‘It was always softball’: Escalon’s Arizona-bound Babasa leads team to postseason
Escalon senior softball player Madison Babasa could have transferred. Most athletes in her situation probably would have.
For the past few seasons, the super-utility player has been one of the top prospects in her class in the country. As a freshman, Escalon reached the playoffs but lost its first-round road game to El Camino in 2023. Her sophomore and junior seasons, the team won 10 total games and four league contests.
But leaving just did not make sense to her.
Babasa’s family graduated from Escalon, her older sister Malia, who introduced her to the game and now is a senior at Stan State, was a two-time Sac-Joaquin Section champion as a Cougar. She built a community of friends you can experience only at a small school.
“I wanted to keep it in the family and finish it out at Escalon,” Babasa said. “I’ve been here my entire life, so why go somewhere else and start a new journey when I could just stay here?”
Now, three years after she was a wide-eyed freshman getting her first playoff experience, Babasa has turned in a stellar softball career, signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Arizona and helped the hometown team reach the postseason after a two-year absence.
Escalon finished the regular season on a five-game winning streak. Their 11-11 record secures the most wins in a season since 2022, and its nine Trans-Valley League wins (9-2) were good for a second-place finish and are the most against league opponents since 2019.
The Cougars were awarded the No. 7 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs with a first-round home game Wednesday against No. 10-seed Woodland.
A career loaded with accomplishments
With the game on the line, competitors want the ball hit their way.
Babasa is no different.
In 2023, she made the biggest play of her travel ball team’s season, turning a double play to secure a 16U PGF National Championship.
With one out and runners on first and third in the top of the seventh inning, Babasa caught a fly ball, took two big steps and threw the ball on a line to home plate, cutting down the runner who tried to tag up from third and score. Game over.
It sealed a 6-3 comeback win and a Premier Division title for the travel team, Sorcerer Gann.
“I don’t think about it every day, but it’s definitely a memory that when I do think about it, I’m like, ‘Dang, did that really happen? Like, did I really do that?’” she said.
In travel ball and likely at Arizona, Babasa plays outfield, but she has done some of everything for the Cougars in her four-year career. She currently plays infield but pitched as a sophomore and junior. She has been named to multiple Modesto Bee All-District softball teams and, after hitting .418 as a freshman, she has not hit under .590 in her final three varsity seasons. She posted batting averages of .597, .600 and .706 in her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
“This is my first year with the varsity level and having her as a player. It just helps having someone who knows the game so well,” head coach Lexy Underwood said of the captain. “She’s just an outstanding player and is able to talk and bring everyone up in spirit. She’s batting first, and once she gets that first hit, everyone’s pumped up and it’s just a domino effect for our team.”
Babasa also has made her imprint on the hardwood, helping the Cougars reach a section title game in her sophomore season. As a senior, she helped lead the team to the best season in school history with a perfect record in TVL play and a trip to the NorCal Division V Regional Semifinals.
Though she missed the postseason with a stress fracture in her foot, she attended each game, cheered from the bench and helped coach younger players getting their first taste of postseason basketball. She finished her career as the program’s all-time leading scorer and a multi-time Modesto Bee All-District selection.
Growing up, she juggled between sports and played volleyball, basketball and softball at Escalon. But she knew softball would be her best shot for a college career. Her parents took her to camps and showcases in different states and Southern California. She eventually she made her decision, committing to Arizona in 2024 and signing during the early signing period in her senior year.
“It was always softball, and it always will be,” she said.
A trip to the postseason
This year’s team had potential from the beginning and turned that into a late playoff push. They lost just one game over the last month of the season and allowed just one run in just three games during their five-game win streak to end the regular season.
Babasa’s running mate in basketball and softball, junior Arianna Velasco, also is Division I-bound after recently committing to the University of California Riverside. The pair joined the team late because of basketball but made an immediate impact, locking down the left side of the infield, Babasa at third and Velasco at shortstop. Velasco is second in batting average (.632), leads the team in RBI (20), doubles (8) and triples (5) and has the same number of hits as Babasa.
Freshman pitchers Tenley Adams, Lauryn Siegel and Kyla Holback each have appeared in more than 10 games, have accounted for eight of the nine credited pitcher wins and have a combined 131 strikeouts. Adams leads the team with 71 in 45.2 innings pitched. Freshmen Holback and Addy Lopez round out the rest of the team’s top five batting average leaders.
To make a deep playoff run, the Cougars will likely have to stage a few upsets.
First, though, they host Wednesday.
It is the first time Escalon has hosted a postseason game since 2019, the last of the Cougars’ section title three-peat seasons.
With a first-round win, they advance to play the winner of No. 15 Livingston at No. 2 Calaveras.
“How far we go is about how hard they work. If we work hard, if the team that we have truly shows up, we can beat any team,” Underwood said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 1:48 PM.
