Andrew Edwards/Special to the Record Searchlight
 | Redding Record Searchlight
A historic season received a poetic ending on Saturday when top-seeded West Valley beat No. 3 seed Lassen, 10-0, to earn the CIF Northern Section Division III title at Tiger Field in Redding. It counted as its first section championship since 1992, when it competed in Division II.
West Valley, under first-year coach Willie Church, enjoyed a season that saw it post a section-best 17-game win streak, an undefeated league record for the first time ever, and win 20 of its last 21 games. The Eagles earned their first Northern Athletic League championship since 2017 and will now head to the CIF Northern California Regional tournament.
Saturday’s championship effort went just five innings amid stellar performances at both the plate and on the mound. Teams are allowed to permit the 10-run rule in the championship game if agreed upon by the coaches, per the Northern Section.
The Eagles allowed a 5-run third inning to carry the bulk of their 14th double-digit scoring outing of the season and second-straight of the postseason. After a 4-3 loss to Yreka to open the postseason (round 2 is considered double elimination), West Valley outscored its opponents 29-2 over its next three playoff games.
Five different Eagles had RBIs on Saturday, including senior catcher Manny Sleezer, who went 5-for-10 with four RBIs throughout the postseason. Junior Bryton Miller, and sophomore Gunner Church, Willie’s son, each drove in four runs during this playoff run, too. The three combined for more than half of West Valley’s scoring output.
Senior Jayden Knight, the team’s season-long ace, pitched in three of the Eagles’ four postseason bouts. The right-hander posted a 1.27 ERA over 14 and ⅔ innings, including four scoreless innings in the championship game.
West Valley will find out who and where it’ll place next on Sunday, June 1. The NorCal tournament will ensue with the first round at 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 3 at the higher seeds’ home site, and conclude with the championship on Saturday, June 7.
For a program that had taken its playoff lumps for some time, this season will already be considered a milestone. It lost the section championship in 2023, and despite making the postseason in 13 of its last 14 campaigns, had lost in the first round 10 times.
Now, after doing something the school hasn’t seen in more than three decades on the baseball front, West Valley can further its already unprecedented season with more success in the coming week.
Division II: Chico 5, Pleasant Valley 1
Top-seeded Chico scored each of its five runs in the first inning and to win its second-straight section championship, this time over No. 4 seed Pleasant Valley.
It carried the best record, 28-1, and was the best team throughout the entirety of the North State baseball season. The Panthers were ranked as high as a top-25 team in California this season per MaxPreps, and now enter NorCals as the 40th-ranked team.
Division IV: Durham 13, Winters 5
Durham, which finished second to top-seeded Winters in the Sacramento Valley League, and lost to the Warriors in the semifinal last season, earned the prized title of section champion Saturday.
The No. 2 seed Trojans trailed heading into the final inning, 5-4, until exploding for nine runs in the top of the seventh. Junior Landon Lynch had a team-high two doubles and five RBIs.
Division V: Etna 11, Mt. Shasta 3
Saturday counted as Etna’s fourth-straight section title, and second-straight Division V championship. It will be selected into its fourth-straight NorCal on June 1 — the Lions made it out of the first round once during that stretch in 2023.
Etna didn’t face much controversy this postseason as it won its three games by a combined score of 39-3. Senior Emmitt Griggs’ five RBIs counted for nearly half of the team’s run count Saturday, and junior Clayton Harris hit a home run.
Division VI: Los Molinos 2, Maxwell 1
Los Molinos, the No. 1 seed, won its second section title in three seasons and will appear in a third-straight NorCal after its 23rd win of the season on Saturday. It closed the 2025 campaign on an eight-game win streak and won the Five Star League in the regular season.
Division VII: Loyalton 10, Hayfork 3
Top-seeded Loyalton won 13 of its 14 games to close its North State season, ending with Saturday’s championship. A six-run fourth inning pushed the Grizzlies toward a 2025 section title, to pair with a share of the Evergreen League regular season title.
Senior Gus Petterson went 3-for-4 and drove in four of Loyalton’s 11 runs. Junior Cooper Holland and sophomore Thor Corcoran combined for a seven-inning complete game to pair with 12 strikeouts.