by Oren Abrahams, staff writer
Despite a spirited comeback against De La Salle in the season finale, Cal’s baseball team couldn’t carry that momentum into the NCS playoffs.
Cal lost 2-0 after Bishop O’Dowd’s Joe Ross silenced Grizzly batters with a one-hitter in the opening round of NCS on May 25.
A packed home crowd, which included several professional scouts, couldn’t help the Grizzlies touch Ross’ fastball, which topped out at 96 mph.
Ross, a senior flamethrower who was voted the state’s top pitcher and is first-team All American, is expected to be a first round draft pick during the upcoming Major League Baseball draft. He struck out nine Grizzlies in the game.
Despite a single up the middle by Travis Roberts in the bottom of the fifth inning and two walks to senior Steven Moen, Ross was perfect. His efforts unfortunately overshadowed a great game by senior pitcher Evan Brisentine, who struck out 11 batters and gave up only four hits in the pitchers duel.
“It was a heavyweight bout between two great teams,” said Evan.
Evan, who will be attending Santa Clara University on a baseball scholarship, allowed two unearned runs to get the loss against O’Dowd. The Dragons scored its two runs early in the game after a couple of Cal errors.
“It just came down to which team made the least mistakes,” Evan said.
Evan finished his senior year 7-1 with a .99 era. He pitched 77 innings and struck out 85 batters. He was a key player for Cal’s success this season.
Cal (15-10 overall, 9-5 EBAL) finished the season second place in the EBAL after beating De La Salle in the regular season finale on May 20.
In that game, senior Nick Tyrrel hit a three-run home run to help Cal cut into a 5-0 deficit and make the game 5-4.
“It felt great to come up clutch and get that huge momentum changer,” said Nick.
Cal then went on a tear in the seventh inning and eventually took the lead after scoring four runs to win the game, 8-5.
Softball
After an amazing season on the diamond, the Grizzlies could only come away with one win in NCS playoffs.
No. 7 seeded Cal beat Livermore 5-4 on May 26 in the first round of NCS, but had to come back the next day to face No. 2 Amador Valley in the quarterfinals.
Despite an intense pitching duel, Cal lost 1-0 to end its playoff run. Freshman Lindsey Chalmers pitched six innings of scoreless relief after Amador scored in the first inning.
The ladies were forced to play on consecutive days because their opener against Livermore was rain delayed until May 26.
Cal (18-7 overall) was heavily favored in the opener but needed a late rally to advance.
Junior Taylor Duffy doubled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning when sophomore Joelle Williams scored from first base. Lindsey got the win by pitching five strong innings.
– Luke Finkel
Women’s Lacrosse
Cal High’s lacrosse team finished another excellent season by coming up just short in the NCS semifinals against league rival Foothill.
The No. 3 seeded Grizzlies lost to No. 2 Foothill 8-7 on May 25.
“Our team executed our game plan almost to perfection and we had a chance to tie with less than two minutes to go,” said coach Scott Corso. “A few more bounces went Foothill’s way. If those bounces go our way, it would have been a different result.”
After receiving a first-round bye, Cal beat No. 6 Amador 13-7 to advance to semis.
“Overall the team did great this year,” said junior Jenna Herana. “We played as a team and worked so well together every time we stepped on to the field.”
Cal (14-8 overall, 10-6 EBAL) was proud of its season and playoff run.
“I am so proud of our team’s effort and dedication shown throughout the season,” said Corso.
– Sierra Rainbolt
