REDWOOD CITY, CA – Even though the points system the CIF Central Coast Section uses to determine its divisional placement and seedings did not favor their teams in the Open Division, the West Catholic Athletic League was not to be denied.
Just like the 2017 Open Division championships three of the four teams in the semifinals are from the WCAL despite the CCS Catholic school members only holding one of the top four seeds.
The only difference is last year the WCAL only had one of the top four seeds and that was eventual champion and fourth-seeded Archbishop Mitty.
On Saturday in the final game of a triple-header at Hawes Field No. 8 seed Mitty took another big step toward a return to the title game after a 3-1 quarterfinal upset of top-seeded Carlmont.
It was the second-straight year Coach Joe Gron and his Monarchs girls took out Carlmont with the Scots as the No. 1 seed. In the first edition of the Open Division last year Mitty was a 7-3 semifinal winner.
Although it’s apparent after seeing them on the field they are certainly still at or near the top of the Central Coast Section, Mitty actually was almost not even in the Open Division since Hillsdale had more CCS points than the defending champion. When Hillsdale did not opt for the Open field and the defending champion did it put the Monarchs in with the final spot.
“I think it’s been said we had a slow start, and that’s no secret,” Gron remarked. “But we started playing solid softball and today these girls came out here and didn’t care about No. 1 seed or No. 8 seed.”
Mitty (18-7) had anything but a slow start in this game. In fact, the Monarchs got all the runs they would need in the first inning courtesy of a bit of an inauspicious start for Carlmont’s UC Santa Barbara-bound ace Mailey McLemore. That combined with a superb effort from Mitty junior pitcher Savanna Smith who had a one-hitter through six innings.
Mitty’s fleet leadoff hitter, sophomore Diamond Holland, was hit by McLemore on the first pitch of the game. On the next pitch she got the first of two stolen bases in the contest. McLemore struck out the next batter and up stepped junior slugger Hannah Edwards. She got a pitch right down the middle and launched a two-run home run that cleared the fence set at 200 feet by almost 30 feet.
"I really didn't think I would get that good of a pitch and I was just going for a base hit to drive in the run, but I saw it real good and just extended through it,” said Edwards who now has five home runs this season.
Mitty added a run in the top of the sixth when Edward’s courtesy runner Jamie Gribbin scored on a bases loaded walk to Smith.
Carlmont (23-2) mounted a rally in the sixth inning but it was too little too late.
Samantha Chu doubled to open the inning and went to third on a single by Logan Bonetti. Chu scored on a single by Amanda Kondo but that was all Carlmont would tally.
Smith got two fielder’s choices for outs, and after a walk loaded the bases she got a grounder to short to end the game. She finished tossing a four-hitter with three strikeouts and two walks.
“I pride myself this year in my defense backing me up,” Smith said. “After I gave up those hits in the sixth my teammates picked me up.”
Mitty did make two errors but both were hard hit balls in a game where it seemed everything Carlmont hit was right at a Mitty player. Plus there were some outstanding plays in the outfield by the Monarchs that denied the Scots extra base hits.
“We hit some hard shots but the balls didn’t bounce our way today, but you have to hand it to them, they made the plays,” said Carlmont Coach Marco Giuliacci.
Augusto mows down Silver Creek
St. Ignatius Dartmouth-bound senior pitcher Madie Augusto shook off the early morning cobwebs and after giving up a first inning home run knuckled down in a 5-1 victory for the fifth-seeded Wildcats over Silver Creek.
After Silver Creek senior Atalia Quenga hit her eighth home run in the bottom of the first to give Silver Creek and 1-0 lead, Augusto went to work and shut down the fourth-seeded Raiders. She finished with a three-hitter and had 10 strikeouts with two walks and a hit batter. She did not give up a hit after the third inning and retired 12 of the final 13 batters.
“It wasn’t the pitch we wanted and against a hitter like that there’s a small margin of error,” St. Ignatius coach Derek Johnson said.
St. Ignatius (19-5) got things going in the third when they tied it on an RBI double by Marjoelle Palacio that plated Maddie Mitchell. They took the lead for good on a single by Mitchell in the fourth that drove in pinch runner Maddie Hauscarriague.
The Wildcats added another run in the fifth on an RBI double by Kelly McGuigan that drove in Maicie Levitt. They closed out the scoring in the top of the seventh with two more runs after Levitt doubled, Elle Van Giesen singled, and both came home on a triple by Kelly Wall.
From there Augusto closed out the game with a strikeout, a grounder to second and she fanned the final batter.
“After we scored a couple of runs we had some momentum and it me and the team up,” Augusto said.
Silver Creek, who had some impressive wins this season, finishes with a 16-7 record.
St. Ignatius now moves on to the semifinals on Thursday back at Hawes Field against Archbishop Mitty.
“Our focus has been on preparation and not necessarily wins,” Johnson said. “But we’re moving on to the next round and we’re very familiar with Mitty.”
Both team tied at 3-2 with St. Francis for second place in the West Catholic Athletic League. Second-seeded St. Francis was a 6-1 winner over No. 7 seed and WCAL champion Valley Christian in a quarterfinal played at Willow Glen High.
St. Ignatius and Mitty only met once this season with the Monarchs winning 11-7 over the Wildcats.
Second-seeded St. Francis will meet No. 3 seed Watsonville in the other semifinal on Thursday at PAL Stadium in San Jose. Watsonville was a 5-1 winner over No. 6 seed Los Gatos.
Big inning lifts Santa Catalina in Division II quarterfinal
Sandwiched in between the two Open Division quarterfinals was a Division II quarterfinal between Santa Catalina-Monterey and Notre Dame-Belmont.
Trailing 2-0 in the third inning Santa Catalina (19-1) exploded for five runs en route to a 7-3 victory.
On a very young Santa Catalina team it was freshman pitcher Emma James that got it done in the circle and at the plate.
James started the third inning rally with a leadoff single and her courtesy runner scored along with sophomore Jessica Clements who singled, on a double by junior Emily Radner. After a single by sophomore Abby Gunter both she and Radner scored on another double by Katie Fraley, the lone senior on the 14-girl Cougars roster. Fraley would score the innings fifth run on an error.
James made it 6-2 with a home run in the fourth and in the fifth Santa Catalina scored its final run when Fraley got another double and scored on a base hit by junior Emily Hayes.
From the circle James had a bit of a shaky first two innings and gave up a run in each, and she gave up a run in the seventh, but by then the No. 2 seeded Cougars had a five run lead. She finished giving up seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
Noosha Steward led Notre Dame (17-7) with two hits including a double and a run scored.
Santa Catalina has made the playoffs the last few years and lost in the 2014 Division III title game, but you have to go back to 2012 for Santa Catalina’s CIF Central Coast Section title when current Coach Alex Pingree was the team’s pitcher and big star playing for her father Jim Pingree on that year’s D3 title team.
“We just take it game by game,” Pingree said. “The team is super young and having fun. The girls really enjoy playing with each other and I think it shows.”
Santa Catalina now has a date in the semifinals on Tuesday against Half Moon Bay at PAL Stadium in San Jose.
