Prep softball: San Marin outlasts San Rafael in semifinal thriller
San Marin High pitcher Brittany Casper had gotten her team to within two outs of advancing to the MCAL final by putting the ball over the plate and trusting in her defense to make plays.
When San Rafael loaded the bases with one out and the top of the order due up, Casper stuck to her guns and trusted her defense. Ava Free made one catch in shallow right field for the second out, then Leah Cronin made a catch in center field for the final out as the No. 4-seeded Mustangs held on for a 3-2 win at top-seeded San Rafael in the MCAL semifinal on Wednesday.
“That’s definitely one of the most high-pressure situations a pitcher could be in but all I could think about was our defense,” Casper said. “I strongly believe we have one of the best defensive teams in MCAL so that’s all I could think about. Even if I throw the ball over the plate, our defense will lock it down.”
San Marin (12-10) advances as hosts of Friday’s 6:30 p.m. title game against No. 2 Redwood (17-7).
The Bulldogs (22-3) came in winners of 14 consecutive games but committed four errors on Wednesday and the Mustangs punished those mistakes. Meanwhile, San Marin played error-free defense behind Casper, making a slew of impressive plays throughout the game.
San Marin was held hitless into the fourth inning but tied the game at 1-1 in part thanks to a pair of errors. Taylor Testa reached on an error then Savannah Reynolds bunted for a single. San Rafael was unable to make a play on the ball and had runners at second and third with no outs.
San Rafael pitcher Thomara Drummer got the next two outs but an error allowed Reynolds to score from third and tie the game.
“We could tell San Rafael was getting upset and that’s what gave us the energy to end up finishing the game,” Casper said. “They got a little chippy and they’re a great team – like that’s how they work. I’m just really proud that our team found their weak spot and used it.”
San Rafael made another error in the fifth but Drummer pitched out of a two-on, no-out situation with a runner at third to keep the game tied at 1-1. San Marin immediately put another runner on third in the sixth when Shelby Atkinson doubled into left field then advanced to third on the throw to second.
Amanda Postel, who had previously made a couple of strong defensive plays to help San Marin out of a first-inning jam, provided the go-ahead run with a ball hit down the right-field line to score Atkinson.
San Rafael’s right fielder raised her arms in the air to signal a ground-rule double while Postel motored around the bases. The umpires eventually sent Postel back to second base but the damage was done and the Mustangs were in front 2-1.
“From my first at-bat, I knew (Drummer) was going to throw outside,” Postel said. “In my first at-bat, I struck out looking on an outside pitch and I knew that’s the pitch she was looking for because none of us – we had multiple girls on our team strike out looking on that pitch. So I went up to the plate, I crowded the plate, and knew if she gave me that pitch, I was going to send it that way.”
San Marin’s defense came up with another big play in the bottom of the sixth inning when shortstop Lauren Fong turned a double play that made the Bulldogs’ odds of sending leadoff hitter Sophia Everett to the plate in the seventh a lot longer.
Fong then led off the top of the seventh with a double off the makeshift fence in left field. Cronin hit an infield single then Testa drove in Fong and reached on an error for a 3-1 lead. Everett made a strong play at shortstop to turn two and limit the damage to a single run.
San Marin had also taken a lead into the seventh inning of the second regular-season meeting against the Bulldogs only to see the bottom of San Rafael’s order tie the game. The Bulldogs scored eight runs in the eighth inning to win that game but the Mustangs came away believing they could beat San Rafael.
“We knew coming in we could beat them but no one else thought we could so it was nice to prove everyone wrong,” Postel said.
The bottom of the order came through again for San Rafael as Cherise Castagne advanced to first after a dropped third strike. Larissa Baltazar, who tied the game in the previous meeting, reached on a single then Jaela Brown loaded the bases with a one-out walk.
Everett came back up and popped up to shallow right field – a ball that looked like it had a chance to fall off the bat – but Free came racing in to make the play. Drummer drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead to 3-2 then Casper got Angel Amesa to fly out to Cronin in deep center field.
“This is the first time in quite some time that we’ve made it to the championship and I can’t explain how ecstatic we all are,” Casper said.
Casper allowed three walks and threw two wild pitches in a shaky first inning but settled down and only allowed two hits while going the distance. Everett walked to lead off the game, stole second, took third on a wild pitch then scored on another wild pitch to put San Rafael in front 1-0.
From there, Postel made a pair of strong defensive plays at second base to limit the damage, catching a line drive off Drummer’s bat for the first out then making a diving catch in foul territory behind first base for the second out.
“On this team we all have the mentality of all in and all out,” Postel said. “We talk about it a lot on our team – the second you call that ball, you better catch it. The wind was blowing and it was behind our first baseman so I called her off. The second the wind blew it right back to her I knew I still had to get that ball. I just gave it my all and laid out for it.”