SAN JOSE, CA – There was only one league in the three divisions of the CIF Central Coast Section playoffs that was guaranteed a section title, and it just happened to be in the section’s newly created top division.
In an all West Catholic Athletic League title game, fourth-seeded Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (22-6) scored one run in the second inning, four in the third and four in the fourth, and then held off a no-quit Saint Francis-Mountain View to post a 9-5 victory in the inaugural Central Coast Section Open Division championship on Saturday afternoon at the PAL softball stadium in south San Jose.
It was the 15th CCS title for the Monarchs, 11th in the last 13 years and fifth in the past six years, and second for second-year Coach Joe Gron.
The first 14 championships for Mitty were in the old Division II but with the CCS instituting a points system for its softball that placed the eight teams with the most points in an Open Division it began a new era.
“It’s definitely special winning the first Open championship,” Gron said. “I’m just so happy for this group of girls because it represents the best of the best.”
The old expression “the third time is a charm” would have applied no matter which team came out on top since a Lancers win would have meant a sweep, but after dropping two games to Saint Francis in WCAL play Mitty would not be denied in a third match-up that was for all the marbles.
“We wanted this extremely bad and it made it so much better because everyone doubted us,” said senior Lauren Lopez, who was 3-for-4 with a double, stolen base and a run scored.
The points system may have doubted Mitty since injuries and other subjectives can’t be factored into the way the points are awarded, and a pre-determined assessment of league strength is really the determining factor, although as every softball analyst knows pitching and not leagues are what dominates softball.
The result was even though the points system had Mitty as only a No. 4 seed, the Prep2Prep rankings, which look at what is actually happening on the field as the season progresses, had the Monarchs as No. 1 in the CIFCCS and obviously that’s where they’ll finish in the final rankings.
As for the win over Saint Francis the biggest hit in the game came from Diamond Holland. With Mitty leading 5-0 in the top of the fourth the freshman blasted a ball well over 200-feet that sailed over the right-fielders head and up against the wall 250-feet away. The speedy Holland had no trouble circling the bases and her in the park two-run home run made it 7-0.
“When I saw it was going over her head in my mind I’m thinking I’m going all the way,” Holland said.
Mitty scored two more runs in the fourth, the last courtesy of an RBI single by Hannah Edwards (2-for-2, double, RBI, two runs scored) but Saint Francis would not go quietly.
After only getting four hits in the first five innings off Mitty sophomore pitcher Savanna Smith, Saint Francis (23-8) got five hits and scored five runs in the sixth inning, and they loaded the bases with three hits in the bottom of the seventh to bring the tying runner to the plate. However, Smith got a strikeout and a grounder back to the circle she tossed to first for the game’s final out.
“I was the most determined I’ve ever been today,” Smith remarked. “Honestly, I’ve never wanted to win a game more than this one.”
The hottest bat for No. 6 seed Saint Francis belonged to senior Myka Hughes. She was 3-for-4 with a triple that drove in the Lancers final two runs
“We just did not have an answer for them today but we sure made it interesting didn’t we,” said first-year Saint Francis Coach Mike Oakland. He was trying to become the first coach in California history to win both a softball and baseball section title after his Lancers baseball team won the 2016 CCS Open Division championship.
