CIF Championships: Baseball filled with first-round upsets

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: May 19, 2026

2026 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

East County Sports.com

EL CAJON — The reasons may be reasonable, the excuses are confusing, but the scoreboard rarely lies.

Grossmont, Santana, and Foothills Christian failed to perform to their usual levels over the closing weeks of the season.

However, Coach’s Cliche No. 7 is also prophetic: “It’s the playoffs. It’s a new season. You get a second chance, so make the best of it.”

Ghe nessage must’ve got through to the ballplayers after the Foothillers, Sultans and Knights all secured shocking victories in Tuesday’s (May 19) first round of the CIF-San Diego Section baseball championships.

All thrtee contests were elimination games, allwing the trio to extend their respective season by at least two nore outings by gaining entry into the double-elimination portion of the tournament brackets.

Division 2
Grossmont 5, at Poway 2
At Poway: Not only did Grossmont close the regular season in disappointing fashion, Poway sprinted to the finish line.

The Foothillers did upset defending CIF Open Division champion Granite Hills, but then dropped almost every othert ballagame in finish next-to-last in their league.

For the Titans, the season was completely in reverse. They posted one of their poorest non- league records this century, but when the Avocado League schedule started, they won 14-of-15, including a series victory over runner-up Westview and a three-game sweep, dominating sweep of third-place Ramona, the defending CIF Division 4 champion.

So why did everything imaginable switch to Foothillers?

Grossmont out-hit Poway by a 2-to-2 ratio, the Titans committed a pair of crucial errors — the Hillers did not commit any defensive miscues — and Grossmont came through with key early hits to mount a 5-0 cushion to shock Poway.

Oh, did we mention: Poway was seeded fifth, while Grossmont (12-17 overall) barely gained a postseason berth at 12th and last… but that doesn’t matter anymore if gaining a Wednesday date at fourth-seeded Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach. — located just one mile north of where “the turf meets the surf” off Via de la Valle. A ground out by Nate McCance brought home a run in the second, then the Hillers tacked on four more markers in the fourth to mount a five-run lead.

A double-steal made it 2-0 when Reid Barnett headed for second base, and when the throw went through the infield, Trey Crawford ran home.

Nathan Clark singled to left field to drive home Crawford. Later, Logan Struck drilled a clutch, two-run basehit with two down.

The Titans ended the shutout bid when Owen Digenan drilled a two-run homer to left in the fifth.

Poway (19-10) failed to capture 20 victories for the fifth time in six seasons. Previously, the Titans reached the goal 11 times over 14 seasons, including 31 wins in 2008.

Division 3
Santana 5, Imperial 0
At McCarty Field, Imperial: Sharing the Grossmont Valley League lead with defending champion Steele Canyon, the Santana Sultans gained a series split with the Cougars, but then got swept by Monte Vista to fumble away their share of the league crown.

But on “New Season Tuesday” (May 19), the Sutans reverted to championship form.

In what could have been his final interscholastic performance, Sultan senior pitcher Micah Carillo extended his career by firing 6.2 innings of shutout ball, leading the No. 10 seeds to an upset of the No. 7 Imperial Tigers, 5-0.

For Carillo, “threes” were wild: three hits, three walks, and a trio of strikeouts, but zeroes allowed each inning to give Santana (13-15 overall) its first shutout of the season (excluding ECVHS).

The offense was boring, but effective.

A pair of sacrifice fly balls by right fielder Brennen Weed and center fielder Tatum Morehouse sandwiched around a two-run error for a 4-0 advantage,

In the seventh, Morehouse lined a run-scoring single to center to cap a two RBI outing.

Imperial (11-16) ends its season with setbacks to Holtville, the last-place team in the Imperial Valley League, then the Sultans in the schools’ second meeting this century; the Tigers won in 2013, 5-1.

Santana advances to meet Westview (located in Del Sur) on Wednesday. The second-seeded Wolverines (22-6) placed second in the Avocado League behind Poway.

Division 4
Foothills Christian 7, SD-High Tech 6 (walk-off)
At Matt Lachappa Field, Lakside: The Knights once held the lead in the Pacific League. However, they dropped the closing 4-of-5 to finish in a tie for third place.

At least Foothills Christian gain a playoff h-0ome game, barely, as the No 7 seed, but blew a 5 lead through five innings, allowing two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to SD-High Tech.

However, the Knights answered with two runs in the inning’s home-half to stymie the Storm, 7-6.

Foothills Christian (18-11 overall) advances to Wednesday’s second round at second-seeded Mountain Empire, the two-time defending Summit League titlists.

Leading 5-2, the Kngiths were three outs away from a victory, but everything went sideways.

The one-out rally saw Trevor Cchrum get hit by a pitch, followed by singles from “Captain” Jack Morgan and Anthony Garcia to load the bases.

Then, with two down, Grant Canto walked on four pitches to force home the game-tying run. Moments later, on a 1-0 pitch, Morgan raced home on a wild pitch to defeat the City Conference opponent.

Garcia, the right fielder, led the Knights by batting 2-for-3, including a two-run double.

On the mound, Morgan registered 15 strikeouts over his 6.1 innings. Overall, FCHS gained 17 of 21 outs on strikes.

For the Storm (17-7), senior pitcher Neal Griswold and junior first baseman Julian Acevedo both drove in a pair of runs.

— Nick Pellegrino