Prep sports roundup: Crespi clinches Mission League baseball title

Nate Lopez is the leading hitter for Crespi, but Harvard-Westlake chose to intentionally walk Louisiana State commit Landon Hodge and USC commit Diego Velazquez in the sixth inning on Friday, loading the bases in a tie score with two outs to bring up Lopez.

Lopez made the Wolverines pay dearly, smacking a bases-clearing double to key Crespi’s 7-6 victory and clinch the Mission League championship for the Celts (20-2, 13-2).

The score was tied 4-4 with a man on third. Hodge was walked intentionally, then stole second, and Harvard-Westlake made the decision to put Lopez on first to load the bases.

Lopez, a San Diego State commit, hit the ball thrown by Jake Chung to right-center field for a three-run double. Another star for Crespi was sophomore Mikey Martinez, who threw 3 2/3 innings of stellar relief. Harvard-Westlake scored two runs in the seventh and had the tying run on second before Martinez closed out the win. He was helped by a running catch from left fielder Gavin Huff.

Jack Laffitte led Harvard-Westlake (17-9, 11-4) with three hits and three RBIs.

By winning two of three games from Harvard-Westlake this week, Crespi put itself in position to be a No. 2 or No. 3 seed for the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs with one week left in the regular season.

Santa Margarita 4, Servite 3: The Eagles claimed third place in the Trinity League. They were clinging to a 4-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning. The winner would earn the berth. The Friars loaded the bases with two outs. A wild pitch cut Santa Margarita’s lead to one run. Then relief pitcher Tyler Unter was able to get Hayden Woodson to fly out to end the game.

Hayden George struck out seven in six innings. Luke Blanchard had two hits. Santa Margarita finishes with a 7-8 league record. Servite still has a good chance to get an at-large berth based on its strong power rankings.

St. John Bosco 2, JSerra 0: The Trinity League champions received five scoreless innings from Noah Everly to finish league play on an 11-game winning streak. Jaden Jackson hit a two-run home run.

El Camino Real 2, Chatsworth 1: Devin Gonor struck out six and threw a three-hitter for El Camino Real’s 12th consecutive West Valley League win, setting up a showdown with Birmingham in a two-game series to decide the league champion and possible No. 1 seed in City Section Open Division playoffs.

Granada Hills 5, Birmingham 1: The Highlanders scored three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to drop Birmingham into second place in the West Valley League. Valencio Valadez threw a complete game. Assane Diaw had a two-run double. Birmingham is one game behind El Camino Real.

Cleveland 7, Taft 2: John Orozco-Ortega had two hits and two RBIs for the Cavaliers.

Banning 7, Narbonne 2: The Pilots clinched the Marine League title. Jared Nakazawa had two hits and two RBIs.

Westlake 5, Agoura 2: Noah Stead hit a two-run home run, his 13th in high school baseball, to lead the Warriors.

Oaks Christian 9, Newbury Park 2: James Latshaw struck out five in 5 2/3 innings to help the Lions share the Marmonte League championship with Westlake.

Bishop Alemany 5, Chaminade 1: A four-run sixth inning keyed Alemany’s win. Joey Decker had three RBIs.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 8, Loyola 6: The Knights opened an 8-0 lead, then hung on to maintain their fourth-place position in the Mission League. Dominic Cadiz hit a three-run home run. AJ LaSota yielded no hits in five innings.

Sierra Canyon 4, St. Francis 0: The Trailblazers kept alive their playoff chances. Theo Swafford had three hits.

Gahr 13, Bellflower 3: Taison Miller had three RBIs for Gahr.

Mira Costa 4, Redondo 1: The Mustangs scored four runs in the seventh, including a three-run home run by Elijah Fox, to finish 12-0 in the Bay League and improve to 24-2.

West Ranch 23, Golden Valley 0: The Wildcats clinched the Foothill League championship. Mikey Murr hit two home runs and finished with six RBIs while Landon Hu had four hits.

Los Osos 8, Damien 3: Justin Yeutter went four for four in the Baseline League victory.

Etiwanda 4, Upland 2: Derick Kim had two hits for the Eagles.

Rancho Cucamonga 6, Chino Hills 3: Jose Gomez had two RBIs in the win.

Huntington Beach 14, Edison 3: Trevor Goldenetz had two hits and four RBIs for the Oilers.

Villa Park 11, Foothill 2: Shawn Romero went four four with two RBIs and Ezra Ornelas had three hits to lead Villa Park.

El Dorado 5, El Modena 4: Lorenzo Favela had the walk-off single in the 12th inning.

Thousand Oaks 10, Calabasas 9: Jack Quirk finished with four hits for Calabasas, which lost in 10 innings.

South Hills 5, Colony 1: Nikolas Munoz struck out seven as South Hills won the Hacienda League title.

Trabuco Hills 18, Capistrano Valley 8: Tyler Hill and Evan Hall each had three RBIs.

Softball

Granada Hills 16, Cleveland 2: Lainey Brown went four for four with three RBIs to help the Highlanders (21-3) stay unbeaten in the West Valley League.

El Camino Real 17, Chatsworth 1: Senia Gutierrez had five RBIs, including a three-run home run.