Ten teams participated in this year’s Hilltop-Lolita’s baseball tournament. Hilltop and Bonita Vista represented the Metro Conference while Granite Hills and Santana are represented the Grossmont Conference. Poway, Rancho Buena Vista, La Costa Canyon, Classical Academy, Del Norte and Cathedral Catholic rounded out this year’s field from the North County.
Hilltop coach Kurt Gritts said the tournament ranks as one of the section’s annual top early season events.
“We have quality teams who are playing,” Gritts said. “We find out who the top teams are and how much better we need to get early on.”
Granite Hills, last year’s Division I section and Southern California Division III regional champion, and Santana, which advanced to three rounds in last year’s Open Division playoffs, qualified to meet in this year’s tournament championship game on March 5 that was ultimately rained out.
Both Granite Hills skipper James Davis and Santana head coach Rigoberto Ledezma elected not to reschedule the tournament final as their respective teams are already scheduled to play three times in Grossmont Hills League play this season.
“Yeah, we are not making that game up,” Davis said.
Instead, the teams will settle for a co-championship.
Bonita Vista finished 3-2 in the tournament, including a 16-12 win over Granite Hills in eight innings on March 1 while also defeating RBV (3-1 on Feb. 24) and Poway (10-6 on March 5). The Barons lost to Cathedral Catholic (5-4 in eight innings on Feb. 26) and Del Norte (6-1 on March 3).
Hilltop finished 0-5with losses to Classical Academy (3-2 in eight innings on Feb. 24), La Costa Canyon (6-5 on Feb. 26), Poway (19-4 on March 1), Santana (7-1 on March 2) and Rancho Buena Vista (5-0 on March 3).
The Lancers faced off the annual GMC tournament 2-0 with wins over Morse (4-3 on March 8), San Diego (9-2 on March 10) and Lincoln (13-0 on Tuesday).
New horizons
The Metro Conference has split back into three leagues. Hilltop will compete in the Metro-South Bay League this year alongside Mar Vista, Mater Dei Catholic and Southwest.
Southwest is 6-1 to start the season while Mar Vista is 6-5 and Mater Dei Catholic is 4-4-1.
Southwest defeated Lincoln, 16-5, on March 10 while Mater Dei Catholic defeated Mission Bay, 23-3, on Monday.
Junior Alvaro Arguelles collected four RBI in the Southwest win while three players — sophomore Markus Cesar, junior Aldo Vazquez and sophomore Rene Manzanarez – all knocked in two runs.
In upcoming league openers, Hilltop host Mater Dei Catholic on April 5 while Southwest hosts Mar Vista on April 6.
“It’s a wait and see scenario,” Gritts said about any league predictions. “We’ll see how we’re doing in two weeks. If we’re playing well, we’ll be OK.”
The Metro-Mesa League will include five teams: Bonita Vista, Eastlake, Montgomery, Olympian and Otay Ranch.
Bonita Vista defeated Steele Canyon, 5-2, on Monday to improve to 4-4-1 on the season. Senior Josh Bruce drove in two runs for the Barons while senior Aidan Millan, juniors Adiel Torres and Jesus Camacho all picked up one RBI in support of winning pitcher Glen Huggins, a senior, who scattered six hits over seven innings.
Bonita Vista faces off league play Monday, March 21, with an away game at Montgomery, which is off to a 6-2 start.
Eastlake improved to 5-3 following Monday’s GMC tourney win over visiting Helix (4-4) as junior Nico Libed drove in three runs while Otay Ranch improved to 4-3-1 following Monday’s 5-3 tournament win over Clairemont (3-6) in 10 innings behind three RBI from freshman Kalani Jauregui.
Olympian improved to 5-4 following Monday’s 1-0 GMC tournament win over Coronado (4-5). Senior Ghanni Rosado drove in the game-winning run while senior Carlos Cerda tossed a complete game four-hitter with 11 strikeouts.
The Titans open league play at Olympian on Monday while Otay Ranch hosts Eastlake on Tuesday, March 22.
Montgomery head coach Manny Hermosillo picked up career win 719 on Feb. 21 as the Aztecs eked a 1-0 win over visiting Coronado as grandson Daniel Alcala was credited with the game-winning RBI in support of winning pitcher Adrian Herrera, a senior, who fired a complete game two-hitter with nine strikeouts.
Hermosillo has since added five more wins to extend his career record to 724 wins.
Herrera is 3-1 on the season for the Aztecs with a 0.54 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 26 innings.
The Metro-Pacific League will include Castle Park, Chula Vista, San Ysidro and Sweetwater.
San Ysidro is off to a 6-4 start in non-league play while Sweetwater is 5-2 and Chula Vista is 3-7.
Senior Ryland Humphrey earned player of the game honors for Castle Park after rapping out four hits and driving in four runs in the Trojans’ 13-6 non-league win over High Tech High Chula Vista last Friday.
Castle Park hammered Crawford, 23-0, on March 10 behind three RBI from senior Rodrigo Gomez.
San Diego Section
Baseball Rankings
MaxPreps through March 15
- Rancho Bernardo (5-1)
- Escondido Charter (4-0)
- St. Augustine (6-0-1)
- Mission Hills (5-1)
- Granite Hills (6-2)
- Escondido (6-0-1)
- Santana (7-2)
- La Costa Canyon (5-1)
- Carlsbad (4-1)
- Del Norte (4-2)
11.San Marcos (4-1-1)
- Christian (6-2)
- Mountain Empire (3-1)
- Canyon Crest Academy (4-1)
- Poway (4-2)
- Eastlake (5-3)
- Point Loma (4-3)
- Madison (6-3)
- Francis Parker (8-2)
- La Jolla Country Day (4-2)
- Steele Canyon (6-3)
- Grossmont (5-3-1)
- Santa Fe Christian (4-2)
- Montgomery (6-2)
- Scripps Ranch (5-3)
