SARATOGA, Calif. – Saint Francis head coach Mike Oakland pretty much summed up the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division title game with Archbishop Mitty on Saturday afternoon at West Valley College.
“That was a game for the ages,” Oakland said.
After all was said and done, and in a game with four lead changes and two ties, Washington-bound senior Sydney Stewart came through in the bottom of the ninth inning when she delivered a two-out single that drove in Carly Cummings for a 6-5 walk-off victory.
“All the moves that were made, all the plays that were made, all the swings and pitches that were made,” Oakland said. “I don’t think I’ve ever coached in a game of that magnitude that was like that. The momentum swinging back and forth. It was so intense on every single pitch.”
Cummings started the rally with a two-out single and moved to second on a single by Minnesota-bound senior Jessica Oakland. Oakland hit a grounder in the hole that Mitty shortstop Taryn Kern dove to field. She made a great throw to first but Oakland, who has good speed, just beat the throw to keep the inning going, bringing Stewart to the plate.
“Hats off to Jess for getting down the line and giving Syd an opportunity to win that game for us,” said Oakland, who incidentally is Jessica’s proud father.
Stewart, who had worked the count to 3-1, hit a shot down the left field line that Mitty left fielder Mia Rodriguez dove to try and catch, but the ball bounced in front of and over her glove. The hit would have easily been a double and scored both runners, but all St. Francis needed was one run to start the celebration of a second consecutive CCS Open Division championship.
“Honestly, I felt like if Syd got a pitch to hit she was going to get a hit,” Oakland said. “I’ve known the kid her whole life and I’ve seen her get so many big hits.”
Maybe so, but this one had to be the biggest of them all.
“I had to attack the next pitch that was coming up,” Stewart said. “After going 0 for 3 on the day I knew I had to jump on that inside pitch.
"Mitty is a great program and they definitely gave us a great battle,” Stewart added. “In the end though it just comes down to grit and we really, really wanted this.”
Saint Francis (28-2) had a chance to win the game in regulation after taking a 5-4 lead into the top of the seventh, but two outs away from defeat, Mitty sophomore Corri Hicks blasted a 200-foot plus home run over the left-field fence to send the game to extra innings.
Mitty touched up St. Francis starter Shannon Keighran for three runs in the top of the first inning on three hits and two walks. The first run came on a bases-loaded walk to Sara Pina. Keighran got the next two batters but Alyssa Onyeagwa came up with a two-out single that drove in two runs and St. Francis found themselves in a hold.
The Lancers responded with a run in the bottom half of the first on an RBI single by Oakland that drove in leadoff batter Alexis O’Gorman who singled and went to second on a single by Carly Cummings.
Keighran got the side in order in the second, and the Lancers went down in order as well, but the sophomore right-hander got in trouble again in the third. After giving up a single and a walk, Coach Oakland replaced her with sophomore left-hander Kate Munnerlyn. She gave up an infield single but got the next three batters on a strikeout, a force at the plate, and a grounder to second.
After both teams went down in order the Lancers took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. The big blow was a two-run double by junior Chloe Cummings.
Mitty answered right back when Cal-bound senior Elon Butler, who had hits in her first three at-bats, doubled to open the top of the fifth. Pina moved her to third on a sacrifice bunt and she scored on a grounder to second by Hicks to make it a 4-4 game.
St. Francis answered back in the bottom of the inning when Oakland showed exceptional speed for the first time in the game when she came all the way around from second base on a groundout to shortstop. That 5-4 lead held up until the Hicks home run that came off Chloe Cummings, who came on in relief of Munnerlyn to start the sixth.
Coach Oakland brought Munnerlyn back after Cummings walked the leadoff batter to start the eighth. She got the first two outs and then gave up a single to Pina, but struck out Hicks to strand Pina, just like 11 other runners Mitty left on base.
Munnerlyn got the side in order in the night on three ground balls setting up Stewart’s heroics.
“Shannon has been our rock all year long but she just didn’t have her best day,” Oakland said. “But Kate came in, and honestly Kate won us that game. She was fearless, and she’s the reason we had an opportunity to come back.”
Munnerlyn, who pitched 5 2/3 innings and got credit for the win, wasn’t ready to accept that much praise. Instead she wanted to talk more about the team.
“I feel it was a team effort,” Munnerlyn said. “We fought back over and over again. I did my part and they did their part. Each pitcher has each other’s back, and today I had Shannon and Chloe’s back. I didn’t feel it was my win I think it’s the whole team’s win.”
“I am really proud,” admitted Munnerlyn. “All my hard work paid off.”
Prep2Prep CCS No. 2 ranked and Cal-Hi Sports No. 8 ranked Mitty (26-4) has just not been able to beat their West Catholic Athletic League archrivals this season with three of their four losses coming at the hands of the Lancers, but none were blowouts.
“I’m a hundred percent proud of my team,” said Mitty head coach Megan Yocke. “They fought from inning one to inning nine. This one hurts but we’re hopeful we can take this momentum of how well we played into next week.”
Despite the loss on Saturday the Monarchs could potentially get a fourth shot at St. Francis in the upcoming Northern Regional Division I semifinals if the No. 5 seed can win on the road at fourth-seeded Sheldon-Sacramento in the opening round on Tuesday.
As expected, Prep2Prep CCS No. 1 and Cal-Hi Sports top-ranked St. Francis drew the top seed in the D1 NorCals and will open on Tuesday at home against St. Francis-Sacramento representing the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section.
