Roundup: Central Catholic softball claims VOL top spot with 2-1 win over Oakdale
The final week of the softball regular season featured one of the best pitching matchups in the Stanislaus District.
Oakdale’s Delainey Everett and Central Catholic’s Randi Roelling are both juniors who allow less than one run a game. They have ERAs of 0.52 and 0.55, respectively.
Everett won the first game between the two schools 1-0, pitching a no hitter with 15 strikeouts. Going into Tuesday’s matchup, Roelling’s mindset was simple. Not only was this the Raiders’ last game of the season, but a win gave them a shot at the Valley Oak League title.
“Beat them. Just beat them.” Roelling said.
Led by Roelling’s 17 strikeouts, the Raiders came out with a narrow 2-1 league win, splitting the season series with Oakdale.
“We’ve gotten better since last time we played them,” said Central Catholic coach Sam Nichols. “Our at bats were amazing against Delainey, who is an awesome pitcher. We grinded it out.”
Everett struck out six Raiders on Tuesday afternoon.
Hits and runs were at a premium but the Raiders were patient in their at bats and scored both of their runs in a big fourth inning. Roelling hit a single up the middle of the diamond to score the first run and junior Raegan Dickens was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the second.
“It’s just one call here, one mistake there, one little blooper, whatever it takes, and somebody wins and somebody doesn’t.” said Oakdale coach Larry Loger.
Said Nichols: “The message was just to grind out at bats. Don’t give in, just compete and battle and get a pitch that you can hit. I think we just executed today.”
The Mustangs scored their only run of the game in the sixth inning as Danny Romo drove in senior Avery Brown with an RBI single. Oakdale looked to make one final push in the top of the seventh inning with a runner on third and one out, but Roelling struck out the Mustangs’ final two batters to end the game.
While the Raiders’ regular season ended Tuesday, Oakdale has one final game Thursday against East Union. If both teams end with an 11-1 VOL record, Central Catholic will take the league’s first-place spot after winning the coin flip that took place after the heavyweight rematch.
“I can’t wait for school tomorrow because I know we just did that and all my friends were watching,” a smiling Roelling said. “I just can’t wait to have this win with everyone.”
Central Valley 10, Buhach Colony 7: The Hawks’ (7-15, 5-6 CCC) five-run second inning propelled them to a win over a Thunder team that ends its season winless in league. The Hawks will play their final game of the season Thursday at home against Golden Valley.
Atwater 2, Patterson 1: The Tigers (6-14, 4-7 CCC) gave up two runs in the bottom of the first inning, which proved to be too much of a deficit to overcome. They scored once in the top of the seventh but were unable to come all the way back to force extra innings. The Tigers will host El Capitan on Thursday in its final game of the season.
Ripon 7, Big Valley Christian 0: Ava Hernandez struck out eight batters, but the Lions (16-6, 5-3 CCAA) were unable to get their offense going against Ripon (18-3, 11-0 TVL). Ripon’s pitchers struck out 14 Lions in the win. Both teams will await the release of the playoff pairings this weekend.
Escalon 12, Riverbank 0: Brooke Davis and Madison Hagglund combined for six strikeouts in Tuesday’s win. The Cougars (15-10, 7-4 TVL) have scored 35 unanswered runs in the past two games. They will end their season against the TVL’s first-place team, undefeated Ripon, at home on Thursday.
Baseball Playoffs: First Round
Division I
No. 12 Folsom 9, No. 5 Turlock 7: No. 5 Turlock (20-9) was upset at home by No. 12 Folsom (13-16). This is the first time Turlock hasn’t been in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs since failing to make the postseason in 2012. Folsom will play No. 4 McClatchy on Thursday.
No. 14 Central Valley 3, No. 3 Elk Grove 2: The Hawks (14-13) beat the Thundering Herd (20-9) in one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. After trailing 2-1 heading into the late innings, Central Valley kept its opponents scoreless for the final three innings and pushed two runs across in the top of the sixth to secure the win.
Central Valley will travel to No. 6 Oak Ridge on Thursday.
Division II
No. 4 Pitman 11, No. 13 Atwater 0: Andrew Balentine pitched a complete game shutout and Mateo Garcia hit a home run as the Pride (21-5-1) continued their season with a first-round postseason win over Atwater (19-8). Pitman will stay in Turlock for its second-round game against No. 12 Rio Americano after the Raiders upset Rocklin 6-3.
No. 10 Downey 4, No. 7 Oakmont 3: The Knights (19-10) traveled to Roseville and beat Oakmont (20-9) Tuesday. Downey led 1-0 after the first and that run proved to be the difference in the game as both teams scored once in the fourth and twice in the seventh. They will play the second seed, Rodriguez High, on Thursday in Fairfield.
Division III
No. 1 Vanden 12, No. 16 Beyer 1: The Patriots (7-17) lost to the first overall seed in Division III, Vanden, in Tuesday’s first-round game. The Vikings’ (26-3) bats were working early in the five-inning game, scoring five runs in the first and six in the second. Beyer, the 2018 Division III section champion, scored its only run in the top of the fifth.
No. 4 Central Catholic 2, No. 13 Christian Brothers 1: Reece McMillan knocked in the Raiders’ (20-8-1) two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead them to victory. Sophomore Adrian Garcia struck out 11 batters and earned the win. Central Catholic will host No. 12 Lincoln-Lincoln, which upset No. 5 El Capitan, on Thursday.
No. 3 Vista del Lago 7, No. 14 Ceres 1: The Bulldogs (13-16) scored their only run of the game in the first inning at Vista del Lago (23-6). They were unable to figure out Eagles pitcher Bobby Romitti, who finished with 10 strikeouts in six innings.
No. 10 Ponderosa 6, No. 7 Oakdale 5: The Mustangs (18-8) scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and went into the seventh inning tied with the Bruins, but Ponderosa (18-12) quickly took the lead, scoring one run in the top half of the final inning. Oakdale couldn’t even the game in the bottom of the seventh as its season ended with a home playoff loss.
Division IV
No. 12 Orestimba 10, No. 5 Center 4: The upsets continued in Division IV as the Warriors (16-9) defeated Center (17-10) on the road in Antelope. On Thursday, they will travel to Woodland to play No. 4 Woodland High.
Boys volleyball playoffs: Semifinals
No. 1 Ripon Christian 3, No. 4 Cristo Rey 0: The Knights swept their second straight match of the playoffs on Tuesday evening, 25-11, 25-12, 25-12. They will play in the Division IV championship on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Natomas High School against No. 2 John Adams Academy.
