PACIFICA HIGH baseball team clinched at least a tie for the Empire League title with a win over Cypress on Tuesday (GGUSD Athletics photo)

Pacifica High’s baseball and softball teams began the week in pursuit of diamond gold, i.e. league championships. One succeeded and one only came close.

The Mariner baseball team clinched no worse than a tie for the Empire League pennant with a 4-2 win over rival Cypress on Tuesday at home. It was Pacifica’s 16th straight victory as the M’s overall record improved to 21-2 and 9-0 in league.

However, the Centurions (20-7, 8-1) can force a tie for the title if they can defeat the Mariners in the last regular season game on Thursday at the Cypress diamond.

Chad Gurnea, usually a starter, was employed as the closer and slammed the door for Pacifica by striking out five batters in three innings. Top hitter for the M’s was Aiden Marquez, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

The Pacifica softball team also won on Tuesday, defeating Kennedy 10-4, and needed Cypress to lose to set a potential title-tying game against the M’s on Thursday.

But Crean Lutheran, which came within a run of beating Cypress last time, lost 15-1. Pacifica is now 18-8 overall and 7-2 in the Empire League, while the Cents are 19-2-1 and 9-0 and are outright EL champs.

Huntington Beach (19-8, 6-2) clinched no worse than a tie for the Sunset Surf baseball pennant with an 11-1 win over Los Alamitos.

In the Golden West League, Ocean View did the same with a 9-2 win over second place Katella. The Knights can tie it all up on Thursday if they can turn the table on the Seahawks.

Loara and Los Amigos remain tied for first in the Garden Grove baseball league race, each with 9-5 marks with one game to play.

On Monday, Los Alamitos defeated Huntington Beach 5-4 on a squeeze play in the eighth inning in Sunset League softball action.

In Grove League softball, La Quinta beat Bolsa Grande 13-3 to stay in second place. Nevaeh Gomez led the way with a 3-for-3 hitting performance and five innings of striking out five while yielding just one earned run. Elle Magga was 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored.