Kylie Perez will play at UCLA next and is leading one of the Bay Area’s most potent offenses for No. 3 Alhambra softball team. New baseball No. 1 Archbishop Mitty, meanwhile, has been sparked all season by senior Luke Rasmussen. Photos: Courtesy of schools.
Mitty beats St. Francis for a second time and moves up to No. 1 in this week’s baseball rankings. Mitty softball, meanwhile, stays No. 2 behind unbeaten Amador Valley. We produce these rankings in support of the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area TV show, which airs live on KUSI Channel 20 in San Francisco on Sunday nights.
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Baseball: Mitty, College Park ascend to No. 1, No. 3
Joe Cahn of Archbishop Mitty and Brendon Chellar from College Park of Pleasant Hill had two clutch hits last week that ended up causing major changes in this week’s Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20.
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Cahn launched a home run in the top of the seventh before pitcher C.J. Romero got the last three outs in Mitty’s 2-1 win over St. Francis of Mountain View. Chellar had a two-out double in the bottom of the seventh to give College Park a 4-3 win over Clayton Valley of Concord.
Although St. Francis still has a slightly better overall record at 22-4 compared to 22-5 for Mitty, the Monarchs have now beaten the Lancers twice and have moved up to No. 1 in the region. Previous No. 1 St. Francis is now No. 2.
College Park, which also knocked off Clayton Valley earlier last week, has jumped from No. 7 to No. 3. The Eagles did not fall any further than No. 4 because they still own a head-to-head win over No. 5 Maria Carrillo of Santa Rosa. The Pumas have now won 18 in a row following huge wins last week over both Montgomery and Cardinal Newman.
Here is this week’s Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 (compiled by Mark Tennis; after games of Saturday, May 10; previous ranking in parentheses):
1. (4) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 22-5
2. (1) St. Francis (Mountain View) 22-4
3. (7) College Park (Pleasant Hill) 21-3
4. (2) Clayton Valley (Concord) 21-3
5. (5) Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa) 22-2
6. (3) Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) 21-6
7. (6) California (San Ramon) 17-5
8. (9) Campolindo (Moraga) 18-4
9. (8) Valley Christian (San Jose) 19-8
10. (10) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 16-6
11. (15) Leigh (San Jose) 21-6
12. (16) Serra (San Mateo) 16-10
13. (NR) San Benito (Hollister) 19-6
14. (14) De La Salle (Concord) 15-7*
15. (NR) San Leandro 17-6
16. (NR) Saratoga 18-8
17. (13) Los Gatos 23-7
18. (NR) Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 16-6
19. (11) Granada (Livermore) 14-8
20. (18) Newark Memorial (Newark) 16-6
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 12 Wilcox (Santa Clara); No. 17 Amador Valley (Pleasanton); No. 19 Tamalpais (Mill Valley); No. 20 Pacific Grove.
Teams On The Bubble:
Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 14-8, Drake (San Anselmo) 17-7, Foothill (Pleasanton) 13-9, Heritage (Brentwood) 15-7, Leland (San Jose) 19-8, Lincoln (San Jose) 22-2, Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 17-6, Monterey 17-8, Pacific Grove 18-5, Petaluma 18-6, Pinole Valley (Pinole) 17-6-1, Sequoia (Redwood City) 19-6-1, Watsonville 19-5, Wilcox (Santa Clara) 19-8.
Softball: All about Alhambra
(Writeup by Harold Abend)
The Cal-Hi Sports Caravan’s reputation as Mr. Kibosh almost put the mojo on No. 3 and state No. 6 Alhambra of Martinez just by contemplating attending the Bulldogs game with visiting St. Patrick-St. Vincent.
The Bulldogs, who took third place in the Michelle Carew Classic, have turned some heads this season.
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco with replays during the week on Comcast SportsNet. To order DVDs of a show, CLICK HERE.
“You guys have us properly ranked but after how we’ve played I can’t understand those other rankings,” said Alhambra head coach Paul Buccellato.
The trip never materialized but the call to Buccellato to ask for game details to feature his girls this week almost sent shock waves through the cell towers and toppled them from the rankings.
The hosts were a little sloppy on defense and against a St. Pat’s team that only lost 2-0 to state No. 5 Vacaville it almost spelled doom in what turned out to be a 5-4 victory.
Alhambra fell behind 2-0 before junior Brigham Young-committed catcher Courtney Kelly hit her fifth home run of the season to cut it to 2-1. The visitors scored two more runs in the top of the fifth before the explosive Bulldogs scored four runs in the bottom of the frame to pretty much seal the deal.
St. Mary’s-commit Hailey Sparacino was hit by a pitch to open the inning. UCLA-bound star Kylie Perez then singled. Freshman and Oregon-committed Karlee Sparacino then singled home her sister, who incidentally leads the team with six home runs. Cal State Bakersfield-bound Nicole Curry then singled in Perez. Kelly then grounded out but got an RBI when Karlee Sparacino crossed the plate. The final run came when sophomore Cara Dimercurio tripled to drive in Curry.
“I’ve been coaching a long time, and Amador’s (Johanna) Grauer is the best pitcher in the nation, but I think I’ve got the best hitting team I’ve ever seen,” said Buccellato, who has been coaching 15 years at Alhambra, with the last five as head coach with one CIFNCS title and five league titles.
“All my girls from one to nine hit the ball, and I have eight girls that have hit home runs and seven are multiple,” remarked Buccellato, a 20-year travel ball veteran who’s coached the NorCal Shockers 18 Gold team the past nine years.
Besides the six previously mentioned college-bound players, Buccellato has Kylie’s little sister and UCLA-committed freshman Briana Perez tearing it up as well with a .411 average with four home runs.
Because Alhambra is a D3 school that has petitioned up to Division II, it won’t get a chance to face Amador Valley again or defending Division I champion James Logan in the North Coast Section playoffs.
Here is this week’s Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 for softball (compiled by Harold Abend & Mark Tennis; previous ranking in parentheses; after games of Saturday, May 10):
1. (1) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 22-0
2. (2) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 25-1
3. (3) Alhambra (Martinez) 20-2
4. (5) James Logan (Union City) 20-2
5. (6) Leland (San Jose) 20-3
6. (4) Valley Christian (San Jose) 18-6
7. (8) Pioneer (San Jose) 20-4
8. (9) Carlmont (Belmont) 21-3
9. (12) Foothill (Pleasanton) 14-8
10. (7) Granada (Livermore) 15-7
11. (19) Notre Dame (Salinas) 20-3
12. (10) San Benito (Hollister) 17-4-1
13. (13) Livermore 11-11
14. (14) Salesian (Richmond) 13-1
15. (15) St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo) 21-4
16. (16) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 14-8
17. (18) Heritage (Brentwood) 16-4
18. (20) Presentation (San Jose) 20-6
19. (11) Carondelet (Concord) 10-11
20. (17) Newark Memorial (Newark) 16-6
Dropped Out:
None.
Teams On the Bubble
California (San Ramon) 7-14; Castro Valley 16-7; Los Altos 18-7; Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 13-3; Monte Vista (Danville) 10-11; Notre Dame (Belmont) 15-10; Petaluma 18-6; Redwood (Larkspur) 16-5; San Leandro 13-7; San Marin (Novato) 12-6; Santa Rosa 14-5; Saratoga 16-9; Soquel 15-8.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
