Scotties’ Briones, Granite’s Harper with ‘Premiere’ stints

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: March 31, 2026

UPDATED — 2026 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

East County Sports.com

LA MESA — Any coach will tell you, a key in attempting to capture the Lions Tournament is finding an extra pitching arm or two to survive and collect victories over four consecutive days.

In the case of the Helix Highlanders, they may have discovered such an arm in sophomore Romeo Briones.

After out-classing previous undefeated Cathedral Catholic, 3-2, earlier this month, Briones did even better in Monday’s (Mar. 30) Lions opener against Vista Grande (Ariz.) by cifring a complete-game 1-hitter in a 13-0 thrashing of the Cougars.

Briones as gifted an early 5-0 lead by his team’s bats, then just continued to pump trikes, registered nin strikeouts to coast in the Premiere/Open Division opener.

In all, just 23 batters from the visitors — located exactly midway between Phoenix and Tucson — ln asingle and a walk.

Another Scotties sophomore, Jace Sells, spiced up an 11-hit attack with four RBI, all coming on a fifth-inning pinch-hit grand slam to left field and doubling the lead to 8-0.

Meanwhile, right fielder Angel Watkins collected three RBI, two coming on a third-inning double to transform a 2-0 lead into a 4-0 cushion for Briones

With the bat, Briones added two hits and a pair of walks, scoring three times.

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Granite Hills 9, El Caminio Real 0
St El Cajon: Eagles starting pitcher Hoss Harper carried a no-hitter through six innings in a dominating performance.

Among the 18 outs recorded, Harper gained 14 of them on strikeouts before the pitch-count rule ended his day; Granite HILLS finished with a 1-hitter.

Harper is. who was aided by Eagles runs in each of the first four inniungs, now 3-0 on the season.

Colton Windham, a freshman who earlier posted three RBI against San Marcos, did even better on Monday (Ma.r 30). Windham fueled the Eagles with five RBI, three coming on a fourth-inning homer to right field for an 8-0 advantage.

Windham, the first baseman, went 3-for-3, then was intentionally walks followed his home run.

Grossmont 12, McClatchy (Sacramento) 9
At Fletcher Hills: Backed by a pair of home runs and five RBI by Trey Crawford. the Hillers, which once trailed 4-0, pulled evej by the second inning at 6-all, then erupted for five additional runs in the third to eventually pull away at Gizoni Field.

Max Tufugafale and Crawford tied the contest at 6-all with consecutive homer runs. Tufugafale finished with three RBI.

Then Myles Cata snapped the deadlock with a solo homer in the third. Two batters later, Crawford again went deep to left for an 8-6 lead.

Nate McCance also homered, giving Grossmont five on the day. The Hillers school record is seven, set against Granite Hills on May 29, 1997.

Both ballclubs belted out a dozen hits each.

Rancho Bernardo 4, Patrick Henry 3
At Rancho Bernardo: The host Broncos managed a mere four basehits, but it was enough to cling to a narrow 4-3 decision.

The bigh blow was a 3-run homer by Owen Glick in the first inning, but managed just two additional hits over the balance of the contest.

Meanwhile, the Patriots stranded 11 runners on base, yet made things interesting by scoring twice in the seventh before Noah Villa entered from the bullpen to save the win for starting pitcher Caden Dockan.

Driving home runs for Patrick Henry were a trio of seiors — Lukas Oquendo, Alex Mestman and Sal Gagliano.

— Nick Pellegrino

Classic Division

Santana 7, Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) 2
At northeast Santee: The Sultans (5-6) mounted a 7-0 lead before gliding to their third win in four starts.

Xander Bennett bayyed 2-for-3, driing in three runs, qhilw sophomore Gregory Ryan added a 2-run single.

Ampother sophomore, Israel Sanchez. carried a shutout into the sixth inning. Sanchez only had three strikeouts, but worked the lower-half of the strike zone well, allowing just ne walk and five singles thanks to an array of ground balls.

Sreele Canyon 8, San Pedro 6
At Jamul: The Couhars (3-8) sunk the Pirates to end a 4-game losing skid.

Isaiah Hyche drilled a 2-run double, matching teammate Abel Lopez with two hits for the Cougars.

Setting the table were Eli Arens and Caha Gavin, scoring two runs each.

Coronado (Henderson, Nev.) 5, Christian 4
El Camino 6, El Capitan 5 (walk-off)
Green Vakkey (Henderson, Nev.) 7, Monte Visa 2