Prep softball: Folsom ace Falen thrives under pressure, pulls Bulldogs atop the SFL
Before her senior softball season began, Folsom’s Emma Falen went and got herself an 18th birthday present over winter break.
To celebrate adulthood, Falen went and got a tattoo.
It took a little bit of convincing her parents, but it was something she’d been thinking about since she was a freshman. It wasn’t some tribal mark she wasn’t able to translate. No butterflies or flowers. It was more of a credo Falen has lived by for a majority of the time she’s played softball.
“Pressure is a privilege.”
That is what’s inked across her right forearm, the same limb that has helped Falen become a dominant force in the circle for the Folsom Bulldogs for the past four springs.
“It’s definitely (a quote) I’ve been using my whole life,” Falen said. “It means a lot to me.”
Falen and the Bulldogs have felt the pressure of competing in a stacked Sierra Foothill League, trailing The Bee’s top-ranked Del Oro Golden Eagles in the standings … until Friday.
Falen allowed just one hit at Del Oro as the Bulldogs pulled even with the Golden Eagles atop the SFL standings with a 2-0 win. Falen, who is not afraid to show emotion in the circle, struck out 12 against the top home run-hitting team in the Sac-Joaquin Section, amplifying her competitive fire with each punchout.
“There was a lot of fire in her in this game,” Folsom coach Tom Pfeiler said. “She knew what was on the line, and she rode it and she achieved it.”
Following the motto emblazoned on her pitching arm, Falen is at her best in pressure situations. Against Del Oro Friday, Falen struck out nine hitters when her opponents had the tying or go-ahead run at the plate.
“I was expected to be great in this game,” Falen said. “For me, that’s a gift. To have a team count on you, to be believed in by them to do something, it means the world to me. That’s a gift. I mean, I worked for that. I worked for that respect, and I want people to respect me. That’s what it comes down to.”
Falen, who is headed to play at UC Riverside, owns the top two single-season strikeout performances in Folsom history, adding to her record of 189 Ks on Friday. And with her fifth shutout of the season, she lowered her ERA to a microscopic 0.45.
Falen struck out 14 in a 1-0 no-hitter vs. Granite Bay on April 4. The lone blemish on her record this season was a 2-1 loss to Del Oro on March 25, when Falen’s counterpart, Caroline Grimes, matched her competitiveness in the circle and hit a walk-off home run to give the Golden Eagles the win. Falen responded by halting Del Oro’s 14-game win streak with another dozen Ks on April 20.
“We’re riding Emma,” Pfeiler said. “She’s doing an awesome job. She’s a workhorse. That’s all she wants to do is play ball.”
Senior Cristina Jones roped an RBI single in the first inning, and junior Haven Slama hit a solo home run to straight-away center field to give Folsom a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Grimes struck out 11 and walked no one in the loss for Del Oro.
Folsom (17-5-1, 11-3 SFL) has one game remaining at home against Oak Ridge on Wednesday. Del Oro (21-4, 11-3 SFL) travels to Granite Bay.