Sports

The coaches of the SCCAL determined first-year coach Brian Bowyer played a big role in the program’s impressive bounce back season, recently naming him the Coach of the Year.

After defeating the No. 11 seeded College of the Siskiyous on March 2 in the Adobe Palace, Cabrillo has progressed to the third round of the NorCal CCCAA playoffs for the first time since 1979. Now, armed with the Coast Conference South MVP and Coach of the Year, the No. 7-seeded Seahawks will face their greatest challenge so far when they travel to the Central Valley to play against the No. 2-seeded Merced College Blue Devils.

With Yniguez leading the way, the Sharks won a share of the PCAL-Cypress crown — the program’s first league title since the 2010-11 season — and advanced to the Central Coast Section Division V semifinals.

Freshman pitcher Gio Besio (5-1) threw a complete game of three-hit ball, allowing just one run while striking out four, as Cabrillo easily took the first of a three-game series, 6-1, against Skyline College Trojans in Aptos on Monday.

Depth, defense and fundamentals — more than ever — will be the determining factors over the course of league play.

Aptos junior Brynn Mitchell and senior Caroline Miller were recently honored by the coaches of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League. Mitchell was named the league’s Midfielder of the Year, and Miller earned the Goalie of the Year.

Thirteen local soccer players earned all-league first team honors in the Pacific Coast Athletic League, the four-tiered league announced on Tuesday.

Watsonville’s stellar season came to an end in heart-wrenching fashion, as No. 3 Marin Academy stunned the No. 6-seeded ‘Catz, 2-1, on a last-second goal mere moments after they found an equalizer on the other end.

On Friday night during the second round of the NorCal regional tournament in the Adobe Palace, the high-flying, No. 16-ranked Cabrillo College Seahawks’ season-long struggles with free-throw shooting caught up to them, as they fell to the visiting No. 18-ranked Canada College Colts, 64-58.

No. 6 Watsonville will play in its first-ever CIF NorCal championship game after edging No. 2 Richmond, 3-2, in a seesaw battle on Thursday night in the East Bay. The Wildcatz will travel to San Rafael — their third 100-plus-mile trip of the tournament — to play No. 4 Marin Academy for the Division II championship.