The St. Francis softball team had won 14 in a row overall, 14 consecutive over Valley Christian and 27 straight in league play when it stepped onto the field Friday for its regular-season finale.
Valley Christian was right on the Mountain View powerhouse’s tails, though.
Needing a win over St. Francis to share the West Catholic Athletic League championship with the Lancers, Valley Christian achieved its mission, winning 9-7 in remarkable fashion.
The home team spotted St. Francis — ranked No. 1 by the Bay Area News Group — six runs over the first 1 1/2 innings, then roared back.
The Warriors scored four in the bottom of the second, one in the third and two in the fourth to take the lead. They added two in the fifth, which was more than enough cushion.
St. Francis (24-3, 9-1) pushed across a run in the sixth but couldn’t score in the seventh as sixth-ranked Valley Christian (21-6, 9-1) secured its first victory over the Lancers since 2018.
Makenzie Leon went 2 for 4 with a double and knocked in three runs and Makena Blauman had a double among her two hits and drove in two to lead the Valley Christian offense.
Hannah Paquiz, Soledad Healy, Sia Marsh and Gabrielle Ho also had two hits for Valley.
Jaime Oakland led St. Francis with three hits, including a double, scored twice and knocked in one. Peyton Tsao added a double and three RBIs.
No. 13 Alameda 8, No. 5 Castro Valley 4
Julia Lambert had three hits and knocked in four runs and Mia Wong had three hits and scored three runs as Alameda defeated Castro Valley to win the West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division title at Bishop O’Dowd.
Tied 3-3 after six innings, Alameda erupted for five runs in the top of the seventh.
Lambert’s double to center drove in two to give Alameda a 5-3 lead. Abbye Haines’ double to right brought in a run to make it 7-3 and Alissa Smitheram’s run-scoring double to right widened the margin to five.
Alameda (16-9-1) also got two hits and a run from Miley Gradney.
Giselle De Casas hit a three-run homer and Alanys Robertson had a solo home run for Castro Valley (17-4).
Independence 13, San Jose 12
A share of the Blossom Valley Athletic League West Valley Division championship for there for the taking in the home half of the seventh inning.
But Independence wanted no part of a tie.
The 76ers scored four runs in the final frame to walk-off San Jose, which needed the win to tie Independence for the West Valley championship.
Skylar Crowell’s double with two outs knocked in Kayla Shem and MacKenzy Sauao with the decisive runs.
San Jose, which hadn’t had a winning record in the MaxPreps era (2004-present) until coach Albert Valdivia arrived two seasons ago, had a 10-2 lead after four innings.
Independence rallied for four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to pull to within 10-9.
San Jose scored two in the visitor’s half of the seventh to widen the margin to 12-9.
But that only set the stage for the wild finish.
Ava Sanchez homered and knocked in five runs and Sauao had three hits and five RBIs to lead Independence, which improved to 16-4, 15-1.
Juliana Castellanos-Patricio and Mariah Sandoval each had two RBIs for San Jose, which fell to 15-6, 13-3.
Baseball
Having split their two games, James Logan and Newark Memorial entered the final day of the regular season tied atop the Mission Valley Athletic League standings.
Needing help to finish alone in first, neither got it.
Logan rolled at home over American 7-1. Newark Memorial overpowered visiting Irvington 7-0.
The league leaders each finished with 12-2 records in MVAL play.
Evan Yau had two hits, including a home run, and two RBIs and DJ Mandigal singled and drove in two runs for Logan. On the mound, Ben Towers allowed one unearned run over five innings as the Colts improved to 15-9 overall.
In Newark Memorial’s win, Noah Hanohano struck out 13 and allowed one hit in 6 2/3 innings and Malosi Gaoteote had two home runs and six RBIs as the Cougars upped their overall record to 18-5.
Wilcox 4, No. 5 Los Gatos 3
Los Gatos was nine outs from an undefeated finish in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division play.
But the league champs had to settle for one blemish in the loss column as Wilcox rallied for two runs in the bottom of the fifth and scored on a passed ball in the seventh to beat the Wildcats.
Los Gatos finished league play 13-1. Wilcox and Palo Alto tied for second at 10-4.
Matthew Tiendas had two hits, knocked in two runs and scored twice for Wilcox, which improved to 19-8 overall.
Julian McMahon drove in a run for Los Gatos (22-4).
Palo Alto 9, Mountain View 4
After starting the season 1-7, Palo Alto faced a daunting climb all spring.
In their final game of the regular season, the Vikings at long last stepped above .500, their victory at home over Mountain View improving their record to 14-13.
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Prep roundup: Livermore wins EBAL softball title; NCS crowns champions in lacrosse, boys volleyball Prep roundup: Bellarmine upsets Serra, advances to WCAL baseball final Prep roundup: St. Ignatius, Palo Alto advance to NorCal boys golf; NCS boys volleyball championships set Mitty softball beats St. Ignatius, Cats walk off St. Francis with grand slam Prep spotlight: Cal, Stanford commits from Bay Area recall what it was like to attend record-breaking Big Swing gamePalo Alto won nine of its final 11 games and finished tied with Wilcox for second place in the SCVAL De Anza standings.
In the win Friday, Carter Bader and Jonathan Nguyen each had two hits and three RBIs. One of Nguyen’s hits was a home run.
Owen Blumstein and Luke Stephenson had two RBIs apiece for Mountain View (15-11, 6-8).
No. 16 Menlo-Atherton 11, Hillsdale 0
Jack Molise had himself a day for Menlo-Atherton. The senior had two hits, including a home run, and four RBIs and allowed one hit over six scoreless innings on the mound as the Bears finished Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play with a dominant victory at home.
Having already clinched first place, M-A improved to 20-7 overall and 12-2 in the Bay.
Hillsdale dropped to 12-13, 6-8.
Boys tennis
Top-seeded Menlo School celebrated its 17th Central Coast Section boys tennis team championship on Friday as the Knights defeated second-seeded Harker 6-1. The victory improved Menlo’s record to 26-1 on the season.
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