Brett Kay doesn’t care that bunting in Major League Baseball has gone the way of the rotary telephone. Yes, it occasionally shows up in MLB games, but Kay, the baseball coach at JSerra, continues to believe it has a place in high school baseball.
His team bunted five times in five innings on Tuesday in its season opener against host Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Runners kept moving around and being put in scoring positions. The Lions, aided by four hit batters, didn’t miss out on their scoring opportunities in a 7-2 victory. Shane D’Arcy had two RBIs and Jordan Marian had two hits.
Josh Hollis, an Oregon commit, struck out four in four innings. Even more impressive was relief pitcher Otto Graham, who gave up one hit and no runs in three dominant innings.
Vista Murrieta 7, Anaheim Canyon 1: Gavin Kramer and Brady Luyben each had three hits and Derrick Kraus had a three-run double in Vista Murrieta’s win.
Harvard-Westlake 1, Cypress 0: Junior Evan Alexander struck out four with no walks and no runs through five innings and junior Jake Chung finished off the shutout. Cypress had the tying run on third base in the bottom of the seventh but a squeeze bunt didn’t work. Ivan Rootman drove in the game’s only run in the fourth. Jack Laffitte had two hits for the Wolverines.
Sierra Canyon 3, Gahr 0: Super sophomore Sean Parrow was impressive on the mound, striking out six, walking none and yielding two hits in five scoreless innings. Andrew Nelson had two hits and two RBIs.
Long Beach Millikan 2, Citrus Valley 1: Daunte Bell struck out 10 in five innings for Millikan.
El Dorado 8, Aliso Niguel 0: Jake Vanderzee hit a grand slam and Julian Rodriguez threw five shutout innings for El Dorado.
Villa Park 5, Santa Fe 0: Jake Nobles struck out 10 and went three for three to lead Villa Park.
Softball
Norco 6, Mater Dei 3: Leighton Gray had a home run and three RBIs to lead Norco.
Newbury Park 7, Chaminade 4: Hanna Porter hit a grand slam for Newbury Park.
