NCS roundup: Granada (baseball), SRV, College Park (softball) reach finals
Clayton Valley Charter's Josiah Morris opened the home half of the first inning Tuesday with a home run to left field.
Turns out, it was the only hit the Ugly Eagles would get in this North Coast Section Division I baseball semifinal.
Granada junior Braden Makley held second-seeded Clayton Valley hitless the rest of the way as the Matadors advanced to the championship game with a 3-1 victory.
The Livermore school will play top-seeded De La Salle in the final on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Saint Mary's College.
It'll be a rematch of an epic 14-inning, two-day, two-venue championship game between the teams that Granada won two years ago.
De La Salle captured the title last season.
Makley led Granada back to the final on Tuesday, striking out eight and walking one in a complete-game gem for the sixth-seeded Matadors.
Jack Badger's double to right drove in Luke Creeden to tie the score in the third. Joseph Holt's fly out to center later in the inning knocked in Tyler Palma to give the Matadors a 2-1 lead.
Granada extended the margin to 3-1 when Holt's double to center brought home Badger.
The Matadors improved to 19-8.
Clayton Valley fell to 23-4. The Ugly Eagles will play Redwood for third place and the Division I bracket's final NorCal spot.
Division III
No. 5 James Logan 10, No. 1 Las Lomas 4:James Logan scored seven in the visitor's half of the first and went on to build a 10-run lead as the Colts coasted into the final with an upset of the division's top seed.
Calvin Aguilar had three hits, scored three runs and knocked in one, Westley Vega homered and had two RBIs and Colton Stevens drove in two and had one hit to lead the Colts.
Noah Metzger and Kyler Christensen each had two hits for Las Lomas, which dropped to 14-12.
Logan is 17-10.
No. 3 Pittsburg 4, No. 7 San Marin 3 (9 innings): Pittsburg will be looking to win its first section title in school history after BYU commit JJ Robinson hit a walk-off single in the ninth inning to lift the Pirates to a win at home over San Marin.
Senior Santino Valle pitched 6 ⅓ innings and struck out eight while allowing two earned runs in a gritty victory.
Pittsburg, which lost six of its final seven league games to end the season, will play James Logan in the championship game.
SOFTBALL
Division I
No. 2 San Ramon Valley 5, No. 3 Livermore 4: An incredibly even game between two East Bay powers turned on Natalie Sun's RBI single in the fifth.
It proved to be the game-winner after both teams scored four runs in the third inning. Livermore (25-3) took the initial lead when Grace Phillips doubled home Eliza Gerochi, then Gianna Willes hit a three-run homer to left, scoring Phillips and Laine Macosky.
SRV (22-6) responded with Natalie Sun's three-run double to center that scored Gia Ryan, Charlie Callison and Addie Layous. Then Kennedy Spatz tied it up with a single to center, scoring Sun.
Kymber Dao led off the top of the seventh with a single and advanced to third after a sac bunt and a groundout, then Macosky walked to put the potential winning run on base.
But Lila McLeod got Willes to ground out to first, ending the threat and the game in Danville.
McLeod went all seven innings with four earned runs allowed on seven hits, scattering three walks against three strikeouts.
Livermore pitcher Kaci Norton went the distance as well, throwing six frames with five unearned runs allowed on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Livermore committed four errors.
San Ramon Valley will face College Park for the NCS championship on Friday at Saint Mary's College. Livermore visits Alameda in the third-place game for the division's final berth to the CIF NorCal regional playoffs next week.
No. 4 College Park 3, No. 1 Alameda 1:College Park took the lead with two runs in the first inning, and that was enough to move the Falcons into the championship game.
The visitors added one more run in the fourth to stretch the advantage to three before Alameda scored its only run an inning later.
Alexis Weiler had a triple among her two hits and an RBI and Elle Osborne and Mia Pfeiffer had two hits and knocked in a run apiece for College Park, which will play San Ramon Valley for the title on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Saint Mary's College.
Savannah Wilson struck out nine in a complete-game victory.
Molly Cho homered for Alameda, which will play at home on Saturday against Livermore for third place and a spot in next week's NorCal tournament.
Division IV
No. 9 Berean Christian 9, No. 12 Analy 8: Berean Christian survived a hectic seventh inning at Concord High to advance to the D-IV championship game.
Analy (11-13) scored five times in the top half to take an 8-6 lead and extend the game, but the Eagles (17-6-1) responded by scoring three times in the bottom half to walk it off.
Isabella Tafoya had the winning hit, singling to Analy shortstop Aurora Diggs to score Aurora Diggs. Delaney Smith's two-run double tied the game in the previous at-bat.
Leila Rhoads led off the inning with a double to center, Izzy Herrera then singled and Sierra Talbot reached on a bunt single to load the bases.
Analy never recorded an out in the bottom of the frame.
No. 3 Newark Memorial 7, No. 7 Archie Williams 5: Newark Memorial built a 5-4 lead after three innings, added insurance runs in the fourth and fifth and held Archie Williams to just one in the seventh to reach the D-IV title game.
Addyson Waterhouse navigated some serious traffic to close out the game, stranding two runners in scoring position to finish off the seventh. She finished with one earned run on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
The Cougars (18-7) got two RBIs from Mahlyah Sao, two from Nouvelle Bennett and one from Alyvia Costa and Cadence Benner.
Archie Williams finished 15-14.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 9:43 PM.