Unbeaten Destiny Christian and Ponderosa on collision course in softball playoffs
Two unbeaten high school softball teams remain in California, and the Sacramento-area programs are on a collision course to meet in a championship game.
Nationally ranked, the Destiny Christian Academy Lions, located just off Highway 50, and the Ponderosa Bruins of Shingle Springs are the headliners in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs that start at home sites on Wednesday.
DCA is 24-0, ranked No. 1 overall by The Bee and seeded first in the D-III field. Ponderosa is 25-0, ranked second by The Bee and seeded second, opposite of DCA.
The section finals are May 23, most likely at Sacramento State, where the winner may end up as the No. 1 seed in Division I in the competitive-equity CIF Northern California playoffs. DCA and Ponderosa are the highest-ranked teams in Northern California by Cal-High Sports, and they are ranked No. 4 and No. 5 in the state, respectively.
Whitney, Sheldon top D-I
The Whitney Wildcats of Placer County and the Sheldon Huskies of the Elk Grove Unified School District are the top seeds in D-I, respectively, which speaks of the lasting legacy of both programs.
Sheldon has nine section large-school banners, all under since-retired coaching guru Mary Jo Truesdale. Whitney has three section crowns, two under April Steele, who is in her second season back at the helm.
Whitney is paced by Sidney Kleiner, who is batting .447 and Bri Seffens (27 RBI) and pitchers Taylor Cordell and Paige Tamblyn.
Kentucky Wildcats-bound Sheldon ace Kwinci Brown has 400 career strikeouts over a four-year varsity career. Micah Kennedy is pretty darn good, too, as the junior sports a 1.58 ERA. Sophomore Sinitalela Heleta leads the team in batting with a .506 average, and in home runs (seven), RBI (31) and runs scored (25).
The D-I bracket includes Sheldon’s Delta League rivals in No. 6 Franklin and No. 10 Pleasant Grove. Whitney tied D-II No. 2 seed Del Oro for the Sierra Foothill League championship. Other SFL teams in D-I are No. 3 Davis, No. 4 Oak Ridge and No. 8 Folsom.
Tracy, Del Oro top D-II
The Tracy Bulldogs of San Joaquin County are 23-1 and seeded first in D-II in fielding their best team since the 2018 D-I section title season. Tracy is led by Taylor Sansaver, who is batting .635, has 18 extra-base hits and 43 RBI. Bulldogs ace Hayden Fell is 15-0 with an 0.56 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 87.2 innings while Nevaeh Reynoso is 8-1 in the pitching circle.
Del Oro is a storied program rooted in Placer County, having won nine section crowns and last season’s CIF NorCal Division I championship in finishing as the top-ranked team in the state under highly regarded coach Sean Erickson.
Rocklin, of the power-packed SFL, is the No. 3 seed, led by Addie Titlow (.459 batting average), Sammie Snell (21 RBI) and ace Payton Prior (17-2 record, 193 strikeouts in 140 innings, 1.20 ERA).
Elk Grove is seeded fourth under coach Amanda Buck, who recently won her 200th career game at her alma mater. The Thundering Herd is a young team that includes freshmen Kadence Pettis (.464 average), Tamiayh Ward (.432) and Madelyn Benzler (six home runs at the plate and an 0.84 ERA in the pitching circle).
No. 8 West Park of Roseville is paced by Jessica Cochran, who has a .471 batting average for the Metro League champions and a 1.48 ERA.
Stat marvels highlight D-III
Destiny Christian roared to its 24-0 start behind three-time Bee Player of the Year and LSU-bound Ayla Tuua. She is cruising with a .646 batting average and leading the section in RBI (62) to go with 15 home runs, 46 runs scored, an absurd 1.554 slugging percentage and an 0.27 ERA, 8-0 pitching record and 100 strikeouts in 51 innings.
Sophomore slugger Ella Dossey leads the team with a gaudy .708 batting average and has 10 doubles, four triples and a .722 on base percentage.
Ponderosa earned the No. 2 seed on the strength of a young lineup that fueled the 25-0 record. The lineup includes leading hitter Kate McCartney, a sophomore who is batting .625 with a section-leading 17 home runs to go with 50 hits, 10 doubles, four triples, 43 RBI and 48 runs. Freshman Trinidey Fuss is batting .583 with 49 hits and 35 RBI, and sophomore Maisyn Perin is batting .444 with 24 RBI.
Ponderosa has 30 home runs. Freshman ace Lauren Klomp is 16-0 with an 0.92 ERA, and senior Kaley Warney is 9-0 with a 1.58 ERA. Klomp has 213 strikeouts in 114.2 innings.
Stanford-bound star leads Pioneer in D-IV
The Pioneer Patriots of Woodland feature Stanford-bound star Marisa Bryson, a senior infielder who leads the team in batting (.526), hits (40), slugging percentage (.868) and runs (30).
Fellow senior Caitlin Mayfield is batting .513 with 26 RBI for a team that is battle tested after nonleague games against top programs in St. Francis, Del Oro and Destiny Christian.
Central Catholic of Modesto is seeded second and is powered by top hitter Samantha Nicols (.629 average, seven homers, 44 hits, 34 RBI). No. 4 Rio Linda is led by sophomore Roxanne Alvarez (.550 average, 19 extra-base hits, 34 RBI, 38 runs) and seniors Liv Johnson and Kaylani Vanderhoof and junior Kiera Waggoner.
In other divisions: Hughson is the No. 1 seed and Calaveras the No. 2 seed in D-V; Amador is the top seed and Argonaut the two seed in D-VI, and Le Grand is the top seed in D-VII, opposite of No. 2 Eliot Christian of Lodi.
For complete brackets and ticket information, visit the section softball site at www.cifsjs.org/softball