Lutheran

Orange Lutheran (12-3) is the midseason No. 1 team in Southern California high school baseball.

The Lancers completed a four-game sweep at the Boras Classic South on Friday night, winning the championship game 4-1 over Norco.

Orange Lutheran’s pitching depth was impressive all week.

Ricardo Hurtado had a single and a home run and Brady Murrietta added two hits. Starting pitcher Blake Killinger was able to contain hot-hitting Norco (15-2), giving up five hits and one run in 5⅓ innings. Jacob Melendez hit his fourth home run for Norco since becoming eligible on March 27.

Orange Lutheran has won two prestigious tournaments in the same year — the Boras Classic South and the National High School Invitational in North Carolina. Perhaps the Southern Section’s computer rankings will reflect that feat after the Lancers were ranked No. 51 in this week’s Southern Section power rankings.

Orange Lutheran will face Northern California champion, St. Mary’s, next Saturday in the Boras Classic championship game at Santa Clara University.

Corona 7, Newport Harbor 5: A five-run fourth powered the Panthers. Joseph Flores Jr. had a two-run home run and Anthony Murphy added two hits and two RBIs for the Panthers.

Los Osos 4, JSerra 3: A four-run seventh helped Los Osos overcome a 3-0 deficit. The big hit was a three-run home run by Dominic Rodriguez.

St. John Bosco 2, Fountain Valley 1: James Clark had two hits, including an RBI single.

Ayala 6, Gahr 4: Easton Sarmiento contributed two hits, including a home run. Luke Payne threw 3⅔ innings of scoreless relief.

Mater Dei 6, Aquinas 5: The Monarchs opened a 6-0 lead and hung on. Ezekiel Lara had a three-run home run.

San Diego Patrick Henry 4, Huntington Beach 3: Ely Mason had two hits and two RBIs for Huntington Beach.

Arcadia 5, Corona Centennial 0: Andrew Cooper threw the shutout, giving up three hits. Jordan Vogel had a triple and single.

Royal 5, Moorpark 1: Dustin Dunwoody struck out 12 in 6⅔ innings.

Banning 9, San Pedro 2: AJ Herrera threw a three-hit complete game. He also had three hits.

El Camino Real 13, Cleveland 1: JJ Saffie had three hits and three RBIs and Jackson Sellz added three hits and two RBIs. Hudson December gave up one run in five innings.

Birmingham 4, Taft 3: The Patriots scored three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to win a West Valley League game. Carlos Acuna hit the tie-breaking home run in the seventh. Aidan Martinez hit a three-run home run in the sixth and also struck out four in 1⅓ innings of relief. Nate Swinson had a two-run home run for Taft.

Granada Hills 6, Chatsworth 2: Max Szczech had a three-run double for the Highlanders.

Bell 4, South Gate 3: Gustavo Ramirez finished with three hits in an Eastern League win.

Garfield 6, Legacy 3: Doubles by Omar Martinez and Nathan Gaytan in the third sparked the Bulldogs.

Sierra Canyon 6, Sylmar 3: Carl McMullan contributed two hits and two RBIs for Sierra Canyon. Matthew Torres homered for Sylmar.

La Mirada 5, Servite 3: Ian Aguayo hit a two-run home run for La Mirada.

Etiwanda 19, Warren 9: Adam Ornales must have been a little tired after scoring six runs and getting three hits in Etiwanda’s win.

La Habra 2, Cypress 1: Bobby Brooks threw a complete game for La Habra.

Villa Park 12, El Dorado 2: Dominic Gutierrez hit a grand slam and Justin Lopez had four hits for Villa Park. Xavi Cadena contributed three hits for El Dorado.

Calabasas 10, Agoura 9: The Coyotes scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh, with Trevor Chang winning it on an RBI single.

Loyola 6, Providence 1: Jack Murray had a two-run home run for Loyola.

Softball

Orange Lutheran 11, Huntington Beach 0: Rylee Silver contributed three hits and also struck out six in five scoreless innings.

Norco 8, Eastvale Roosevelt 5: Coral Williams finished with 15 strikeouts for Norco.

The Boras Classic has seen lots of upsets this week. No. 1 St. John Bosco, No. 4 Corona and No. 6 Huntington Beach were all beaten in first-round games. On Wednesday, No. 2 Orange Lutheran was taken into the eighth inning by Gahr until a walk-off single by CJ Weinstein delivered a 2-1 victory and sent the Lancers into Thursday’s 6 p.m. semifinal at JSerra.

Weinstein finished with two hits and two RBIs. Angel Gonzalez started the bottom of the eighth with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice. Then came consecutive walks to load the bases before Weinstein ended the game. Jake Ourique struck out six with no walks in seven innings for Gahr.

Norco 14, Los Osos 0: The Cougars (14-1) advanced to the Boras Classic semifinals with a five-inning mercy-rule win. Codey Brown had three hits and three RBIs and Jacob Melendez added four RBIs. Dylan Seward and Jordan Ayala each hit home runs. Ayala struck out nine and gave up three hits. Norco will play at Mater Dei at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Huntington Beach 4, St. John Bosco 2: Ely Mason had three hits and Jared Grindlinger recorded eight strikeouts in 4⅓ innings to hand St. John Bosco its third consecutive defeat.

Corona 3, Arcadia 2: Anthony Murphy finished with two hits and Trey Ebel had a triple for the Panthers. Matt Manzo had three hits for Arcadia.

Newport Harbor 2, Corona Centennial 0: Ryan Williams had a solo home run and Henry Mann added an RBI double for Newport Harbor.

El Camino Real 9, Cleveland 3: The Royals ended Cleveland’s nine-game winning streak. Jackson Sellz threw a complete game, Shane Bogacz had three hits and three RBIs and Ryan Glassman added two hits and two RBIs.

South Gate 7, Bell 3 The Rams handed a rare Eastern League defeat to Bell (16-2, 2-1). Joe Corona had two hits and three RBIs. Ernesto Brenes threw a complete game. South Gate put together a six-run sixth inning to wipe away a 2-1 deficit.

Granada Hills 12, Chatsworth 1: Caleb Reclusado finished with three hits, including a home run, to lead the Highlanders. Luke Chau struck out five in six innings.

Carson 15, Gardena 4: Kris Sinclair had two hits and three RBIs for the Colts.

Garfield 8, Legacy 1: Nathan Gaytan hit two home runs to help the Bulldogs take over sole possession of first place in the Eastern League.

Villa Park 8, El Dorado 4: Jack McGuire limited El Dorado to two hits and one run in five innings.

Cypress 14, La Habra 3: Freshman Ivan Ortiz had four hits and three RBIs for Cypress.

Sierra Canyon 13, Warren 0: Greyson Gullage and Fletcher Taylor hit home runs and Mikhail Johnson had two hits and two RBIs.

Chaminade 7, Santa Barbara 0: Jackson Schroeder struck out 11 and Isaiah Hearn homered for the Eagles.

Bishop Alemany 12, Nevada Centennial 2: MJ Serrano threw five shutout innings and Brody Thompson and Chase Stevenson each hit home runs. Noah Chan finished with two hits and three RBIs.

St. Francis 4, St. Joseph 2: Daniel Izaguirre had two hits and two RBIs and Donovan Udell threw a complete game.

Determined to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of rival St. John Bosco on Thursday, No. 1-ranked Orange Lutheran turned to Texas-bound catcher Brady Murrietta, who came through with a memorable individual performance in a 5-4 road victory.

Let’s count the ways Murrietta made an impact.

In the top of the first inning, he had a double. In the bottom of the first, he threw out the speedy James Clark trying to steal second. In the fifth, he drove in a run with a sacrifice pop fly. In the top of the sixth, he broke a 3-3 tie by sending a hanging slider from closer Jack Champlin over the fence in left field for a two-run home run. In the bottom of the sixth, he tagged out the potential tying run at the plate.

Pro scouts were out en masse to see Orange Lutheran pitcher Cooper Sides, whose fastball touched 95 mph. He struck out eight in five innings.

Champlin had a two-run triple in the first inning against Sides. Champlin had given up only one earned run all season until Orange Lutheran scored three runs (one earned) in 2⅔ innings of relief. The Lancers were particularly excited because Champlin taunted them after saving Wednesday’s 4-1 win, leading to shoving and pushing after the game. As a precautionary measure, the teams did not shake hands after Thursday’s game.

Orange Lutheran improved to 8-3 and 1-2 in the Trinity League. No. 2 St. John Bosco is 11-3 and 5-1. The teams could meet again next week at the Boras Classic.

Cypress 6, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2: Tate Belfanti allowed one hit in four innings and struck out four for Cypress, which finished third at the National Classic.

Concord De La Salle 6, Corona Centennial 3: The Spartans won the National Classic. Devin Bishop and Michael Nonis hit home runs for Centennial, which became the first team in four days to score against De La Salle.

Bell 1, Las Vegas Southeast Career Tech 0: The Eagles improved to 16-1 and went 4-0 in San Diego. Manuel Pasillas threw five scoreless innings and AJ Esquivel threw two scoreless innings for the save.

West Ranch 6, Saugus 5: A four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh lifted West Ranch to the Foothill League win. Ty Diaz had two RBIs.

Hart 7, Golden Valley 4: Hayden Rhodes delivered two hits and three RBIs for Hart.

Valencia 9, Castaic 7: Justin Gaisford had a two-run home run for Valencia.

Corona Santiago 3, Aquinas 0: Troy Randall struck out 10 in five innings and Max Eldridge hit a home run to lead Santiago.

Maranatha 4, Granada Hills 0: Bradley Loiacono threw 6⅓ scoreless innings.

Foothill 2, La Habra 1: Caden Lauridsen struck out four with no walks while giving up two hits in a complete-game performance.

Agoura 6, Oak Park 0: Tyler Sterling had three RBIs for the Chargers.

Newbury Park 3, Thousand Oaks 0: Ben Miller and Chase Renzo combined on the shutout and Carson Richter had a three-run home run to lead the Panthers.

Oaks Christian 2, Westlake 1: Luke Puls had a solo home run and Gave Geyer threw three innings of scoreless relief.

Long Beach Millikan 4, Lakewood 0: Daunte Bell struck out eight with no walks in throwing the shutout.

Villa Park 4, Temecula Valley 2: Ezra Ornelas had two hits for Villa Park.

Softball

Norco 9, Corona del Sol 0: Leighton Gray and Isabella Ray hit home runs and Peyton May allowed three hits in a five-inning win at the Michelle Carew Classic.

The much anticipated pitching duel between Gary Morse of Orange Lutheran and Julian Garcia of St. John Bosco on Wednesday under the lights at Hart Park exceeded expectations.

With both hitting 95 mph, Morse gave up two hits in six innings with eight strikeouts. Garcia struck out 10 and also gave up two hits, but one was a leadoff home run by Ricardo Hurtado.

St. John Bosco (11-2, 5-0) broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh to defeat Orange Lutheran 4-1. It was the second consecutive Braves win. Orange Lutheran, which came into the week ranked No. 1 by The Times after winning the National High School Invitational, dropped to 7-3 overall and 0-2 in the Trinity League.

Closer Jack Champlin came in after a leadoff single in the seventh to pick up the save.

The Braves loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, then scored two runs on a wild pitch and added a third on James Clark’s single. The teams close out their three-game series in a 1:30 p.m. game Thursday at St. John Bosco.

Gary Morse of Orange Lutheran struck out eight against St. John Bosco in six innings Wednesday.

(Nick Koza)

Concord De La Salle 1, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 0: Sam Lakey hit a two-out solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to break up a pitching duel and send De La Salle into Thursday’s championship game of the National Classic. It was the third consecutive shutout by De La Salle pitchers. Notre Dame’s Lachlan Clark made no mistakes other than giving up the home run. He struck out 10 in 6⅔ innings. Notre Dame twice had bases-loaded situations but failed to take advantage, including hitting into a double play in the bottom of the sixth.

Corona Centennial 5, Cypress 1: Jacob Torres threw a complete game with nine strikeouts and Aiden Simpson homered to lead the Huskies in a semifinal game of the National Classic. They will face De La Salle on Thursday at 4 p.m. at El Dorado in the tourney final.

Vancouver (Wash.) Union 1, El Dorado 0: The Golden Hawks gave up a run in the bottom of the seventh. Julian Rodriguez gave up three hits in 6⅔ innings.

Fountain Valley 5, Edison 0: Four pitchers combined for the shutout. Ethan Cortez had two doubles.

Harvard-Westlake 7, Loyola 1: James Tronstein homered, Jake Kim had two RBIs and Evan Alexander struck out 10 in 5⅓ innings.

Bell 7, Chula Vista Olympian 3: The Eagles (15-1) received four RBIs from Eric Medina, including a two-run single in the seventh to break a 3-3 tie.

Sylmar 5, San Francisco Lincoln 2: Tim Sepulveda had two hits and three RBIs while Rickee Luevano went three for three to lead Sylmar.

El Camino Real 6, La Costa Canyon 4: Michael Spancer and Shane Bogacz each had three hits while Blake Dubin had a two-run single for the Royals.

Cleveland 9, Marshall 3: The Cavaliers won their eighth consecutive game. Shiloh Wickliffe had two hits and three RBIs.

Quartz Hill 13, Palmdale 0: Parker White had three hits and threw a no-hitter in the Golden League win over Palmdale.

Ayala 4, Bonita 2: Easton Sarmiento struck out seven in 5⅓ innings for Ayala (11-1).

Bishop Alemany 10, Chatsworth 0: Mikey Martinez, a transfer from Crespi, had three hits in his Alemany debut.

Carson 9, Classical 7: Nate Ruan had three hits, including a two-run home run. Skylar Vinson also had a two-run home run.

Foothill 6, Irvine 0: Jackson Phillips threw the shutout, striking out nine and giving up two hits.

Villa Park 5, Arcadia 2: Aidan Young had two hits for Villa Park. Logan Hoppie threw a complete game with six strikeouts.

Mira Costa 13, Torrance 4: Connor Collins drove in four runs for the Mustangs.

Oaks Christian 5, Westlake 1: Dane Disney and Carson Sheffer each had two hits in the Marmonte League win.

Thousand Oaks 3, Newbury Park 1: Jake Ange continued his hot hitting with a home run, single and two RBIs.

Palos Verdes 7, Redondo Union 2: Franco Correa and Jackson Alba each finished with three hits for Palos Verdes.

Huntington Beach 8, Corona del Mar 2: Jared Grindlinger had four hits and four RBIs and Owen Bone homered for the Oilers.

Newport Harbor 7, Los Alamitos 3: Henry Mann was three for three with two RBIs for Newport Harbor.

Norco 17, King 2: The Cougars (12-1) received four hits from Zion Martinez and three hits and three RBIs from Jacob Melendez to stay unbeaten in the Big VIII League. Jordan Ayala struck out seven and gave up one hit in four innings, setting him up to pitch against St. John Bosco on Tuesday in the Boras Classic.

Santa Margarita 6, Mater Dei 0: Tyler Unter struck out nine in six scoreless innings and Andre Owens had two doubles for the Eagles.

Servite 6, JSerra 4: Jaden Liu had two RBIs in Servite’s Trinity League win.

South Hills 5, McClatchy 2: Christian Santoyo threw a complete game for South Hills.

Mission Viejo 1, Tesoro 0: Jackson Krause, Caleb Tucker and Jackson Stonebarger combined for the shutout. Aiden Chapuis had three hits.

Chaminade 4, Granada Hills 3: Nicholas Penaranda had three hits for the Highlanders in the loss. Isaac Hearn had two hits and two RBIs for Chaminade.

Corona Santiago 9, Las Vegas Basic 2: Jonathan Thornton had three hits and Striker Pence struck out six in five innings.

Softball

Orange Lutheran 2, King 1: The Lancers won their first-round game of the Michelle Carew tournament. Rylee Silva struck out seven. Carlie Snyder had two hits.

Garden Grove Pacifica 13, Long Beach Poly 6: Matte Stern had a triple, single and four RBIs for Pacifica.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 7, Camarillo 2: Jackie Morales hit a two-run home run for the Knights.

Fullerton 7, Chino Hills 5: Hayley Brock had a home run, double, two singles and four RBIs for 13-1 Fullerton. Malaya Majam-Finch struck out nine. Milena Medyn led Chino Hills with three hits.

Norco 4, Long Beach Millikan 0: Coral Williams struck out nine in the shutout. Angelina Gonzales hit a home run.

Marina 8, Rio Mesa 0: Mia Valbuena threw two no-hitters, first against Rio Mesa, then in a 1-0 win over Los Altos. She had 18 strikeouts against Los Altos.

This week began with Orange Lutheran having played in only four baseball games while others had played in 10 or more. The Lancers were saving their best to come and it certainly showed when they won four consecutive games to capture the National High School Invitational on Saturday in Cary, N.C.

After needing consecutive walk-off hits to win in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Orange Lutheran (7-1) had more nerve-racking moments before knocking off defending champion Venice (Fla.) 7-6. In the bottom of the seventh, Venice put two runners on with two outs before Anthony Tomminelli got a strikeout to secure the win.

Orange Lutheran started fast with a two-run triple by CJ Weinstein in the first inning. Eric Zdunek finished with two hits and two RBIs while Brady Murrietta added two hits. The Lancers have about 24 hours to celebrate because next week they face St. John Bosco in a critical three-game series in the Trinity League.

Harvard-Westlake 10, Arizona Casteel 8: Jake Kim flexed his muscles for the second consecutive game, hitting a home run and double to finish with three RBIs. Ethan Price had a two-run double. Freshman Nate Englander had two hits and three RBIs.

Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian 5, St. John Bosco 0: The Braves return home from North Carolina with a 9-2 record and set to face Orange Lutheran this week in a three-game Trinity League series. Jack Champlin had two hits in the loss.

Aquinas 4, Gloucester 0: Eli Martinez threw the shutout with seven strikeouts.