The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
College of San Mateo was among the first of the state’s 88 community college baseball teams to reach 20 wins on Saturday, after sweeping all three of the week’s Coast North Conference games with City College of San Francisco.
The Bulldogs are 20-5 overall, joining other Saturday “20-game winners” San Joaquin Delta College (20-4) and Riverside City College (20-4), the only teams with better won-loss percentages.
San Mateo is 4-2 in Coast North play, trailing current pacesetter Chabot College (5-1) by one game entering the third week of league play. The difference: CSM went lost two of three in the wet opening week series with Chabot.
Last week, the Bulldogs swept City College of San Francisco by a 36-8 margin, 14-1, 10-1 and 12-6. Chabot swept its series with Cañada, 4-2, 9-4, and 20-0. Cañada had entered the second week tied for first place with Chabot and West Valley.
Skyline won 2-of-3 with West Valley, taking the first two games, 11-2 and 2-0, before dropping the third contest, 7-5. The two teams share third place with 3-3 records.
Now it is back to county play for San Mateo, with this week’s series against Cañada (2-4) and next week with Skyline (3-3).
Rain postponed Tuesday Coast Conference games for a third week, with a full slate now on tap Wednesday: CSM hosts Cañada at 1:30 p.m. and again on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Bulldogs visit the Colts on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
Skyline has three games with CCSF on the week’s slate, now hosting the Rams Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.; then visiting them on Thursday at Fairmont Field in Pacifica at 11:30 a.m. and on Saturday at San Francisco State University’s field at noon.
Skyline’s Dillon Goetz (Sequoia) leads county batters with a .400 average, No. 2 in the Coast North — just ahead of San Mateo’s Marcus Aranda (.394). Max Coupe (Menlo-Atherton) of Skyline paces the county with nine home runs and 32 RBIs, both ranking second in the league.
Coupe, along with Ty Barrango (Aragon) and Vicente Feliciano of CSM, head the Coast North with three triples apiece. Barrango is the local stolen base leader with 16 (No. 2 in the league). Ethan Began paces the Coast North with 11 doubles.
Among pitchers, CSM’s Ryan Baker (St. Francis) is 4-1 and leads Coast North regulars with a 1.53 ERA, while teammate Noel Valdez (El Camino) is 6-1 and has the most wins and is second in strikeouts with 46, one shy of the league lead. Cañada’s Frankie Pellegrini (Capuchino) is the Coast North saves leader with five.
24-4 CSM softball heads into conference showdown
Following a sweep of all three games last week, the College of San Mateo defending state champion softball team improved its overall record to 24-4. The Bulldogs, with Coast Conference first place showdowns on tap this week, trail only Sierra College (26-1) in number of wins among all state teams.
Last week, CSM took an 8-0 Coast Conference win at Ohlone College to improve to 5-0 and then swept a pair of non-conference victories at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, 10-2 (in six innings) and 8-4. This week, San Mateo faces the other league unbeatens, hosting Monterey Peninsula College (21-2, 4-0 Coast) on Thursday and then visiting West Valley College (16-5, 5-0) Saturday.
Returning state women’s athlete of the year Lafulafu Malepeai leads state hitters with 10 home runs (after smashing a pair in the first game at Sequoias) and a 1.232 slugging average. The CSM leftfielder is batting .565, with 10 doubles, 27 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases.
CSM’s Johnny Goode has Nor Cal-leading 400 time
Johnny Goode (Hillsdale) ran Northern California’s fastest men’s 400 meter time of the season Friday for College of San Mateo, 48.47, at the Pat Ryan Invitational at Santa Rosa JC. Aidan Mendoza (Serra) was right behind Goode in 49.46, the season’s No. 7 time.
The pair started the day keying CSM’s winning 4 x 100 meter relay team to a 42.35 state meet qualifying time, joined by Francisco Sanchez Borrero (Menlo-Atherton) and Deon McCauley (San Mateo). Goode later had the meet’s top JC 200 meter time, 22.11 (just off his 22.05 season best).
CSM’s Evan Forsman (Riordan) won the 800 meters in 1:59.31. Donovan Garcia (Hillsdale) ran the men’s 400 hurdles in 53.62, which ranks No. 3 in the north. He is already the NorCal leader in the 110 hurdles at 15.08.
Top CSM men’s field performances included Anthony Sheridan (Westmoor) and Dominic Iskander (Hillsdale) finishing second and third, respectively, in the pole vault, both clearing 13 feet, 5 1/4 inches. Brandon Beane (Capuchino) was second in the discus throw at 160-10.
For the CSM women, Heart Noble Dean (Westmoor) placed second in the 400 meters in 1:01.32, the No. 5 NorCal mark. Zoe Thompson (Aragon) ran third in the 800 (2:18.11). Both helped the Bulldogs improve their 4 x 400 meter relay best to 4:23.87.
Shannen Dorn (Westmoor) now ranks No. 8 at 5,000 meters with her 19:47.71 time. She placed second in the 1,500 meters in 5:17.38.
San Mateo is slated to participate in the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
