GAMES
RANKINGS
St. Francis OF Jaime Oakland courtesy St. Francis High School
ROAD TO STATE: California High School softball down to Final Fours
The final softball competition in California continues Thursday after a highly competitive first-round action of the California Interscholastic Federation was completed Tuesday.
The best game of the day in the top Divisions was in Northern California Division 1, where Nebraska signee Jaime Oakland and top junior prospect Peyton Tsao, a Stanford commit, each scored on a single sacrifice fly by Maya Meltz to lift host fourth-seed St. Francis-Mountain View to a 4-3 Northern California quarterfinal win over North Coast Section champion San Ramon Valley-Danville.
The Lancers (26-4), who were upset in the Central Coast Section semifinals last week, now travel to nationally-ranked Destiny Christian-Sacramento (29-0) semifinal game.
All semifinal games throughout the Golden State are 4 p.m. on Thursday.
San Ramon Valley (23-7), a surprise road team considering it won its NCS D1 title game 17-1 over College Park-Pleasant Hill, took a 2-0 lead thanks to Natalie Sun, who drilled a solo home run and an RBI single in the first four innings.
St. Francis tied it 2-2 in the fourth on RBI singles from Itzel Hernandez and Cam Elliott, but the Wolves went back up by a run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Mads Sekera, scoring Kennedy Warren.
But in the bottom half, the Lancers loaded the bases with one out on two walks and an error before Meltz was retired on a great grab toward the line by Charlie Callison, who slightly lost her footing. Oakland scored easily and Tsao was sent home also. She just beat the throw.
Now the Lancers get a Destiny Christian team that has outscored opponents by a 365-29 count, including a 1-0 win over St. Francis on March 25 when Roxanne Sardo and Ayla Tuua combined on a two hitter with just three strikeouts. Mercedes Collier, who won Tuesday’s game to improve to 13-2, gave up just two hits to Destiny Christian and struck out seven.
Destiny Christian, which opened NorCal play with a 13-2 win over College Park, is ranked ninth nationally according to MaxPreps.com. The Lions are led by senior Ayla Tuua, an LSU signee, and Purdue-bound Roxanne Sardo who have combined for 29 home runs and 121 RBIs, 18 and 76 delivered by Tuua.
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NORCAL BRACKETS
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NORCAL FIRST-ROUND RESULTS
Division 1
Tuesday’s first round
No. 1 Destiny Christian 13, No. 8 College Park 2
No. 4 St. Francis 4, No. 5 San Ramon Valley 3
No. 6 Whitney 12, No. 3 Archbishop Mitty 4
No. 2 Clovis East 4, No. 7 Elk Grove 1
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Thursday’s semifinals
No. 4 St. Francis (26-4) at No. 1 Destiny Christian (29-0)
No. 6 Whitney (25-8) at No. 2 Clovis East (22-4)
Division 2
No. 1 Alameda, bye
No. 5 Hollister 9, No. 4 Vanden 3
No. 3 Willow Glen 4, No. 6 Central Catholic 1
No. 2 Del Oro 10, No. 7 Northgate 0
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Thursday’s semifinals
No. 5 Hollister (22-7) at No. 1 Alameda (23-5)
No. 3 Willow Glen (23-7) at No. 2 Del Oro (21-8)
Division 3
No. 1 Monterey, bye
No. 5 Chico 12, No. 4 Chowchilla 6
No. 6 East Nicolaus 3, No. 3 Rodriguez-Fairfield 2
No. 2 Las Plumas 9, No. 7 Foothill-Pleasanton 2
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Thursday’s semifinals
No. 5 Chico (25-7) at No. 1 Monterey (16-10)
No. 6 East Nicolaus (26-1) at No. 2 Las Plumas (29-1-1)
Division 4
No. 1 West Valley, bye
No. 5 Escalon 6, No. 4 Alhambra 5
No. 3 Live Oak 9, No. 6 Amador-Sutter Creek 8
No. 2 Alisal 12, No. 7 Newark Memorial 0
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Thursday’s semifinals
No. 5 Escalon (16-11) at No. 1 West Valley (28-2)
No. 3 Live Oak (15-8) at No. 2 Alisal (21-5)
Division 5
No. 1 Notre Dame-Belmont, bye
No. 4 Moreau Catholic 10, No. 5 Chester 0
No. 3 Durham 12, No. 6 Lowell 2
No. 2 Le Grand 10, No. 7 Justin-Siena 0
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Thursday’s semifinals
No. 4 Moreau Catholic (17-12) at No. 1 Notre Dame-Belmont (16-11-1)
No. 3 Durham (20-10) at No. 2 Le Grand (20-7)
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SOCAL RESULTS
Top Division 1 seed Mater Dei Catholic-San Diego received a first-round bye and will face fifth-seed Point Loma, a 10-1 winner over Whittier Christian. Ella Poulin and Remington Spangler each hit homers for Point Loma (24-9).
The other semifinal game will pit second-seed La Habra, which hosts sixth-seed St. Paul. Both teams won first-round games by forfeit due to opponents’ honoring travel ball commitments, according to multiple reports.
Alyssa Hernandez, a senior outfielder, leads La Habra (24-8) with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs, while St. Paul (20-13) is led by senior third baseman Mia Negrete (.453 average, seven home runs).
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BRACKETS
Catherdral Catholiic shocks St. John Bosco-Bellflower
PLAY BALL: Cathedral Catholic shocks St. John Bosco in playoff action; the brackets
The last team competition in the 2025-26 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) continues play throughout the Golden State Wednesday after a terrific first day of regional diamond action on Tuesday.
The No. 1 baseball team in the nation to start the season, St. John Bosco-Bellflower, coming off a stirring Southern Section Division 1 title, was eliminated Tuesday by eighth seed Cathedral Catholic-San Diego 4-2 in a first-round Southern California regional.
Cathedral Catholic now plays fifth-seed La Mirada, another road victory with a 7-6 win over Liberty-Bakersfield.
The other first-round Division 1 game on Tuesday was yet another road victory, this one for Huntington Beach, a 10-3 winner over Patrick Henry-San Diego.
The lone SoCal D1 quarterfinal game pits Norco (28-5), ranked No. 9 nationally by MaxPreps against visiting Eastlake-Chula Vista (24-7) Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
In Central Catholic’s win over St. John Bosco, the Dons struck for three runs in the fifth to key the win. Ty Daniels had two hits and two RBIs, including a double, while Will Blanton and Hunter Harrington added RBI singles. Winning pitcher Jose Partida went 5.1 innings, struck out four and allowed six hits.
SOCAL BRACKETS
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NORCAL PLAYOFFS
Host and top Division 1 seed De La Salle-Concord (23-4) continued to squeak out wins with a third one-run postseason victory out of four.
Winning pitcher Roman Bartosh allowed one earned run and four hits in six-innings plus with three strikeouts and no walks. Kaleo Jones earned the save and Ben Hayden was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Sam Lakey added an RBI single and freshman Brandon Manivong added a run-scoring double. St. Francis, the West Catholic Athletic League champions, had RBIs from Sione Tulua and Henry Dommer. The Lancers finished 25-5.
De La Salle will now host Valley Christian a 4-0 winner over Bullard-Fresno as the Warriors (21-9) recorded their third straight in the playoffs, this one combined by Rahul Patel and Alex Kim on a three-hitter. First-inning RBIs from Christian Nevarez and Alex Moutzourdis was all the Warriors needed to advance to semifinal play at De La Salle, a rematch of the 2023 NorCal championship game won by the visiting Spartans when they scored six runs in the seventh inning of an 11-8 victory. The way both teams are pitching well. It doesn't figure to be so high scoring.
In another Division 1 quarterfinal, a rematch of the 2024 NorCal D1 title game, visiting Granada-Livermore prevailed again, this time 5-4 with a stunning three-run seventh-inning rally that featured an RBI single from Austin Sheldon and two St. Mary’s errors. Joseph Holt and Jack Badger also had RBI singles, Tyler Palma scored three runs and Jarret Fahnhorst added two hits for the Matadors (20-9) who now travel to third seed Elk Grove (28-6), a 9-8 winner over Soquel. St. Mary’s (27-7) stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh.
The other D1 quarterfinal game saw third-seed Elk Grove pull off a spectacular four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to defeat stunned and No. 6 Soquel. A five-run uprising in the sixth had given Soquel an 8-0 lead, but Elk Grove stuck for five in the bottom half and four in the seventh. Brayden Ford and a three-run triple, Chase Dyer added a two-run single and Antonio Cuevas and Landon Johnson also had RBIs.
NORCAL BRACKETS
TOP PLAYERS
Among top senior players still playing in both regionals, many who could be drafted next month. Player rankings by prepbaseballreport.com
Rank, position, name, high school, college commitment
1. SS Tyler Spangler, De La Salle, Stanford (injured)
4. OF Jared Grindinger, Huntington Beach, Tennessee
9. OF Anthony Murphy, Corona, LSU
12. SS Trey Ebel, Corona, Texas A&M
23. SS Alex Harrington, Cathedral Catholic, Stanford
33. RHP Graham Schlicht, De La Salle, Stanford
62. RHP Mateo Villanueva, Corona, San Diego State
83. OF Hunter Harrington, Cathedral Catholic, Stanford
98. 3B Dane Cunningham, Huntington Beach, Cal Poly-SLO
102. C Jesiah Andrade, Corona, uncommitted
158. RHP Jacob Oropeza, La Mirada, uncommitted
167. OF Owen Bone, Huntington Beach, Cal Baptist
178. OF Ty Daniels, Cathedral Catholic, Columbia
218. RHP Brandon Kleyman, De La Salle, St. Mary’s College
241. 2B Chase Groves, Elk Grove, California
254. SS Aiden Simpson, Corona, uncommitted
263. OF Tristen Bartlett, Elk Grove, Fresno Pacific
268. OF Landon Johnson, Elk Grove, Fresno Pacific
280. C Justin Torres, La Mirada, uncommitted
283. SS Nathan Choi, Valley Christian, uncommitted
314. RHP Jared Marchbank, Huntington Beach, New Mexico State
329. RHP Landon Cook, De La Salle, Oregon State