Watsonville’s softball team survived a late scare to hold off Alisal for a 6-5 victory in non-league action March 7.
Mia Espinoza had three hits including one double, one RBI and one run scored for the Wildcatz, while teammates Esperanza Sigala and Isabella Ruiz each had a pair of hits.
Junior pitcher Amelia Martinez allowed five earned runs on six hits while racking up 13 strikeouts in six innings pitched for Watsonville, which bounced back following a 9-6 loss to Aragon of San Mateo on March 6.
The Wildcatz (5-1) play at Carmel (3-2) in non-league play Tuesday at 4pm.
At Aptos 15, Carmel 5: Bailey Fulton, Kailani Aguayo and Nova Neu each had three hits in the Mariners’ win over the Padres in non-league action March 4.
Fulton finished with two doubles, three runs scored, one RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Aguayo also had a pair of doubles along with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Neu had two doubles, two RBIs and scored one run.
Mya Najera-White allowed four runs—one earned—on five hits while tallying four strikeouts in 4 innings pitched for the Mariners (1-1), who will compete in the Monterey Peninsula Softball Invitational at Pacific Grove High School on Saturday starting at 9am.
Santa Clara 6, at Monte Vista 5: Senior Kayla Fullalove-Silveira batted 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three stolen bases in the Mustangs’ loss to the Bruins in non-league play March 7.
Teammates Isabel Piccini, Juliana Lopez and Ava Alvarado each had one base hit and scored one run for MVC (3-2), which hosts Pajaro Valley in non-league action Monday at 4:30pm.
High school baseball
At Monte Vista Christian 4, More 1: Christopher Bautista tossed seven innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits while recording eight strikeouts in the Mustangs’ win over the Knights in non-league action March 8.
Tyson Shaw batted 2-for-3 with one double, two RBIs, one run scored and one stolen base for MVC, which improved to a 6-0 overall record this season.
Teammate Parker Brown also had a pair of hits including one double along with one RBI, while Carter Wright had one double, one RBI and scored one run.
Evan Vessey had one hit, one stolen base, one walk and scored once for the Mustangs, who will aim to keep their perfect record intact against King City (0-4) in Watsonville on Tuesday at 4pm.
College baseball
At Cañada 7, Cabrillo 4: Adrian Castaneda had a pair of hits including one double, one walk, two RBIs and one run scored in the Seahawks’ loss to the Colts in non-conference action March 8.
Teammate Diego Grabiel had two hits including one double and scored one run, while Kaiden Hoapili and Carlos Cruz Mar each recorded one RBI for the Cabrillo, which had its three-game win streak snapped.
Anders Page-Roth, who recorded the loss, tossed 4 and 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs—four earned—on seven hits while tallying four strikeouts.
Cabrillo (7-12) begins Coast Conference South Division play at home against Hartnell (9-11) on Tuesday at 2:30pm.
College softball
Siskiyous 13, Cabrillo 0 (5 innings): Brisea Rivera had one double in the Seahawks’ loss to the Eagles in non-conference play March 8.
Teammates Cameron Llamas, Yoselin Bringas, Morgan DeVillires, Brooklyn Llamas and Rachel Hafer each had one base hit for Cabrillo (2-17-1), which begins Coast Conference action at Chabot (0-17) on Tuesday at 3pm.
Boys basketball
At No. 1 The King’s Academy 73, No. 9 Aptos 36: Senior Isaiah Ackerman had a team-best 24 points and nine rebounds in the Mariners’ loss to the Knights in the second round of the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Regional Division III playoffs March 6.
Teammates Ryan Solorio and Nick Tovani each had six points for Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion Aptos, which finished with a 25-6 overall record this season.
Girls lacrosse
Scotts Valley 11, at Salinas 7: Senior midfielder Sofia Niklaus had six goals and one assist in the Falcons’ win over the Cowboys in Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division action March 4.
She also had a whopping 17 draw possessions—a 77 percent win rate for Scotts Valley—and eight draw controls. Teammate senior Skylar Dufour added three goals, one assist and seven draw controls, while senior Dillon Fiorita had a pair of goals, one assist and two draw controls.
Scotts Valley (1-0) plays at Carmel (0-0) in league play Tuesday at 3:30pm.
Boys tennis
Monte Vista Christian 6, at Scotts Valley 1: The Mustangs won two of three singles matches and swept all three doubles matches in their non-league win over the Falcons on March 4.
In singles action, MVC’s Kyle Kaiser beat Scotts Valley junior Aditya Hannon 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1, and MVC’s Vinni Fluegge defeated junior Jacob Bodeman 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3.
In the most competitive match of the day, Falcons junior Jonas Duarte defeated MVC’s Ethan Komrosky 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6) in a third set tie-breaker at No. 2 singles. Scotts Valley defaulted at No. 4 singles.
In doubles play, the MVC duo of Spencer Layne-Irby and Baden Kent beat junior Gary Kuriakose and junior Lincoln Verinsky 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1. Skyler Ferlito and Connor Mace defeated Scotts Valley sophomore Christian Estrada and freshman Freddy Padilla 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, and MVC’s Ben Hall and Connor Fisher defeated junior Mark Goncharov and junior Steve Saji 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 doubles.
MVC begins PCAL Gabilan Division play against York at Chamisal Tennis and Fitness Club in Carrel De Tierra on Tuesday at 4pm.
Scotts Valley (0-1) travels to Carmel for a non-league match on March 17 at 3:30pm, and opens the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League season on March 18 at Harbor at 4pm.
Track and field
Season officially off and running: Monte Vista Christian freshman runner Anna Conca took second in 5 minutes, 37 seconds in the girls’ one mile race at the Santa Cruz Coast Relays at Aptos High School on March 1. Her finish time was good enough to qualify her for the Nike Indoor National freshman mile race in New York on March 13.
Pajaro Valley junior Erik Michi won the boys’ 1600-meters heat in 5:01.99 at the Winter Time Trials on Feb. 28. He edged Scotts Valley sophomore Jackson Stull (5:02.38) and junior Nate McKeon (5:05.17). Luis Martinez took fourth in a personal best 5:07.77, putting him at No. 18 all-time for PV.
PV junior Jocelyn Zavala set personal bests in both the 800- and 1600 girls’ races in 3:40.14 and 8:01.86, respectively.
The Grizzlies’ boys’ 4×800 relay team (Martinez, William Santos-Cruz, Patrick Lopez, Michi) took third in 9:27.81 at the Santa Cruz Coast Relays on March 1.
Watsonville senior Katelynn Ruiz placed sixth in 11:51.03 in the girls’ 3200 at the K-Bell Invitational at Westmont High School on March 1. Teammate Jocelyn Guzman took fifth in 50.09 in the girls’ 300 low hurdles, while Lisandro Pantoja tied his personal record throw of 139 feet, 4 inches to take third in the boys’ discus.
