LARKSPUR, Calif. – Marin Catholic-Kentfield right-handed Chapman College-bound senior pitching ace Rose Malen went toe-to-toe with Marin County Athletic League adversary and Williams College-signed senior hurler Sadie Leonard of host Redwood four times this season.
All four meetings were one-run games that went to extra innings. Redwood won the two MCAL matchups but in the league playoff title game Marin Catholic won in 10-innings.
Then on Friday evening in the quarterfinals of the CIF North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs, the game went to international rules for a second straight game, and the Wildcats did it again only this time it took 11-innings with Malen winning it with her bat in a 3-2 Marin Catholic victory.
Under international rules junior Sammy Horn placed was at second base. She moved to third when freshman Lindsay Harrison reached on an error. Junior Lauren Gogna was then intentionally walked to load the bases. After senior Kilee Koch popped out up stepped Malen. All she needed to do was make contact and that’s exactly what Malen did when she grounded to short driving in Horn with the winning run.
Redwood sophomore Josie Templeton was placed at second to start the bottom of the 11th and went to third on a bunt single by sophomore Lily Elizondo. Senior Katie Connors was then intentionally walked to load the bases but Malen did not waver. She struck out the next two batters and then got Leonard on a grounder to second to end the ballgame.
Malen finished with a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts. She did have three walks but all were intentional in the final two innings under international rules.
The always steady Malen mixes her pitches well and consistently throws strikes. Other than two blowout wins where she only pitched a couple of innings, Malen has double-digit strikeouts in the other 17 games she’s pitched in, including the last eight games. With the first two strikeouts of the game she broke the school record of current Cal freshman Annabel Tepperson. Malen currently has 258 strikeouts which is the No. 3 reported mark in the North Coast Section.
The humble Malen didn’t want to take all the credit and rightfully so as her defense played 11 innings of errorless softball. In fact, in the last three games, the MCAL title-game win over Redwood and a 3-1 win against Moreau Catholic-Hayward in the first round of the playoffs, Marin Catholic has only made one error in 28 innings
“I definitely relied on the team as well. It wasn’t just on me,” Malen remarked. “Our team came together and we all worked really well together.”
Marin Catholic (21-3) got on the board first when junior Lauren Osherhoff launched her second home run of the season in the top of the first inning to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. It was only the second home run hit off Leonard in 153.1 innings pitched.
“I’ve been working really hard on my swing and I wanted to make good contact and put the ball in play, and it just happened to go out,” Osherhoff said.
The home run seemed to give a young Marin Catholic a little self-assurance since overall they haven’t been hitting a ton this season, and even in the MCAL title game they struck out 21 times against Leonard.
“I think the home run gave us confidence that we can hit a little better. At least we didn’t strike out 21 times like last time,” said a grinning Albini.
Leonard ended up striking out striking out 10 and now finishes the season with 317 strikeouts which is the No. 1 mark in the North Coast Section.
After the Osherhoff home run Redwood answered back when Leonard herself blasted a 230-foot home run after junior Kaela Sparler singled to give the Giants a 2-1 lead after four innings. However, from there Malen knuckled down and only allowed two hits in the game’s final seven innings.
“One home run. You can’t just get down. You’ve got to come back. I wasn’t about to let them keep going after that,” said Malen, who herself has now only given up three round-trippers in 140 innings pitched.
Marin Catholic head coach Dave Albini has had nothing but praise for his star pitcher ever since she took over in the circle from Tepperson.
“That was not a bad pitch that Rose threw. Did you see where Sadie hit it? It was almost above her shoulders,” Albini said.
“Rose has been phenomenal all year,” Albini continued. “Without her we wouldn’t be anywhere close to where we are. She’s a gamer. She even drove in the winning run. What can you say?”
An interesting twist is Malen, who is hitting around .350, didn’t even swing the bat for her very successful West Bay Warriors travel ball team she pitched for.
“This win is so awesome because we lost to Redwood twice but we beat them in MCAL’s and it was even more awesome to beat them in NCS and keep playing,” Malen said.
Redwood (21-7) played four very tough games against their MCAL arch rivals.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls,” said Redwood head coach Emily Atkinson. “We ended up playing MC 40 innings in four games and it could have gone either way every single game. We had an amazing season and the girls battled to the very end but MC is a great team and you have to give them props.”
Marin Catholic now faces top-seeded and Cal-Hi Sports No. 7 ranked Livermore on the road on Tuesday. Livermore boasts the CIFNCS strikeout queen in Dominican University-bound Taylor Rodriguez. She comes into the game with 314 strikeouts and needs four to pass Leonard.
“We know we have a very tough chore ahead of us,” Albini remarked.
The winner advances to the championship game and potentially a spot in the CIF Northern Regional playoffs being held for the first time this year in softball. They were held in the Southern Region last season but the CIF didn’t start them in Northern California until this season since the NorCal sections did not have playoffs last season.
