Prep Softball: Vista suffers NorCal tournament heartbreaker after historic season
The tears quickly eased once all the little ones came over to provide some cheer.
After a bitter ending to Tuesday’s CIF Division II Northern California quarterfinal in Folsom, the Vista del Lago softball team was greeted with smiles from a group of Folsom-area youth softball players.
With the taste of a 6-5 loss to North Coast Section champion Benicia still fresh, it didn’t matter to the younger group. All they wanted to do was pose for a picture with their idols from Vista. And why not? This Vista group has raised the bar for the next wave of Eagles.
“The only thing that we’re sad about is that this particular team, this is the end of the road. There was a lot of love between everyone on this team,” said Vista coach Julie Lazar. “The team that we played with today, we’re only down two of those players (for next year), so that says something for the future.”
This year’s Vista team accomplished more than any other in program history. Its 24 wins tied a school record en route to its first Sac-Joaquin Section championship. The Capital Athletic League champion Eagles took down Oakmont, Ponderosa and top-seeded and previously unbeaten Vanden on their way to the section final. There, Vista took down future Cal pitcher Randi Roelling and Central Catholic 7-5 to win the D-III crown as a No. 4 seed.
“It’s been a crazy, crazy ride,” said Lazar, who came to Vista at the same time as the current senior class four years ago. “I feel like it was extra sweet, considering that we were all on the same path. … We had one regular season as freshmen, and then COVID, and then this was our chance, finally, as seniors to really have a full season and it was really cool.”
On Tuesday, however, Vista was without its top senior against Benicia. Shortstop Tayler Biehl was in Mexico taking part in a family wedding. Biehl, who is bound for Arizona next year, hit .600 (9-for-15) with eight runs and five extra-base hits during the section playoffs. She hit safely in all but two games the entire season.
Despite being without its MVP Tuesday, Vista managed to put itself in a position to win. Eagles’ ace, sophomore Charlize Cai, filled in at shortstop. She went 2-for-4 with a double and scored two runs. She also made a diving catch on a pop-up in the sixth inning, laying herself out toward center field to make the grab.
While Cai patrolled shortstop, junior Olivia Manchester worked the circle and collected a career-high 13 strikeouts.
“It was just such a testament to how this season’s gone this entire year,” Manchester said. “All year we’ve had everybody working pretty much everywhere. The younger players know how to step up. Freshmen, sophomores, they really can just fill any position, even when we’re missing one of our top players.”
Down 3-2 in the third, Vista rallied for three runs on a two-run double by sophomore Bella Hess and an RBI single from junior Allison Morrissey. Now up 5-3, Manchester posted zeroes over the next three frames.
But Benicia (23-6), a three-time Sac-Joaquin Section champion – as recently as 2018 – before joining the North Coast Section in 2019, rallied in the seventh. Denise Pauletich’s one-out double scored the tying runs before Ary Banks knocked in the go-ahead run to make it 6-5. Braxton Brown worked a 1-2-3 seventh to close the door on the Eagles.
“Considering that we did it without Tayler and kept it that close, we knew we would,” Lazar said. “Sometimes you just don’t quite end up with the outcome that you had hoped for.”
Despite the outcome, the new bar has been set for Vista softball. The Eagles graduate just three seniors – Biehl, catcher Sammy Smith (Humboldt State) and second baseman Rubie Kelly (Folsom Lake College) – and expect a majority of their contributors back next season.
“I think we worked really hard to get here,” Manchester said. “What happened is what happened and I think next year this is going to carry over. We’re going to miss our seniors, but hopefully we can make it even farther.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 5:59 AM.