The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
The No. 16-seed Cañada Colts snagged a late inning lead to defeat No. 8 Merced College 8-3 in the final game of the Northern California baseball regionals Saturday evening. The win advances Cañada, the only remaining team in the Coast North Conference, to Super Regionals set to take place at Santa Rosa Junior College this weekend. Host team and No. 9 College of San Mateo was swept by No. 17 Modesto. and No. 14 Skyline had its season ended with two losses to No. 11 Mission.
Cañada unleashed a six-run rally in the seventh to take the lead. Lucas Herrera kicked off the slug-fest with a line-drive single to center field. Noah Long drew a walk, Ivan Herrera bunted for a single and Owen Crevelt produced a sacrifice fly to score Lucas Herrera to tie the game 3-3. Ben Singler was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Mario Duran singled scoring Long to give the Colts the lead, while Ryan Lapuyade doubled scoring Ivan Herrera and Evan Mok. With the score 6-3, Joey Lee kept the line moving when he smoked a single to right field scoring Duran. The final Colts run of the inning crossed the plate when Lucas Herrera was hit by a pitch giving Cañada an 8-3 lead.
Cañada’s first runs came in the third when Tyler Firpo led off the inning with a line drive to center field. Shortstop Trevor Leon followed with a double to drive in Firpo and cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 1. In the fourth inning with Merced up 3-1, Duran doubled on a hard ground ball down the third-base line with two outs. Lapuyade and Lee followed with singles to score Duran leaving the Colts trailing by 1.
James Courshon got the start for the Colts. The lefty surrendered three runs on eight hits over seven innings, striking out one and walking zero.
Colby Stevens took the mound in the eighth and held the Blue Devils scoreless and hitless to secure the Colts win.
Cañada totaled 14 hits in the game. Duran, Leon, Lapuyade, Lucas Herrera, and Lee all had multiple hits for the Colts. Duran went 3 for 5 at the plate to lead Cañada in hits.
Mission 3, Skyline 2
It was another brutal loss for the Trojans, as they were eliminated from the Northern California playoffs after the Saints completed a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series in Santa Clara Saturday.
Friday, Mission (29-12-1) walked off with a 7-6 win in the bottom of the ninth. Saturday, Skyline (25-16) was nursing a 2-0 lead after six innings, but the Saints turned the tables and snatched the win with a three-run, top of the eighth. Gabe Harris stroked a two-run single in the top of the eighth to tie the game for Mission, before Dylan Unangst gave the Saints the lead with an RBI single.
Skyline took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Preston Lau singled home Max Coupe. The Trojans doubled their lead to 2-0 in the sixth when Ethan Bergman scored on an error.
Modesto 7, CSM 4
The Pirates completed the upset sweep of the Bulldogs in the Nor Cal regional Saturday in San Mateo.
CSM (27-14) scored single runs in the first and third innings, but Modesto (23-16) scored once in the bottom of the second, twice in the third and one more in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.
The Bulldogs would score single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the score at 4-all, but the Pirates took control of the game again with a three-run eighth.
Kai Holm, Marcus Aranda, Connor Hennings and Nathan Martinez all drove in a run for CSM, with Aranda going deep in the top of the third. Jeff Richards took the loss in relief, allowing three earned runs on one hit in 2/3 of an inning of work.
Softball
No. 2 San Mateo 10, No. 15 Santa Rosa 2
After rallying past the Bear Cubs 7-2 Friday, the Bulldogs (35-6) rolled to a Game 2 mercy-rule win in six innings to advance to this weekend’s super regional.
Santa Rosa finishes the season 17-23.
CSM will now host No. 10 American River (25-16), which swept past No. 7 Butte (30-11). The Beavers won Game 1 2-0 Friday and after a rainout Saturday, completed the sweep with a 4-3 decision over the Roadrunners in Game 2.
CSM will host American River in Game 1 at 2 p.m. Friday, with Game 2 scheduled for noon Saturday. If a third game is necessary, it will be played as part of a doubleheader.
