Notebook: Ukiah wrestling three-peats at NCS duals

Ukiah continued its dominant wrestling season on Saturday when it captured the Redwood Empire Division II title at the North Coast Section dual championships. It’s Ukiah’s third straight title in the event and fourth in the last five season.

The Wildcats were the top seed in the tournament and defeated Tamalpais (70-9) and NBL-Redwood champion Elsie Allen (74-6) before topping Del Norte (55-21) for the championship.

Casa Grande finished third overall and Windsor fourth in Division II.

Upper Lake won the Division III title, taking down two-time defending champion Willits in the championship.

Bats stay hot for SRJC baseball

The Santa Rosa Junior College baseball team bounced back from its first loss of the season in a big way, picking up a pair of 10-run wins over the last several days.

After losing the front end of the two-game series with Mission last Thursday, the Bear Cubs (4-1) routed Mission 11-1 to split the series Saturday and then blanked Contra Costa 10-0 on Tuesday.

Sonoma Valley grad Max Handron led the offensive onslaught against Contra Costa, going 2 for 6 with a double and three RBIs. Davide Migotto also doubled and drove in a pair. On the mound, Garrett James went five innings with three hits allowed and six strikeouts for the win and Daniel Smith slammed the door with eight strikeouts over the final four innings.

Against Mission, Maria Carrillo grad Connor Charpiot had himself a game, driving in four runs in a 4-for-5 outing that featured a home run and a double. Analy grad Noah Rabin also doubled and drove in three.

Charpiot also struck out a pair in three innings in relief of starter Jack Cazin, who went five innings with two hits, a run and three strikeouts for the win.

The Bear Cubs have totaled double-digits hits in all four of their wins. They’ll finish their two-game series at Contra Costa on Thursday.

Piner retires Tait’s jersey

Sarah Tait will go down as the greatest girls basketball player in Piner High history, which is why, even with three games remaining in the regular season, Piner retired her No. 11 jersey on Monday night. She’s the first girls basketball player to earn the honor in school history.

Tait’s list of accolades is extensive. She’s the all-time leading scorer in program history with 1,573 points and is the first girls player in school history to surpass 1,000-career points. She’s a four-time first-team all-league player and was twice named Piner High School Women’s Athlete of the Year.

As a senior, she’s averaging a career-best 24.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for the Prospectors (15-8), who will wrap up the regular season with three games this week.

Tait’s goal at the start of the season was to pass the boys scoring record of 1,651 points held by Luke Devenney. She needs to score 79 points to surpass that mark.

Sonoma Academy girls win soccer league

Sonoma Academy brought home the North Bay League-Redwood title last week as it pushed its league record to 8-0 with wins over West County (1-0) and Healdsburg (7-0).

On the season, the Coyotes are 13-0-2 overall, have outscored opponents 60-6 and appear poised to be a top-three seed in the NCS Division IV playoffs. Their two ties have come against Marin Academy (1-1) and University (1-1), who are also top-three Division IV teams in the NCS.

Rio Lindo king of Small School Bridge League

The Rio Lindo Adventist boys basketball team is in the midst of another incredible season. The Spartans are 18-5 overall and went 12-2 in the Small School Bridge League, earning the No. 2 seed for the league tournament that was set to start Tuesday.

Senior guard Landon Chamberlain leads the way offensively for the Spartans at 12.1 points and 4.2 steals per game. The Spartans have won 16 or more games in each of the last nine seasons. MaxPreps currently ranks them as the No. 10 Division VI team in the NCS.

Struggles continue for SRJC men’s hoops

After their 11-game winning streak came to an end just over a week ago, the Bear Cubs have struggled to string together wins.

On Tuesday, they fell 67-62 at Folsom Lake for their fourth loss in their last five games, dropping to 15-9 overall and 8-4 in the Big 8. Coupled with San Joaquin Delta’s win on Tuesday, that drops the Bear Cubs to third in the conference standings.

Aaron Porcil had 19 points and Garrett Siebels added 16 points to lead SRJC.

The Bear Cubs have four games remaining in conference play before the postseason begins. Three of those games will be at home, starting Friday when Diablo Valley (10-12, 5-5) comes to town.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.