The Live Oak softball team is rolling. After a strong regular season, the Acorns have scored 11 runs and 12 runs respectively in two solid playoff victories and have advanced to the May 30 Central Coast Section Division III title game.
The wins have been 11-5 over Los Altos and 12-3 against Capuchino.
Live Oak finished 9-5 and in second place in the eight-team Blossom Valley Athletic League, Mt. Hamilton Division.
The campaign was highlighted by a 1-0 defeat of powerful Willow Glen, ending the Rams’ 34-game BVAL win streak. In that victory, Live Oak pitcher Julianna Altamirano tossed a three-hit, no-walk, 10-strikeout complete game. And Willow Glen is as strong as ever. In this week’s Open Division playoffs, the Rams and their Cal-bound pitcher Alanna Clincy beat top-seeded St. Francis 4-2 to advance to the championship game.
Live Oak is doing its own damage in the playoffs. The pattern has been solid pitching and defense, along with good hitting and bunching hits together for big innings. Live Oak next meets the winner of the Leigh-Milpitas semifinal in a 12pm game on Saturday at West Valley College in Saratoga.
The overall mark is at 14-8, as Live Oak looks to add another big banner in the gym. The Acorns won a title in 2023, and it has been an impressive return to prominence after four championships in six finals appearances from 1987-2005.
In the playoff opener at home on May 23, the game was tight most of the way. Eden Svoboda, Kayla Tulowitzki and Olivia Mixco all singled to start the first inning. A Peyton Goularte walk and an Adia Seider single to left were part of a three-run frame.
Los Altos got its bats rolling in the top of the third for four runs. But Live Oak responded in the home half of the frame. Mixco and Goularte singled, Quinn Hulberg-Dana walked and a Brooke Frausto single to center brought in two runs.
It was 5-4 in favor of the Acorns later in the contest when a six-run sixth put the game in the icebox. Frausto and CC Garcia both doubled and Tulowitzki and Mixco singled. The party continued with a Hulberg-Dana double to the center field wall, and hits by Seider and Altamirano.
“It was very exciting,” Frausto said. “Everyone played good as a team. Our hitting was awesome.”
Mixco went 3-for-4. Freshmen Seider, Frausto and Hulberg-Dana each had two hits and two RBIs.
“Our defense was strong,” Mixco added. “We had two double plays. We were locked in. Their pitcher had slower pitches than we’re used to and we had to adjust. We do want to get a CCS title, but we have to go one at a time. We have to really focus.”
Svoboda, Tulowitzki and Seider combined for a 6-4-3 double play in the second. The Acorns stamped the contest by ending the day with a highlight-reel DP via the athleticism of Tulowitzki. She laid out to catch a liner, then whirled and fired a perfect strike to Frausto to double a runner off third.
“Our bats were ‘on’ today,” Altamirano said. “We’re pushing through and we’re putting it all together. Defensively, we have put in the work and it is showing.”
In the CCS semifinal on the road at Capuchino of San Bruno on May 26, the Acorns trailed until a late offensive explosion. It was 3-1 Mustangs into the sixth inning.
The Acorns feasted during an 11-run inning to roar ahead and pull away. The tally was 12-3 when all the damage had been surveyed.
Seider went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple and knocked in three runs. Hulberg-Dana, Svoboda and Mixco all had two hits. Mixco and Altamirano both had three RBIs. In the circle, Altamirano pitched a complete game, allowing two earned runs and striking out six.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” said coach Sarah Porras, after the Los Altos game. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re living in the moment.”
Acorns, Bulldogs reach baseball playoffs
Sobrato and Live Oak tied for first place in the BVAL Santa Teresa Division. Each was 11-3. In head-to-head games, they were dead even again, as they split a two-game series, with each winning a 4-3 decision.
The Bulldogs were much stronger in non-league play, packing a 19-8 record, while the Acorns were 14-13-1. For Live Oak, that simply meant a young team had toughened themselves against strong competition, as they came together and closed the regular season with a 10-2 streak.
Both jumped into CCS Division V post-season play on May 23.
No. 3-seeded Sobrato showed strong defense and pitching and defeated No. 6-seeded Stevenson 4-2. Live Oak received a No. 4 seed and hosted No. 5 St. Francis of Watsonville but fell 9-7.
Sobrato scored a pair of runs in both the second and third innings and made that stand up in their victory. They move into a May 27 semifinal against Half Moon Bay at Santa Clara University.
In the victory, Jackson Raines went 2-for-2, Ashton Fagan was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Dylan Brown also knocked in two runs. Liam Bettencourt spun six solid innings from the mound, allowing just five hits and striking out six.
Trevor Hagen came on to pitch the seventh and nail down the victory.
In the Live Oak game, both teams scored a boatload of runs early and the score was tied 5-5 after three innings. A three-spot in the top of the sixth helped the Sharks pull ahead for the victory.
Live Oak’s bats were humming, with a total of 14 hits. Noah Baquiran went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Spencer Westfield was 3-for-4. Jack Rice, Nathan Bergstrom and Nathan Lozano each had two hits. On the mound, the Acorns utilized Austin Meads, Rice and Lozano.
