Central Catholic comeback falls short as Vista del Lago wins section softball title
Sometimes two innings decide a game.
That was the case in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship between Central Catholic and Vista del Lago.
The Raiders held their opposition scoreless in five of the game’s seven innings, but the two innings the Eagles did score proved costly. The Modesto players gave up four runs in the third and three more in the fourth, and while they scored in the first, fourth and fifth innings, it wasn’t enough as the Eagles captured their first ever blue banner with a 7-5 win.
The Raiders knew what they were facing coming in. Vista del Lago, the fourth seed, upset first overall seed Vanden in the semifinals and was playing with confidence.
“We didn’t take them lightly at all,” Raiders coach Sam Nichols said. “We knew they had girls that could play and we were prepared for that. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. They came out and they swung the bat, their pitcher threw strikes and kept us off balance a little bit.”
Both Central Catholic and Vista del Lago will advance to the Northern California Regional tournament that starts Tuesday.
Central Catholic opened the game’s scoring in the bottom of the first inning as Randi Roelling drew a walk and Adison Machado, who was on second after a leadoff double, scored after an errant throw by the Vista del Lago catcher. Roelling collected three of her 10 strikeouts in the second, striking out the side to keep the Eagles scoreless, but it didn’t stay that way for long.
Vista del Lago senior and Arizona-bound shortstop Tayler Biehl got on base with a one-out triple, and after a Raiders error and an infield single, the Eagles were in position to break the game open with the bases loaded. A sacrifice fly from pitcher Charlize Cai scored Beihl and moved the other two runners up 60 feet. With runners on second and third, Morgan Sweet drove a high pitch over the left center field fence for a three-run shot to put the Eagles ahead 4-1.
The Raiders were unable to answer in the bottom half of the inning, bringing the Eagles’ hot bats back up quickly to start the fourth.
After a leadoff walk, an Allison Morrissey bunt and Biehl single, Vista Del Lago had the bases loaded once again. The Eagles scored three runs in the inning after Olivia Manchester walked home a run and Sammy Smith drove home a run with a sacrifice fly. Biehl scored the inning’s final run on a heads up play after confusion from the Central Catholic defense.
“We’ve been really really good at playing defense and playing catch, and for a moment there, we just lost a little focus,” said Nichols.
The Raiders wouldn’t go down without a fight. Reagan Dickens lined a one-out single down the third base line, and in the next at bat, sophomore Emori Machado drove a two-run home run over the fence in the bottom of the fourth. Jazzelyn Rios added an RBI single and Noelany Ramirez drove in a run in the bottom of the fifth.
“I never felt like the game was over,” Nichols said. “The girls came back and then Emori gave us a big lift with that two-run homer.
“They believed that it wasn’t over. The energy picked back up and Randi seemed to get her second wind. They believed that we were gonna come back and win.”
After two troublesome innings, Roelling shut out the Eagles the rest of the way. The Raiders’ defense forced two 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and seventh and got out of the sixth allowing just a single. The Raiders’ last-ditch effort in the bottom of the seventh started with a two-out single, then promptly ended with a fly out in the next at bat.
Despite the loss, the Raiders have at least one more game as both the Division III champion and runner up advance to the inaugural CIF Northern California Regional tournament that starts Tuesday.
“You’re winning or you’re learning, that’s what we say, and we learned a lot from this game.” said Roelling.
