NCS playoff roundup: Ukiah baseball stuns top-seeded Marin Catholic

Ninth-seeded Ukiah pulled off a stunning road upset on Saturday in a North Coast Section Division 2 baseball quarterfinal with a 1-0 win over powerhouse No. 1 Marin Catholic.

“This was a huge upset. It proves how good Ukiah is,” Wildcats (18-9) coach Aaron Ford said. “We are playing really good baseball right now. It shows that pitching and defense wins games.”

Ukiah will play in a semifinal Wednesday at 5 p.m. at No. 4 Casa Grande.

Against Marin Catholic (21-4), Ukiah hurler Austin Ford was on the hill for the entire game and surrendered no runs, only three hits and struck out four.

“Austin’s game plan was pretty good — he was mixing his pitches up. He kept Marin Catholic (Kentfield) off-balance. He was very efficient,” the coach said. “They hit a lot of fly balls and ground balls and we took care of business on defense.”

The coach credited Ukiah catcher Kanyon Loflin for calling a great came behind the plate and third baseman Kessler Koch for making four outstanding plays at third base.

The Wildcats got all the offense they needed in the first inning when Ethan Holbrook drove home Trenton Ford from third with a two-out, RBI single for the 1-0 lead.

“That hit made it 1-0; that’s all we needed to win. We are playing good, clean baseball right now,” coach Ford said. “Our guys made stellar plays on defense — just phenomenal stuff.”

Marin Catholic had four singles in the second inning but came away with no runs thanks to getting a runner picked off at first and a runner thrown out at third.

Wildcats starter Alex Saavedra (6⅓ innings, one run, two hits, five strikeouts) suffered the tough-luck loss.

Credo 16, Ferndale 4

In a NCS Division 6 semifinal, the No. 2 Gryphons (12-9) dismantled the visiting No. 3 Wildcats (9-10) with an offensive explosion led by Jelani Mason’s six RBIs. In addition, Mason had two hits (double, triple), a walk, was hit by a pitch and scored two runs.

“Jelani is the strongest player on the team and our team MVP,” Credo coach John Aliotti said. “He did his senior project on power hitting. Tonight, he was just crushing line drives.”

The biggest hit for Mason was a bases-clearing double in the first inning to give Credo a 3-0 lead.

Credo would add two more runs in the first, two in the second, three in the third and six in the fourth for the 16-run outburst. The game was called after the top of the fifth due to the 10-run mercy rule.

“Our hitting tonight was really on,” Aliotti said. “A lot of opposite-field hitting. We were smart at the plate.”

Credo’s Tony Del Toro (1-1, four runs, RBI) got on base four times, similar to Mason.

Gryphons starter Phoenix Lindner earned the win by going three innings and giving up one run.

“Phoenix was just keeping the ball down in the zone,” Aliotti said. “When he was striking them out, they were not making loud contact.”

Credo plays in the championship game at No. 1 St. Bernard (Eureka) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We are really going to have to be smart to beat them. We need to minimize mistakes,” Aliotti said. “We might have to play small-ball to win the game.”

Softball

Cardinal Newman 9, Piedmont 0

The host No. 4 Cardinals (15-3) easily defeated the No. 5 Highlanders (18-7) in an NCS Division 4 quarterfinal. Cardinal Newman starter Callie Howard went the distance and pitched the shutout while only surrendering three hits.

“Howard threw great today. She had her drop-ball and rise-ball working well,” Cardinal Newman coach Bill Vreeland said. “She commanded the plate on both sides and up and down. She had all of her pitches working today. She did a good job keeping them off-balance.”

Cardinal Newman took a 1-0 lead in the first after Paytin Salfi (3-4, HR, triple, RBI, three runs) went yard to left field.

“It was a no-doubter,” Vreeland said of the homer. “It kind of broke the drought. The home run was a huge momentum swing because it gave us the advantage.”

Cardinal Newman added five runs in the fourth for a 6-0 lead and the game was effectively over. The big hit in the fourth was a two-out, two-run double by Ava Walters (1-4, two RBI).

Other hitting stars for the Cardinals were Howard (2-4, double, two RBI, two runs); MacKenzie Dennis (2-3, double, two RBI, two runs); and Sarah Khoury (2-3).

Izzy Epstein, the Highlanders ace, was knocked around for six runs and 10 hits in four innings.

“We just hit well today. Epstein is a good pitcher,” Vreeland said. “We did a couple of things during the week to anticipate the velocity she was going to bring. We worked on our timing.”

Cardinal Newman moves on to a semifinal at No. 1 McKinleyville on Wednesday at 5 p.m. McKinleyville knocked the Cardinals out in a semifinal game in NCS Division 4 playoffs in 2019.

Fort Bragg 3, St. Vincent 2

In an NCS Division 4 quarterfinal, the visiting No. 6 Mustangs (21-7) put up a good fight on a cold and windy day but came up just short versus the No. 3 Timberwolves (22-4) to end their season.

Both teams had three errors in a sloppy defensive game. However, the errors did not lead to any unearned runs for either team.

“We definitely didn’t capitalize on our opportunities. We left some runners on base,” St. Vincent coach Morgan Selmi said. “It wasn’t our best defense and I’m sure Fort Bragg would say the same.”

St. Vincent trailed 2-0 but got two runs in the third to tie the score. The Mustangs got RBI singles from Maddie Badaglia (1-4) and Sofia Romano (1-3) in the inning.

The tie was short-lived, however, as Fort Bragg took the lead for good with a solo run in the fifth inning against St. Vincent starter Sophia Skubic (seven innings, three runs, six hits, eight strike outs).

“Sophia had a good game. She did the best she could under the circumstances,” Selmi said. “That kid was so solid for us all year.”

Fort Bragg’s Cassiti Baroni was the star for the Timberwolves, throwing a seven-inning game, giving up two runs on seven hits and striking out 12. She also was 3-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run at the plate.

“That girl (Baroni) has got some game. She is a ballplayer,” Selmi said. “It has been such a pleasure to be the St. Vincent girls coach. I am so proud of this team. I couldn’t ask for anything more from a team.”