It’s not every day that umpires decide a player used an illegal bat in a high school baseball game, so Wednesday’s Mission League game between host Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Sierra Canyon began with a bang. A Sierra Canyon batter in the first inning was declared out after the umpires inspected the aluminum bat following an appeal from Notre Dame.
Sierra Canyon coach Tom Meusborn had a brief discussion with the umpires but their decision was not reversed. The bat apparently had a crack, which caused a strange sound. So began a sometimes tense, nearly four-hour game for second place in the Mission League.
Sierra Canyon scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a one-run lead, keyed by an RBI double from Brayden Goldstein and a bases loaded walk. In the bottom of the seventh, the Knights received two walks with one out. Sierra Canyon brought in sophomore pitcher Milo Benattar, who got a fly out and force play to save a 3-2 victory.
Sierra Canyon is 8-3 in league and Notre Dame 7-4.
Harvard-Westlake 12, St. Francis 1: The Wolverines, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section power rankings, received home runs and four RBIs each from James Tronstein and Ira Rootman. Evan Alexander struck out 10 in 4 1/3 innings.
Chaminade 7, Crespi 0: Jackson Schroeder struck out 11 and gave up one hit. Isaiah Hearn and Robby Morgan each hit home runs.
Loyola 11, Bishop Alemany 4: Bobby Rapp had three hits to lead the Cubs.
Simi Valley 8, Royal 3: The Pioneers handed their rivals a first Coastal Canyon League defeat. Ryan Whiston had three hits, including two doubles.
Garfield 3, Bell 1: The Bulldogs improved to 7-0 in the Eastern League with a nine-inning win, possibly locking up a City Section Open Division playoff spot. Michael Santillan broke the 1-1 tie with an RBI single in the ninth.
Cypress 1, Foothill 0: Jake DeLaquil had the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning. Drew Slevcove struck out 13 in eight scoreless innings. Landon Smith pitched the final two innings for Cypress. Caden Lauridsen threw nine scoreless innings for Foothill.
St. John Bosco 6, Servite 3: Brayden Krakowski threw four innings of scoreless relief. Aaron Garcia had two RBIs.
Mater Dei 8, JSerra 5: Jack Reis hit a home run and Ezekiel Lara, Jaxon Olmstead and Emilio Young each had two hits for Mater Dei.
King 4, Corona Centennial 1: Eli Lipson had a two-run double and Jason Jones threw a complete game.
Corona 17, Eastvale Roosevelt 5: Adrian Ruiz had three hits and four RBIs.
Norco 3, Corona Santiago 2: After a scoreless game for five innings, Norco broke through for three runs in the sixth. Marcus Blanton had a two-run single. Santiago scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh before Jordan Ayala got the final out on a strikeout.
El Dorado 1, La Habra 0: Juilian Rodriguez struck out five and walked none in throwing the shutout. Brady Abner drove in the winning run in the sixth.
Gahr 9, Warren 1: Bryce Morrison gave up one run in five innings with six strikeouts and Andres Gonzalez had two hits and three RBIs.
San Clemente 2, Aliso Niguel 1: Easton Muraira threw a complete game for the Tritons.
Huntington Beach 4, Los Alamitos 2: Jared Grindlinger struck out eight in five innings.
Rancho Christian 10, Hillcrest 0: Jake Brande struck out 12 in five innings and gave up one hit. Hudson Abbe and Sean Downs each hit home runs.
Bishop Amat 4, La Salle 2: Joaquin Ortiz went three for three.
Ayala 13, Diamond Bar 3: Easton Sarmiento finished with three hits and Dylan Wood added two hits and two RBIs.
Oaks Christian 2, Agoura 1: Justin Baird struck out eight in six innings for Oaks Christian. Carson Sheffer had two hits.
Mira Costa 7, West Torrance 1: Caden Ceman finished with three hits.
Torrance 4, Palos Verdes 3: Tessei Magori delivered a walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Softball
Norco 15, Corona Centennial 0: Peyton May gave up one hit and struck out 10 with no walks and Camryn May contributed three RBIs.
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