Prep Softball: Pleasant Grove shows flashes of brilliance in playoff-opening win
When you’re mentioned in the same breath as an Olympian, you know you’re doing something right.
Pleasant Grove High School freshman pitcher Madeline Lawson made her postseason debut Tuesday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I softball opener at home against Enochs of Modesto. And as one of 10 underclassmen on the Eagles’ roster, the future looks bright for Pleasant Grove.
While Lawson didn’t post eye-popping numbers or blow anyone away with electric stuff in the circle Tuesday, she kept the visiting Eagles of Modesto off the scoreboard while her teammates did the rest in a six-inning, 10-0 victory.
“I’ve gotta give it up to (Lawson) on the mound,” said Pleasant Grove head coach Brian Cherry. “She’s a freshman, she deals and shows no emotion. She just brings it every single game.”
Cherry has been around the Eagles’ softball program as long as it has existed. He’s seen the best of the best to don a PG uniform. That includes 2011 grad Ally Carda, who led Pleasant Grove to its lone section crown in 2009 before becoming a two-time Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year at UCLA and then an Olympic silver medalist in 2020.
Nobody’s suggesting that Lawson is on Carda’s level just yet, but Cherry couldn’t help but indulge in the impact Lawson’s made in her freshman season. Lawson’s eight wins, 2.94 ERA and 108 strikeouts are numbers no freshman has posted at Pleasant Grove since Carda (9-5, 0.75, 192) did so in 2008.
On Tuesday, Lawson went six scoreless innings for the seventh-seeded Eagles, scattering five hits and one walk. She also drove in a run at the plate with an opposite-field single in the first softball postseason action the section has seen since 2019. COVID-19 wiped out the playoffs in 2020 and ’21.
“She is a firecracker. Everyone’s shocked that she is a freshman because she’s so calm and composed on that mound,” Pleasant Grove senior Kaylee Heath said of Lawson. “We feel really confident that she’s able to hit her spots and able to get us ground balls and pop-ups and produce outs for us as a defense.”
Sophomore left fielder Riley Bigley went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, including a bases-clearing double that broke the game open in the sixth. Fellow sophomores Carly Henderson and Bella Harpster and senior third baseman Heath all had two hits for Pleasant Grove, which enforced the run-rule after an RBI double from sophomore Mindy Brian in the sixth inning.
“I think we came off (league play) on a high pedestal, and if we just keep going up, we’re going to be pretty successful,” Heath said. “I think as a team we had fun today, and I think always having fun is just a great way to start off the playoff season.”
Pleasant Grove (16-11), which finished fourth at 7-5 in the ultra-competitive Delta League, now faces an equally daunting task Thursday in second-seeded Folsom, which beat Chavez of Stockton 19-0 in Tuesday’s opener. Folsom beat Pleasant Grove 3-0 on March 22 as Lawson (seven innings, six hits, two earned runs, nine strikeouts) battled one of the top senior pitchers in the section in Emma Falen, who tossed a two-hit shutout with 14 punchouts.
“Our only losses the entire year, really, are to the top pitchers in our area,” Cherry said. “Our only losses are to the very highly top-rated teams. … Hopefully the second time around, we can reverse that and get the win.”