Sacramento-area teams cap season with Northern California baseball, softball championships
It was a banner day for the final Sacramento-area teams competing on the final sporting day of the 2023-24 high school sports calendar.
Two area softball teams and three baseball teams won CIF Northern California regional championships Saturday afternoon, and one of them finished the season unbeaten.
There are no state finals for these sports, so this was it, the grand finale.
Seeded fourth in the Division III softball field, small-school Sutter rolled the host and No. 3 Dixon Rams 13-1 to cap a 30-0 season. It’s the second NorCal title for the Huskies in three seasons. Madison Schamanski drove in four runs. Guinaiya Ayuyu-Garcia and Morgan Heggstrom each had two RBI to lead the 17-hit attack for Sutter.
Boise State-bound senior Olivia Bauer tossed a four-hitter for Sutter, striking out eight and walking one, to finish 25-0.
Dixon finished 22-5.
Division I softball
Amador Valley 13, Oak Ridge 11: In a game that featured 31 hits, the No. 8 Dons of Pleasanton scored four runs in the seventh inning, three in the eighth and two in the ninth to win their first NorCal championship in beating the Sac-Joaquin Section D-I champions, seeded sixth and hosting in El Dorado Hills.
Kaylee Davis drove in five to lead Amador Valley. Emery Glaser, Gemma Almont, Carmen Montes de Oca and Kyden Walker each had two RBI for Oak Ridge, which finished 24-4 a week after winning a section-leading 12th championship.
Division II softball
Capital Christian 6, Willow Glen 0: The No. 8-seeded Cougars repeated as a NorCal champion, winning it at a lower division in 2023, and celebrated the final sporting event under the name Capital Christian, which opened in 1977.
Starting on Monday, the school will be formally known as Destiny Christian Academy after a church takeover, though the campus will remain off Highway 50 just before Rancho Cordova.
Bree Johnson and Haylie Alkire each drove in two runs. Sophomore star and 2023 Bee Player of the Year Ayla Tuua fired a two-hitter with nine strikeouts for the Cougars, who were ranked No. 1 by The Bee over the second half of the season and finished 26-3-1.
Capital Christian in 2023 was the only Sacramento-area softball or baseball team to win a NorCal banner. The third-seeded Rams of San Jose finished 24-8.
Division IV softball
Everett Alvarez 1, East Nicolaus 0: Jazzy Riemedio had an RBI double to drive in the only run. Dani Amendola struck out 11 with zero walks to lead the top-seeded Eagles of Salinas past the Spartans, who rolled second-seeded St. Helena 19-0 in a semifinal.
Division III baseball
Oakmont 10, Central Catholic 3: KC Tibbits, Cooper Kunis and Wyatt Pennman each had two RBI, Tibbets, Beau Ogles and Gabe Carrillo each scored two runs, and three pitchers combined to scatter six hits with five strikeouts as the top-seeded Vikings of Roseville won the program’s first NorCal title in downing the Raiders of Modesto.
This was a rematch of the section D-III title game, won by Oakmont 3-0.
Division IV baseball
Bradshaw Christian 6, Piedmont 0: Landon Carter and Micah Nicholson each drove in two runs, Gabe Viegas and Max Wolf had on RBI, and two pitchers combined to toss an eight-hitter with two walks and nine strikeouts as the No. 2 Pride beat the top-seeded Highlanders of Alameda County.
Bradshaw Christian finished 33-1 after winning 17 in a row to end the season. This is the second NorCal title in three seasons for the program, led by 10-time section championship coach Drew Rickert.
Rickert’s son, junior Ethan Rickert, was also the starting quarterback for his father in the fall. He had two hits and scored a run while striking out four and walking one in four innings of work.
Division V baseball
Woodland Christian 3, Menlo School 2: The No. 2-seeded Cardinals scored two in the first inning and one in the sixth to top the Knights of Atherton to cap a banner sports year.
The Yolo County school’s football team went 15-0 last fall and won a CIF state championship.
Jayden Badhesha had the Cardinals’ only RBI. Owen Tessier, Abreian Eredia and Keffrey Nannini each scored a run as the Cardinals won their eighth in a row to finish 26-4. Badhesha and Wyatt Trafican combined to strike out eight and walk three for the Cardinals.
For complete results and brackets, visit the CIF website.