On Thursday, the Sobrato softball team got the win it needed to qualify for the playoffs and on Saturday it was rewarded for an 18-7 season with a first-round home game.
The No. 8 Bulldogs open the 2015 Central Coase Section Division II playoffs Wednesday against No. 9 Westmont.
The Warriors are the No. 3 team from the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division, who went 16-11 overall and 9-5 in league play.
Sobrato should be comfortable in playing Westmont, as the Bulldogs didn’t see a team below an A-league designation until league play started. Sobrato was 4-4 in that stretch.
Unfortunately, the winner may not see Round 3.
Waiting in the wings is the No. 18-ranked team in the country: Pioneer.
The Mustangs are 27-0 and feature sophomore pitcher Holly Azevedo, who has yet to give up an earned run in 156 innings of work and boasts a 26-0 record.
But first, Sobrato will likely have to best senior starter Chelsea Skipper, who is 14-5 this season with a 1.67 ERA.
Skipper, however, has lost her last two outings, going down 3-1 to Santa Teresa and 11-1 to Leigh to close out the regular season.
That snapped a 12-game winning streak for Skipper.
Offensively, Westmont has five hitters who finished the season above .300, led by Danielle Stedman who batted .368 with 12 RBIs and 21 runs scored.
Skipper was the RBI leader, driving in 17 on 22 hits with 10 extra base knocks.
How they got there
The Bulldogs flexed their muscles on Thursday, hitting three home runs in an 11-4 win over Silver Creek to clinch a share of the Santa Teresa Division title.
“Having Leonard here was a big plus,” said coach Fred Cizneros, referring to his assistant coach Leonard Torres, who had coached for Sobrato in the past.
Oak Grove won the next day after its game against Evergreen Valley scheduled for Thursday was postponed due to rain.
Sobrato, however, held the tiebreaker over the Eagles and will go into the playoffs as the No. 1 team out of the ST Division.
Megan Perron had a two-homer day, including smashing a grand slam in the fourth inning to extend Sobrato’s lead to 10-2. She hit a solo shot in the sixth inning to finish her day 2-4 with three runs scored and five RBIs.
“Coach said one of his last players had nine home runs (in a season) and I had eight coming into the game, so I was trying to beat that,” Perron said.
Katrina Jepsen also went yard, smashing a home run with one out in the first, sparking a three-run inning to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.
“Her last game against Evergreen, without the wind, she would have put two over the fence,” Cisneroz said. “I knew she had the power in her. I just told her, hit line drives and she finally got one.”
Sobrato had gone down 2-0 before it came up to bat when Samantha Torres gave up four singles to the first five hitters.
From that point, however, Torres gave up just two more runs—one earned—on five more hits and four strikeouts.
Torres didn’t walk anyone for the game.
Torres and fellow senior Morgan Martinelli stepped up big in their final regular season game.
Torres went seven innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on nine hits and no walks with four strike outs.
Martinelli, meanwhile, had six plays at third, including digging out two hard hit balls in the first inning.
“We’re always going to get ground balls and having Morgan (Martinelli) at third base, she always makes great plays,” Cisneroz said. “Having those two in the infield pitching and playing third, you can’t expect anything better than that.”
In the bottom half of the first, after Jepsen’s homer, Perron followed by reaching on an error and went to second when Torres walked.
Both came in to score when Morgan Martinelli hit a single to right, which allowed Perron to easily score from second.
Torres came around to score when Martinelli was cut down trying to stretch the single into a double.
The Bulldogs got one more in the second when Kayla Oty scored on a single from Ally Nodohara.
Leading 4-2, the Bulldogs got the breakout inning in the fourth.
After Kayla Rooney singled with one out, she went to third on a single from Mari Mestaz. That set up Kacey Suess who drilled a double to right that got misplayed by the fielder.
Nodohara was hit by a pitch and Jepsen walked, setting up Perron who launched the first pitch she saw to deep right center that rolled for days.
“I just saw one right down the middle, so I took it,” Perron said.
She added that all she was trying to do was hit a line drive into the gap because when she goes up thinking homer, it leads to a weak out.
This time, however, she got two pitches she could handle and made quick work of them.
Her second homer wasn’t as obvious she would make it in.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it because I thought (the center fielder) was on it, but I just kept running and didn’t stop,” Perron said.
Perron launched a second ball to right about the same spot, but didn’t have the same roll.
However Cisneroz didn’t give it any thought, he was sending Perron in.
“She hits the ball so hard, and once it comes off her bat, it travels,” Cisneroz said. “These girls were even playing deep, but she’s quick around the bases, so I was sending her.”
