NBL baseball shocker: Maria Carrillo knocks off Windsor

The fourth-seeded Maria Carrillo baseball team pulled off a huge upset in the semifinals of the North Bay League-Oak postseason tournament on Wednesday, routing No. 1 seed Windsor 11-0 to advance to the tournament title game on Friday.

They’ll play at No. 2 seed Cardinal Newman (19-5), which beat No. 3 seed Ukiah 3-2 in the semifinals. The title game is set to start at 4 p.m.

The Pumas (11-13-1) took control of the game Wednesday with a four-run second inning and blew it open with a grand slam from Cooper Keys in a five-run sixth inning to upset The Press Democrat’s No. 1 team in the area. It’s the first time in three tries this season that Maria Carrillo has beaten Windsor (19-5).

The Jaguars secured the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a dramatic two-game sweep of Cardinal Newman last week.

On Wednesday, their normally explosive offense sputtered against Maria Carrillo ace Josh Volmerding. The junior lefty pitched a complete-game shutout with five hits, no walks and four strikeouts. It’s just the third time this season that Windsor has been shut out.

Offensively, the Pumas were relentless, piling up 14 hits, nearly a season high.

Cooper Wood had four hits and two RBIs, Carson Smith and Gio Lucchessi each had a pair of hits, Spencer Hubenette went 3 for 4, and Cooper Keys went 1 for 3 with a grand slam and four RBIs.

In the other Oak semifinal game, Cardinal Newman rallied late in its win over Ukiah.

Wildcats starter Luke Schat (six innings, three hits, three runs, one walk, six strikeouts) and Cardinals starter Mason Lerma (six innings, three hits, two runs, six strikeouts) were locked in a pitchers’ duel that had the score at 2-2 after five innings before Landen Rota reached on an error in the sixth that scored Brady Boyd from third for the game-winning run.

Jack Lazark fired a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts for the save. Blake Bryson had two hits with an RBI and Brady Boyd went 1 for 2 with a run to account for most of the Cardinals’ offense.

Ukiah (16-9) got a two-hit game from Trent Ford and a 1-for-3 outing from Caleb Ford in defeat.

In the NBL-Redwood tournament semifinals, top-seeded West County turned away No. 4 seed St. Vincent 5-3 and No. 2 seed Healdsburg defeated No. 3 seed Santa Rosa 8-1.

West County (19-5) will look to go 4-0 against the Greyhounds (16-9) this season in the title game at West County on Friday at 4 p.m.

On Wednesday, starting pitcher Luke Dillon threw a complete game with nine hits, two walks, two earned runs and five strikeouts while Jaren Brown went 3 for 3, Hunter Cassatt went 2 for 2 with and RBI and Miles Snodgrass had a pair of hits.

The Greyhounds got a strong two-way game from Ayden Herguth, who pitched 5⅔ innings of one-run ball with two strikeouts and two walks and went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double and three RBIs.

Gavin Valls added a double in a two-hit day with two RBIs.

Softball

Sonoma Valley scored seven runs in the sixth inning for a runaway 13-4 win over Justin-Siena 13-4 in their Vine Valley Athletic League finale on Tuesday.

The Dragons (7-15) blasted three home runs and racked up a season-high 18 hits.

Leading the hit parade were Kayla Amormino (3 for 4, triple, home run, three RBIs), Victoria Magnani (4 for 4, double, home run, two RBIs) and Gianna Chiotti (3 for 4, home run, three RBIs).

Petaluma came up short to Vintage 10-0 on Tuesday in VVAL play.

Karlie Bernich and Lily Gemma each had two hits and Mya Gonzalez doubled for the Trojans (12-8).