The Metro Conference batted four-for-four in last weekend’s San Diego Section softball and baseball championship games.
It was a watershed moment for two of the teams while two others added to their collection of CIF championship trophies.
The championship frenzy started last Friday as second-seeded Montgomery High School captured its first CIF softball championship in school history by defeating top-seeded Mountain Empire, 10-6, in the Division V final.
Southwest High School’s top-seeded baseball team was the second team to make history by defeating third-seeded Mt. Carmel, 5-3, to win the Division IV baseball championship Saturday afternoon at Poway High School.
In a pair of prime time Open Division slugfests Saturday evening, the top-seeded Eastlake Titans edged the third-seeded Poway Titans, 5-3, to win their fourth CIF title in school history in a game played at San Diego State University’s Tony Gwynn Stadium, while the top-seeded Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders topped second-seeded Rancho Bernardo Broncos, 5-1, to claim the program’s seventh CIF championship.
The Crusaders, loaded with Division I NCAA prospects, ended the season with an imposing 18-game winning streak and 31-4 overall record.
Coach Mike Centrullo called the 2019 MDCHS team the program’s best in 20 years.
“We’ve had great teams in the past but, from top to bottom, this is the best team,” Centrullo said
Few would doubt that.
Ladies first: Crusaders rack up first CIF Open Division title to stand No. 1 among section’s softball teams
Marian Catholic won the 1987 Class 2 A title before Mater Dei Catholic, its successor, won four consecutive Division IV titles from 2010-13 while adding the Division II title in 2014.
But this is the first Open Division title for the program to place it among the elite teams in the section.
The Crusaders defeated eighth-seeded Poway, 2-0, in the semifinals on May 22 to advance to the championship round.
Senior Alexis Morales drove in two runs for Mater Dei Catholic in the bottom of the sixth inning, as sophomore Bria Sosa and senior Jalyse Hanson scored.
Lexi Sosa pitched a complete game one-hitter, striking out 10 batters while walking three. She faced 25 batters, throwing 102 pitches to record the win.
The Crusaders, ranked fourth in the state and ninth nationally, recorded nine hits in the game: two each by Hanson and junior Alena Ramirez.
The UCLA-bound Sosa figured prominently in Saturday’s CIF finals win. She pitched a complete game five-hitter, striking out nine batters while walking one. She faced 27 batters and threw 102 pitches.
Mater Dei Catholic built a 5-0 lead in the championship game by scoring once in the bottom of the second inning and tacking on four more runs in the next frame.
Sophomore Gigi Gonzalez slammed a three-run home run to account for the final three runs after seniors Alexia Morales and Jalyse Hanson had both driven in one run.
Gonzalez scored two runs in the game while Sosa, freshman Amy Jones and Hanson also scored runs.
The home run was the fourth of the season for Gonzalez.
The Crusaders pounded out seven hits to hand the loss to RB’s Allie Boaz (21-6), who is bound for Boston University in the fall.
Lexi Sosa (24-2) pitched in 33 of her team’s 35 games this season, recording a 1.07 earned-run average and 237 strikeouts in 177 innings. She also produced at the plate with a .462 hitting average, a team-leading 38 RBI and 11 home runs.
Senior Alyssa Garcia, also bound for UCLA, leads the reigning Mesa League and Open Division champions with a .519 hitting average and 14 doubles.
Junior Alena Ramirez (21 RBI) ranks third on the team with a .386 hitting average, followed by Hanson (.364, 18 RBI), junior Destinee Noury (.361, 20 RBI), senior Kiayra Moody (.352, 22 RBI) and Morales (.337, 20 RBI).
Rancho Bernardo (23-6) scored its lone run in the top of the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by Heather Menzer and Christina Sugimoto.
The Broncos advanced to the championship game after eliminating third-seeded Bonita Vista (16-10) with a pair of must-wins in the semifinals.
Clash of the Titans: Eastlake blasts out to early 5-0 lead to gain revenge win over Poway in CIF final
Winning CIF championships is nothing new for Eastlake but it’s always sweet whenever they come.
The Titans won Division II titles in 1999 (6-3 over USDHS) and 2002 (5-1 over Oceanside in eight innings) and most recently captured the Open Division championship in 2017 with an 8-3 win over Helix.
But what may make the team’s second Open Division title seem sweeter is that the Titans (26-4-1) accomplished it with a relatively young roster, fielding seven seniors in the 22-man line-up.
Head coach Dave Gallegos noted while past teams were more senior-heavy, this year’s squad made the most of what it had, which turned out to be of championship caliber in its own right.
SDSU-bound Ricky Tibbett was among the team’s senior leaders and he led by example in Saturday’s Open Division final. The former Eastlake Little League World Series standout pitched the opening three innings against Poway, limiting the North County-based Titans to four hits while striking out two batters and walking one.
He faced 13 batters and threw 51 pitches while posting a shutout. His teammates responded by giving him a 5-0 lead to work with.
Relievers Ray Cebulski and Keoni Cavaco made it hold up.
Cavaco, a senior, led off the bottom of the first inning with a first-pitch single and stole second base. Senior Jake Cekander then bunted Cavaco to third base.
A one-out walk to Iran Fuentes and a fielding error scored Cavaco for a 1-0 Titan lead.
Junior Ethan Cashetta singled to right field to score another run. A double by sophomore Nick Vallarelli scored two more runs.
Fuentes hit a home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 5-0.
Tibbett faced four batters in both the first and second innings. He pitched out of a jam in the third inning without yielding a run after Poway (26-6) put runners on first and second with one out.
But Tibbett got a force-out at second and a fly ball to the outfield caught out of bounds to end the threat.
Gallegos handed the ball to Cebulski, a sophomore, after Tibbett had used up his pitching eligibility for the week. Cebulski ran into trouble in his first inning by allowing a walk to Trevor Tishenkel, an RBI-double by Quinn Johnson and a home run by Robby Williams to reduce Eastlake’s lead to two runs.
But the sophomore hurler bore down after that by allowing just one hit in his final two innings with three strikeouts.
Cavaco, projected to be a top selection in next week’s Major League Baseball first-year player draft, pitched the final inning with no hits allowed while striking out two batters.
Tibbett, who improved to 12-1 on the season with a 0.48 earned-run average, said the early lead took a lot of pressure off the team’s pitchers.
The CIF championship banner was the second for Tibbett, who won a Little League World Series United States Division championship in 2013.
“It feels really good to win another championship because it was our senior year and it was a great way to end my high school career as it was for all the seniors,” he said.
The win over Poway — Eastlake’s 10th consecutive to end the season — was made even sweeter as it served as revenge for last year’s elimination loss to Poway that left Eastlake one win short of advancing to last year’s Open Division title game.
The Titans finished runner-up to Poway in the 2015 Division I championship game and came up short to Cathedral Catholic in the 2016 Open Division finals.
The finals appearance was the fourth in the past five years for Eastlake overall.
The Titans finished runner-up to Poway in the 2015 Division I championship game and came up short to Cathedral Catholic in the 2016 Open Division finals.
Eastlake posted a 29-5 overall record in 2016 and finished 32-4 in 2017 as the state’s top-ranked team and ninth overall in the nation.
“The last five years we have the best winning percentage in San Diego County,” Gallegos noted with an obvious air of pride.
The secret to the program’s success is all about hard work and dedication, he said.
“The hard work in the offseason — conditioning, lifting, chemistry and coaching — they bought into it,” the Titan skipper said. “They believed in themselves. They were relentless. When they went into a big game they knew they were going to win.”
Gallegos continued to believe in his team even when it experienced a downturn during April’s San Diego Lions tournament when a spate of injuries contributed to an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak.
With the lineup healthy again, it was back to business as usual.
The reigning Mesa League champions now sit on top of the prep baseball world in San Diego County, ranked 12th overall in the state and 49th nationally.
With 10 juniors and five sophomores on this year’s roster, the Titans look to be back in the championship mix next season.
Sportsmanship award
For those who attended this year’s San Diego Section divisional championship games, they may have recognized a name immediately familiar to anyone in South County baseball circles — the late Bobby Kennedy —when the sportsmanship award winners for each team were announced during post-game awards ceremonies.
Kennedy passed away in November 2016 at the age of 94. Those nine decades were put to good use in playing and promoting the game he loved, and treating every teammate and opponent with dignity.
The section has named its annual sportsmanship award in Kennedy’s honor, and it’s an appropriate gesture of recognition.
“It’s a great way to honor someone we think we really wanted to remember who carried himself so well,” section commissioner Jerry Schniepp said. “This is a way to carry on that legacy.”
Kennedy’s career at SDSU was interrupted by World War II but he returned to finish his studies. He was eventually inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
As a teacher at Chula Vista High School, Kennedy refereed basketball, served as athletic director and most notably was head coach of the varsity baseball team for 26 years, compiling a 329-266 career record.
His Spartan teams won six league championships and made 19 playoff appearances. In 1993 the school named its baseball field after him.
Kennedy led an active life, playing softball until he was 89, winning 21 national championships.
A member of the inaugural class of San Diego County High School Coaching Legends at the Hall of Champions, he was inducted into the national senior slow-pitch Hall of Fame in 2002. He hit a game-winning three-run home run in his final at-bat.
Raider nation: Southwest never trails in winning school’s first CIF baseball title
Southwest, braced by five four-year starters, completed a perfect 4-0 run through its playoff bracket with Saturday’s win over the Sundevils to secure the first CIF baseball banner in the school’s 43-year history.
The Raiders never trailed in Saturday’s game after scoring two runs in each of the opening two innings. Mt. Carmel trimmed Southwest’s 4-0 lead to one run with a three-run rally in the top of the sixth inning but the Raiders came back to add another run in the bottom of the inning to lead by two runs.
The Raiders, who opened the season with a torrid 11-3 start, finished the season with an overall 26-9 record.
The Sundevils finished 16-16.
With history on tap, the Raiders did not falter in their biggest moment.
“I am extremely proud of the team and the work they put into this championship,” Southwest coach Dallas Fialkowski said. “The baseball team trusted the process over the past four years.”
Fialkowski noted that timely hits came from Raul Bojorquez, Diego Ruiz and Diego Corrales.
Bojorquez finished the game with two RBI while Ruiz and Corrales each drove in one run.
The Raiders, who tied for a third place finish in the South Bay League standings, made the most of their five hits in the game. Corrales, Aldo Cañedo, Adrian Sanchez, Arian Tirado and Ricardo Dominguez each scored runs.
Dominguez had a double for the team’s only extra-base hit in the game. Ruiz and Dominguez each had stolen bases.
The CIF champions benefitted from seven walks and a throwing error.
Sanchez pitched a complete game five-hitter with nine strikeouts while allowing one earned run. He faced 31 batters and threw 109 pitches.
He finished the season with a 12-1 record and 73 strikeouts in 88 innings.
Sanchez, one of the team’s four-year starters, also led the team with a .484 hitting average while collecting 31 RBI.
Borjorquez ranked second on the team with a .397 hitting average with 21 RBI. Dominic Escobar (.289) led the team with 33 RBI while Ruiz (.259) drove in 26 runs.
Bojorquez led the team with 48 hits and 35 runs scored.
“Adrian Sanchez sealed the year off just the way he started the season with an excellent outing,” Fialkowski said. “It was a fantastic job by him to finish his high school career with a CIF championship.”
Aztec pride: Montgomery ladies claim first CIF softball championship in school history
Montgomery (15-12) finished in the bottom half of the South Bay League standings with a 4-8 league record but came prepared to do battle in the divisional playoffs by crushing 10th-seeded Chula Vista Learning Community Charter, 18-4, in the first round before topping third-seeded Maranatha Christian, 6-2, in the second round.
The Lady Aztecs defeated fifth-seeded San Ysidro, 5-2, in the semifinals in an all-South Bay League match-up.
“Our goal was to make the playoffs and see what happens,” said varsity head coach Mario Tapia, who took over the program in October. “The rest would be a major accomplishment. We started clicking. The chemistry was there. Once we beat a couple of Division III teams — Serra and Mar Vista — the girls started to believe in themselves.”
Pitcher Victoria Acosta, who entered last Friday’s division championship game in a relief role, also proved to be the game’s hitting star with four RBI.
She went two-for-four in the game and drove in what proved to be the go-ahead runs with a single in the sixth inning as Montgomery erased a 6-5 deficit with five runs with the aid of two errors by the Red Hawks (15-5).
Four Montgomery players each had two hits in the game: Kylie Knight, Angie Allen, Karla Merino and Acosta. Allen had two RBI.
Acosta pitched the final six innings, yielding seven hits and four walks but struck out seven batters to hamper Mountain Empire’s comeback hopes.
“It was a great accomplishment by the team,” Montgomery athletic director Ed Martin said. “They came a long way from the start of the season, especially being so young with only two seniors.”
Rose Buel led the Red Hawks with two hits, including a home run, and two RBI.
SAN DIEGO SECTION
SOFTBALL CHAMPIONS
Open Division: (1) Mater Dei Catholic 5, (2) Rancho Bernardo 1. Records: Mater Dei Catholic 31-4; Rancho Bernardo 23-6
Division I: (1) Scripps Ranch 6, (2) San Marcos 5. Records: Scripps Ranch 22-11; San Marcos (16-12)
Division II: (3) Mission Hills 4, (5) San Pasqual 1. Records: Mission Hills 22-11; San Pasqual 24-11
Division III: (3) Mission Bay 3, (5) Central Union 2 (8 innings). Records: Mission Bay 19-6; Central Union 24-12
Division IV: (3) Mission Vista 2, (2) Canyon Crest Academy 1 (8 innings). Records: Mission Vista 18-9; Canyon Crest Academy 16-13
Division V: (2) Montgomery 10, (1) Mountain Empire 6. Records: Montgomery (15-12); Mountain Empire (17-5)
SAN DIEGO SECTION
BASEBALL CHAMPIONS
Open Division: (1) Eastlake 5, (3 (Poway) 3. Records: Eastlake 25-4-1; Poway 26-6
Division I: (11) Westview 1, (1) Grossmont 0. Records: Westview 12-21; Grossmont 18-14
Division II: (3) Sage Creek 14, (1) Classical Academy 1. Records: Sage Creek 30-5; Classical Academy 29-5
Division III: (4) Valhalla 6, (3) San Paaqual 5. Records: Valhalla 25-8; San Pasqual 22-11
Division IV: (1) Southwest 5, (3) Mt. Carmel 3. Records: Southwest 26-9; Mt. Carmel 16-16
Division V: (4) Morse 7, (6) Mt. Miguel 5. Records: Morse 20-11; Mt. Miguel 14-19
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
San Diego Section Open Division Baseball Championship:
Eastlake 5, Poway 3
Photo Gallery by Robert Bonilla
San Diego Section Division IV Baseball Championship:
Southwest 5, Mt. Carmel 3
