The St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School baseball team celebrated a league title in style last week after an 18-10 victory over Hercules.
Now the fun really begins.
The North Coast Section announced its baseball and softball brackets for the postseason and the Bruins were one of a few local squads that made the cut with a first-round home game. St. Pat’s is actually the higher seed at No. 9 in Division IV, but the game will be played on its home-field against No. 8 seed Healdsburg.
St. Pat’s is on fire lately, having won 14 of its last 15 games. The Bruins have scored at least 11 runs in 11 of those games.
On Friday it was Bo Smith leading the way with three hits, including a double and a triple to go with two RBI, four stolen bases and five runs scored. Xavier Brewer had two hits and four RBI, while Madden Mendez had two hits including a triple and scored six runs to go with two steals.
Also playing at home in Division IV is American Canyon. The Wolves, seeded No. 7, take on Stuart Hall on Wednesday. American Canyon is a higher seed than St. Pat’s, even though it has a worse overall record (11-14) and didn’t win a league title, although the competition in the Vine Valley Athletic League was a little stronger this season than the Tri-County Athletic League, which St. Pat’s plays in.
Benicia is the No. 6 seed in Division II play, but will play at No. 11 seed Redwood on Tuesday at 5 p.m.. Benicia comes into the tournament having won two in a row against Alhambra.
Benicia pitcher, Alana Robinson, celebrates with her team after ending the game with a strikeout in a narrow 4-3 win over Alhambra on Tuesday. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
In softball, American Canyon is at home on Tuesday against Freedom. The Wolves are the No. 8 seed and first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Wednesday will see more softball action, with Benicia scheduled to play Fortuna in a Division II matchup at 5 p.m. that day. The Panthers are the No. 5 seed.
The Panthers are guided by longtime head coach Kristin Grubbs, who has guided the Panthers to section titles in 2017, 2018 and 2022. The Panthers would have won another title in 2015 if not for a paperwork error. The Panthers also finished second in the inaugural state tournament in 2022, and finished in second place in the section in 2016.