In a game that needed two extra innings and didn’t end until nearly midnight, Santa Clara overcame multiple Branham comebacks on Tuesday to beat the San Jose school 11-7 in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs at Excite Ballpark.
The victory sends eighth-seeded Santa Clara into the Division IV championship game against second-seeded St. Francis SCP on Friday night at Santa Clara University.
Santa Clara led 3-1 after three innings and 7-3 after 4 ½.
But fifth-seeded Branham erased both deficits. The San Jose school tied the score 3-3 with two in the fourth and evened the score again with four in the fifth after Santa Clara had taken what seemed like a comfortable lead.
Branham then escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth and got out of a bases-loaded, two-out threat in the eighth.
But Santa Clara wasn’t going to be denied in the ninth.
After a wild pitch put runners into scoring position with one out, John Kepner singled to left to drive in Connor Houle to give Santa Clara an 8-7 lead.
Drew Diffenderfer followed with a line-drive single to right, knocking in Andrew Traffas to make it 9-7.
After a walk loaded the bases, Greg Salgado singled to center to bring in Kepner for a 10-7 advantage.
Dominick Chavarria sacrifice fly drove in Santiago Lopez to complete the scoring.
Branham opened the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Kepner struck out the next batter and then induced two fly outs to end the game. Kepner pitched the final five innings for his team, allowing one run.
In a season of many highlights for Santa Clara, this one might have topped them all.
Santa Clara had a strong regular season but was seeded low because of its strength of schedule. The seeding hasn’t mattered, it turns out. In the first round Saturday, Santa Clara beat top seed Carlmont 5-4 in nine innings.
Tuesday’s victory improved Santa Clara’s record to 26-3.
Branham finished 14-11.
Division IV
No. 2 St. Francis SCP 1, No. 6 Homestead 0
It took Homestead and St. Francis of Watsonville nine innings to settle this CCS semifinal at Excite Ballpark.
The Sharks (15-14) fully manufactured the game’s lone run in the bottom of the ninth. It started with a single to center by Mason Borrego.
Borrego stole second with one out and advanced to third on a groundout. With two outs, he was in position to score if Homestead made a mistake.
That’s exactly what happened. A ground ball was misplayed at shortstop, and Borrego raced home to score the winning run.
The heartbreaking loss rendered a Herculean pitching performance moot for Homestead (13-16).
Andrew Sun started the game for the Mustangs and pitched five shutout innings, then Logan Christianson took over and went 3 2/3 innings with just one hit allowed and the one unearned run. Christianson struck out five hitters, and Sun fanned three.
Neither Homestead pitcher conceded a walk. Sun also led the Mustangs with three hits in his final high school game, matching the three hits he gave up on the mound.
Division V
No. 1 Menlo School 7, No. 5 Piedmont Hills 5
Menlo scored in every inning, building a 7-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh.
Then, suddenly, Piedmont Hills’ bats woke up in a big way. The Pirates plated five runs in the final inning and had the tying run up with one out after Jake Paskert’s triple brought in Christian Bustamante, Logan O’Connell and Toby Torres.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, that was as close as they would get. Jack Freehill buckled down and struck out Josh Gomez, then got Alex Tran to fly out to center to end the game.
Freehill also had three hits and two RBIs for the Knights (20-8). Menlo will face No. 2 Monterey (12-17) in the championship game Thursday at Excite Ballpark.
Piedmont Hills finished 19-10.
Division VI
No. 2 South San Francisco 6, No. 6 Fremont-Sunnyvale 3
South City (23-5) scored in every inning but one to advance to the championship game with a win at Santa Clara University.
Emilio Oseguera had three hits and two RBIs for the Warriors. Gabriel Martin, Adam Keith and Josh Ornelas also drove in runs as South City moves on to play Stevenson in the Division VI final on Thursday at Excite Ballpark.
Oseguera got the win on the mound, allowing two runs and four hits with seven strikeouts in six innings.
Fremont finished 22-8.
No. 1 Stevenson 12, No. 4 Sobrato 8
Sobrato’s bid to reach the championship game fell short as Stevenson prevailed behind a big game from Phinn Thomas, who went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and scored three runs.
Vince Pomo and Austin Pierson each knocked in two runs for Sobrato.
Stevenson improved to 18-8. Sobrato dropped to 20-6.
Softball
Division I
No. 2 Gilroy 1, No. 3 Saratoga 0
A true pitchers’ duel at Los Gatos High ended with Gilroy coming out on top. Starting pitcher Lele Yslava spun a one-hitter in the circle for Gilroy (20-7), striking out 14.
Saira Ramakrishnan wasn’t far behind for Saratoga (20-3), allowing two hits and one earned run in six innings.
Averi Peters had the lone RBI for Gilroy, scoring Jennie Hernandez on a ground ball. Earlier in the fourth inning, Hernandez walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third.
Sydney Riera put some pressure on Gilroy in the top of the seventh, reaching on an error to lead off the inning and later stealing second with two outs. But Yslava recorded her 14th strikeout to end the game on three pitches.
No. 4 The King’s Academy 3, No. 1 Live Oak 0
In the other semifinal at Los Gatos, Katia Nesper did it all for TKA (19-7). She pitched a complete-game shutout with 18 strikeouts and batted in the winning runs with a two-run triple in the third inning.
Ava Thompson drove in the other run for the Knights, scoring Mia Bennette with a single to right in the fifth. TKA will play Gilroy in the Division I championship on Saturday.
Live Oak’s season ends at 24-3.
Division III
No. 7 Aptos 9, No. 6 Sobrato 2
Aptos (17-7) took control early in this battle of high seeds and didn’t let up. The Mariners (17-7) scored in the top of the first, added three in the second and put the hammer down with five in the fourth.
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Division V
No. 4 King City 16, No. 1 Independence 0 (5 innings)
Ava Sanchez and Skylar Crowell each had a single for Independence, but that was about all the highlights for the San Jose school as King City rolled to a run-rule victory at Hollister High.
After a scoreless first inning, King City erupted for three runs in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth and six in the fifth.
Janesa Lopez led King City with three hits and four RBIs. Raylie Moore knocked in three runs and Amity Hearne drove in two as King City (17-11) advanced to play Soledad or South San Francisco in the final this weekend.
Independence finished 17-5.
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