CCS roundup: Los Gatos cools off Bellarmine to reach D-I baseball semis

The Bellarmine baseball organization had plenty of momentum coming into its Central Coast Section Division I playoff opener on Saturday at Los Gatos But the Wildcats were not fazed They have been on a roll themselves pretty much all season in fact and that continued on their home field Saturday as third-seeded Los Gatos won - over sixth-seeded Bellarmine to advance to the semifinals next week against No seed Valley Christian Ethan Williams pitched a complete match for Los Gatos scattering four hits and a walk and striking out five against an opponent that beat St Francis Serra and Valley Christian in consecutive days last week to capture the West Catholic Athletic League tournament championship Los Gatos - gave Williams all the scoring he d need with two runs in the first and added an insurance run in the fifth Brayden Smith had a hit and two RBIs to lead Los Gatos offense Los Gatos had won in a row before losing its regular-season finale to Wilcox the only blemish on the Wildcats record in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division play Los Gatos won the league by three games Bellarmine finished - No Valley Christian No Soquel Jordan Ortiz knocked in a run in the first and one in the fifth and Quinten Marsh had an RBI to help lead Valley Christian to a achievement at home over Soquel Brock Ketelsen allowed two runs in innings and Rohan Kasanagottu pitched two scoreless frames to end Soquel s season Soquel scored two in the fifth to take a - lead But Valley responded with two in the bottom half of the frame as Ortiz and Marsh accounted for the RBIs Valley improved to - - Soquel finished - No Serra No Palma Serra scored three in the second three in the fourth and two in the fifth as the Padres cruised to an opening-round conquest over Palma on its home field in San Mateo Ian Josephson had a double and three RBIs Evan Bradshaw had two hits and drove in three and Davis Minton had two hits and knocked in two for Serra - Palma - scored all of its runs in the seventh Division II No Capuchino No Leigh It didn t appear Mustangs pitcher Declan Mendel would last long after he gave up three hits and hit a batter to start the bottom of the first inning But the senior right-hander was brilliant after that allowing one hit and striking out three in Capuchino s quarterfinal upset of No seed Leigh The Longhorns led - after that first inning but Capuchino - put together a -hit attack and scored two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth Travis Ciardella one of six Mustangs with two or more hits drilled a two-run double in the fifth to break a - tie Noah Miller drove in two runs for the Longhorns - No Menlo-Atherton No Pioneer M-A scored three in the first stretched its advantage to six after four innings and cruised into the semifinals with a win at home over Pioneer MJ Ellazar had a hit and drove in two runs Ryder Kelly had three hits including two doubles and Merrick Lee added three hits and an RBI to lead the Bears Wes Peterson pitched four innings and Anthony Kabrich was on the mound for three as M-A - advanced to next week s semifinals Pioneer finished - No Wilcox No Archbishop Mitty Matthew Tiendas had three hits and knocked in four runs and Jake Prettol had two hits and three RBIs as Wilcox breezed past host Mitty in a quarterfinal competition The Chargers scored a run in the first and one in the second then erupted for five in the third and five in the fourth to break open the meeting Wilcox - advances to the semifinals next week against eighth-seeded Capuchino Mitty finished - Division III No Christopher No Palo Alto The visiting Cougars - stole five bases with three of the thefts playing key roles in a pair of rallies After Palo Alto - took a - lead in the first inning Christopher answered with two runs in the third Jacob Vasquez reached base on a one-out error and stole second Brayden Rogers walked then raced home on the first of two singles by Sam Guenther Guenther scored when Jaxon Robinson the Cougars Northern Arizona-bound quarterback was hit by a pitch Christopher scored what proved to be the winning run in the sixth Vasquez singled and Jacob Huerta walked then they pulled off a double steal with two out Vasquez continued home on a throwing error Palo Alto cut the lead to one run in the seventh on a double by Dexter Cleveringa and a pair of groundouts but that was it as Christopher reliever Matthew Anderson got the save The Cougars will face top-seeded Carmel and touted prospect Matthew Maxon in next week s semifinals Maxon is rated one of the top prospects in the senior class by Baseball America He homered scored four runs and drove home two in Carmel s - win over Santa Cruz on Saturday No Los Altos No Sequoia Gavin Moore s seventh homer of the season a two-run shot to center field in the fifth inning lifted the visiting Eagles into the semifinal round of the D-III playoffs Los Altos - was trailing - in the fifth when Moore launched his homer with Kai MacQuiddy on second MacQuiddy led off the inning with a double He also got the save in relief of starting pitcher Sly Cash who worked the first five innings Moore has hit seven of the Eagles homers this season The senior first baseman has a team-leading RBIs and a batting average Sequoia s record is - No Willow Glen No The King s Academy Tommy Moran went for with two RBIs and Joshua Kaminski Ben Mudgett and Austin Korba each had two hits to lead Willow Glen to a triumph at home over TKA in a quarterfinal meeting After TKA took a - lead in the top of the fourth Willow Glen - answered with three in the fourth two in the fifth and two in the sixth to advance to play seventh-seeded Los Altos in the semifinals TKA finished - Division IV No Santa Clara No Carlmont innings Greg Salgado s home run to left leading off the top of the ninth completed a wild comeback as Santa Clara stunned top-seeded Carlmont in a quarterfinal thriller Carlmont scored in the fifth to even the points and added three in the sixth to take what seemed like a safe cushion But Santa Clara coming off an impressive regular season but seeded low because of its strength of schedule responded with three in the seventh to force extra innings Zach Gallegos double brought home Santiago Lopez to cut the deficit to - Jaxton Chao followed with a single to drive in Dominick Chavarria and Connor Houle s single to right knocked in Gallegos to tie the figure - Santa Clara - will play Branham in the semifinals next week Carlmont finished - No Branham No Mountain View Trailing - after four innings Branham rallied for a run in the fifth and three in the sixth to beat host Mountain View in a quarterfinal encounter Ethan Vietvu had three hits and scored a run and Chris Von Barloewen went for with a walk and scored a run to lead Branham - Kyle Shachal and Preston Huang each had two hits and combined to drive in three runs for Mountain View - Branham advances to the semifinals next week Division V No Piedmont Hills No Terra Nova innings Diego Gilbert drove in two runs and Josh Gomez knocked in one to help lead Piedmont Hills to a preeminence on the road over Terra Nova in a quarterfinal contest Piedmont Hills scored a run in the seventh to force extra innings added three in the ninth and then held on for the win The Pirates - advance to next week s semifinals Luke Ornelas had two RBIs for Terra Nova which finished the season - - Softball Open Division No Capuchino No Valley Christian innings Brianna Lopiccolo two-out single to left brought home Nadia Keishk with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as Capuchino prevailed at home in an epic quarterfinal encounter against Valley Christian Capuchino forced extra innings when Lola Sierra s two-out single to center knocked in Lily Thomas to tie the tally - Valley Christian had taken a - lead in the top of the seventh on Hannah Paquiz s two-out double to left that scored Gabrielle Ho and Makenzie Leon Capuchino scored two in the first and Valley Christian cut the margin in half in the fifth to set up the dramatic final innings The Mustangs - advance to the semifinals next week Valley Christian finished - No St Francis No Los Gatos St Francis scored early and added on late to take care of business in the opening round Ava Bulanti set the tone for the Lancers - with six no-hit innings and Hailey Nguyen finished the championship off with a scoreless seventh Maya Yumiba scored on an error in the first inning and Malianna Liongitau homered in the second to put St Francis up - The Lancers put the encounter out of reach in the fifth as May Meltz homered Jaime Oakland drove in Yumiba with a single and Bulanti scored Oakland with an RBI groundout Yumiba doubled in the sixth to figure Meltz and Bulanti batted in Yumiba with a sac fly St Francis advances to face No Monterey which beat No Salinas - on Saturday Los Gatos finishes the season - - Division I No The King s Academy No Hollister innings TKA rallied at home with a run in the bottom of the seventh and then walked off Hollister with a run in the ninth to advance to the semifinals Hannah Woo had a double and an RBI and Mia Bennette drove in a run to lead TKA - which will play top-seeded Live Oak for a berth in the final Hollister finished - Division II No Notre Dame-Belmont No Piedmont Hills Notre Dame tied the total in the sixth and won it in the home half of the seventh when Hailey Truong s single to right knocked in Eliana Crespin with the walk-off run Truong and Allison Lui combined to hold Piedmont Hills to one run while striking out nine Michelle Torres had two hits and drove in a second-inning run for Piedmont Hills which finished the season - Related Articles Saratoga takes small ball to the next level wins early morning CCS tournament over Mills with copious bunts sac flies Cardiac Cowboys Livermore lassos NCS comeback win over Alameda with stunning sixth-inning rally NCS baseball playoffs Foothill s big inning turns back Benicia in D-I meeting NCS roundup Defending champ Granada falls to Casa Grande in D-I baseball NCS baseball softball scoreboard Friday s quarterfinals results Notre Dame - - advances to play top-seeded Hillsdale in the semifinals next week No Hillsdale No Branham Hillsdale scored four runs in the first and broke open the championship with six in the fourth cruising at home to a five-inning run-rule rout of Branham Mia DeMartini went for with a home run and a triple and knocked in three runs and Lola Jones struck out of the batters she faced as Hillsdale - - powered its way into the semifinals Branham finished - Division III No Sobrato No Prospect Sam Zimmerman allowed two hits and struck out eight in six innings to help lead Sobrato past host Prospect in an opening-round match in Saratoga Sophomore Amber Rodriguez pitched a hitless final inning to pick up the save navigating a one-out error to close out the contest Zimmerman also drove in the first run grounding into a fielder s choice in the first inning Senior Zoe Rodriguez hit into another fielder s choice in the second giving Sobrato an early insurance run Sobrato - advances to face No Aptos in the semifinals next week Aptos - upset No Alisal of Salinas - on Saturday Prospect finished the season - Division V No Independence No Greenfield Independence built a six-run lead after two innings and put the outcome out of reach with four in the sixth to advance to the semifinals Laila Morales had two hits and two RBIs and Kayla Shem and MacKenzy Sauao each drew three walks to lead the ers - who will play King City next Greenfield finished - Mike Lefkow contributed to this review Check back for updates all day Saturday