Prep softball: Woodland Christian grabs title and a preview of what to expect in tourneys
The larger four divisions of the Sac Joaquin Section play their semifinal games Tuesday; the championships are Saturday. Normally, that would be the end of the season for high school softball, but for the first time, the CIF will have a Northern California regional championship for the section winners and most runners-up. Sacramento area teams may dominate the section finals. Teams need to win Tuesday for a chance to qualify.
But first things first.
Woodland Christian brought the Sacramento area it’s first Sac Joaquin Section softball title with an 8-6 win over Millennium of Tracy in Division VI Saturday. The Cardinals built a comfortable 8-2 lead after the top of the sixth but Millennium responded with four runs in their final two at bats to make it close.
“I’m speechless, I never even imagined we’d be standing here as section champions,” said Woodland Christian coach Trisha Hayes. “These girls put in a lot of time and hard work during the week to make this happen and I could not be prouder.”
With their 25-3 record the Cardinals are waiting to hear where they would fit in to the NorCal playoff system, which only has five divisions. They have four players hitting over .500: Hailey Castanon, Addie Huiskens, Teagan Hayes and Macie Timothy. Hayes, a freshman catcher and coach’s kid, leads the team with four home runs.
Division I
In the top four divisions, the pitching this year has been incredible, to say the least. Several coaches have said it is the best in this region for many years. One matchup last week featured a perfect game.
Sheldon (25-5) is poised to win it’s ninth section crown but must get by Rocklin (18-11) at home to reach the finals. The Huskies’ bats are hot, scoring 27 runs in wins over Johnson and Gregori. Breanna Romero gave up just one hit in five innings while striking out eight in the win over Gregori. Rocklin will be a much more formidable foe, having beaten McClatchy and Tracy. Kaylah Adams and Jill Moeller homered behind Brielle Wright’s sharp game in the circle.
In a classy move by Rocklin coach Mallory Asaro and Wright, senior pitcher Marissa Robertson was brought in to pitch the final inning of Rocklin’s opening-round win over McClatchy. Robertson retired the side in order to complete a five-inning perfect game in a 12-0 Thunder win.
On the other side of the bracket, another pitching showcase has Emma Falen and Sierra Foothill League co-champs Folsom hosting Lincoln of Stockton and their fine pitcher Peja Goold. Goold is good, with a 15-3 record and a 0.90 earned run average and just over two strikeouts per inning pitched. Teammate Danielle Hunter is hitting .378 with 11 home runs, and Jordan Hayes is hitting .363 with 10 homers.
Falen’s earned run average cannot be seen with the human eye. A microscope reveals a section-best 0.39 ERA, a 10-1 record and just under two strikeouts per inning. The Bulldogs have been riding that pitching all year, including two wins over Del Oro. But it may be that Lincoln, with 35 home runs, has a bit more pop than Folsom, which has only six home runs. Nobody is scoring runs like Sheldon, averaging nine per game.
Saturday Section Championship Prediction: Sheldon defeats Lincoln.
Division II
This will be an all-Sacramento area affair. Del Oro squeezed by Woodcreek 3-2 last week as Kendal Manley hit her team leading tenth home run and Abby Davidson hit her second. The Eagles opened the playoffs with a 10-0 win over Laguna Creek.
Del Oro (24-4) will host Roseville (21-7) in the semi-finals. The Tigers beat the Bulldogs of Vacaville 6-0 Tuesday and nipped Granite Bay 2-1 Thursday. Malaya Johnson’s two-run homer and four-hitter in the circle proved too much for Grizzlies.
The other Division II semifinal is a pitching showcase between two top Delta League teams as Elk Grove (26-6-1) travels to St. Francis (25-3). Hope Jenkins tossed a two-hitter and sophomore Francesca Guerrera hit her first home run for the Troubadours in a 5-0 win over River Valley Friday. Grace Jenkins hit two home runs and drove in three runs in an 8-1 St. Francis win over Cordova in the opener.
Elk Grove beat St. Mary’s of Stockton 2-0 Thursday behind a two-hit, 12-strikeout performance from strikeout queen Aissa Silva. And that was after Silva opened the playoffs with a no-hit, 16 strikeout gem against Atwater, winning 4-0. Silva also tripled in a run in that one.
The pitching is strong in this division so the difference must come from timely hitting. Del Oro is averaging seven runs per game and UC Davis commit Caroline Grimes in a force in the circle.
Saturday Section Championship Prediction: Del Oro defeats St. Francis.
Division III
The winner of this division could well come from the south section, as two strong Valley Oak teams will be facing off in the semifinals Tuesday. Oakdale and Central Catholic, co-champs of the VOL have the pitching. Central Catholic has beaten Lincoln of Stockton twice and has split with Oakdale. Pitcher Randi Roelling is a University of California committed junior who has struck out 361 batters in 154 innings with an ERA of 0.55. She’s a pretty good batter, hitting .337 and leads her team with five home runs. She could be the best player in the south section.
Delainey Everett of Oakdale might beg to differ. She posts an ERA of 0.46 and is also a strikeout ace. The book on her hitting? She’s leading the Mustangs in home runs (6) and doubles (12) with a flammable .451 average.
Oakdale has scored nearly 100 more runs than Central, but the Raiders have wins over Sheldon and have beaten Lincoln twice. In her last outing against Oakdale, Roelling struck out 17 Mustangs and gave up just one hit in a 2-1 win. In the previous meeting, Oakdale won 1-0.
Meanwhile, at the top of the bracket, Vanden puts its 20-0 record on the line against Vista del Lago, which won big over Ponderosa last week. Vanden features another great pitcher who can hit, Hazyl Gray. The senior is batting .450 with six homers, but she has been lights out in the circle with 15-0 record and a 0.85 ERA. Vanden has given up just 24 runs this year, but their schedule is not nearly as deep as other teams who have made it this far.
Vista del Lago should be a good test, with Arizona-bound shortstop Tayler Biehl in the lineup. Biehl carries a .587 average, and is a power-slapper. She has seven home runs and 13 doubles. She also has a true walk-off triple to her credit this year. Her play at shortstop is special. This game could go either way.
Saturday Section Championship Prediction: Central Catholic defeats Vanden.
Division IV
This division is wide open.
Look out for the little guys down south, like No. 4 seed Ripon. Four teams from the Trans Valley league made the playoffs with Hilmar winning the Division V title out scoring their three opponents 23-8. And they finished second to Ripon. This is a good small-school brand of softball that Ripon plays. They are 19-4 with wins over St. Mary’s, Escalon and Bear Creek. Even though they are the No. 4 seed in the division, they could make some noise, with senior Caitlyn Campbell hitting 14 home runs.
Dixon wrapped up the Golden Empire League and is 20-1-1 on the year. Their schedule has a few quality wins against top schools like Benicia, which is playing in the North Coast Section Division II semifinals this week. They have some terrific players such as Brianna Humphries and her .588 batting average with 10 home runs. Felesha LePenske is 11-0 in the circle. They earned the No. 1 seed and a first round bye, then edged league rival Casa Roble 6-5 to move to the semi-finals.
Marysville received one of the other first round byes and then escaped with a 2-1 win over Capital Christian in nine innings. Marysville had a good season at 19-4 with Jenissa Conway’s .570 batting average and seven home runs leading the team. They face Orestimba, 19-6, another 209 small school power and champs of the Southern Athletic League.
Saturday Section Championship Prediction: Dixon 7, Marysville 5
While we’re talking small school powers, The Bee’s No. 11- and No. 12-ranked Sutter and East Nicolaus just wrapped up North Section titles and await berths in the Nor Cal playoffs. Sutter beat league runner-up Wheatland 2-0 in the Division IV championship game. Both schools will be moving to the Sac-Joaquin Section next year to join the Pioneer Valley League. Sutter also won the baseball title in the North Section. East Nicolaus and Sutter may be in the same small school NorCal bracket, but they are two of the top teams between Sacramento and the Oregon border.
Postseason prediction record so far? Of the six teams we predicted would make the finals, four made it. But we were only one-for-three in picking the winners. Woodland Christian, thank you!