Sports briefs: Lee’s grand slam lifts Marin Catholic to crucial win

Jayden Lee had three hits, including a grand slam, as Marin Catholic boosted its MCAL playoff hopes considerably with a 7-0 win against Tam on Tuesday.

Lee’s slam came in the top of the fourth and gave MC (11-11, 9-6) a 4-0 lead. Lee have five RBIs and scored two runs. Liam Smith pitched five innings and limited the Red-tailed Hawks (11-11, 8-7) to three hits.

The win vaults MC into a fourth-place tie with Archie Williams but the Wildcats hold the edge thanks to a season sweep. Tam sits one game behind both teams but got swept by Archie Williams and would lose out in the event of a three-way tiebreaker having already lost to MC and Archie Williams three times. MC and Tam close the season against each other on Thursday.

• Sean McGrath pitched a complete-game one-hitter as San Marin locked up a playoff spot following a 7-1 win against Novato on Tuesday. McGrath had eight strikeouts and allowed one earned run. Tyler Keehn paced the Mustangs (16-7, 11-4) offensively with two hits and three RBIs. Anthony Scheppler also had two hits. Novato (14-9, 10-5) slipped to third place but clinched a playoff spot anyway due to season sweeps against both Archie Williams and Marin Catholic.
• Jack Gurley pitched a complete-game shutout as Redwood handed Archie Williams a 2-0 loss on Tuesday. Gurley gave up four hits and struck out seven for the Giants (19-3, 13-2). Theo Trono had two hits and Gavin Soper had an RBI. Leo Hendricks pitched six innings allowing six hits and to earned runs for Archie Williams (11-10, 9-6), which dropped to fifth in the standings with one game to play. Archie Williams closes against Redwood on Thursday.
• Marcos Tolliver struck out 11 hitters in five innings as San Rafael secured a 7-2 win against Terra Linda Tuesday. Tolliver limited TL (1-20, 1-14) to three hits and one earned run. Quinn Madden had two hits, two runs and an RBI for the Bulldogs (6-16, 4-11), who scored three times in the second and three times in the sixth.

College baseball

College of Marin hits the road to open the NorCal playoffs for a three-game series against Lassen on Friday. The Mariners (26-14) were picked as the No. 16 seed against No. 9 Lassen (25-13).

The Mariners were led by former Tam High standout Matteo Bellisimo who had a team-high 14 homers and 56 RBIs while finishing second with a .370 batting average. Former Novato High standout Derek Bartram hit .321 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs.

Game 1 is set for 3 p.m. on Friday. Game 2 starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday with a Game 3, if necessary, to follow.

Boys lacrosse

Cole Simon scored five goals as Terra Linda won its first-round matchup against San Marin 10-6 in the North Coast Section Division II playoffs on Tuesday. Cole Greene scored twice for the No. 9 Trojans (8-6), who advance to face No. 1 Justin-Siena (15-4) on the road at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Girls lacrosse

Top-seeded San Marin got its title quest off to a flying start after posting a 20-0 win against No. 16 Bay on Tuesday. The Mustangs (14-5) are set to face No. 8 University in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

• Branson, the No. 7 seed in D-II, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 17-4 win against No. 10 Lick-Wilmerding on Tuesday. The Bulls (13-4) face the winner of the late game between No. 2 Campolindo and No. 15 Casa Grande on Thursday.
• Marin Catholic rolled to a 19-0 win against No. 14 Rancho Cotate in the first round of the D-I playoffs. The Wildcats (15-4) host either No. 6 Monte Vista or No. 11 Berkeley on Thursday.

Boys tennis

San Domenico’s Toby Sadzeck, the No. 2 seed in the BCL West playoffs, fell 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals against No. 3 seed Karam Dhawan of University.

Prep softball

San Marin defeated Terra Linda 10-0 in the late game on Monday night. The result pulled the Mustangs (11-9, 9-4) into a third-place tie with Archie Williams and moved them one game behind second-place Redwood. San Marin closes the regular season on Wednesday with a game against Redwood in Larkspur.

Prep badminton

San Domenico wrapped up the regular-season league title following a 7-2 victory against University. The Bay Area Conference singles and doubles tournament starts on Thursday.