No. 1 Grossmont to Meet La Jolla

No. 1 Grossmont, which received the top seed in the 2-A division for the San Diego Section baseball playoffs, will be host to La Jolla today. La Jolla (13-12, 5-7) finished third in the City Western League.

Grossmont (25-2, 8-0) is led by Todd Cady, who broke the San Diego Section record for runs batted in in a season two weeks ago. Cady, Grossmont’s catcher, has a .441 average, 57 RBIs and eight home runs.

No. 2 USDHS (24-4) will play Clairemont (16-12) at USDHS.

In the 3-A division, top-seeded Poway (19-6-1) will play Southwest (13-13) at Poway. No. 2 Helix (18-8-1) will be host to Mira Mesa (18-7).

Rancho Buena Vista (21-5), which received the top-seed in the 3-A division softball tournament, will be host to Granite Hills (13-9) in the 3-A quarterfinals of the Section playoffs today.

In the 2-A, top-seeded Madison (25-3) will play Carlsbad (12-11) at Madison.

Julian’s Travis Denmark, the county’s leading hitter was intentionally walked three times against Mountain Empire last Wednesday. In the third inning, he hit a two-run homer to give Julian a 4-3 lead. Julian (16-5, 9-2), winner of the Coastal League championship, won the game, 5-3.

Denmark, who has hit 13 home runs, stuck out nine, giving him 130 strikeouts for the season.

With a bye this week, Patrick Henry baseball Coach Bob Imlay was free to travel to Chino for the qualifying tournament of the California Amateur Golf Tournament, which will be held this summer.

Imlay had a two-day total of 142 to finish tied for fourth, which easily qualified him.

Harry Rudolph III, a former section champion from La Jolla High, won the tournament with a 132.

Vista Coach Butch Smith must be resigned to having already played his team’s playoff game.

“Our game against Mt. Carmel was our CIF championship,” Smith said. “We thought if we won that, we would automatically get a berth into the playoffs.”

Although Vista won, 6-3, the Panthers did not receive a playoff bid.

Vista finished fifth in the Palomar League with a 6-7-1 record, 12-16-1 overall.

“We have a tough league,” Smith said. “Look at Torrey Pines.”

Torrey Pines finished 12-16, 3-11, but won the Lions 2-A Tournament in the middle of the season.

Rancho Buena Vista Coach Steve Hargrave is breathing a sigh of relief. One of his better hitters, Chris Gorr, was hit on the top of the hand by Poway pitcher Danny Miller last week. Miller’s pitches had been clocked in the mid-80s during the game.

X-rays showed that Gorr suffered just a bruise.

“That’s good news. It would have been tough going into the playoffs without our No. 5 hitter who’s hitting around .400,” Hargrave said. “I thought it was broke. I heard that sound.”

Staff writers Martin Henderson and Jim Lindgren contributed to this story.