Prep baseball season starting to show some bite

The annual San Diego Lions tournament faced off Monday for local teams. The Bonita Vista Barons continued to pick up early season momentum with an 8-3 win over the visiting Scripps Ranch Falcons to improve to 7-2-1.

Senior Ismael Castanon drove in three runs with a home run while senior Josh Hughes drove in two runs for the host team.

Freshman Liam Lee, senior Alonso Andrade and sophomore Demarco Rojas each collected one RBI. Lee had two hits in the game.

Castanon pitched 4.1 innings with seven strikeouts but junior Cristian Ayala picked up the win with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings while allowing one hit.

The win over the Falcons (4-7) extended Bonita Vista’s unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1) following a 5-3 win over Scripps Ranch on March 18 and 5-4 win over visiting Santana on March 21 — a game in which the Barons had to rally from an early 3-0 deficit and then extinguish a late Sultans rally.

Alonso keyed the Barons with two RBI in the win over Santana while sophomore Octavio Orozco and senior Dante Millan each drove in single runs. Senior Ty Vann and Lee each scored twice.

Offensive leaders so far this season include Andrade with a 0.429 hitting average, senior Luis Sosa, a returning all-league performer, with a 0.394 hitting average and team-high 13 hits, Vann with a 0.345 hitting average and team-high 10 runs scored and Castanon with a 0.345 hitting average and team-high eight RBI.

Vann and Castanon each have two home runs to their credit while Hughes ranks second on the team with seven RBI.

Pitching leaders include Ayala, Castanon and Rojas each with 2-0 records. Castanon has struck out 30 batters in 20.2 innings while Ayala leads the staff with a 0.76 earned-run average.
Castanon ranks second with a 1.69 ERA while Rojas has a 2.62 ERA. As a team, BV hurlers have a combined 2.27 ERA and 0.232 hitting average.

“The strength of this year’s team is the pitching and defense,” BVHS coach Dave Palet said. “Senior Ismael Castanon, junior Michael Maywood and sophomore Demarco Rojas are our three starters on the mound. Cristian Ayala is our pitcher to stop any momentum and left-hander Josh Hughes is our closer.”

Ayala has 18 strikeouts in 18.1 innings while Maywood has 18 strikeouts in 10 innings.

Other local teams picking up Lions tournament wins on Monday included Sweetwater (14-4 over San Fernando Vaughn), San Ysidro (13-3 over Sutter), Mar Vista (8-2 over Verdugo Hills) and High Tech High Chula Vista (11-8 over Rancho Mirage).

Junior Adam Gomez keyed Sweetwater with three RBI and senior Angel Quintero with two RBI. Senior Manuel Carrillo notched seven strikeouts in four innings.

Junior Peter Thomas led Mar Vista with three RBI while sophomore Dominic Parra drove in two runs.

Three players each drove in two runs for HTH-CV: junior Andre Skiles, senior Aiden Cerda and junior Dyllin Ledezma. Senior Oscar Navarro stroked two doubles.

SAN DIEGO SECTION SCOREBOARD

Baseball Rankings
(MaxPreps through March 25)

1. Torrey Pines 8-1
2. St. Augustine 8-1
3. Granite Hills 7-2
4. University City 9-1
5. San Marcos 7-1
6. Patrick Henry 9-2
7. Cathedral Catholic 8-2
8. Carlsbad 4-1
9. Rancho Bernardo 4-1
10. Sage Creek 6-3
11. Eastlake 7-3
12. Bonita Vista 6-2-1
13. Mater Dei Catholic 8-4
14. La Jolla Country Day 6-4
15. Southwest El Centro 11-3
16. Clairemont 8-2-1
17. Maranatha Christian 7-2
18. Mission Bay 9-4
19. Brawley 7-2-2
20. Coronado 7-4
21. San Ysidro 7-4
22. Pt. Loma 5-3-2
23. Monte Vista 7-3
24. El Capitan 7-4
25. Madison 6-4
26. Christian 6-4
27. Calvin Christian 6-0
28. Santa Fe Christian 5-4
29. Valley Center 5-3
30. Mission Hills 4-5
31. Del Norte 5-4
32. Steele Canyon 4-6
33. Morse 6-3
34. Mt. Carmel 4-5
35. Mt. Miguel 7-3
36. El Camino 5-4
37. Lincoln 6-3-1
38. Grossmont 4-6
39. Mission Vista 5-4
40. Poway 4-5
41. Helix 4-6
42. La Jolla 6-4
43. Imperial 8-7
44. Valhalla 5-5
45. Scripps Ranch 4-6
46. Oceanside 4-4-1
47. High Tech High Chula Vista 4-3-1
48. Chula Vista 8-5
49. Calexico 6-5-1
50. Montgomery 4-5

Softball Rankings
(MaxPreps through March 25)

1. Del Norte 11-0
2. Mater Dei Catholic 11-1
3. Torrey Pines 9-2-2
4. Christian 10-1-1
5. Poway 9-2-1
6. Cathedral Catholic 8-2
7. Imperial 12-2-1
8. La Costa Canyon 10-3
9. Eastlake 7-3
10. Santa Fe Christian 6-0-1
11. Mission Hills 7-2-2
12. Rancho Bernardo 7-4-1
13. Carlsbad 6-5
14. Rancho Buena Vista 8-3
15. Morse 13-2
16. Pt. Loma 6-3
17. Bonita Vista 6-6-1
18. San Marcos 8-7
19. Santana 7-6
20. Clairemont 6-3-1
21. Classical Academy 7-1
22. Mt. Carmel 7-5
23. Francis Parker 7-1
24. Oceanside 7-2-1
25. El Capitan 4-6-4
26. Steele Canyon 8-3-1
27. Sage Creek 6-4
28. Our Lady of Peace 4-4-1
29. Westview 6-4
30. Helix 6-6
31. Scripps Ranch 7-3
32. Granite Hills 4-6
33. Calexico 6-5-1
34. Patrick Henry 5-5
35. Escondido Charter 7-4
36. West Hills 5-5-1
37. Mission Vista 7-5
38. Sweetwater 10-3
39. San Pasqual 5-4
40. Olympian 5-8
41. Maranatha Christian 3-3
42. Grossmont 4-4-2
43. Mar Vista 3-5-1
44. Liberty Charter 8-4
45. Chula Vista 7-7
46. Ocean View Christian Academy 5-0
47. Mira Mesa 4-9
48. Brawley 4-6
49. Bishop’s 4-3
50. Otay Ranch 2-6

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