Sports briefs: Redwood tops Marin Catholic, advances to MCAL baseball final

The Redwood High baseball team scored six times in the first inning and added three insurance runs in the sixth to hold off Marin Catholic 11-7 in the MCAL semifinals on Tuesday.

The top-seeded Giants (22-3) advance to the final at 7 p.m. on Friday at Albert Park against No. 2 San Marin (18-7). The Giants and Mustangs split the regular-season series with Redwood winning 9-3 on March 30 and San Marin winning 7-4 on April 25.

Redwood took advantage of seven errors by MC while committing four of their own. Rex Solle had two hits and scored three times. Solle also got the start on the mound, allowing one hit in 2.1 innings of work.

Sam Gersch, Jack Moseley and TJ Beck all drove in two runs apiece for the Giants. MC (12-12) was led by Jake Lyall and Cooper Mitchell, who had two hits each. Luke Martin had two RBIs.

Boys lacrosse

Top-seeded Marin Catholic took care of business in Tuesday’s North Coast Section Division I semifinal, defeating No. 4 Monte Vista 8-4. The Wildcats (17-5) advance to the final on Thursday after being eliminated at the quarterfinal stage each of the past two seasons.

Girls lacrosse

Top-seeded San Marin reached the NCS D-II final following an 11-7 win against No. 4 Acalanes on Tuesday. The Mustangs (16-5) will host either No. 2 Campolindo or No. 3 Miramonte at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the title game.

Boys tennis

Second-seeded Branson swept past No. 15 Middletown 7-0 in the first round of the NCS Division II playoffs on Tuesday. Ishwar Jayaraman and Mason Ogborne picked up wins at the top two singles spots for Branson. The Bulls will face either No. 7 Piedmont or No. 10 Marin Catholic on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Marin Academy, the No. 9 seed, rolled past No. 8 Arcata 6-1 on Tuesday and moves on to face BCL West rival University, the tournament’s top seed, on Thursday.

No. 11 San Domenico saw its season come to a close after a 6-1 loss to No. 6 Head-Royce.

College lacrosse

Former Redwood High standout Grace Minturn was named the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s offensive player of the year following a season that saw her score 34 goals in conference play for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College.

All told, Minturn posted team highs in goals (50) and assists (22) in 19 games during her sophomore season. CMS (13-6, 10-2 SCIAC) made it to the conference tournament final last weekend, falling 18-8 against Pomona Pitzer.