PETALUMA, Calif. – No team from the Redwood Empire portion of the CIF North Coast Section has been invited to the prestigious Livermore Stampede since the 2013-14 season when Petaluma got an invite, but that’s about to change.
After Casa Grande defeated Livermore 5-1 last season in the NCS Division 2 title game the organizers of the Livermore Stampede offered an invite to Gauchos head coach Billy Brody. When a team gets invited to the top high school softball tournament in Northern California and returns just about all the talent that got them an NCS title, it’s hard to turn that down, and Brody accepted putting Casa Grande in the 16-team field.
Not only are the Gauchos in the field, they are the top-ranked team in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports rankings in the NCS to be competing for the Stampede title.
Two CIF Central Coast Section powers, Cal-Hi Sports No. 2 St. Francis-Mountain View and No. 13 Archbishop Mitty-San Jose, are also playing in the Stampede.
As for Casa Grande, they are now No. 28 in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings, and that is also No. 8 in Northern California, No. 5 in the Bay Area, and No. 2 overall in the NCS behind a Foothill-Pleasanton team that is not competing in this year’s Stampede.
After an 11-0 mercy-shortened win on Wednesday evening over Sonoma Valley-Sonoma that gets Casa Grande to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Vine Valley Athletic League Brody was both humble and very positive about the Gauchos chances playing in NorCal’s top tournament.
“It’s an honor,” remarked Brody about being invited to play in the Stampede. “I think the girls are going to have fun.”
“If we get punched in the nose it’s going to be good for us,” Brody continued. “But I think we’ve got a good fighting chance. Every team in there is a good team, but these girls might surprise you and cause a little chaos down there.”
Casa Grande has only played five games and while three of the five wins have been mercy-shortened blowouts, including Sonoma Valley, two of the five victories have come against teams they need to play to prepare them for the Stampede.
The biggest wins this year came against the kind of competition Casa Grande needs to see to prepare itself for the big stage in two weeks in the Tri-Valley portion of the East Bay.
The first big win was two weeks ago against Willow Glen-San Jose. The 3-2 victory avenged a 5-2 loss that ended last season for Casa Grande when as the No. 8 seed in the CIF Northern California championships they lost to Willow Glen in the opening round. Then, last the Gauchos were 6-3 winners over a Dixon team that was the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV runner-up.
“It’s been a good start for us,” Brody remarked. “We have a great group of kids. It shows what our program is about. We’re a program, a family and we’re there for each other, and that’s what these girls do.”
Against Sonoma Valley it was junior Georgia Moss in the circle and she tossed a 4-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks. Moss also had an RBI double.
Junior Lauren Ketchu had the big bat. She was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, she was hit by a pitch, and finished with four RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore Maeve Broadhead had a double that drove in two runs, senior Marissa Brody drove in a run and scored twice, sophomore Veronica Nunez-Miller had an RBI double and scored once.
The team’s big star and top pitcher, Kansas-committed junior Lila Partridge had for her what considered an off day. As the designated player she had a single, reached on an error and scored twice in two at-bats. So far this season Partridge is hitting .706 with three doubles, seven RBI, and five runs scored. In the circle she is 4-0 with a 0.71 ERA and 30 strikeouts and only five walks in 19.2 innings pitched.
Casa Grande will be in action on Thursday in a VVAL match-up at American Canyon.
