Patrick Henry High School assured itself of a winner-goes-to-the-championship game with Cathedral Catholic, beating the Dons 18-7 Tuesday at Cathedral Catholic.
Henry’s win forces an “if-necessary” game Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s 6 p.m. Open Division championship game at USD’s Fowler Park.
Patrick Henry’s win against the Western League foe Dons avenges a 13-3 second-round playoff loss to Cathedral Catholic in the double-elimination playoffs.
“Well, we’ve got at least one more to play,” said Patrick Henry coach Sheldon Watkins. “I certainly didn’t expect 18 runs. I expected a dogfight, and I’m sure that’s what we’ll get Wednesday. But we jumped on ’em early and our offense showed up today.
“Most certainly, though, the job is not done.”
Fifth-seeded Patrick Henry (22-9) scored five in the first inning — two coming on Jayden Goldman’s home run.
The Patriots added two runs in the second, five in the fourth and three in each of the fifth and sixth.
“I knew I was going to get a fastball sometime in that first at-bat,” Goldman said. “I saw a bunch of breaking balls, but finally got a fastball. And I didn’t miss it.”
The Patriots banged out 19 hits, walked five times and saw three batters get hit by a pitch. And the top-seeded Dons (26-5) committed four errors.
Every player in Henry’s starting lineup had a hit. Eight scored runs, and eight had RBIs.
Goldman and Jimmy Gunn had home runs, with Gunn driving in four runs and scoring four times.
“The big thing is that we were able to spit on their pitchers’ offspeed stuff,” Gunn said. “We wanted to hit the fastball. Plus, we made all the routine plays in the field.”
Patrick Henry’s Jayden Goldman pumps his fist while running the bases after he hit a two-run home run as Cathedral Catholic’s pitcher Kaden Kuhn walks back to the mound in the first inning of the CIF Open Division semifinal playoff game at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Lost in all the offense was the strong pitching performance from Tyson Bobo, who won his second game in the playoffs and improved to 6-3 on the season. He went six innings after giving up two runs in the first.
“Tyson was the unsung guy today,” Watkins said. “He got off to a little shaky start, but settled in and gave us a strong performance.
“By him going six, we saved some pitching for Wednesday and hopefully beyond.”
Alex Harrington had a big game for Cathedral Catholic, belting a homer and scoring twice. Trey Kotsay scored three times for the Dons, had three hits and drove in a run.
Hunter Harrington had a pair of hits, drove in one and scored one.