CIF: Granite walk-off winner on home runs by Lewis, Schutza

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: May 21, 2025

2025 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL
CIF-San Diego Section Championships

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS Senior writer

EL CAJON – Brenden Lewis both willed and batted the Granite Hills Eagles back from a 6-1 deficit to finally pull even. Included was a leadoff homer in the seventh inning.

However, freshman Luke Schutza delivered an even bigger blow, smacking a walk-off, two-run homer for the magical recipe in the top-seeded and top-ranked Eagles an 8-6 decision over Del Norte in the opening round of the CIF-San Diego Section Open Division baseball championship.

Lewis must’ve felt personally responsible for the pending loss as the starting pitcher. The senior yielded three runs in the first, then left after three frames on a short side of a 4-0 score.

The margin jumped to 6-1 before the Eagles tallied four times in the sixth before completing the comeback with the long-ball.

Brenden Lewis

Lewis, who clinched the Grossmont Hills League home run title last week, now gain a spot at the top of the San Diego Section chart with his 8th of the season with at least two games remaining.

Lewis is tied with San Marcos senior ax Farrell. The second-seeded Knights (20-6-1) nipped Eastlake, 4-3, in the Open Division lower bracket. Meanwhile, Patrick Hnery stopped La Costa Canyon, 4-2.

In the upper bracket, Granite Hills will host St. Augustine on Friday at 4 p.m. The fifth-seeded Saints upset No. 4 Carlsbad, 2-1.

Sad-to-glad

The day was not the playoff performance Lewis imagined. A slow start on the mound saw Del Norte grab a 3-0 lead.

By the time the hook came after the third,it was 4-0, meaning Granite Hills would need to win five straight games or be eliminated from the tournament

At the plate, things were even poorer for Lewis, going 0-for-3 on a “hat trick” of outs: ground out, strike out, and a lazy fly out.

But the Eagles’ emotional difference may have been the top of the sixth. Although Del Norte scored once for a 6-2 cushion, Granite Hills escaped the bases-loaded jam when right fielder Brodey Vicars fought the sun to snare an inning-ending line drive.

Instead of trailing 8-1 or more, the Eagles answered with four runs in the sixth single and a walk were followed by a two-run double by Schulta, who scored on a Vicars basehit.

Then in the seventh, Lewis overcame one of his least-effective efforts of the season by fouling off a pair of 2-2 pitches against a new NightHawks reliever before sending the seventh pitch of the at-bat over the barrier in left.

Tommy Entrekin accepted a one-out walk, then with two down and extra innings looming, Schultza again came through, tagging an 0-1 pitch to near the location Lewis sent his soft toward the school’s practice field for the CIF Division I champion Granite Hills boys lacrosse team.

Entrekin, who pitched a 1-2-3 in the seventh, gained the win in relief.

For Del Norte (17-11), center fielder Griffen Gusich and third baseman Liam O’Day each registered two hits.

Granite Hills (21-0-2), the winner of 15 straight since a 4-4 draw with San Marcos on April 1 — no foolin’! —

Patrick Henry 4,La Costa Canyon 2

CARLSBAD – Another ballclub with a lousy, first-inning start. However, yet another late comeback for a victory.

This time, Patrick Henry pitcher Cody Cappoletetti overcame early jitters to close with 6.2 innings of no-hit ball, halting La Costa Canyon, 4-2, in Wednesday’s Open Division opener of the CIFSDS baseball championships.

Although three of the first four Mavericks batters reached base for a pair of runs, only one other LCC batter reached base over the final six trips to the plate.

Cappolletti finished with 10 strikeouts after allowing a single, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, an RBI single, and a sacrifice fly.

Luckily for Cappolletti, he received a huge confidence boost when Patrick Henry third baseman Sal Gagliano fielded a sharp grounder, throwing to first base for the third out.

Afterward, Caooelletti, who is expected to be named an all-East County first team selection in two weeks, went to work. Cappolletti retired 19 of the final 20 LCC batters (safe on error), including 16 straight to close in a dominating effort.

While La Costa Canyon was held hostage, the sixth-seeded Patriots found time to recover.

After reaching the scoreboard in the third, Patrick Henry tallied three times in the sixth for the triumph.

The clean sheet ended when Nate Moloney was plucked by a 3-0 pitch, then bunted to second by Alex Mestman. Then, with two down, Ian Brooke singled through the left side for the RBI.

In the sixth, additional free passes from the Mavs — a walk and hit batter sandwiched around a Cappolletti single — loaded the bases with no outs.

Jimmy Gunn rolled the ball to sgortstop, but LCC failed to turn a double play as the game-tying run scored.

Gagliano followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly to left, then he came home on a Skyler Stewart triple.

Patrick Henry 19-8-2), the Western League titlists, advanced to Friday’s winner’s bracket semifinals at No. 2 San Marcos.

La Costa Canyon (16-11), the third seed, will host No. 7 Eastlake in the lower bracket elimination ballgame.

Lastweek, LCC capped the regular seasonn with a 2-1 setback to San Marcos.

Division 5-AA

Liberty Charter 14, St. Joseph 5

ALPINE – The theme repeated, even in the mountains east of El Cajon.

An area ballclub had a miserable start for one inning, then bounced back fo the playoff victory.

In this case, Liberty Charter allowed three unearned runs to St. Joseph of San Marcos in the second inning.

However, the Lions bounced back with eight consecutive runs to outdo the Crusaders, 14-5, in the CIFSDS Division 5-AA opening round, held at Alpine American Little League.

The fourth-seeded Lions advance to the winners’ bracket semifinals, meeting The Rock Academy at Presidio Little League on the eastern edge of Ocean Beach.

The top-seeded Warriors advanced by tossing Chula Vista Learning, 9-6.

In the lower bracket, Vincent Memorial upset third-seeded North County-High Tech, while second-seeded Borrego Springs stopped Ocean View Christian, 13-3 in 6 innings.

Liberty Charter (13-9 overall) allowed three unearned runs in the second, but answered with four runs in the inning’s home-half to seize control.

Three singles sandwiched around a hit batter were then capped on a 2-run line double to left field by second baseman Logan Hayes.

Liberty Charter ended up scoring in all six trips to the plate. The most interesting runs came in the fourth.

Following a lead double by Andruw Godinez, St. Joseph elected to intentionally walk Drake Keehl, since there was an open base and he is the Lions’ hottest hitter.

Oops, big mistake. Moments later, Brody Harris was probably insulted and drilled a mammoth 3-run homer on a line drive to left to mount a 10-3 cushion.

Harris, a senior pitcher, finished the contest with a game-best five RBI to equal a season-high set against Bayfront Charter. His career best is 7 RBI, set as a sophomore/

Harris also pitched the first 2.2 innings without allowing an earned run, although the pitching victory went to Jacob Jones in relief.

Borrego Springs 13, Ocean View Christian 3 (6 inn.)

BORREGO SPRINGS – The host Rams whipped the Patriots in six innings before the guests sent up the white flag to end this Division 4-AA first-round contest early.

Tuesday’s Games

Division 3

Mt. Carmel 2, Grossmont 0

RANCHO PENASQUITOS – For all of their difficult, internal decisions made by the Grossmont Foothillers coaching staff, sometimes it simply doesn’t matter.

No matter who the Hillers elected to pitch, Sundevils junior Jack Grassa fired five innings of 3-hit ball, joining teammate Isaac Reese in shutting out Grossmont, 2-0, in a CIFSDS Division 3 first-round elimination contest,

Grossmont needed to play an extra game on Monday to decide the 12th season to the tournament bracket, electing to wait and start Burke against the Devils.

Burke was solid, yielding just one earned run in his five frames.

However, Grassa was just a touch better, advancing Mt. Camrle (17-12 overall) into the double-elimination phase of the bracket.

The Foothillers finished the season with a 12-18 mark, with Monday’s CIF over Steele Canyon the school’s first since advancing to the CIF Southern California regional in 2022.

Mt. Carmel only collected four hits, but it was enough to post single runs in the second and fifth innings. Both runs came home without a basehit.

An error set up an unearned run when senior shortstop Chase Mendoza intentionally grounded out to first base for a 1-0 lead.

Three innings later, senior Bryce Miller lifted a sacrifice fly for a run, set-up on a hit batter, walk and sacrifice bunt to start the at-bat.

The future for Grossmont looks promising — all three hits were registered by sophomores: right fielder Tyler Holmes, center fielder Logan Struck and third baseman Nate McCance.

Holmes was the runaway leading in hitting on the ballclub with a .382 average. Holmes was followed by Struck (.326) and junior first baseman/pitcher Max Tufugafale.

Mission Hills 7, Helix 2

LA MESA – Mission Hills broke open a narrow 3-2 contest by scoring four times in the fifth inning, taking a 702 decision over hist Helix, 7-2, in a CIFSDS Division 2 elimination ballgame.

Helix, trailing 3-0 on single runs by the Grizzlies over the first three innings, rallied back in the home-half of the third on a two-run double by senior third baseman Antoin Simpson.

However, everything collapsed in the fifth after third baseman Dominic Davis — the Nio. 9 hitter — leadoff with a solo home run to left field.

The Highlanders were still in the game at 4-2, but Mission Hills kept going, thanks to an error, a hit batter and a basehit to load the bases with all three later scoring.

The big kit was a 2-run double by Preston Waller, a senior center fielder.

Mission Hills senior Brock Young pitched six innings to collect the victory. Greg Ontiveros pitched a 1-2-3 in the seventh for the hold.

For the Scotties, shortstop Ben Williams batted 2-for-3, including a double.

Mission Hills (11-18 overall) also received a home run by freshman Micah Mecucci.

The Grizzlies advance to meet the stellar pitching staff of City Eastern League co-champion Coronado on Wednesday, to be held at Silver Strand Elementary School.

Helix, the runner-up in the Grossmont Hills League, ended the season with a 15-12 ledger.

Sampson finished the season as the Scotties’ leading hitter at .345, the lone player above the .300 plateau. Simpson also led in home runs (4), hits (26), and RBI (29).