gabriel Dodge and Jules Dudek and Aditya Hannon earned wins.
A pair of Scotts Valley seniors, Hunter Young and Julian De Santos, brought the victory home with a 6-3, 6-2 win in the final doubles battle of the day.
“I’m just so proud of the guys who played today and proud of our entire team of 21 great guys,” Goodrich said.
Baseball
Harbor High School senior Jacob Fiorenza had three hits for the Pirates in a 9-8 loss to Terra Nova High School on Tuesday.
San Lorenzo Valley High School fell to Wilcox High School 9-7 but racked up 10 hits in the loss. Senior Anthony Griffiths had three hits. Junior Benji Stretch and senior John Clinkenbeard both had a pair of hits.
Aptos High School defeated Scotts Valley High School 8-6 on Friday. Senior Jorden Espinoza earned the win for the Mariners after throwing four scoreless frames. Senior Matt Hood had three hits and junior Isaiah Work had two hits for Aptos. Junior Kaleb Wing had two hits for the Falcons.
Soquel High School won against San Lorenzo Valley High School 8-0 on Friday. Junior Nativo Gonzalez pitched five innings without allowing a run for the Knights, while senior C.J. Claydon, junior Gabe Virgallito and sophomore Brady Downs all recorded multiple hits.
Softball
Watsonville High School defeated Christopher High School 12-8 on Tuesday after a big five-run second inning. Seniors Cameron Llamas and Julia Maldonado, sophomore Amelia Martinez and freshman Esperanza Sigala all had two hits. Sigala also knocked in four runs. Sophomore Mia Espinoza earned the win after striking out seven batters over four innings.
Aptos High School also won Tuesday, topping Pacific Grove High School 10-3. Senior Mileena Carbajal was an ace in the circle all game, throwing six innings without allowing an earned run, striking out eight in the process. She also had a hit with the bat in her hands. Juniors Bailey Fulton and Makenzie Lashley and sophomore Cara Allshouse each had two hits for the Mariners.
Santa Cruz High School won 14-3 on Thursday over Harbor High School after junior Poppy Coursey and freshman Rona Lewis each threw three flawless innings. Coursey added two hits in the batter’s box. Junior Molly Pisciotta got a hit in all three of her at-bats, while freshman Izzy Fetke and Tez Medina-Mates combined for five hits.
San Lorenzo Valley High School defeated Soquel High School 7-1 on Thursday. Senior Ali Reger did it all for the Cougars by earning the win in the circle and getting three hits in four at-bats. She knocked in three runs and had a stolen base as well. Seniors Olivia Renouf and Alyssa Struthers each added two hits. Soquel was led by senior Isabel Vega and freshman Katie Niizawa, who each had three hits.
Monte Vista Christian School won 17-6 over Rancho San Juan High School on Friday. The Mustangs had a pair of five-run innings and were led in the circle by senior Mae Martin, who pitched a complete game. Junior Kayla Fullalove-Silviera had a hit in all four of her at-bats. Sophomore Sofia Calomeni and freshmen Juliette Skipton and Gia Johnson all had three hits.
Boys volleyball
Soquel High School defeated Scotts Valley High School 3-1 on Tuesday. The Knights were led by senior Tucker Graessle, who had eight kills, and junior Isaac Koontz, who had seven digs.
Watsonville High School fell to Salinas High School 3-2 on Thursday. The Wildcatz were led by junior Josiah Zuniga, who had 33 assists and 11 digs. Senior Nickolas Torres led the way with 14 kills for the ‘Catz.
Girls beach volleyball
Harbor High School moved to 2-0 after defeating Mount Madonna School 5-0 on Friday. Tea Stockwell, Grace Stryker, Marina Tucker and Summer Root all recorded wins for the Pirates.
Boys tennis
Scotts Valley and Aptos were both coming off 7-0 wins on Tuesday. Scotts Valley took down Harbor High School while Aptos defeated San Lorenzo Valley High School.
In the Falcons’ win over Harbor, seniors Marshall Dodge along with Spitze, Dudek, Hannon and Gabriel Dodge all picked up wins.
The Marines saw Zaretsky, McGowan, Sean Spencer, Jack Taylor, Nick Hambright and Samar Awad pick up wins over San Lorenzo Valley.
Alumni
Sophomore Marilu Pally has been dominating in the sand for the UC Berkeley beach volleyball team this season. The Santa Cruz High School alum has won eight of her 12 matches and has helped the Bears reach the No. 6 ranking in the nation.
This week in history
On March 19, 2005, Santa Cruz High School boys basketball won its first California Interscholastic Federation state championship with a 67-56 victory over Saint Augustine High School of San Diego. Junior Russell went off for 27 points and Jesse LoBue tallied up 15. Cliff Sammet was big on the glass and pulled down 13 rebounds while contributing nine points. The game took place at Arco Arena, the former home of the Sacramento Kings.
This season’s Santa Cruz High squad also made it to Sacramento for the state championship game and played at Golden 1 Center, the new home of the Kings; the Cardinals came up just short against Bishop Alemany High School of Mission Hills.
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