HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Santana Romps; Cady Sets RBI Record

Valhalla’s baseball team was within reach of catching Santana, not only Friday but in the race for second in the Grossmont 2-A League.

But in the sixth inning, Valhalla Coach Terry Love watched his team suddenly self-destruct, allowing visiting Santana to score 10 runs on the way to a 14-3 victory.

Fourth-ranked Santana (19-4, 5-1) clinched second behind Grossmont (23-2, 6-0) and pushed Valhalla (13-13-1, 3-4) into third.

Love said he is confident his team would still earn one of the 16 at-large playoff bids.

“I think we have a very good chance,” Love said. “We’re not a bad team. We’ve played a tough schedule and done well against very good teams.”

Santana led, 3-1, going into the sixth, which began with Valhalla’s Erik Nielsen striking out leadoff hitter Lance McClure.

That was followed by: a Chris Hastings single, a balk by Nielsen (Hastings to second), a Ross Piper double (Hastings scoring), a Kimo Henson single (Piper scoring on error), a Robert Ervin single, the second out, a Gabe Hernandez single (scoring Henson) and a Chad Barry walk (loading the bases).

Todd Shaw relieved Nielsen, but it wasn’t over. Ferdi Hollis singled, scoring Ervin. McClure doubled to score all three runners (after an error) to make it 10-1. Shaw walked Hastings, and Piper tripled to score two more runs. Shane Hobbs, pinch-running for Piper, finished Santana’s scoring in the sixth on a single by pinch-hitter Drake Welch.

“We just beat ourselves,” Love said. “Our shortstop (Rob Reid, who had two errors in the sixth and three for the day) had a bad day but, hey, he’s only a sophomore and inexperienced.”

Piper, who also had an RBI triple in the second, went three for four.

In another Grossmont 2-A game:

Grossmont 18, West Hills 3--Todd Cady’s grand slam in the fourth accounted for half of his game-high eight RBIs and lifted his season total to a San Diego Section-record 52, surpassing the 47 by Carlsbad’s Jeff Meyers in 1988. Cady, a junior catcher, went four for six and scored twice. It was Cady’s eighth home run of the year.

Teammate Wynter Phoenix was four for five, with two triples, two RBIs, two runs scored and two stolen bases. Second-ranked Grossmont improved to 23-2, 6-0. West Hills is 3-21, 0-7.

Grossmont 3-A

Helix 2, Monte Vista 1--Rob Ippolito (3-5) struck out 13, doubled and scored a run as Helix improved to 15-8-1, 4-2. Monte Vista is 17-10, 3-4.

Granite Hills 13, Mt. Miguel 2--Jason Gandy hit two two-run homers to lead Granite Hills (16-9-1, 3-3).

Palomar League

Rancho Buena Vista 7, Fallbrook 5--With RBV trailing, 5-4, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the count 1-2, Hank Perry smacked a three-run homer to win it. The victory improved the Longhorns to 14-10-1, 9-3. RVB is one game out of first, tied with Poway, with two games to play. Perry went three for three, doubled and drove in four runs. Winner Stan McCarver struck out four, gave up three hits and allowed no walks in relief.

Orange Glen 14, Mt. Carmel 5--John Bowerman’s grand slam sparked a eight-run second inning for host Orange Glen (16-10, 7-5), which put second-ranked Mt. Carmel’s chances of a league title on hold for at least a game. Bowerman was two for four and had four RBIs, and teammate Lance Keller went two for three and scored three times. Mt. Carmel fell to 20-5, 10-2.

Poway 12, San Dieguito 2--Greg Sorrell went three for four, including a two-run triple in the first and a two-run homer in the fifth, and had four RBIs. Teammate Brock Marsh went two for three for sixth-ranked Poway (17-6-1, 9-3). San Dieguito is 2-21-1, 1-9-1.

Torrey Pines 3, Vista 0--Shaw Henderson (6-5) went the distance for his third shutout, striking out five and allowing three hits for Torrey Pines, 11-15, 2-10.

Avocado League

San Pasqual 7, Carlsbad 6--Two San Pasqual pitchers walked seven batters in the seventh inning and lived to tell about it. San Pasqual starter Tim Young (2-1) was relieved after allowing one run in six innings. Ben Duncan homered and had four RBIs for San Pasqual (11-10-1, 8-2), which stayed in a first-place tie with Oceanside. Bryan Black homered for Carlsbad (9-18, 1-9).

Escondido 6, San Marcos 0--Robert Chavez (3-4) lost a no-hitter in the sixth for Escondido (12-12, 7-4). Teammate Neil Small went three for four and had three RBIs, and Chavez was two for two. San Marcos fell to 12-11, 5-5.

Oceanside 3, Ramona 2--Andrew Acevedo (8-1) struck out 11 and drove in a run to help his cause. Eighth-ranked Oceanside is 20-7, 8-2.

Nonleague

Lincoln 13, El Cajon 4--Michael Cagle, Victor Castaneda and Corey Lewis hit two-run homers and Donald Anderson went two for three for Lincoln (8-15).

Track and field

Palomar League--Brent Noon of Fallbrook High officially raised his section record in the shotput to 75-feet-2 at the Palomar League finals at Orange Glen High.

All other events were held Thursday at MiraCosta College, when Noon set a section discus record of 195-9.

Noon’s 1990 state and national best in the shotput is 76-2, but it did not count as a section mark because it came in a meet in which fewer than the required five schools participated.

Noon also has a discus throw of 196-6 in a dual meet, but his 195-9 is the official section record, ahead of the 195-8 set by Mt. Miguel’s Billy Joe Winchester in 1970.