Peninsula Prep Baseball
Kai Kung closed out a magical senior season with five more shutout innings in Half Moon Bay's 15th straight win, a 2-0 victory over Livermore that clinched for the Cougars their first Northern California championship in school history.
Saturday's championship-game win came eight days after Half Moon Bay beat San Mateo, 1-0, to win its first-ever Central Coast Section championship.
At the center of what could be considered the two biggest victories in the program's history was Kung, who finished the year with a state-leading 14-1 record. How dominant was he? Consider that he pitched 95 1/3 innings this season and allowed just eight earned runs. That's an earned-run average of 0.59 with 121 strikeouts.
In four postseason starts, he won all four games by pitching 24 1/3 innings and not allowing a run. He gave up 13 hits and struck out 28.
On Saturday, he was limited to five innings because high school federation rules mandate that pitchers can only throw 10 innings in a calendar week. He allowed three hits and struck out six as the Cougars scored a run in the first and added one more in the fifth.
Junior shortstop Riley Jackson, who also had a strong postseason, had three hits on Saturday, including a double and a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning. The last month, he said, has been the highlight of his baseball life.
"This run for us has been nothing short of unbelievable," said Jackson, the Santa Clara University commit. "This is by far the most fun I've ever had playing baseball.
"... People will look back and remember us for being the first team in school history to win a CCS, win a NorCal title and have the longest winning streak, but to me, I'll remember just going out and competing and being so excited to show up every single day and do what I love with all of my brothers."
Sophomore Paxton Holden got the final six outs, four of them on strikeouts, to pick up the save. Holden also had two hits at the plate.
| R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 Livermore (12-18) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| No. 1 Half Moon Bay (23-9) | 2 | 9 | 0 |
W: Kung | L: Ford | S: Holden | 3 hits- Jackson (HMB). 2 hits- Holden (HMB). HR- Jackson (HMB). 2B- Jackson (HMB), Lee (L).
Division I
Valley Christian 12, Elk Grove 0, 6 innings
Valley Christian ran its scoreless streak to 38 innings on Saturday in a 12-0 victory over Elk Grove that earned the Warriors the NorCal-Division I championship.
Rahul Patel, who threw five shutout innings against Bullard on Tuesday, came back with five more scoreless innings Saturday against a team that beat Valley, 9-8, in March.
Patel had three starts this postseason and allowed no runs in 17 innings, while picking up the win in each start.
The Warriors left no doubt about the outcome by erupting for six runs in the top of the first inning. The turned it into a short day by scoring four runs in the sixth.
Chase Vong had two hits and drove in four runs, while Hilbert Chen had two hits and two RBI. Nate Choi drove in two runs, while sophomore Jack Graham had two hits.
| R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Valley Christian (23-9) | 12 | 12 | 1 |
| No. 3 Elk Grove (29-10) | 0 | 2 | 4 |
W: Patel | L: Gannon | 2 hits- Groves (EG), Graham (VC), Vong (VC), Chen (VC). 4 RBI- Vong (VC). 2 RBI- Choi (VC), Chen (VC). 2B- Choi (VC), Hadfield (VC), Mull (VC), Vong (VC).
Division II
Franklin 5, Mitty 1
Mitty's postseason run came to an end on a day when its pitching staff surrendered nine walks, seven hits and way too much foot traffic on the base paths.
That led to two crooked-number innings for Franklin, which got a strong pitching effort from junior David Hernandez, who went the distance and allowed just a run on nine hits. He struck out two.
Elijah Kroenung and Kelen Johnson had two hits each for the Monarchs.
| R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 8 Mitty (20-12) | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| No. 2 Franklin (25-9-1) | 5 | 7 | 1 |
W: Hernandez | L: Ferrell | 2 hits- Kroenung (M), Johnson (M), Flores (F), Timmons (F). 3 RBI- Timmons (F). 2 RBI- Cody (F). 2B- Kroenung (M), Chase (M).
Division III
Roseville 4, Menlo School 2
Roseville overcame four fielding errors to claim the Division III championship and finish the season with 30 wins.
The loss snapped Menlo's postseason winning streak, which dates back three seasons, at 14. In that span, the Knights have won three straight Central Coast Section championships and a NorCal crown.
Preston Cubbler, Ashton Chang and Benjamin Jordan had home runs for the Tigers.
Jackson Flanagan took the loss in his final high school start.
| R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 Menlo School (22-11) | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| No. 1 Roseville (30-4) | 4 | 9 | 4 |
W: Chang | L: Flanagan | S: Ritter | 2 hits- Wolfe (R), Johnson (R). 2 RBI- Jordan (R). HR- Chang (R), Jordan (R), Cubbler (R). 2B- Wolfe (R).
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