High school sports roundup: Soquel takes down Aptos in SCCAL baseball thriller and booming softball bats

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 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).

Soquel High School baseball went on the road and won at Aptos High School 9-7 in extra innings on Thursday. It was a matchup of teams at the top of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League as both squads now have a 2-1 record in SCCAL play.

The Knights held a 3-2 lead through six innings after sophomore Jake Escalante pitched a six-inning masterpiece for Soquel. 

Both offenses came alive in the seventh as Soquel scored four runs to go up 7-2. Aptos fired back and scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Soquel earned the win in the eighth inning by getting two runs across. Junior Gabe Virgallito and sophomore Cash Moran each had two hits for Soquel. 

Aptos was led by senior starting pitcher Jorden Espinoza, who pitched 5⅓ innings for the Mariners, striking out 11 batters in the process. Senior Matt Hood and freshman Alec Mendoza each had two RBIs. Senior Ed Peters hit a home run for Aptos. 

Baseball

Santa Cruz High School topped Soquel High School 6-2 in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League action on Tuesday. Senior Triton Dew pitched six innings and allowed just two runs, and junior Owen Rogers recorded the save for the Cardinals. Dew also got a hit with the bat in his hands, as did senior Nick Bogomilsky and junior Damos Deworken. Soquel sophomores Cash Moran and Hudson Summerrill each had a pair of hits.

Aptos High School won against San Lorenzo Valley High School on Tuesday after Jason Yager pitched 4⅓ scoreless frames. Isaiah Work dominated for the Mariners with three hits, including a double. 

Scotts Valley High School won 18-2 in five innings against Harbor High School on Tuesday as senior Corbin Giesen went the distance on the mound, striking out nine. He also had two hits and drove in three runs. Senior Jack Sanders had three hits for the Falcons while junior teammate Lukas Bloom had two. 

St. Francis High School took down Salinas High School 11-2 on Thursday. Seniors Junior Ibarra and Trey Silva combined to pitch all seven innings without allowing an earned run. Senior Micah Cervantes had three hits while juniors Javier DaRosa-Fonseca and Donovan Dominguez each had two base knocks. One of DaRosa-Fonseca’s hits was a home run. Junior Nash Horton also knocked one out of the park for the Sharks. 

Scotts Valley High got the better of Santa Cruz High on Thursday by a score of 10-6. Senior Blake LaRiviere picked up the win for the Falcons and had two hits in the batter’s box. Giesen and senior Quinn Turowski each had three hits while Sanders picked up two. 

Harbor beat San Lorenzo Valley 16-3 on Thursday. Junior Cole McCombs picked up the win for the Pirates on the mound and had two hits on offense. 

Softball

Watsonville High School scored four runs in the seventh inning to defeat Monte Vista Christian School 7-6 on Tuesday. Sophomore Amelia Martinez got the win for the Wildcatz after pitching three innings of two run-ball. Freshman Esperanza Sigala slugged a home run to go with three hits. Junior Ashley Jimenez also had three hits. 

The Mustangs were led by senior Mae Martin, who pitched all seven innings and also hit a home run. Juniors Kayla Fullalove-Silviera and Isabel Piccini combined for five hits. 

Monte Vista Christian got back in the win column on Thursday after topping Santa Catalina School 13-0 in five innings. Martin pitched a complete-game three-hitter. Piccini had three hits and Fullalove-Silveira, senior Giselle Rocha and freshman Gia Johnson each had two hits. 

Santa Cruz High School took down Soquel High School 5-1 as freshman Rona Lewis pitched a complete-game one-hitter Tuesday. She struck out 16 batters. With the bat in her hands she was also lethal, getting a hit with a pair of RBIs. 

Freshman Emma Niizawa got the hit for Soquel. 

Aptos High School got a 9-1 victory over San Lorenzo Valley High School on Tuesday. Senior Mileena Carbajal pitched a complete-game gem and allowed just one earned run. She also had two hits and an RBI. Freshman Emma Burgueno stepped to the plate four times and had four hits with 3 RBIs. Junior Bailey Fulton got three base knocks for the Mariners. 

Scotts Valley High School picked up a 12-0 five-inning win over Harbor on Tuesday. Junior Sofia Seese pitched four innings while freshman Chloe Kent pitched the final frame for the Falcons. The two didn’t allow a hit. 

Junior Taylor Wilson had three hits for the Falcons while junior Jazmyn Doubek and freshman Natalie Murray-Skalland each had two.

San Lorenzo Valley picked up a 13-1 victory over Harbor on Thursday in five innings. Junior Jori Fields-Rapley pitched three innings and got the win while freshman Grace Purtscher also threw two scoreless frames. Purtscher also excelled as a batter and had three hits. 

Senior Alyssa Struthers, junior Cheyenne Casey and sophomore Raymond Alvarez each had two hits. 

Aptos won again on Thursday by beating Soquel 19-5 in five frames. Carbajal picked up the win and also had a hit. Bailey Fulton, senior Raegan Fulton, junior Lilly McGee, sophomore Cara Allshouse and freshman Nova Neu all had multihit games for the Mariners. 

In another game that went five innings, Scotts Valley defeated Santa Cruz 11-0. Seese got the win for the Falcons after throwing four innings of no-hit ball with seven strikeouts. Junior Abby Howell led Scotts Valley with two hits. Santa Cruz freshman Ellia Dunton had the lone hit for the Cardinals in the final inning.

Girls beach volleyball

Harbor High School won against Notre Dame High School of Belmont 4-1 on Friday. Gwen Grisby, Isla Johnson, Maren O’Farrell, Sabine Kemos, Dylan Schutz, Liberty Nissen, Anika Dawson and Zoe Kemos got the wins for the Pirates. Harbor is 3-0 and will face Santa Cruz High School on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Main Beach. 

Boys tennis

Aptos High School won 5-2 over Soquel High School on Tuesday. John McGowan, Sean Spencer, Jack Taylor, Nick Hambright and Adam Allen and seniors Jack Eldridge and Koosha Safari picked up wins for the Mariners. Soquel saw Benja Bellitto, Cian Francis and Liam Stiller get wins. 

Scotts Valley High School also won 5-2 on Tuesday, with its victory coming against Santa Cruz High School. Seniors James Delaney, Henry Spitzer, Wesley Theisen, Julian De Santos and Hunter Young, junior Elijah Diamond and sophomore Gabriel Dodge scored wins for the Falcons. Che Castro, Max Shumaker and freshman Jeremy Arul won matches for the Cardinals.

Aptos won again on Wednesday, 4-3 over Carmel High School, and on Thursday over Harbor High School 7-0. In the victory over Harbor, Eldridge, Taylor, Hambright along with Ben Zaretsky and Adam Allen got wins for the Mariners. 

Boys golf

Santa Cruz High School defeated Pacific Grove High School in nonleague action on Monday. Sam Wickens led the way for the Cardinals by shooting a 3 over par.

Swimming

Harbor High School and Soquel High School met on Friday in both boys and girls competitions.

Soquel won the girls meet while Harbor took the boys victory.

Soquel was led by Hazel Wilson, Kayla Matthies, Makena Hansen, Lila Dakkuri, Autumn Anstey and Taylor McMillan. 

Sam Primavera, Eddie Brooks, Logan Manildi, Kai Henrikson, Elias Keen-Server, Jameson Venus, Finn Sanford, Aidan O’Neill and Kasper Berg Mills took victories for the Harbor boys. 

Santa Cruz High School won both the boys and girls meets against San Lorenzo Valley High School on Friday. 

On the girls side, Guilia D’Souza, Daisy Mueller, Vanessa Marroquin, Renata Nobile-Orozco, Daphne Olson, Kat Fanni, Tessa Jeffries, Violet Rubin and Malia Cooper picked up wins. 

Beckett Owen, Hayden Johnson, Tate Wilson, Grant Atkinson, Matthias Cruz and Carson Grant won for the Santa Cruz boys. 

Alumni

Aptos High School alum Gabe Gaeckle pitched a scoreless inning for the University of Arkansas’ baseball team against Auburn University on Thursday. Gaeckle has appeared in nine games for the Razorbacks this season, recording 21 strikeouts in 14⅓ innings. Gaeckle was an All-American at Aptos and decided to go to Arkansas after being selected in the 20th round of the 2023 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds. 

This week in history

Watsonville had professional baseball 125 years ago in 1899, playing home games at Porter’s Park. Known by the Hayseeds and the Gardiners, the minor league team went 25-24 in the California League. Several players from the squad went on to play in the major leagues, including Ernie Courtney, Ira Davis, George Harper and Ed Pabst. 

When the team from San Jose folded that August, Watsonville was dropped as well so that the league would have an even number of teams.

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