Big Valley Christian fights off Los Altos comeback to claim NorCal D-V softball title
When the Big Valley Christian softball team had its back against the wall, it played its best.
Twice during the CIF Division V Northern California Regional Championship, the Lions’ opponent, Los Altos, had the bases loaded. Both times, Big Valley escaped with minimal damage.
The Lions needed every timely out they got. After scoring four runs in the third inning, their offense went cold as the Eagles began creeping their way back into the game. In total, Big Valley got out of innings leaving eight Los Altos runners on base, securing a 5-3 win in the inaugural Regional Championships.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, but this is awesome,” said sophomore starting pitcher Ava Hernandez. “We won the biggest championship for our school, so that’s awesome.
“We’ve won sections for volleyball, but never this. I thought that was super cool that we got to be the first ones.”
The win put a cap on arguably the best season in school history and would have most people speechless as they basked in what they just accomplished.
Lions coach Eric Layman was no different.
“I don’t know what to say,” Layman said. “These girls did it. They have been doing it all year and just they fight, fight, fight and keep going. And now that it’s over, summertime. Wins feel good. So all glory to God.”
The Lions (22-6) had a plan going into the game, but had to reroute because Eagles (17-13-1) pitcher Sophia Asar was much different than anything they had seen in their playoff run.
“We’ve faced fast pitchers pretty much this whole season,” Hernandez said. ”We were seeing the pitch come out of her hand and then it actually came out slower, so we had to make the adjustment.”
Layman added: “She was throwing first pitch strikes, so we just attacked the first pitch. She kept throwing first pitch strikes, so we were gonna keep swinging. A lot of the girls hit better when they’re swinging. They know they’re supposed to be swinging. We called several hit and runs just to make sure the batter was swinging, and they responded.”
After two straight 1-2-3 innings, Big Valley’s offense came alive, opening up a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Hernandez had two in the inning, Trinity Beers continued her hot streak with an RBI double and a run scored as freshman Cecily Fontana reached home on an error.
The Eagles then slowly chipped away at the Lions’ lead, scoring runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, making it a 4-3 game heading into the bottom of the sixth. Giving up three was far from ideal, but it could have been worse. The Eagles had the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth innings but produced only one run as Hernandez pitched her way out of trouble and the defense made timely plays.
“I knew I couldn’t strike them all out, so I just had to put it in play for my teammates to make the easy out,” Hernandez said. “ It was all about those pop ups or those little ground outs because they were hitting off me.”
Said Layman: “Ava has the ability to focus in those situations. She just bears down and you can see her face, the same game face always, and she beared down and we got out of it.”
Anni Boren scored the Lions’ final insurance run with an RBI single, securing the 5-3 victory.
“That was so important because they had been getting one run every inning and they were just gonna keep fighting,” Hernandez said. “That extra run late really, really helped us mentally.”
The Lions, who ended their season as winners of six straight, have high hopes for the future as they graduated only one senior. But Layman, who just wrapped up his seventh season as head coach, knows anything can happen, so he’s focused on enjoying this moment with the team.
“They’ve been a really good team with good camaraderie all the way through,” he said. “I’m not going to get too far ahead … we’re just going to enjoy it, and like we’ve preached all year, all glory to God.”
