Sports Briefs: Friends, rivals to meet for MCAL tennis titles

26.04.2023 06:40

Marinij.com

Tam High’s Witt Bulger and Redwood’s Jackson Sichel will go head-to-head in a rematch for the MCAL singles championship on Wednesday at Marin Country Club.

Bulger defeated Branson’s Tommie Higgins, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in Tuesday’s semifinals, after a first-round bye and a 6-0, 6-2 quarterfinal win over San Marin’s Jesse Chi.

On the other side of the bracket, Sichel earned a 6-3, 6-2 semifinal win over Branson’s Jeffrey Huang. After a first-round bye, Sichel advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Marin Catholic’s Jackson MIllar.

Bulger swept two regular-season meetings with Sichel. Bulger got the better of Sichel, 7-5, 6-1, on March 24, and defeated the Giants’ No. 1 player 4-6, 6-0, 12-10 on March 2.

The Branson School is assured of winning the MCAL doubles title. The only question is which duo will hold the crown. The Bulls’ unseeded pair of Leighton Fraser and Chase Hoeveler will face the tournament’s No. 2 seed, teammates Max Goldman and Pete Stovell, in Wednesday’s final.

Fraser and Hoeveler earned a quick 6-1, 6-0 first-round win over Terra Linda’s Christopher Parker and Rupert Atkins on Monday. The Bulls then upset No. 4 seed Colin Johnston and Ian Parnes of Marin Catholic, 6-1, 6-2. Fraser and Hoeveler then took down the top seed from Redwood, Chris Lee and Matt Benbow, 7-6, 6-3.

Goldman and Stovell advanced to the semifinals after a first-round bye and a 7-5, 6-0 quarterfinal win over Novato’s Loic Foisy and Matthew Moyer. The Branson duo edged No. 3 seed Tyler Byrne and Diego Castillo of Tam, 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Prep baseball

Sophomore Sean McGrath pitched five scoreless innings to pick up the win as San Marin High blanked Archie Williams, 7-0, Tuesday. McGrath (4-3) struck out five batters, while surrendering one walk and four hits, before handing the ball to David Skaggs.

Junior Anthony Scheppler led the Mustangs at the plate, going was 2-for-2 with a run and three RBIs to go with three stolen bases. Senior Josh Martin was 2-for-2 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored.

Falcons senior ace Charlie Scola didn’t give the Mustangs much to work with, as he issued seven strikeouts, with only one walk and four hits through four innings. Fourth-place San Marin (13-8, 8-5) made the most of its opportunities to shore up its position in the standings, just one game ahead of rival Novato and two games ahead of Archie Williams.

• Senior Rory Minty (9-1) threw a complete-game six-hitter with seven strikeouts as Redwood shut out Novato, 4-0, Tuesday. Minty went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Rex Solle was 2-for-3 with double and a run scored for the Giants. JP Harmon had two hits for Novato, including a double.

• Senior Carl Schmidt had three big hits and scored twice, while junior Jayden Lee doubled twice and drove in three runs as Marin Catholic muscled up at the plate in Tuesday’s 8-0 victory over Terra Linda. Wildcats junior Liam Smith struck out nine and walked one, while holding the Trojans to four hits through six innings.

• The Branson School led start to finish in Tuesday’s 8-2 win over host San Rafael. The Bulldogs managed to connect for six hits from six different players.

College baseball

The Mariners are charging toward the postseason as College of Marin blanked Napa Valley College, 14-0, Tuesday to begin the final three-game series of the regular season.

Starter Erik Kvidahl (6-3) picked up the win as he struck out three batters and walked one in five innings of two-hit ball. Reliever Sid Polston struck out five in three innings before handing the ball to Josh Idell.

Steve Elsner accounted for two Marin runs in the bottom of the second inning, with an RBI-double and a run scored. A seven-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth inning that included a two-run single by Logan Fiene, a two-run double by Jacob Campbell and a two-run homer by Lucas Schaefer gave Marin a comfortable 9-0 lead.

Jake Ferguson finished the day with five RBIs, a run and two hits, including a two-run double for Marin (22-16, 15-4), which is scheduled to play at Napa on Thursday afternoon. The regular season wraps up Friday with the Mariners hosting the Storm.

Prep track

San Domenico’s Maple Silverstien won the girls triple jump by breaking her own record Tuesday at College of Marin in the third and final Bay Counties League meet of the season. Silverstien’s mark of 32 feet, 5 inches was more than 3 inches better than the next finisher.

Tara Curtin highlighted a small contingent of athletes from the Branson School as she won the girls high jump with a height of 5 feet. Branson’s Parker Wilkinson took second in the boys triple jump (37”), while teammate Thayer Jacobs was third in the boys shot put (34’2”) and Shail Belani took third in the boys high jump (5’6”).

The Panthers’ Braeden Connan, coming off a solid weekend at the Viking Classic, placed second in the boys 100 meter (11.52 seconds) by one-one hundredth of a second. Teammate Joaquin Foster set a personal best of 4:29.51 in the 1600, good enough for second place.

Marin Academy junior Callie Zimmerman placed second in the 100 hurdles (18.62). Wildcats teammates Esme Morrison and Juliet Reichardt finished 3-4, respectively, in the girls high jump.