HALF MOON BAY — The hitters from the Carlmont and Half Moon Bay high school softball teams took over Tuesday with 12 hits apiece.

But Carlmont got five extra-base hits, including big-blast home runs from Megan Hansen and Alexa Daines, and collected an 8-3 victory.

With one regular-season game remaining, Carlmont (20-5-1, 11-2) and Half Moon Bay (20-5, 11-2) are tied for first place in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division. If Carlmont can defeat red-hot Burlingame, and HMB can down El Camino on Thursday, the Scots and the Cougars would earn a PAL Bay co-championship.

"We have some kids who can swing the bat, and they had one of their best hitting games of the season here," Carlmont coach Jim Liggett said. "This game was important, but so will our game on Thursday against Burlingame. One at a time."

Carlmont pitcher Jenna Mott and HMB's Leah Garcia both had difficulty with pitches that got up in the zone.

Daines tied the game at 3-3 with a three-run home run that cleared the fence in left-center. In the sixth inning, Mott got an infield single and scored when Hansen belted a shot over the fence that banged off the scoreboard in left.

"We have been hitting the ball well," said Carlmont senior Alexis Ayers, who leads the PAL Bay in batting with a .571 average. She got three singles against HMB. "Everyone contributed some hits. We know we have to keep scoring to keep winning, and I'm proud of the way we executed at the plate today."

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HMB scored three runs in the second on a double from Jerika Barron and RBI singles from Cassie Pacheco and Bella DePillo. The Cougars got plenty of baserunners over the next five innings, but couldn't score.

Barron had four hits, and Pacheco three.

-Elsewhere in the PAL Bay, Burlingame (18-9-1, 9-4) clinched a Central Coast Section playoff berth with an 8-0 win over Aragon (17-10-1, 7-6). The victory was the eighth consecutive win for the Panthers. Samantha Quadt and Erin Scattini each had three hits. Trish Malaspina and Sarah Rice added two more hits each, while Burlingame pitcher Caitlin Breen pitched a one-hitter.

-Hillsdale (1-14, 4-9) got a 13-strikeout effort and a one-hitter from freshman Jordan Richwood in a 1-0 win over Capuchino (11-13-1, 4-9).

-Senior Christine Lewis struck out a career-high 13 batters to lead Mills (10-13, 4-9) to a 4-2 win over El Camino (4-16, 2-11).

WCAL

Stephanie Wenzel tossed a two hitter as Notre Dame (17-8) opened play in the West Catholic Athletic League playoffs with a 20-1 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral (4-22). Kerry Peterson and Sara Hall had three hits each.