No. 10 Live Oak to face No. 7 San Lorenzo Valley in first round
of Division III playoffs Wednesday in Salinas
MORGAN HILL — It all came together in Live Oak’s final regular-season game, and it all made sense.
That the Lady Acorns scheduled a gauntlet of nonleague games against the best programs around should have made their invitation to the playoffs seem like no surprise.
They were battle-tested going into Mount Hamilton Division play, ready for anything the Blossom Valley Athletic League ‘A’ conference could throw at them. But you had to wonder about the team’s confidence level after Live Oak finished 1-6-1 in the preseason.
If anything, that record seems unlikely now.
The Acorns capped an impressive 9-5 run through the Mount Hamilton with a 4-3 victory Friday against Piedmont Hills, putting together one of their best all-around efforts this season. Katie Obbema struck out four in a complete-game effort, Sam Bejarano doubled in a run while batting 2 for 3, and the rest of the Acorns’ seniors shined in their final game at Live Oak High School.
The Acorns were outhit as usual but played superbly in the field.
“We haven’t let up once this year, and we continued that,” LOHS manager Alex Sutton said Monday. “We’ve been sulky at times in losses where one inning could have changed everything. This time, we didn’t let anything affect us.
“These girls, especially the captains, chose to come together a long time ago and play to their level each game. They’ve kept their heads up and started a strong foundation.”
The Acorns (10-11-1 overall) qualified for the Central Coast Section playoffs for the first time since 2007 and was named the No. 10 seed in the Division III tournament Saturday. Live Oak will play No. 7 San Lorenzo Valley (20-7) in the first round at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday in Salinas.
The Cougars placed fifth in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.
“We’ve heard they’re a scrappy team,” Sutton said. “They have good pitching, which we’ve seen a lot of this year. I think we’re as ready as we possibly could be.”
Live Oak held off a late rally by Piedmont Hills (12-14 overall, 6-8 league) after stringing together two-run innings.
Kirsten Doting gave the Acorns a lift in the third when she led off with a base hit and scored on an error. Priscilla Orona followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 2-0.
Bejarano doubled home senior Jenna Robertson in the fourth after Robertson led off with a hit. Bejarano later scored from third on a delayed double steal.
“Sam was in the zone,” Sutton said. “She did real well against the Piedmont Hills’ pitcher last time. She popped one up but barely missed. This time, she made solid contact.”
The Pirates put across two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. They had a chance to take an early lead in the third but had two base stealers thrown out by senior catcher Jacey Turay. One came in a strike-out, throw-out double play.
Battling the wind, seniors Erin Leggett, Hailey Nelson and Doting, a sophomore, made clutch grabs in the outfield.
Nelson joined Robertson and Leggett with singles, and Turay had a sacrifice.
NOTE: The winner of Wednesday’s game will face No. 2 Hillsdale (20-4-2) in the quarterfinals Saturday.
