Escalon season gets reboot after West Valley plays ineligible player in NorCal semis
The first CIF Northern California Regional Playoff run for the Escalon softball team seemed to be over with its 14-5 loss to West Valley on Thursday afternoon.
The No. 5 Cougars beat No. 4 Alhambra in the first round, capturing the first ever NorCal win in program history, then traveled to Cottonwood to take on the Division IV No. 1 seed West Valley.
Escalon found out Friday morning, however, that the state’s governing body for high school athletics ruled that West Valley had to forfeit the game for playing an ineligible player.
A player from the Eagles played with her travel team during the playoffs, which is against CIF rules.
On Thursday, the Cougars scored twice in the first and second innings each and took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the third before West Valley took the lead and never gave it up.
When Escalon got the news, some players had to drive back into town. School is done for the year and a handful of softball players were headed down to Southern California to play in a travel tournament this weekend.
Instead, they get one more chance to wear the school colors. They held one final practice Friday at noon.
Escalon travels to Salinas to take on Alisal on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Trojans have a 22-5 overall record and finished first in the PCAL - Mission League standings (13-2). In the postseason, they were a No. 7-seed in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs and upset their way to a section title. In the NorCal bracket, the Trojans beat Newark Memorial 12-0 in the first round and are coming off a 5-4, 11-inning win over Live Oak in the regional semifinals.
Escalon athletic director Andrew Beam said that at 9 p.m. Thursday, he was alerted by someone not associated with Escalon’s softball program about the possibility of an ineligible player.
The person who alerted Beam was attending a middle school travel ball event for a different organization with their daughter. During a conversation, the topic of a West Valley player who recently played with her travel team came up.
Beam said he sent an email to the CIF on Thursday night, asking for clarification and guidance on how to proceed with the information he was given.
The CIF called Friday morning, saying the Cougars would be playing in Saturday’s game, traveling to Salinas to take on the No. 2 team in the division.
“It just came out of nowhere,” Beam said.
Escalon claimed its first Sac-Joaquin Section title since its three-peat. After winning blue banners in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the Cougars had not been to a title game since. As the No. 7-seed in the SJS D-V playoffs, Escalon beat No. 5 Casa Roble 5-1.
