First baseman Matt Morrison singled home outfielder Jacob Pappas with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, and the Cabrillo College baseball team held off host Monterey Peninsula 3-2 to close the teams’ regular season Thursday. Cabrillo (19-20, 12-8) finished in third place in the Coast Conference South Division behind champion West Valley (30-10, 16-4) and runner-up Ohlone (28-12, 15-5). MPC (19-21, 6-14) finished tied fourth with Gavilan (11-29, 6-14), ahead of last-place Hartnell (12-28, 5-15). “We got off to a slow start this season; we had four practices at home in February because of ..read more

WATSONVILLE — A 44-year-old man was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail this week after allegedly stabbing a nursing home worker. Watsonville police took Kelvin Hernandez into custody after workers from the facility, on the 500 block of Auto Center Drive, reported the injury assault shortly after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. According to a department social media post and arrest logs, Hernandez allegedly was visiting the nursing home when he stabbed the staff member in the shoulder using a pocket knife, an “unprovoked attack,” police said. Officers later located Hernandez with a knife. The injured nurs ..read more

SANTA CRUZ — After years of starts and stops and nearly a month of demolition, local developers of the “Circle Church” property at 111 Errett Circle in Santa Cruz successfully leveled the last of the muraled structure Tuesday afternoon and hope to have the site ready for construction later this year. “The ground is a little wet right now,” said property co-owner Brett Packer on Wednesday evening. “We’ve got some site work to do that we’re hoping to start in the summer when the ground dries up a bit. I will say though that it feels really good to finally be doing this instead of thinking about ..read more

Deepwater rockfish areas will close at the end of April, and only nearshore waters inside of the 20 fathom (120 feet) line will be open for rockfish, cabezon and lingcod. The halibut bite is slowly improving, and surfcasters are finding quality barred surf perch willing to bite on sandcrabs. Striped bass from the beach are a definite possibility right now as well. The stripers are in close, feasting on the same sandcrab buffet as the perch. Launching from Monterey Harbor, Chris’ Sportfishing has been working deepwater spots and doing quite well, thank you. Chris reports rockfish limits for eve ..read more

Harbor High’s beach volleyball team beat visiting Soquel 5-0 to finish unbeaten in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League on Wednesday. Only one match went three sets. Anika Dawson and Zoe Kemos beat Siena Bettermann and Julia Inkeles, 21-13, 19-21, 15-2 at No. 5. Gwen Grigsby and Isla Johnson beat Zoe Adams and Gemma Reyes, 21-7, 21-16, at No. 1. Maren O’Farrell and Sabine Kemos beat Sadie Holden and Bella Hogan, 21-11, 21-12, at No. 2. Tea Stockwell and Grace Stryker beat Lily Juarez-Sapone and Mary Henderson, 21-15, 21-13, at No. 3, and Dakotah Johnson and Sandy Enriquez beat Zoe Vargas and J ..read more

APTOS — Under an overcast sky, Aptos High’s tennis team shined bright at the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Championships at Seascape Sports Club on Wednesday. Aptos senior Koosha Safari beat sophomore teammate Ben Zaretsky 6-2, 6-4 to win his third singles title, and Mariners seniors John McGowan and Jack Eldredge returned to the doubles final for a second straight season and knocked off Santa Cruz brothers Julian and Jeremy Arulanantham 6-4, 6-3. Aptos High’s Koosha Safari serves during the first set of the SCCAL singles final on Wednesday at Seascape Sports Club. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cr ..read more

WATSONVILLE — Development of a 34-unit “tiny home village” to temporarily house people living along the Pajaro River levee is expected to begin this summer and conclude by year’s end. The Recurso de Fuerza Village project, to be located at 5 Cherry Court on property owned by Westview Presbyterian Church, will be funded for its first two years through a nearly $8 million state encampment resolution grant that was jointly awarded in June to Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. The shelter project, initially tailored to those living along more than 3 miles of riverbed ahead of a major Pajaro River l ..read more

SANTA CRUZ — The city of Santa Cruz on Tuesday held a community meeting at the London Nelson Community Center to discuss its effort to rebrand the city’s visual identity, which includes the city’s logo and website. According to Santa Cruz Communications Manager Erika Smart, the last citywide revamp was  completed more than a decade ago and the latest effort comes about through direction from the city’s current strategic plan. “One of the things that we’ve seen as a key initiative is our rebranding — and really matching the community values and community aspirations and goals with what our ..read more

Volleyball is practically in Marilu Pally’s DNA. Now a sophomore with Cal’s beach volleyball program – the No. 7-ranked NCAA Division I team in the country – the Santa Cruz High grad is the daughter of two elite volleyball players from France: Her father Laurent played professionally, while her mother Veronique Baudon suited up for the French junior national team. During the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when families were under strict orders not to mingle too much with people from outside their households, Pally and her parents, as well as her brother, made their way to Santa Cruz beac ..read more

Kayla Fullalove-Silveira had two home runs, five RBI, and scored three runs to help Monte Vista Christian School earned a 19-7, nonleague win over visiting Soquel on Monday. Fullalove-Silveira has 14 extra-base hits among her 34 hits this season and she leads the Mustangs with 27 RBI. The Mustangs scored nine runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the game on the mercy rule. MVC had 16 hits and drew eight walks. Ava Alvarado had two hits, including a triple, two RBI, and scored three runs for the Mustangs. Gianna Johnson had two hits, three RBI, and scored two runs. Mae Martin had ..read more