High schools: Flames throttle Tigers with 19 hits to claim TCAL co-championship; playoffs up next

May 3—The Lodi High softball team finished the regular season with a bang on Thursday, crushing cross-town rival Tokay 21-1 to seal a co-championship in the Tri-City Athletic League.

The Flames are 20-6 overall, and went 13-2 in TCAL play to tie with Tracy. Tokay finished 10-13, and 4-11 in league play. Lodi holds the tiebreaker when it comes to playoff seeding after going 2-1 against Tracy this spring, but there will be no tiebreaker game.

Lodi used 19 hits, seven walks and three errors to dismantle the Tigers' defense, with almost everyone in the starting lineup getting at least one hit. Kiki Mazza led the way with a 4-for-4 day, adding a double and four RBIs, while Janie Schallberger went 3-for-4 with two triples, four RBIs and three runs, Allison Frank went 3-for-4 with two triples and four runs, Abby Schweigerdt went 3-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and three runs, Taylor Blank went 2-for-2 with four runs, Tealla Rivera singled and scored four runs, Ellie Schallberger double and drove in two runs, and Maddie Ehlers and Holly Reich each singled. Alyssa Noriega went hitless, but walked twice and scored twice.

Tokay tallied two hits, a double by Anabelle Sikich and a single by Hannah Nava. Emma Misasi scored Tokay's run in the bottom of the first inning when she reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and third bases, and scored on an error.

Lodi starting pitcher Ashlyn Jubrey went 1 1/3 innings with no hits allowed, but left in the second after walking six. Hannah Escalante struck out seven and gave up two hits and no runs in 3 2/3 innings of work.

The Flames will now have a week off, as the Sac-Joaquin Section will release its brackets May 11. The first round of the playoffs will start May 14. The TCAL qualifies four teams to the playoffs, which will be Lodi and Tracy at 13-2, and Lincoln and St. Mary's, which were both 7-7 in league play heading into Thursday's games. Tokay finished fifth in the standings at 4-11.

Varsity: Rosemont 8, Liberty Ranch 5

The Hawks gave up 17 hits and committed five errors in Wednesday's loss, which knocked Liberty Ranch out of the top spot in the SVC.

On offense, Liberty Ranch hit the ball around with 10 hits — Gracyn Graviette went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Ysabella Granata went 2-for-4 with a dobule, Khali Barrantes went 2-for-4, and Kaitlynn Castro, Carlie Perez, Laura Quinn and Shelby Duarte each singled.

Liberty Ranch (13-6, 11-2 SVC) will host Galt (5-14, 4-8) today. Galt lost 10-5 to Union Mine on Wednesday.

TRACK AND FIELD

TCAL Championship

Wednesday was the preliminaries for the Tri-City Athletic League championships, with a few finals mixed in for events without prelims.

After four completed events, St. Mary's leads the boys standings with 32 points, with Lodi third at 19 and Tokay tied with Lincoln and Tracy for fourtha t 17. In the girls varsity standings, Lodi leads with 52 points, and Tokay is third with 16.

Individually, the top eight in each event qualify for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I meet, which is May 7 and 9 at Folsom High.

On the boys side, the 3,200-meter run, the shot put, the high jump and the long jump were competed as finals on Wednesday. Lodi's Stephen Holbo won the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 11 inches, and Tokay's Jacob Ray won the high jump at 6-4.

For the girls, the 3,200, the discus, the pole vault and the triple jump were the finals Wednesday. Lodi's Kiah Aitken won the 3,200 at 12:11.58, Lodi's Gracelynne Duenas won the discus at 117-10, and Lodi's Keily Ramirez won the pole vault at 10-0.

Others qualifying in the top eight for the boys were Lodi's Alex Mendoza (second in the 3,200 at 10 minutes, 14.44 seconds), Tokay's Daniel Barajas (fifth in the 3,200 at 10:22.71), Tokay's Edmond Zimmer (sixth in the 3,200 at 10:50.13), Lodi's Brian Puac Ramos (seventh in the shot put at 40-11), Lodi's Coleman Smalley (sixth in the high jump at 5-6), Lodi's Hugo Gonzalez (seventh in the high jump at 5-6), Tokay's Simon Kolber (eighth in the high jump at 5-6), and Tokay's Marcus Castro (fourth in the long jump at 20-4). Castro, it should be noted, recently committed to play football for Redlands University.

Other D-I qualifiers for the girls included Lodi's Zoe Aitken (second in the 3,200 at 12:12.04), Lodi's Samantha Stone (fourth in the 3,200 at 12:15.46), Lodi's Amelia Johnson (eighth in the 3,200 at 12:35.96), Tokay's Kayleen Tuavao (second in the discus at 112-11 and second in the triple jump at 34-10), Lodi's Nayelie Vargas-Corona (fourth in the discus at 95-8), Lodi's Karis Mann (fourth in the pole vault at 9-0 and sixth in the triple jump at 31-8.5), Lodi's Abigail Deise (fifth in the pole vault at 8-6), and Tokay's Kaci Whatley (eighth in the pole vault at 8-6).

In JV action, Lodi's Ruben Garcia Miguel won the boys high jump at 5-2.

The TCAL finals will resume today at Tokay, with field events starting at 2 p.m. at track events at 4 p.m.

BASEBALL

Varsity: El Dorado 5, Liberty Ranch 2

The Cougars took over second place in the Sierra Valley Conference from the Hawks with Wednesday's win.

Liberty Ranch tallied four hits — a double from Nolan House, and singles from Mario Rubalcava, Kade Lecompte and Vance Moe.

Liberty Ranch (15-7, 9-5 SVC) will host El Dorado 17-8, 10-4) today at 7 p.m.

Varsity: Rosemont 9, Galt 8

The Warriors couldn't outhit the Wolverines on Wednesday despite a five-run second inning. Both sides tallied 10 hits and committed four errors.

Galt (3-17, 2-12 SVC) will finish the season at Union Mine today.