Resurgent El Cerrito softball steamrolls its way into NCS postseason
But the Gauchos are definitely playing with house money.
Buoyed by a top slugging freshman and mainstay senior on the mound, El Cerrito (19-3) has already set a school record for wins while winning the Tri-County Athletic League's Stone Division with a 14-0 record.
It's the Gauchos' first winning season since 2021.
Arlie Tatum, a freshman shortstop and catcher, is hitting .746 with North Coast Section bests of 53 hits and 52 RBIs in 71 at-bats to go along with 10 home runs, 23 doubles and 30 stolen bases, helping the Gauchos outscore league opponents 276-25. Tatum hasn't struck out once.
'One of the most dominating hitters I've seen in high school softball over the last five years,' said El Cerrito assistant coach Ken Miles.
Senior captain and Occidental College commit Courtney Miles is 11-0 on the mound with 119 strikeouts in 53 innings. She's also batting .500 with 32 hits, 24 RBIs, 41 runs, 13 doubles and 28 stolen bases, earning her first-team All-TCAL for a third straight year.
Natalie Gawlikowski (7-2, 0.63 ERA) is the other mainstay on the mound and one of five freshmen on the 17-person squad. Other top hitters are freshmen, Mia Martinez-Rojas (.510, 27 RBIs), Olive Calvin (.450) and Leah Sundstrom (.413).
'Admittedly our league wasn't as tough as some of the others in the Bay Area, but the team took care of business at hand and in nonleague beat NCS playoff teams Albany (14-0) and Piedmont (15-2),' coach Miles said.
The Gauchos open NCS play at home Wednesday against No. 10 seed Las Lomas (13-8), with the winner traveling to second seed Berean Christian-Walnut Creek (16-3) in the quarterfinals Friday or Saturday.
Top seeds in each division are Liberty-Brentwood (D1), Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (D2), Del Norte (D3), Northgate-Walnut Creek (D4), McKinleyville (D5) and Kelseyville (D6).
Top NCS baseball seeds are: Granada-Livermore (D1), Cardinal Newman (D2), California-San Ramon (D3), Arroyo-San Lorenzo (D4), Pinole Valley (D5) and John Swett-Crockett (D6).
State swimming: While the Metro stars were many at the CIF State Swim Championships in Clovis on Saturday, Foothill-Pleasanton sophomore Luke Mijatovic stood out by setting a national 500-yard freestyle record (4 minutes, 11.91 seconds) and breaking the state meet 200 free record in 1:33.52. The previous national record was 4:12.70 set in 2023 by Rex Maurer of Loyola-Los Angeles, and the state meet 200 record was 1:33.84, also by Maurer.
Valley Christian junior Yury Kuzmenko was a double winner, taking the 50 and 100 freestyles, breaking the 50 meet record in Friday's prelims at 19.55 (the previous mark was 19.57 set by Palo Alto's Ethan Harrington). The Princeton commit also anchored the winning 200 medley relay team and was part of the third-place 200 free relay squad.
Dougherty Valley-San Ramon's Songrui Wu also took two boys events, winning the 100 backstroke (47.20) and 200 IM (1:44.55). Other Metro winners were Mitty sophomore Shareef Elaydi (boys 100 breaststroke, 53.18), Gunnar Grubbs (boys diving, 611.80), Campolindo-Moraga freshman Stella Canoles (girls 100 free, 49.26) and Granada's Brooke Bennett (girls 500 free, 4:49.15).
In the team competition, San Ramon Valley-Danville's girls (170.5) placed second behind Santa Margarita-Rancho Santa Margarita (Orange County) (229.5). Monte Vista-Danville (144.5) was third, Campolindo (139) fourth and Mitty (106) fifth.
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