As the clouds cleared Saturday morning, letting the sun come through for the opening day of high school baseball, Calabasas pitcher Jordan Kingston stood on the mound perhaps asking himself where he could hide after two hit batters and an error in the first inning left him with the bases loaded and none out against El Camino Real.
Coach Thomas Cassidy, who is as laid back as they come, slowly walked to the mound for a quick talk. All the excitement of opening day and playing against your former youth baseball rivals had Kingston too amped.
“He said, ‘Calm down and play catch,’” Kingston said.
Kingston proceeded to get two strikeouts and a groundout to escape the inning. He’d retire 11 in a row and strike out 10 in 6 1/3 innings with no walks in a 3-1 victory over El Camino Real and star left-handed pitcher Oscar Lopez.
“A little nervous at the beginning but once I settled in, it was good,” said Kingston, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound junior right-hander.
Nate Castellon hit a home run in the first inning for Calabasas and Matthew Witkow had an RBI single. Beating Lopez is always an accomplishment. He had seven strikeouts and one walk in six innings.
Trabuco Hills 1, Garden Grove Pacifica 0: Noah Barrett and Gavin Madrid combined for the two-hit shutout. Ryan Luce went two for two.
Birmingham 9, La Cañada 0: Gavin Taylor went four for four with two doubles to power the Patriots. Vince Cervantes and JB Dalumpines each had three hits.
Westlake 10, Chatsworth 2: Nolan Johnson contributed two hits and two RBIs for Westlake.
Oaks Christian 5, St. Francis 4: Finley Buckner had a walk-off triple for the Lions in the seventh.
Los Alamitos 6, Palos Verdes 0: Wyatt Madison hit a two-run home run and Jake Evans finished with two hits and two RBIs.
Arcadia 9, Damien 1: Ian Hoffstetter struck out nine in five innings for Arcadia.
Chaminade 3, Bishop Amat 0: Miles Ghossein threw 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball for Chaminade and Greg Rangel had two hits.
Cleveland 5, Camarillo 2: Kevin Vazquez had two RBIs for Cleveland.
Burbank 4, Sylmar 3: Freshman Alex Martinez struck out six in five innings for Sylmar.
South Hills 10, Don Lugo 3: Sterling Patrick struck out 10 in four innings for South Hills and Oregon State commit Paul Vasquez hit two home runs and finished with five RBIs.
Taft 3, Viewpoint 2: The Toreadors won on a walk-off hit.
Hart 9, Paraclete 3: Troy Cooper struck out eight in four innings for Hart.
Oxnard Pacifica 9, San Fernando 5: Javier Alvarez had two hits and two RBIs for the Tigers.
Agoura 5, Saugus 3: Will Michelman had two hits and two RBIs for Agoura.
Beckman 4, Brea Olinda 3: Isaiah Kapur delivered a walk-off double for Beckman.
El Rancho 1, Royal 0: Justin Cardenas threw a two-hit shutout.
Long Beach Poly 1, Laguna Beach 0: Lucas Scott threw the nine-inning shutout for the Jackrabbits.
Capistrano Valley 2, San Juan Hills 1: Owen Geiss threw five shutout innings for Capistrano Valley.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6, Stockdale 2: Oliver Boone struck out seven in three shutout innings and Justin Lee struck out eight in four innings for the Knights.
Moorpark 4, Sun Valley Poly 1: Jacob Shannon-Wilkerson had three hits for Moorpark.
Narbonne 10, Verdugo Hills 0: Vandross Callahan had eight strikeouts in four innings for Narbonne.
Great Oak 7, King 1: Braden Wauschek struck out four and walked none in five shutout innings for Great Oak.
Quartz Hill 8, Granada Hills 1: Logan Reddemann had nine strikeouts and no walks to lead Quartz Hill.
Santa Monica 0-1, South Torrance 1-0: Santa Monica split the doubleheader, getting a combined shutout from Sean Bowker and Colin Jones in the nightcap.
West Ranch 9, Rio Mesa 2: Sophomore Landon Hu and junior Brett Ishikawa each had three RBIs for West Ranch.
Thousand Oaks 1, Ventura 0: Steven Gormley and Cole Blommer combined for the shutout. Grant Rodriguez drove in the only run.
Softball
Villa Park 5, La Palma Kennedy 1: Auddrey Lira completed a doubleheader sweep for the Spartans, striking out six. Earlier Villa Park defeated San Juan Hills 12-1. Claire Duckworth had three hits.
Norco 3, Los Alamitos 0: Marley Goluskin struck out seven in the victory.
Esperanza 2, Garden Grove Pacifica 1: Jenna Gober drove in the winning run in an opening upset. Mia Sanchez struck out seven.
