Granada opens NCS D1 playoffs with win over San Ramon Valley

LIVERMORE Granada s quest for its second consecutive North Coast Section Division I title got off to a positive start on Tuesday after the top-seeded Matadors notched a - first-round win over San Ramon Valley The Livermore school totaled just three hits through the first three innings but a four-run fifth inning sealed the win for Granada as it advanced to the second round The Matadors will host Casa Grande on Friday after the Petaluma school defeated Dublin - in its first round challenge Alex Piscotty cousin of former Oakland A s outfielder Stephen Piscotty struck out seven and gave up no earned runs across six innings Adrian Zambrano knocked in two runs for Granada while Chase Nadeau and Estevan Duarte each had an RBI SRV - was an exceptional No seed given its history of success in the NCS playoffs and its strength of schedule this season The Matadors knew they had to bring their A-Game We didn t consider them an underdog Zambrano noted We took them as they were the second seed We battled and we just didn t care how good they were It took a couple of innings to get into that event but once we did it was challenge over The encounter was scoreless through the first three innings with both offenses struggling to find a rhythm In the first each of the first four innings SRV s lead-off hitter was able to reach base but the Wolves struggled to bring home runners when they were in scoring position All it took for Granada to get going was one play With two outs and runners on first and third SRV threw a wild pitch that allowed senior Carlos Hernandez to amount to put the first run on the board for Granada In the fifth the Matadors put the competition away for good With the bases loaded and Estevan Duarte at the plate SRV walked the senior on five pitches which brought home Tommy Brown In the next at-bat Chase Nadeau s sacrifice fly to left field scored Peyton Richards Later in the inning Zambrano knocked in Mikey Boyd and Duarte to give the Matadors a five-run lead going into the sixth When Carlos got that tally it hyped our dugout up a lot Brown noted From then on we just demanded to keep the pressure on them SRV made things engaging in the top of the seventh The Wolves got their first three batters on base with Piscotty out of the battle and scored two runs to cut the Granada lead to three But after Granada coach Corrigan Willis brought in reliever Mason Ravera to close the contest Granada cruised to the second round with a - domination The Matadors are aiming to make history as the first residents school to win back-to-back NCS Division I titles The last time a constituents school won consecutive NCS titles was when Campolindo won four straight from to in Division II The biggest key will be to play as a squad Piscotty commented If one person goes down the next guy has to be there to step in Related Articles NCS playoffs Tuesday s baseball softball first-round scores CCS baseball playoffs The matchups are set Here s what to know CCS baseball playoffs First-round games in all divisions NCS baseball playoffs The matchups are set Here s what to know NCS baseball playoffs First-round games in all divisions Granada coach not happy with late starts Willis was blunt when talking about how he felt about having all NCS playoff games start at p m I m not surprised with NCS anymore when it comes to this stuff Willis declared You would think there wouldn t be p m games anymore after the NCS finals last year The games should be at p m at the latest You see how much it affects the contest when it s late so I m not sure why we do the p m starts Last year s Division I championship tournament between Granada and De La Salle had a p m start at Monte Vista a field without lights The contest was halted in the th inning because of darkness and had to be continued the next day Granada eventually won the NCS title in innings in a tournament that spanned across two days two fields two cities and two counties