Briones repeats feat, Helix sacks Granite

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: April 10, 2026

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Romeo Briones

Grossmont Hills League
Helix 6, Granite Hills 1
LA MESA — Helix sophomore Romeo Briones.coming off a comolete-game 1-hitter in the Lions Tournament, all-but-repeated the feat against one of the top callclubs in San Diego County.

Briones limited Granite Hills, the defending Grossmont Hill;s League titlists, to a mere single over six stellar innings, powering the Scotties to a 6-1 triumph on Friday (Apr. 10).

Briones only allowed a sacrifice flhy in the first inning,m following by a basehit, vut then closed with 5,1 frames on no-hit ball. The right-hander struck out eight Eagles batters. And when reliefer Ben Williams registered two of his three outs on strikes in the seventh, Granite Hills finished with 10 whiffs.

Briones was backed by home runs from Jake Johnson andWilliams.

Trailing 1-0, Johsnon went deeo ti Kiwekk treet beyond right field to knot the ballgame.

An innin g later, Williams went a shotto straight-away center field for what turned out to be the game-winning git.

Helix (8-9 overall despite a killer schedule) added four insurance runs in the fifth to support Briones (3-0).

The rally included an RBI double by center fielder Jace Sells, a sacridice fly by Williams, thena two-run double to left by Bryan Herman.

Graniye Hills (12-4) opened the scoring on a sac-fly by Eurijah Schutza, followed by a two-out line single by freshman Jaden Macias.

Notes

The last time Granite Hills failed to hold first place in the Grossmont Hills League also occurred following the second ballgame of the seaso0: 2024 after a loss to Grossmont.

Friday’s (Apr.10) loss to Helix also snapped a 17-game win streak by Granite Hills in GHL play. The previous loss was 1-0 to Santana on Apr. 16, 2024.

— Nick Pellegrino

El Capitan 0, at Valhalla 1
At Rancho San Diego: For the first time under the tenure of head coach Alan Strong (Santana Class of ’14), the Vaqueros own first place in the Grossmont Hills League.

On Friday (Apr. 10), the Vaq Attack completed a two-game sweep of the Norsemen to move to 2-0 (7-9-1 overall) after the first week of GHL action.

Winning pitcher Nathan McLean, who might be better known as a goalie for the El Capitan soccer teams, tossed a complete-game, 6-hitter.for his second victory in 11 days. McLean struck out six Norsemen batters.

Matthew Eckis opened the scoring with a solo homer in the first, as El Cap scored twice over the first two frames for a quick 4-0 advantage.

Eckis, the center fielder, finished with four RBI.

Kasen Baker and Ryder Powers joined Eckis with two basehits each.

Valhalla (1-15) scored in the fourth on an RBI single by Brody Shartel, bringing home Mike Conley.

Standings: El Capitan 2-0, Helix 1-1, Granite Hills 1-1, Grossmont 0-0,

Boras Classic
Patrick Henry 4, Huntongton Beach 4
At Orange County: The Patriots captured the consolation championships of the Boras Classic, taking their last three ballgames including Friday’s (Apr. 10) narrow verdict over the Hunbtington Beach Oilers.

It was the bench of Patrick Henry (11-6 overall) which pulled out the triumph to stop the Oilers (13-4-1).

Tied at 2-all through five innings, the Oilers from Surf City USA took a brief lead in the sixth, but the Patriots answered with two runs, then escaped a minor H,B, jam in the seventh.

The decisive sixth saw NAME Goldman stroke a lead single, but the next two batters =struck out. So the Patriots gambled.

Pinch-runner Bradin Geruntino successfully stole second base then was driven home on a ground-ball single by pinch-hitter Max Gibson.

Moments later, another ground ball towards second base–hit by Alex Mestman — was ruled an error tallow the go-ahead run to score.

In the seventh, relief pitcher Eli Brum hit a batter, but then coaxed a pop out and a fly out to gain the victory. Brun tossed the final four innings; his longest stint of the season for his first varsity win.

Avocado League
Ramona 15, Vallley Center 3
At Ramona: The Bulldogs extended their shutout streak to 13 innings before the Jaguars finally scored in the seventh in another lop-sided victory over the Avocado League leading Dawgs.

Ramona (12-2 overall) tallied 28 straight runs before V.C. responded against the bench.

Winning pitcher Noah Bedia tossed five frames of shutout ball.Although he allowed five hits and three walks, he always came up clutch to keep Valley Center (3-12, 0-2) off the scoreboard.

The top slugger was Justin Jarrett, who belted a pair of home runs among the six slugged by the Dawgs. Jarrett, the senior third baseman, went 3-for-4 with four RBI.

Also going long were Zack Nightingale, Cal Melendez, Alex Wilson and Derek Taylor.

Jarrett opened the scoring with a three-run bomber, as Ramona scored six times in the first.

The six homers is one shy of the school record of seven, set against Steele Canyon on May 31, 2014, in a CIF-San Diego Section playoff contest. A trio of Ramona seniors — Joel Nitchell, Tanner Williams and C.J. Broussard == slugged two homers each.

The Dawgs won the Division 1 Final Four contest, 18-6, but fell to eventual champion Grossmont 3-1.

Fallbrook 7, Vista 1 (Thurs.)
Westview at Poway, Sat., 11 a.m.
Standings: Ramona 2-0, Westview 1-0, Fallbrook 1-1, Viat 1-1, Poway 0-1, Valley Center 0-2.

Non-League
West Hills 5. Mater Dei Catholic 2
At eastern Chula Vista: The Wolf snapped a 2-2 tie with three runs in the seventh inning to register their second win of the season.

West Hills (2-10) snapped a three-game losing streak. The ballclub’s only other win came in extra innings over Hemet.

The Crusaders (9-6) had won 6-of-7.