The Hilltop Lolita’s tournament is regarded as one of the toughest early season high school baseball tournaments to win in San Diego County, and the Santana Sultans did just that after topping the Cathedral Catholic Dons, 6-1, to capture the championship title last Saturday at Hilltop High School.
Tyler Glowacki tossed a five-hitter to pick up the win for Santana, which improved to 5-1 following victories in the tournament against fifth-ranked Poway, fourth-ranked Cathedral Catholic and ninth-ranked La Costa Canyon.
Tyler Fitzgerald drove in three runs while teammate Davin Burroughs singled in a pair of runners to buttress the Sultans offensively.
Eight teams participated in this year’s event, which took place over the last two weeks.
Besides the aforementioned teams, Hilltop, Bonita Vista, Granite Hills and Rancho Buena Vista also participated.
Teams played five round-robin games; the two teams with the best records met in the championship game.
Bonita Vista finished 3-2 in its five games while Hilltop was 1-4. Granite Hills and LCC both finished 3-2 in tournament play while RBV finished 2-3 and Poway finished 0-5.
“The Hilltop Lolita’s tournament shows where you are going to be,” Hilltop head coach Kurt Gritts said. “It’s one of the toughest tournaments in the county, and one of the oldest.”
The Lancers picked up their first win of the season after defeating RBV, 5-1, on Feb. 29.
Junior Kyle Chapman went three-for-three with two singles, a double and three runs scored while senior Alex Guerrero drove in two runs. Junior Joshua Lopez, senior Alex Chacon and senior Xavier Gonzalez each had one RBI.
Chacon started on the mound and pitched five innings while scattering three hits. He struck out eight batters while issuing just one walk.
“The kids played well,” Gritts said. “We threw well. We had a couple key hits at the right time. We played good defense.”
Hilltop’s other tournament losses came against Santana (5-2 on Feb. Feb. 25), Granite Hills (8-1 on Feb. 27), LCC (11-1 on March 3) and Cathedral Catholic (11-4 on March 5).
The Lancers opened play Monday in the GMC (Grossmont-Metro-City Conference) tournament with a 2-1 win over visiting El Capitan.
Pool play in the GMC tournament continues through March 18, followed by the annual San Diego Lions tournament April 6-9.
Hilltop opens Mesa League play with a two-game series against Montgomery March 24-26. Montgomery head coach Manny Hermosillo picked up his milestone 700th career coaching victory in the Aztecs’ season-opening 8-1 win over the San Diego Cavers on Feb. 24.
Hermosillo has since upped his win count to 701 following a 2-4 start to the season.
“The Mesa League is going to be solid,” Gritts said. “Hopefully we can get a few wins and make it into the playoffs. That’s our goal every year — to make the playoffs.”
Hilltop returns seven players. Gonzalez, Guerrero and Dominick Carlucci — all seniors — are being counted on as team leaders this season.
“We can be as good as the kids want to be,” Gritts said. “We have some senior leadership. We have some young guys who are ready. Right now we’re trying to find where to put guys and play guys.”
Junior Kellen Ince scored Hilltop’s lone run in the loss to Granite Hills. The Lancers used three pitchers in that contest: Gonzalez, freshman Efren Sanchez and junior Chay Esqueda.
Senior Clay Fordham picked up the win by hurling six shutout innings with four hits and eight strikeouts.
Senior Ryan Fenn had two hits, including a triple, and drove in two runs while Austin Smith also had two RBI.
Eagles head coach James Davis said his team is a mix of senior returners and young talent.
“We’ve got a couple new kids,” Davis said. “We’ve got a lot of returning players. Pitching should be one of our strengths.
“Our goal is always to win the Open Division championship. It’s something to go for — to be one of the elite teams in San Diego County.”
The Eagles will grow for the future with sophomores at catcher, third base, first base and right field.
The Granite Hills coach concurred with Gritts’ assessment of the Hilltop Lolita’s tournament.
“It tells you where you’ll be later in the season,” Davis said. “It’s one of the toughest tournaments to win. It tests your pitching.
“If we can play well against teams of this caliber, making the playoffs should be a little easier.”
Bonita Vista improved to 4-2 following Monday’s 6-4 win at Patrick Henry.
Early season leaders for the Barons include sophomore Anthony Lovato and Cameron Barbabosa with respective .571 and .429 hitting averages.
Junior Nicholas Huey (1-0, 1.62 ERA) has struck out 14 batters in 13 innings to start the season.
Titan-ic start
Defending San Diego Section Open Division champion Eastlake ran the table at the season opening Aztec-Foothiller tournament with a 6-0 record, topping Metro Conference rival San Ysidro, 14-3, in last Saturday’s championship game.
The Titans, who finished 26-4-1 last season, defeated West Hills (9-1 on Feb. 24), Coronado (5-3 on Feb. 26), Helix (7-4 on Feb. 28), Vista (3-2 on March 2) and Valhalla (13-3 on March 4) to earn a date opposite the Cougars in the tournament final.
Early season leaders for Eastlake include senior Nick Maldonado with a .500 hitting average and seven RBI, junior Nico Vallarelli with a .438 hitting average and five RBI and senior Jordan Waller with a .412 hitting average and five RBI.
Junior Ray Cebulski is hitting .364 while freshman Isaiah Lane is hitting .312 with five runs scored.
In the power department, junior Marcelo Mayer is hitting .294 with two doubles three home runs and six RBI.
Seniors Jacob Saldana (1-0), Zach Armstrong (0-0, one save) and Josh Smith (0-0) have yet to allow an earned run in nine combined pitching appearances.
Cebulski (1-0, 1.26 ERA) leads the team with 11 strikeouts in 16.2 innings pitched while classmate Ethan Cashetta is 1-0 with a 2.10 ERA with eight strikeouts in 10 innings of work.
Senior Dante Schmid is 2-0 with a 2.10 earned-run average.
San Ysidro finished 4-2 in the tournament with wins over Steele Canyon (6-2 on Feb. 26), San Diego (9-0 on Feb. 28), Valhalla (14-1 on March 2) and Grossmont (7-5 on March 4) losses to Monte Vista (3-2 on Feb. 24) and Eastlake.
The Cougars improved to 7-2 on the season after clubbing host Serra, 14-0, in Monday’s GMC tournament game.
Junior Emmanuel Alvarado drove in four runs while senior Emmanuel Duron picked up the win.
Team leaders include junior Sebastian Diaz (.458 hitting average, six RBI), senior Guillermo Guzman (.409 hitting average, five RBI), senior Erick Ordonez (.387 hitting average, four doubles, two triples, five RBI), senior Alejandro Gudino (.375 hitting average, four doubles, five RB), and senor Carlo Rios (.346 hitting average, five doubles, eight RBI).
Junior Jesus Tellez is 3-0 with a 0.93 earned-run average and 17 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched.
