As the spring athletic season winds down, Dublin High School’s programs are ending the regular season and East Bay Athletic League championships on a high note.
This past weekend, the Dublin High Auxiliary Gym was the venue for the 22-hour EBAL Badminton championships which saw the Gaels taking 1st place in 3 of the 5 brackets. Freshmen Girls Doubles pairs Bella Meng and Angelina Wu took advantage of the tournament’s double-elimination format, surviving an early round loss to claim the EBAL title by defeating a pair from Dougherty Valley two consecutive times in the event’s final matches. For the second season in a row, Jasmine Yeung came away with 1st place in the Girls Singles, while Philip Chu and Sahasra Gajula came away as EBAL Champions in Mixed Doubles.
In addition to Badminton, the EBAL Swim and Boys Tennis Championships also took place over the weekend of April 25-27. There were 25 swimmers who advanced to this weekend’s North Coast Section Championship meet taking place at the Concord Community Pool (May 3-4). Despite a very tough draw for the team as a whole, Ojas Garad and Dheeraj Tallapragada advanced to the Quarterfinals of the NCS Doubles Qualifier before being eliminated to end the season for the program.
Four other spring sports whose seasons have wrapped up include Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Boys Volleyball, and Stunt Cheer. The Girls Lacrosse team came the closest it has since 2016 to securing a North Coast Section bid, with a 15-14 overtime loss to Bishop O’Dowd and a 12-11 defeat to Dougherty Valley in the final week being the only things separating Dublin from qualifying. The Stunt Cheer team also had one of its best seasons in the history of the program, setting records for victories and overall points earned during its competitions.
Despite a slow start following the loss of several key contributors, the Boys Volleyball team also finished strong by winning 2 of its final 3 contests. The season’s culminating stretch highlighted by a thrilling 15-13 win in the 5th set against Dougherty Valley with its only loss coming to the NCS Division 1 #6 seed Granada. Considering that the Junior Varsity team won nearly all of its matches, the future is definitely bright for the program.
This week features EBAL Championships in Boys Golf and Track and Field. The Boys Golf championship wrapped up on Monday with the Gaels finishing in 6th place after shooting 418. Dario Diaz led the Gaels by shooting a 74. Dublin will be applying for the NCS Division 1 Tournament and both team and individual qualifiers will be announced later this week. In Track and Field, the EBAL Championship Meet will be taking place on the afternoon and evening of Friday, May 3rd at Livermore High School, and top finishers in each event will have the opportunity to advance to the NCS Tri-Valley Meet at Pittsburg High School on May 11th.
In other action this week, the Dublin Softball and Baseball teams both have 2 home games (including Senior Days) that have postseason implications.
The Softball team improved to 11-7-1 after a dramatic come-from-behind win against one of the top teams in NCS (Amador Valley) last Thursday. Dublin was down to its final strike before scoring two runs to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th, and Ari Cooper had a walk-off base hit to lift the Gaels to the 9-8 win in extra innings. Dublin will host Foothill on Tuesday before finishing with its Senior Day against Dougherty Valley on Thursday, May 2nd. The first pitch in both games is 4:00, with pre-game festivities for Senior Day beginning at 3:30. With victories in their final two games Dublin will likely earn 1 or more home playoff games, and the Gaels still have a chance at an EBAL playoff berth with wins and some help.
The Baseball team needs victories in its final EBAL home game on Wednesday, May 1st against Dougherty Valley and it’s Senior Day finale against Irvington on Saturday, May 4th in order to qualify for consideration based on its Divisional record, quality wins, and overwhelming strength of schedule. The game against Dougherty Valley starts at 4:00 p.m. while Senior Day against Irvington begins at 11:00 a.m. with the Senior Day ceremony beginning at 10:30 a.m.
