SAN JOSE—Sobrato’s formula is simple: Win and the Bulldogs clinch at least a share of the Santa Teresa Division title and will receive the automatic berth to the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“It’s going to start with pitching with Sammi (Torres) on the mound finishing her senior year on senior day,” said coach Fred Cisneroz. “(Then) great defense behind her and hitting the ball like we know we can hit. It’s great to play at home because we always find the gaps at Sobrato.”
Thanks to a win over Evergreen Valley on Tuesday in San Jose, Sobrato remains in a virtual tie with Oak Grove for first place with one game to play. Oak Grove because of a rainout still had two games to play heading into Wednesday.
If both teams win their final games—Sobrato hosts Silver Creek Thursday and Oak Grove played Lincoln on Wednesday and hosts Evergreen Valley Thursday—they will share the Santa Teresa Division title.
Sobrato, however, holds the tie breaker over Oak Grove, assuming league standings across CCS don’t change. Because the Bulldogs and Oak Grove split their two games and because their records against the rest of the league will be the same, the automatic berth will be decided by CCS playoff points, which the Bulldogs hold a 2.5-point margin over the Eagles with a couple of assumptions.
First since both teams have to win for this to be applicable, calculations are based on Oak Grove and Sobrato finishing 11-3 in league play. Second, it assumes opponents who currently are leading their league or one game back of the league lead hold on to their positions.
Since CCS awards bonus points for playing a league champion, if league standings were to change, the calculations will be different.
As of Wednesday, Sobrato projects to earn 54.5 points and Oak Grove projects to earn 52.0 points.
This also doesn’t take into account if Sobrato and Oak Grove both take a loss and Branham—currently one loss back of both teams—wins.
Complicated playoff projections aside, Sobrato came up with an 8-5 win over Evergreen Valley, surviving an early and late rally by the Cougars behind the pitching of Megan Perron.
After Kacey Suess issued a walk and hit batter to open the game, she gave way to Perron kept the Cougars off balance most of the game.
But not before Evergreen Valley slugger Damari Simon drilled a double to right-center, scoring both runners.
After Simon took third on a throw back to the infield, she made the game 3-2 on a passed ball.
Perron got out of the inning, but retiring the next three batters and the Bulldog offense went to work.
She finished the game with seven innings of relieve, giving up three runs—two earned—on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
“Megan has been money all season long, especially in league. She’s always ready to start, or come in the middle or finish the game as a save,” Cisneroz said. “She’s been our go-to girl if Sammi or Kacey get in trouble.”
Although Sobrato came through with eight runs, the game easily could have been more lopsided.
The Bulldogs had 19 hits and left 10 runners in scoring position.
“You could see we hit the ball really hard today, but the wind held it up,” Cisneroz said.
Sobrato also had two runs erased in the first inning on questionable calls by the umpires.
Sam Torres hit a single to the left side of the infield with a runner on second. The runner on second raced passed the short stop, who couldn’t handle the grounder and came into score.
The run was disallowed when the base umpire ruled interference despite the runner not making contact with the fielder.
Torres was then thrown out at home two batters later when she took off from third on a ground out by Morgan Martinelli.
Torres slid under the tag, with her hand sliding over home plate. The umpire initially didn’t make a ruling, but once the catcher tagged Torres, he ruled her out.
Despite the Sobrato coaches showing the umpire Torres’ hand print on the plate, the umpire said she never touched home plate and the call stood.
Sobrato had three runners thrown out at the plate, including Torres twice. The second time she was ruled to run out of the base lines to avoid a tag—a call Sobrato didn’t argue.
Perron was the third, getting thrown out on a ground ball to short with the bases loaded.
The Bulldogs had their best production in the second inning, driving in four runs.
Suess, Jaden Ta, Ally Nadohara and Perron all scored in the inning thanks to the first three batters all reaching second on consecutive hits.
Suess singled to left, but advanced to second when the left fielder misplayed the ball. Ta followed with a straight double to center and Nadohara rounded things out by singling to drive in Suess and advanced to second when the throw from the outfield went to home.
After Ta scored on a sacrifice fly, Nadohara scored on a single from Perron, who likewise went to second on a throw home.
Perron rounded out the scoring when Martinelli singled.
Sobrato got one more run in the third when a lead off walk from Julie Camacho turned into a run on a ground out to second from Nadohara.
Camacho went to second on a ground ball from Suess and advanced to third when Ta reached when the pitcher dropped a popup in the infield.
For the game, Perron went 4-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Nadohara went 3-5 with three runs scored and an RBI and Martinelli went 3-5 with two RBIs.
Nadohara scored Sobrato’s final run in the seventh when she reached with a lead off single and scored on a single from Perron leading to a weird play.
Perron smashed a ball to deep center, forcing Nadohara to freeze at second. But when the ball fell, she took off for third where she was going to stay except she had a trailing runner three feet behind her.
The Cougars eventually got the trailing runner out, but not before Perron took off for home to make the game 8-3.
“That center fielder, she’s a senior and has a great arm, so I have to give her respect and hold my runners back,” Cisneroz said.
He added, “They know that once the ball goes behind them, they know to take off. Now I’m getting to the point where I don’t have to say anything, the runners just take off.”
The insurance run proved key as the Cougars Put the leadoff hitters on base in the bottom of the seventh, scoring on a ground ball to second and a wild pitch with two outs.
But Perron got the final hitter out on a called strike three to end the game.
