Quartz Hill so ball wins quarter nal game
PALOS VERDES ESTATES — The Quartz Hill softball team won a CIF-Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinal game on the road, beating No. 1-seeded Palos Verdes 6-3 on Thursday.
The Royals (21-5) advance to the semifinals and will host Liberty (20-6) in the semifinals on Saturday at Quartz Hill High School. Liberty defeated Grace 20-1 in the quarterfinals and is the defending champion in the division.
Quartz Hill jumped out to an early lead at Palos Verdes (19-7), scoring two runs in the top of the first and three in the third to take a 5-0 lead.
The Sea Kings scored two runs in the bottom of the third, but the Royals answered with a run in the fourth to take a 6-2 lead. Palos Verdes scored one run in the fifth.
Quartz Hill outhit Palos Verdes 11-6 and the Royals played an error-free game.
Quartz Hill senior Skyler Billips was 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI, senior Yalani Madero was 2-for-3 with an RBI and senior Olivia Jones was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Quartz Hill senior Aubrey Russell, senior Madison Heeter and juniors Nina Sepulveda and Ashley Rudziewicz all scored one run apiece for Quartz Hill.
Quartz Hill senior pitcher Kaylei Victoria got the win in the circle for the Royals, striking out three in 4.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks, while sophomore Dakota Ponder threw 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, striking out two and giving up one hit and no walks.
Baseball Kern Valley 15, California City 7
CALIFORNIA CITY — The California City baseball team lost to Kern Valley 15-7 in the final game of the regular season on Thursday at Cal City High.
With the loss, the Ravens (17-10-1, 10-4 HDL) finished third in the High Desert League and Kern Valley (11-3 HDL) took second to Bishop (13-1).
The game was tied 4-4 after five innings, but errors and walks doomed Cal City in the next two frames. The Ravens allowed 11 walks in the sixth and seventh innings and allowed six unearned runs in the sixth.
“Frustrating day, but it’s been a good year,” Cal City coach Shane Moore said. “For five innings, we played really good baseball.”
Dakoda Kusmit got a no-decision on the mound, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits and five walks and two strikeouts in five innings pitched.
Kevin Hightower picked up three walks and scored three runs for the Ravens, while Blake Moore was 3-for-3 with an intentional walk and two RBIs.
Cal City’s Joshua Baiza was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Henry Ramsey, Isaac Valadez and Dylan Hammer had one hit apiece.
The CIF-Central Section playoffs will be announced on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can get a favorable seed and make a deep run,” Shane Moore said.