From Register Staff

From Register Staff

Gian Traverso became the fourth St. Helena High School wrestler to make the state meet since 1999, reaching the 152-pound final at Saturday’s North Coast Section Championships in Fremont.

Traverso, the No. 2 seed in his weight class, reached the championship match by pinning third-seeded Robert Calica of Castro Valley in Saturday morning’s semifinals at Newark Memorial High School.

In his three matches on Friday, Traverso routed Robert Delgado of Montgomery-Santa Rosa 15-0, pinned Elmar Malek of De La Salle-Concord, then cruised 16-1 over Jon Jordan of Miramonte-Orinda.

Traverso went on to lose the final by pin to No. 1 seed Jordan Abed of Alhambra-Martinez.

But the top-three finish earned Traverso a trip to the state meet, set next Friday and Saturday in Bakersfield.

St. Helena’s other state qualifiers over the last nine years were 215-pounder Joe Luna in 1999, Geoff Harner (119) in 2001 and Tim Nuss (125) in 2004.

Traverso also earned a medal for placing among the top eight at his weight.

Also earning a medals for the Saints was 135-pounder Kevin DePina, who placed sixth, losing 2-0 in the fifth-/sixth-place match to No. 5 seed Drew Bush of College Park-Pleasant Hill.

Of St. Helena’s 10 section qualifiers, five advanced fom Friday’s opening rounds. Eliminated on Saturday were 140-pounder Tyler Nuss, 145-pounder Alex Seyve and heavyweight Tony Montelli.

Prep Boys Basketball

• Marin Catholic 71, Justin-Siena 49

Senior guard Blaize Boles had a game-high 23 points in his final game for the Braves as they never recovered from a 17-3 deficit after one quarter in Saturday night’s NCS Division IV quarterfinal in Kentfield.

Kevin Dougherty was the next highest scorer for Justin-Siena (22-8 overall) with eight points, while Garrett Roualdes chipped in six.

Dan Ahern had 18 points, Joe Hislop 16 and Ryan Mettner 10 for Marin Catholic (20-8) overall), which led 30-15 at halftime and 52-30 after three quarters.

Prep Girls Basketball

• Marin Catholic 57, Justin-Siena 50

Despite 20 points from Vicky Deely, the Braves’ girls (20-10) also saw their season end in the NCS Division IV quarterfinals against the Wildcats (18-11) on Saturday night.

Courtney Heathcote added 12 points and Jessica Futo nine for Justin-Siena, which held Marin Catholic scoreless for more than five minutes while trailing by 10 points late in the second half but didn't score either. Liz Virgin had a game-high 21 points for the Wildcats.

College Baseball

• Butte 11, Napa Valley 0

• Butte 7, Napa Valley 2

Matt Derr’s 31⁄3 innings of relief pitching was a highlight for the Storm in the first game of Saturday’s road doubleheader in Oroville. Derr gave up one run, which was unearned, while allowing three hits and striking out two.

Jason Scheumann pitched the first four innings, yielding eight runs, seven of them earned, on eight hits. Sean Cunningham went 2-for-5 and Clay Leslie 1-for-4 with a double to lead Napa Valley’s bats in the shutout loss.

Butte’s starting pitcher, who worked seven innings, got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third inning by striking out the Storm’s No. 4 and No. 5 hitters and getting the No. 6 batter to ground out, preserving a 2-0 lead.

Relief pitching was Napa Valley’s bright spot in the second game as well, as Derek Kinder and Dylan Brusstar combined to blank the Roadrunners on three hits. Kevin Clark pitched the first 52⁄3 innings, allowing seven runs, five earned, on five hits, four walks and two strikeouts. Jowel Rodriguez had an RBI double to lead the Storm’s six-hit attack.

Junior Varsity Baseball

• Rodriguez 7, Vintage 0

The Crushers lost their home-opener Friday after committing seven errors — which led to four unearned runs — and stranding 12 base runners. Matt French took the loss, pitching three innings while giving up five hits and only one earned run. French struck out three batters and walked zero as he threw 59 pitches for the day.

Josh Cariela and Nate Waschuck combined to pitch the final four innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs. Cariela and Alex Sasloff both went 2-fo-4 to lead the Crushers offense. Jeran Slabaugh (double) and Trevor Larsen (single) each added a hit but Vintage could not deliver with runners in scoring position. Vintage (0-1) visits Hogan on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.