Sacramento softball Top 20: Inderkum Tigers prepare for CIF playoffs

The Inderkum Tigers softball team has endured the rigors of an up-and-down season.

The Tigers of Natomas started with a win over Pioneer of Woodland, which has been ranked in The Sacramento Bee’s Top 10 all season. Inderkum has since hovered around the .500 mark looking for momentum as we approach the home stretch of the regular season.

Last Thursday, No. 17 Inderkum may have gotten the spark it needed with a 10-inning, 5-4 win over visiting East Nicolaus of the CIF Northern Section in an intersectional matchup. Senior Concordia University commit Lexy Jacques went 3-for-5 with two triples and delivered the walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to ignite a postgame frenzy from her team.

“I knew magic was gonna happen,” Jacques said after the game. “We fought really hard. Didn’t give up. That pitcher was tough. Props to her, great job, even their defense. But all around, we did not give up. We fought all the way to the end, and it worked out for us.”

Inderkum came back from three different deficits against Abilene Christian-bound senior Stevie Knight, who tossed nine-plus innings and struck out 14. Inderkum pitchers Natalie Aboosh and Emily Jacobus kept the Tigers in the game from inside the circle and had the support of heads-up defensive plays from Brooke Aboosh, Brielle Collins and Meilani Pancurak, among others.

“Huge win,” said Jacques. “We’ve gone very up and down, and this one means a lot because it showed us the fight we’ve got. And we really worked as a team and got it together, so this is a huge win for us and a huge team effort right here.”

According to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section softball playoff format, the Capital Valley Conference will qualify the top three teams in the standings for the postseason. Inderkum (11-8, 5-3 CVC) is currently in a logjam for second place with Ponderosa (4-2) and Vista del Lago (5-3), all trailing a red-hot Woodcreek team, which sits at 7-0.

Destiny Christian reloads

As if Destiny Christian of Sacramento wasn’t strong enough with LSU commit Ayla Tuua — who recently struck out 21 batters in a game — as the team’s ace, the Lions seem to have gotten stronger in the circle with the addition of Roxanne Sardo.

Sardo, a junior pitcher who’s committed to Purdue, began her high school career at Folsom before transferring to Destiny Christian ahead of this season. She made her season debut last Tuesday against Casa Roble and tossed four hitless innings and struck out nine before Tuua finished the job in relief for a 5-1 win. Sardo also went 2-for-3 at the plate against the Rams.

In the next game against Woodland, Sardo followed Mia Jimenez’s four perfect innings with a 1-2-3 fifth inning to combine for a five-inning perfect game. Tuua went 4-for-4 and hit a walk-off home run to invoke the 10-run rule.

On Thursday against Natomas, Jimenez, Tuua and Sardo all combined for another five-inning no-hitter as the Lions roped 15 hits in a 21-0 victory and kept No. 3 Destiny Christian unbeaten at 7-0 in the Metro League.

Whitney topples top-ranked Trojans

The Whitney Wildcats of Rocklin took down the team who’s sat at the top of our Bee rankings all season, the Oak Ridge Trojans of El Dorado Hills, on April 7.

Oak Ridge hadn’t lost a game in its first 14 contests, but the Wildcats were ready to change that. Freshman Bri Seffens gave Whitney a 2-0 lead with a two-run double in the top of the third inning before Oak Ridge responded with an RBI single from North Carolina State commit Carly Short in the bottom of the fourth.

Whitney freshman Taylor Cordell (7 innings, seven hits, one earned run, six strikeouts) continued to battle with Trojan senior Ellison Schroeder (7 innings, 7 hits, 5 earned runs, eight strikeouts) in the circle until the Wildcats broke loose for three insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Junior Brooklyn Steele cleared the bases with a three-run double to give her team a 5-1 lead and help the Wildcats hand loss No. 1 to Oak Ridge.

Whitney enters this week at 14-7 (5-4 in Sierra Foothill League play) and rises to No. 5 in the latest Bee rankings after a 4-1 showing at the elite Livermore Stampede tournament over the weekend.

Other freshman phenoms

The Whitney freshman duo of Seffens and Cordell reminded us that there are several other ninth-graders in the Sacramento area making huge impacts on their teams. Here are a few names from teams considered for the latest Bee Top 20.

▪ Caelyn Campos and Emma Johnson of Del Oro have the Golden Eagles in the league and section title conversation. Campos has been entrusted with hitting in the leadoff spot and hits .453 with 18 RBIs and eight extra-base hits. Johnson, a slugging first baseman, has seven homers — including five in a three-game stretch last week.

▪ It’s not easy taking over for a talent like Sydney Barker, last year’s Bee Large School Player of the Year who’s now making an impact at Oklahoma. But Rocklin shortstop Sammie Snell has been up for the task. Snell hits .375 with 12 RBIs and has played heads-up defense at short for the Thunder.

▪ Carly Rice has helped Placer put back-to-back 0-15 seasons far in the past. The Hillgals catcher has a .500 batting average with three homers. Her 30 RBIs are tops in the section among freshmen.

▪ The Davis Blue Devils’ surge is in large part due to the freshman trio of Molly Roseen, Gracie Martinez and Layla Duarte. Roseen hits .581, Martinez .479 and Duarte .400, and they’ve combined to score nearly 40% of Davis’ runs.

▪ Aubrey Joiner of Destiny Christian is hitting .455 with a home run while patrolling third base for the No. 3 Lions.

▪ Brielle Collins and Natalie Aboosh of Inderkum are off to fast starts. Collins hits .406 with seven extra-base hits and 15 RBIs while Aboosh is 4-0 with a 1.83 earned run average.

▪ Maddison Stead of Yuba City is 4-0 with a 1.71 ERA in the circle while hitting .448 at the plate for the Honkers, who fly in first place in the Foothill Valley League.

▪ Madelyn Ogata, McClatchy. Her 74 strikeouts are second-most among freshmen in the section. She also holds a 1.08 ERA for the Lions, who are unbeaten in Metro League play.

▪ Regan Wise of Sheldon looks to be the next four-year varsity leader for the storied Huskies. She hits .370 with 16 RBIs while holding down a stout pitching staff at the catcher position.

▪ Dakota Gaball of Dixon homered in her first at-bat and tossed four shutout innings with zero walks and seven strikeouts in her first varsity game. Gaball has since hit .559 and struck out 70 batters in 64 ⅓ innings.

▪ Izianah Castillo, Lauren Anderson, Ella Lincoln and Rachel Williams, Elk Grove. Williams and Lincoln combine for a sub-1.00 ERA through 74 ⅔ innings while Castillo and Anderson combine to hit .500 for the Thundering Herd, which is the frontrunner for a Delta League crown.

▪ Claire Schwartz of El Camino owns an incredible .714 batting average to go with four homers and 17 RBIs.

The Bee’s Top 20

(Records entering Monday)

1. Oak Ridge (15-1)

2. Del Oro (19-1)

3. Destiny Christian (10-1)

4. Rocklin (13-3)

5. Whitney (14-7)

6. Sheldon (11-5-1)

7. Woodcreek (16-4)

8. Elk Grove (10-6)

9. Pleasant Grove (6-3)

10. Pioneer (12-4)

11. Vanden (12-4)

12. Granite Bay (7-8-1)

13. Vacaville (10-6)

14. Woodland Christian (16-1)

15. McClatchy (10-3)

16. Yuba City (14-4-1)

17. Inderkum (11-8)

18. East Nicolaus (10-4)

19. Folsom (9-6-2)

20. Dixon (8-3)

On the bubble: Davis (11-8-1); Franklin (10-9-1); Liberty Ranch (9-5); Oakmont (10-5); Placer (13-4); Ponderosa (7-8); Rio Linda (12-5); Sutter (8-8); Vista del Lago (7-8); Wheatland (11-4).

Nick Pecoraro is a sports journalist and host of “Premier Preps with Nick Pecoraro,” a weekly prep show available on YouTube that recaps games and teams in the Sacramento area each week. Find it at youtube.com/@PremierPreps.