The Valley Christian baseball team celebrates after winning the Northern California Division I championship.
Valley Christian High School athletics/.
As the stakes keep rising, so does the Valley Christian baseball program.
The Warriors, in coach John Diatte’s 37th year as their head coach, won their first Northern California championship Saturday with a 12-0 win at Elk Grove in the Division 1 final. Now, they have a new standard to chase.
The California Interscholastic Federation will advance its competition to state championships next year, adding an additional game where the NorCal and SoCal champions face off.
Article continues below this ad
“Right now I’m just going to enjoy winning this last one,” Diatte said by phone Sunday. “We’ll talk about that next year.”
If the 12-time Central Coast Section champions continue to pitch like they did to finish off the 2026 season, bring on West Regional and national championships too.
San Francisco Chronicle Logo
Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.
Add Preferred Source
Rahul Patel and Alex Kim combined on a two-hitter with six strikeouts over six innings for Valley Christian (23-9) — the game ended early due to the 10-run mercy rule — in the Warriors’ fifth straight shutout as they extended their scoreless run to 38 innings to end the season.
Diatte couldn’t say for sure if such a streak was a program record — “we’ve always prided ourselves on pitching and defense,” he said — but clearly the Warriors never had such a shutdown flurry to end the year. Kim (7-1, 2.15 ERA, five saves) finished off every one of those games and either Patel (6-3, 2.56) or Gabe Felix (9-3, 0.95) started.
Article continues below this ad
The trio pitched all 38 of those innings, and pitching coach Adam Varteressian, in his 10th season, called every pitch. Diatte is now tied for sixth all-time in state history with 809 wins (against 298 defeats), according to the Cal-Hi record book.
After back-to-back shutout losses to West Catholic Athletic League foe St. Francis in late April, Valley Christian won 11 of 12 games. In those 11 wins, the Warriors allowed three runs.
“I’m really proud of our guys and our coaches who put in so much time, energy and effort,” Diatte said. “Especially (Varteressian). He did an amazing job with our staff, calling every pitch. Of course the kids had to execute and throw all of them and put up all those zeroes.
“I set up the plan, stand on the side and get to be nervous. They all do the heavy lifting. I’m so thankful to be a part of it.”
There was little pacing required after the Warriors put up six runs in the top of the first against Elk Grove. Valley Christian finished things with a four-run flurry in the sixth, keyed by a three-run double by Chase Vong (2-for-4, four RBIs). Hilbert Chen and Nathan Choi also drove in two runs with two hits, leading a 15-hit attack. Jack Graham, Nathan Miller and Christian Nevarez also had two hits apiece.
Article continues below this ad
Elk Grove, which hit .337 on the season, scored 287 runs and 13 times plated at least 10 runs, including 11-7 over Granada-Livermore in the semifinals, finished 29-7.
Half Moon Bay 2, Livermore 0: The Cougars (23-9) claimed the Division 4 championship, their first NorCal title, as Kai Kung and Paxton Holden combined on a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts against the Cowboys (12-19), who scored 28 runs in two previous NorCal wins. It was the fourth straight shutout for Half Moon Bay, which got three hits, two runs and a homer from Santa Clara-bound Riley Jackson and two hits each from Holden and Cole Giannini. Braden Ford and Dylan Wherry combined to give up just two runs while striking out five for the Cowboys, who won the program’s second North Coast Section title last week.
Franklin-Elk Grove 5, Mitty 1: Despite two hits each from Elijah Kroenung and Kelen Johnson, the eighth-seeded Monarchs (20-12) fell short in the NorCal Division 2 final at Franklin (25-9-1). Mitty, 4-10 in WCAL play, had won five straight playoff games, outscoring opponents 40-8, but stranded 10 baserunners on Saturday.
Roseville 4, Menlo School-Atherton 2: In the NorCal Division 3 final, top-seeded Roseville (30-4) which won its 14th straight game at the expense of the visiting Knights (22-11) who got RBI singles from Jack Freehill and Chuck Wynn. Sophomore Reid Plamondon struck out seven in 4⅓ innings in defeat.
Article continues below this ad
Del Oro-Loomis 5, Alameda 0: In a matchup of the top two seeds in Division 2, freshman pitcher Katharine Popovski allowed just two hits and struck out six for visiting Del Oro (23-8), which won its first NorCal championship. Miley Gradney and Molly Cho each had a hit for Alameda, which finished 24-6.
Le Grand 5, Moreau Catholic-Hayward 3: The visiting Mariners (18-13) took a 3-2 lead with three runs in the fifth on RBIs from Jossi Jones, Sofia Mascorro and Olivia Ritchie, but Le Grand (22-7) got home runs from winning pitcher Ava Avila (13 strikeouts) and Aaliyah Ceja to win the Division 5 championship.