Both teams have a ton to be proud of today. That was an awesome display of softball. I’ve gotta head back to the office but I’ll give my final impressions later tonight. Two champions crowned today: Freedom and Albany. 

California 11th: Jamie Foley starts at 2nd and Stefanie Hatley will be the hitter. Hatley with a high fly ball and its off the wall in center. Foley wasn’t running though and there are runners on second and third with nobody out. Thats some not-so-good baserunning. Krista Miller is the hitter with no one out. They’ll walk her intentionally and it’ll be up to Shelby Tomasello with the bases loaded. Amy Niedzwiki is in to run at second base for Hatley. She’s the potential winning run. High fly ball to shallow right and Wood makes the catch. Foley attempts to score and Wood guns her at home. Great tag by Robertson on that play. Now, there are runners on second and third, Brittany Wright is the hitter, and there are two outs. Williams gets ahead 0-2 with two fastballs. Changeup gets her and FREEDOM is the 3A East Bay champion. FREEDOM WINS 3-2.    

Freedom 11th: Chrissy Stalf should be the runner here and Susan Robertson will be at the plate. Chelsea Hennings will in fact run for Stalf. Robertson is up there to bunt. Robertson takes a strike before squaring again and works the count to 3-1. Jonas takes the bunt off and Robertson swings and misses. Interesting call there but I like it. Aggressive. Robertson singles the next pitch up the middle and Hennings is in. Freedom leads 3-2. Tomasello is arguing that Hennings hit her in the glove but I don’t think this argument will hold water. Robertson is on first with no outs. Zepeda pops one into right for the first out of the inning. Katie Wood comes up with one away. Wood bunts and Wright trips over her third baseman. No worries though, as Wright throws her out from her knees. Great play. Two down, Robertson on second, and pinch-hitter Erica Bowers comes to the plate. Bowers is a freshman. Bowers works a walk and Robertson sneaks into third. Bad defense there by the Grizzlies, they fell asleep. Kirstie Strelo is up and she’s switch-hitting in order to bunt. Bowers steals second and now Strelo will go left-handed again. She grounds out to Wright and we go to the bottom of the 11th. Freedom 3, California 2.    

California 10th: Nisbet will lead things off with Amaral starting at second base. They’re going to ask Nisbet to bunt I’d imagine. Nisbet gets the perfect bunt down and Amaral heads to third. Christie Taylor is up with one out and a runner on third. On Nisbet’s bunt, Robertson made a great play to get the out. Williams gets ahead 0-2 to Taylor. Taylor pops the changeup up and Zepeda puts it away. Two down for Jamie Foley. Pitch in the dirt is expertly blocked by Robertson. That’s trusting your catcher. Fastball gets by Foley for a 1-1 count. Foley takes strike two on the outside corner. Foley fights off a rise ball that didn’t rise quite enough. Williams drops the changeup off the table and that’s the inning. We head to the 11th, still tied at 2. California 2, Freedom 2.     

Freedom 10th: The international tiebreaker takes effect now and the runner will be Malena Padilla. That’s a great start for Freedom. Westlund will be at the plate, followed by Williams and Stalf. Westlund tries the bunt and Loofburrow makes an amazing diving catch. Great play. Williams is up now with one out. Williams hits a chopper up the middle and Nisbet gets FULL extension to make the play. What a play by Mariah Nisbet. Padilla moves to third with two out and Stalf at the plate. Stalf hits a chopper up the middle that Wright deflects to the third baseman Loofburrow. Loofburrow with a great throw and the inning is over. California 2, Freedom 2.

California 9th: Wright, Loofburrow and Amaral to hit for Cal this inning. Williams gets Wright swinging with the rise. Loofburrow Loofburrow strikes out and Robertson throws to first to complete the play. Amaral pops out to Zepeda in foul territory and we’ll be going international tiebreaker rules when the 10th begins. California 2, Freedom 2.

Freedom 9th: It’ll be Zepeda, Wood and Osborn this inning for the Falcons. Zepeda grounds one up the middle that Nisbet can’t quite get to with a dive and that’s a single for Freedom. Katie Wood is up next and she pops a bunt up to Hatley at first. Big out right there. Osborn to the plate. Osborn tries to bunt and she pops up to Taylor. Strelo is next. I have a hunch she’ll be swinging. She slaps one just past Wright and Nisbet can’t make the play in time. That’s a single for Strelo and it brings Padilla to the plate with two on and two out. Zepeda and Strelo pull off a double steal and now there are runners on second and third for Padilla. Padilla grounds past Wright and Nisbet makes a lightning-quick toss to first for the out. That, my friends, is a questionable call. Freedom coach Jeff Jonas is very upset in the Freedom dugout and I think he’s got a case. California 2, Freedom 2.

California 8th: Hatley, Miller and Tomasello due up for California. Ground ball to Westlund on the first pitch of the AB and the Freedom SS handles it flawlessly for an out. Miller grounds out to, guess who, Westlund for the second out of the inning. A changeup from Williams gets Tomasello swinging. California 2, Freedom 2.

Freedom 8th: The good news for Freedom is it has the three girls it would want up this inning. Westlund, Williams and Stalf are due up for the Falcons here in the 8th inning. For those who have already forgotten, Albany won the 2A East Bay championship 7-6 in 8 innings. Westlund takes the first pitch to left field for a leadoff single. That brings Williams to the plate. Hannah Williams just tried to sacrifice bunt. Whoa. On the next pitch Williams grounds to Nisbet who goes to second for the force. Williams will get a courtesy runner, Erica Bowers. Stalf is up with one out. Chrissy Stalf with a big hit, a single through the right side of the infield. Bowers moves to second and Susan Robertson is up with one out. Robertson lines to Hatley, who tags first before Stalf can dive back and that’s the inning. California 2, Foothill 2.  

California 7th: Amaral, Nisbet and Taylor are the three Grizzlies trying to prevent this thing from going to extra innings. Williams uses the rise to strike Amaral out. Nisbet comes to the plate with one away. Nisbet bounces a two-hopper through the left side and she’s aboard with one out and Christie Taylor at the plate. Taylor squares to bunt but pulls back for a ball. After a strike from Williams, Taylor bunts foul for strike two. She grounds into the hole at SS and Westlund makes an outstanding throw to get the out. Now Nisbet is on second and Foley’s at the plate with two away. Williams blows a fastball by her for strike one. Williams air mails one to the backstop and Nisbet advances to third. Foley fouls one off for strike two. Changeup, strike three, lets go extras for the second time today. California 2, Freedom 2.

Freedom 7th:  Osborn and Strelo are the first two up this inning and then Padilla will hit to turn the lineup over. Wright needs just three pitches to sit Osborn down. That brings Strelo to the plate. Strelo tries to slap it and lines out to Wright. Nice snag by Wright. Padilla is up. A soft liner to the right side is handled by Hatley and the top of the inning is over. California 2, Freedom 2.

California 6th: Miller, Tomasello and Wright are due up. Miller continues to be the one that can hit Williams as she smashes a leadoff double into the left-center alley. That ball was smoked. Tomasello is next and I have a feeling a bunt is coming. There it is and Zepeda throws her out. Miller advances to third on the sac bunt. The freshman, Brittany Wright, is up in a big situation. Williams immediately gets her into an 0-2 hole. Wright tries to bunt and misses. That’s strike 3. Loofburrow steps up with two out and Miller on third base. Loofburrow hits a shot up the middle but Williams snags it. Oh my. We’ve seen some awesome defense today and that was a prime example because that could have been the game-winner. California 2, Freedom 2.

Freedom 6th: 4-5-6 due up for Freedom. Stalf, Robertson and Zepeda. Stalf uses an inside-out swing to drive one to LF but Miller is there for the catch. Robertson is up next. The catcher works a walk. Chelsea Hennings is the courtesy runner for Robertson. Zepeda is up. A foul ball by Zepeda catches Taylor on the left arm and it’s going to take a minute for her to walk that one off. Zepeda goes opposite field again but this time Cal’s RF is there for the out. Katie Wood steps to the plate with Hennings on first and two out. Wood lines out to Nisbet and the inning is over. Cal 2, Freedom 2.

California 5th: Amaral, Nisbet and Taylor to hit this inning for Cal. Amaral hits a ground ball to Stalf that gets dished back to Osborn at first for the out. Cal contended the ball was foul. That brings Nisbet to the plate with one away. Nisbet does an awesome job staying back on an 0-2 changeup and pokes it to right for a base hit. That was a fantastic piece of hitting by Nisbet. Hatley bunts and Zepeda throws her out. Now Nisbet is at second, there are two outs and Foley is up. She hits a grounder to the right side, Osborn makes a great diving stop but she can’t throw her out. Osborn saved a run. First and third with two out for Stefanie Hatley. Passed ball on Robertson and Foley advances to second. Hatley skies a pop up to the middle of the infield. Stalf takes charge and records the final out. California 2, Freedom 2.

Freedom 5th: Sara Osborn leads off for the Falcons. A pop up behind Nisbet causes her to backpedal awkwardly but she puts it away for the first out of the inning. Kirstie Strelo is next for the Falcons. Strelo lines a base hit to right field with one out. That brings Padilla to the plate with one out and one on. Padilla smokes a single through the six hole and Westlund comes up with two on and one out. That’s going to end the day (for now) for Miller and freshman Brittany Wright is in to pitch. Miller goes to left field and flex player Megyn Rodriguez comes out. Westlund is still at the plate in another big spot. Kyle says he would have left Miller in the game. We’ll see if the move pays off. Westlund grounds to second and Padilla is called out for interfering with Nisbet trying to field the ball. Strelo goes back to second and Westlund remains at first. Williams is now at the plate with two out. A ground ball to Nisbet and Wright gets out of the inning. Nice job by the freshman. California 2, Freedom 2. 

California 4th: Hatley, Miller and Tomasello due up against Hannah Williams. Hatley pokes a base hit over the second baseman and that’ll bring the big bopper, Miller, to the plate with one on and nobody out. A wild pitch allows Hatley to go to second. Williams is visibly frustrated with the strike zone. A ground ball to Westlund leads Hatley to make a bad base running mistake, running into an out at third. Nice play by Westlund to get the lead out. Miller is at first now with one out and Tomasello at the plate. A fly ball to left field gives the Falcons some trouble and Strelo has it go in and out of her glove for an error. Wright is up with runners on first and second. In to run for Miller is Amy Niedzwiki. Wright pops up and Stalf grabs it for the second out. Loofburrow comes to the plate with two on and two out. Williams strikes Loofburrow out to end the inning. California 2, Freedom 2. 

Freedom 4th: Westlund, Williams and Stalf due up for the Falcons. If they’re going to do anything offensively, I think it has to start with Westlund or Williams right now. Westlund answers the bell with a drive to right-center. She’s into second with a double and that brings Williams to the plate. She hits a HIGH fly ball to right center for an out but it does get Westlund to third. Stalf with a slow roller to third and 3B Loofburrow comes home with it. The throw gets away from Taylor, Westlund scores and Stalf goes to second with one out. Robertson is up next. Robertson grounds to first for the second out of the inning and Zepeda is up with Stalf on third. BIG two-out hit by Zepeda. She rolled it through the right side of the infield for a single. Stalf scores and we’re tied at 2. Katie Wood comes up next and she grounds to second for the final out. California 2, Freedom 2. 

California 3rd: Nisbet, Taylor and Foley due for the Grizzlies. Nisbet gave everyone a thrill with a high fly to left center but Padilla catches up to it for the out. Taylor strikes out looking on a nice pitch by Williams. Williams seems to have regained some good momentum this inning. Foley grounds back to Williams and Freedom is back in the dugout after a good inning of defense. California 2, Freedom 0. 

Freedom 3rd: Osborn, Strelo and Padilla due up in the third. Osborn leads off with a soft liner to Hatley at first. Good catch by the first baseman and there’s one out. Strelo strikes out trying to slap. Padilla is up to turn the lineup over. Padilla grounds out to second and Cal is in control at the moment. California 2, Freedom 0.

California 2nd: Hatley, Miller and Tomasello due for the Grizzlies. Hatley with the day’s first big blow, a fly ball that gets over Freedom RF Katie Wood and all the way to the wall. Hatley is in at 3rd with a triple and the Grizzlies are threatening. Krista Miller PARKS one to left center field. Oh my goodness. That ball was WAAAAAAYYYYYY gone. A two-run home run. That ball made it to the parking lot, over both fences. The Cal faithful is jacked up and rightly so. That was an absolute bomb. Shelby Tomasello has a tough act to follow here. Tomasello offers at a rise ball for strike three. Freshman Brittany Wright is next. She hits a sinking liner to center and Malena Padilla gives the Falcons something to cheer with a great diving catch. Loofburrow follows with a smoked single to center and the ball gets past Padilla and Loofburrow takes second easily on the error. Amaral comes to the plate and Padilla robs her with an amazing diving catch in right center field. What an inning. California 2, Freedom 0. 

Freedom 2nd: Due up for the Falcons are Stalf, Robertson and Zepeda. There’s a little sun peeking through the clouds at the moment. I think it’s safe to say there was a bit bigger crowd here for the 2A game. Still a good crowd here though. Stalf catches one a little fat and lines out to Hatley at first base. Solid contact from Stalf. Robertson is next at the plate. Brittany Wright is warming up in the bullpen for California. Why, I do not know. Robertson takes an outside fastball and drives it to right field for a solid single. Zepeda is up. Zepeda fakes a bunt and pulls back. Next pitch is a ground ball to SS and Tomasello dishes to Nisbet for an out. Katie Wood comes to the plate with Zepeda on first and two out. Miller ends the intrigue with a strikeout. Freedom 0, California 0.

California 1st: Nisbet, Taylor and Foley are due up for the Grizzlies. Hannah Williams in the circle. Nisbet goes down swinging for the first out. I’m sensing a pitcher’s duel this afternoon. Taylor works the count full but pops up to Osborn at second base. That brings Foley to the plate. Changeup from Williams sits Foley down. Freedom 0, California 0, end of one inning.

Freedom 1st: Malena Padilla is the leadoff hitter in Wiley’s absence. She’s got quite a bit of pop for a leadoff hitter. Lately she’s been hitting fifth for the Falcons. Krista Miller is in the circle for Cal and she gets ahead of Padilla 0-2. Miller with a low and outside pitch and Padilla swings through it for a strikeout. One out. Kim Westlund is fouling a few off and is making good contact. Low and outside heater and Miller strikes out Westlund for out No. 2. That brings up Hannah Williams, who is hitting third today instead of her usual fourth. Slow roller to Nisbet at second and that’s the inning. Freedom 0, Cal coming to bat.

2:50 pm: Game time. I gotta say, this is one heckuva time not to have your leadoff hitter in the lineup. Here we go with Freedom at the plate. 

2:45 pm: I stand corrected. Kortnee Wiley is not here. I have no idea what’s going on. 

2:45 pm: Yes, you and I had the same reaction when we saw the Freedom lineup. Where is Kortnee Wiley? She is here and will be in the dugout. I’m not sure what’s up. More on that later I suppose. We’re doing introductions now. Game time is not far away.

Freedom lineup:
Malena Padilla, CF
Kim Westlund, 2B
Hannah Williams, P
Chrissy Stalf, 1B
Susan Robertson, C
Jackie Zepeda, 3B
Katie Wood, RF
Sarah Osborn, 2B
Kirstie Strelo, LF
California lineup:
Mariah Nisbet, 2B
Christie Taylor, C
Jamie Foley, RF
Stephanie Hatley, 1B
Krista Miller, P
Shelby Tomasello, SS
Brittany Wright, DH
Kaily Loofburrow, 3B 
Stefani Amaral, CF
Flex: Megyn Rodriguez, LF

Alright, I have hot dog, soda and candy in hand and I’m ready for the 3A championship. California football coach Tony Sanchez is in attendance. The Grizzlies are having a phenomenal athletic year. Freedom’s got a good contingent as well. Let me get a few lineups for you.

Alright, Ben Enos back here on the blog. Simply put, Albany was a team of destiny this season. They won games they shouldn’t have, they won close decisions, they got contributions from everyone on the roster. After beating Heritage easily yesterday, they got punched in the mouth by Concord early today and the Cougars showed tremendous resolve to come back and get the win. Big, big performance by Nicole Presher to come in and pitch the Cougars out of trouble. Here’s the plan. I’m going to take a few minutes off and I’ll be back to set the lineups for the 3A championship between Freedom and California. 

Concord 8th: Hasson hits a shot to third, but a great defensive play by Smithers knocks it down and she gets her at first. 1 out. Mayorga then drills a grounder to the right side, but Meagan Tokunaga dives to her left, catches the ball, gets up and her throw just beats Mayorga at first. Final play of the game, little tip out in front of the plate is caught by a diving Cousens (catcher). GAME OVER. ALABANY IS YOUR 2008 NCS East Bay 2-A Softball champions!!!!!!!! Just shows, the defense, does in fact, win championships. Defensive letdowns cost Concord, and Albany’s final inning was as good a defensive display as anyone will ever see at the high school level. Congratulations to Albany. 

Note- Gotta feel for the Concord players right now, it should have been celebrating an NCS title right now. But now they’ll have to push across a run here in the bottom of the 8th to just tie it back up.

Albany 8th: Smithers to lead off. Another error by Concord (grounder to 2B) plagues the Minutemen. Smithers is on first with no outs and Hannah Kramer up to bat. This is turning into a nightmare for Concord. Kramer hits a little bloop into the hole, there was no play at first, but Cavestany throws anyways and the ball gets by Cuthberton at first allowing the runners to advance. 2nd and 3rd, no outs for Meagan Tokunaga. Tokunaga strikes out. Joan Cannon up to bat. INFIELD WAS NOT IN. Simple ground ball to SS scores a run, Cavestany had no play at home. Albany is now up 7-6. Cousens grounds out, but the damage is done. Albany 7, Concord 6

Concord 7th:  Ground out and a fly out start the seventh and Albany has all the momentum. Concord looks shocked. Grounder to 2nd, no problem. We’re heading to extras.

Albany 7th:  Shawna Robb comes off the bench and into the circl. She starts it off by striking out Joan Cannon. 2 outs from an NCS title for Concord.  Cousens walks and Albany has something to work with. A drooping line drive to Cavestany, but she can’t hang on. 1st and 2nd for Nicole Preshner. If Cavestany caught that ball, she had an easy double play at first and this game would be over. Preshner singles up the middle to score a run. An error in center allows runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd. 1 out, with Amaya Fernandez up with a chance to give Albany the lead. She crushed a ball, but it was well foul. We have a tie game. A little dribbler to the pitcher was thrown back to the plate, the runner from second went to third and the runner on third couldn’t go home. All Concord had to do was walk the ball to third, but instead, Mayorga throws the ball by third base and a runs comes in to score. Concord had this game wrapped up, but three errors have cost them. Have to wonder what Willis was thinking going away from Elder after she had pitched so well. Albany 6, Concord 6.

Concord 6th: Mayorga leads off with a fly out, snappying the 4-inning streak where the lead off hitter reached base, but Aguirre singles for Concords 11th hit. Elder walks, 1st and 2nd for Cuthbertson. She hits a grounder to short, Aguirre is tagged out, but Cuthbertson makes it to first. Still 1st and 2nd, now for Ciarlo with 2 away. She flies out and we go to the top of the seventh. Concord 6, Albany 4.

Albany 6th: Elder strikes out Khan to start the top of the sixth. Smithers singles up the middle for Ellie Arkin, who comes up next as a pinch hitter. Arkin grounds out to third, but Tokunaga comes up with Smithers at 2nd. She grounds out as well and Albany will have three outs to score at least 2 runs next inning. Concord 6, Albany 4

Note- Freedom players have been spotted what appears to be sour-patch kids.  

Concord 5th: Elder becomes the latest Concord leadoff hitter to get on to start an inning with an infield single, in the hole at short. Cutheberton hits into a fielders choice, Elder forced out at second, SS-to-2B. Ciarlo walks, 1st and 2nd for Leah Hennessy. Wild pitch moves the runners over. Hennessey pops up a ball, then runs into the first basemen, causing her to drop the ball. Interference is called, 2 outs. Vuylsteke walks on four pitches, loading the bases for Cavestany. She bloops a ball over first base to score two runs. On the throw to the plate, Vuylsteke moves to third, Cavestany to second. A ground out by Hasson ends the inning. Concord 6, Albany 4.

Albany 5th: Cousens leads off with a double. Laura Cannon ripped a ball down the left field line….. just foul. Then she smashed a line drive to center, but right at the CF. 1 out, no chance to tag.  Elder gets a 3-pitch strike out and Fernandez comes up. GREAT PLAY ALERT! Fernandez hits a groundball, it bounces off the 3B, but SS Lea Cavestany goes to the ball, falling down she throws to first, it short hops first, but 1B Cuthberton picks it clean for the third out. WOW! Concord 4, Albany 4.

Concord 4th: Leah Cavestany is leading off. She rips an opposite-field double to left center, the third straight leadoff hitter to get on for Concord. Cavestany is gunned down trying to steal second by catcher Maddie Cousens. Hasson grounds out to SS and we may be looking at a desperately needed easy inning for Albany. Maybe I spoke too soon, Marrisa Mayorga hits a choppher to third and beats it out for an infield hit. Aguirre hits a spinner to short and is thrown out. Concord 4, Albany 4.

Albany 4th: Hannah Kramer leads off with a groundout to bring up Tokunaga, she grounds out to short. A weak grounder back to Elder makes it 3-up, 3-down. Concord 4, Albany 4.

Concord 3rd: Well that didn’t take long, Elder takes a monster hack and drives a never-in-doubt homer to left center. And we’re tied at 4. Jannice Cuthbertson hit a ground ball to short, threw the SS’s legs, bringing Anglea Ciarlo up to the plate. A nasty change up from Preshner Ks Ciarlo and the next hitter, Leah Hennessy lays down a bunt to sacrifice Cuthbertson to second base. A wild pitch (and I do mean wild) lets Cuthberton advance for Katie Vuylstenke. She flies to left and we head to the fourth. Concord 4, Albany 4.

 Albany 3rd: Leading off is Meagan Tokunaga. She hits a sharp grounder to third, the throw is there, 1 away. Joan Connon singles to left center to bring Maddie Cousens to the plate. Wow, a wild pitch lets Cannon move all the way to third. Cousens singles through the left side, its now 3-1 Concord. Concord coach Jerry Wills wants to talk about it, calling time. Laura Cannon comes up and rips a double to left center and the Cougars are now a run away from tying it back up. Willis has seen enough, he calls on Brianna Elder to take over in the circle. Nicole Preshner hit a rocket up the middle, off Elder and is aboard. The official scorer rules it an error, could have gone either way. So here comes Amaya Hernandez, with runners on first and third. Hernandez gets the job done with a chopping ball to first … we’re tied at 3. With Sabina Khan up, a ball in the dirt allows Preshner to get to third…. Khan’s at bat goes 13 pitches before she falling singles up the middle, scoring Preshner and the top-seed has its first lead of the game. Concord finally get out of the inning and will now play the come-back role. Albany 4, Concord 3.

Kyle Bonagura taking over for Ben now: Alright, after some car trouble getting here, I’m coming out the bullpen to relieve Ben for the rest of this game.

Concord 2nd: Due up for the Minutemen are Angela Ciarlo, Leah Hennessey and Katie Vuylsteke. Ciarlo hooks a lofted fly down the left field line and off the wall for a double. I thought it might have a chance to get out for a second. Hennessey is up and she’s trying to bunt. Nicole Presher has begun to throw in the Albany bullpen. Hennessey singles up the middle and now there are runners on the corners with no outs. Vuylsteke is up. Hennessey steals second uncontested and a groundout by Vuylsteke to third scores Ciarlo. Presher has entered the game now, down 3-0. Doesn’t get started the way they hoped, walking Lauren Hasson. A deep fly ball is tracked down, but Concord has a runner on this now with two outs and Pricilla Aguirre up. She grounds out and the inning is over. Concord 3, Albany 0

Albany 2nd: Up this inning for the Cougars are Amaya Fernandez, Sabina Khan and Krista Smithers. The Cougars are on their heels a little right now. Fernandez picks up where she left off yesterday, singling to LF. Khan grounds to Cavestany and that’s a fielder’s choice at 2nd. Khan is now on at 1st with one out and Smithers up. Smithers bunts (great bunt) and Khan goes to second. Hannah Kramer is now up with Khan at 2nd and 2 outs. Hasson uses the rise to strike Kramer out and end the inning. Concord 1, Albany 0. 

Concord 1st: Lea Cavestany leads things off against Albany pitcher Sara Muse. She hits a grounder up the middle and Meagan Tokunaga makes a nice backhand play for the out. Swung at the first pitch of the game. Lauren Hasson is next. She pops up to Laura Cannon at SS. Up next is Marissa Mayorga and she strokes a single to left. That brings Priscilla Aguirre to the plate and Mayorga advances to 2nd on a wild pitch. Aguirre walks and that brings Brianna Elder up with two on and two out. Elder smacks a single to center, plating Mayorga and sending Aguirre to third. Elder goes to second when Joan Cannon throws home. Jannice Cuthbertson grounds out to Laura Cannon and we’re through one inning. Score: Concord 1, Albany 0.

Albany 1st: Joan Cannon leads off with a fly out to center field. Maddie Cousens is next and she grounds out to Lea Cavestany at SS. Laura Cannon is hitting third and she smokes a line drive single to CF. That brings up Nicole Presher and Hasson gets her to chase a rise ball. Albany 0, Concord 0.

Noon: Albany did a cool thing in their infield warmups. The Cougars each took a handfull of dirt and sprinkled it on the field. I can only imagine the dirt is from Memorial Field in Albany. Very cool. Albany will be visitor today. 

Well, I’m the lone ranger right now so I’ll do a bit of updating as best I can. We’re doing lineups right now. It looks like the pitching matchup will be Albany’s Sara Muse against Concord’s Lauren Hasson. Sophomores battling it out. Back in a few.

So, we’ve made it to the final day of the softball season. I’ll be heading for Strawberry Canyon in about a half hour but for now, here’s my take on today’s championship games. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve got great news for all softball fans. I will be joined by the Tri-Valley Herald’s Kyle Bonagura at tomorrow’s NCS 2A and 3A East Bay championship games at Levine-Fricke Field at Cal. Kyle will be on the blog for the 2A game, Albany vs. Concord (I’ll be covering the game for our print edition and chiming in occasionally). I’ll jump into the captain’s chair for the 3A game, Freedom vs. California (Kyle will cover the game for the print edition). Check back here for updates throughout the day. Also, I’ll try to get my thoughts on tomorrow’s games up tomorrow morning just like I’ve been doing throughout the playoffs. So, check for that before you head to Cal.

As promised, I figured I’d give some insight from today’s game at Memorial Field in Albany. As it turns out, I wasn’t full of myself when I said earlier this year that this Albany team is for real. They proved it in a big way today.

Heritage is a good team that had a bad day. You could tell that the Patriots got a little shell-shocked when the Albany offense just came coming at them. There was no letting up in that Cougars lineup. They hit well from one through nine and really put on a clinic at the plate.

Here’s my stat of the day. The 2 through 5 hitters for Albany (Maddie Cousens, Laura Cannon, Nicole Presher and Amaya Fernandez) combined to reach base 17 of the 20 times they came to the plate. Fernandez was 4-for-4 with a walk and four RBI to lead the group.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a toughness award from today’s game. Heritage catcher Lauren Townsend took a foul ball to the throat in the seventh inning. She stayed down for a few minutes, got up and walked around, and then got back in the crouch to finish the game. Boys and girls, you take a foul ball in the throat, you know it. I have nothing but respect for that young lady tonight.

So, tomorrow we head to Levine-Fricke Field at Cal for the 3A and 2A title games. Albany will play Concord in the 2A final at noon and California takes on Freedom at 2:30 in the 3A final. I’ll be there. You should too.

I’m right on deadline so I’ll have my impressions of the Heritage/Albany game (12-3 Albany wins) later but for now, here are today’s scores.

 Softball
Albany 12, Heritage 3
Concord 3, BOD 2 (9 inn)
California 3, Foothill 1
Freedom 5, James Logan 2

Baseball
Northgate d. Albany (score n/a yet)
El Cerrito 4, Alhambra 2
Piedmont 6, St. Mary’s 5
Livermore 2, Irvington 1
College Park 3, Monte Vista 0

Well, we’ve made it to Friday which means there are only four games on the schedule today. The best of the best make it to this point so if you’re a softball fan at all, get out and see some games over the next two days. Let’s get into the games.

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10:10 p.m.: Well, I’m about done for the night. We have some pretty good matchups on Friday. I’m thinkin I’ll head to Albany to take in the Cougars and Heritage. That should be a great game. See you Friday. 

10 p.m.: Sorry bout the delay. The game went final. Logan advances with an 8-5 win. The Colts play Freedom on Friday evening in Oakley. Should be a good one. The other score is now in. Bishop O’Dowd beat Campolindo 4-1.

9:40 p.m.: Steve informs me that Logan has taken a 8-5 lead in the top of the ninth inning. Deer Valley is the home team even though the game is in Union City because it is the higher seed. He said freshman Taylor Newhouse has pitched well for DV in her postseason debut.  

Cheesy title, I know. Anyway, I just received word from Steve R. Waterhouse of the Fremont Argus. Deer Valley tied the game at James Logan in the seventh inning and it’s 5-5 heading to extra innings. Deer Valley star Emily Allard is not playing, due possibly to symptoms from the shot to the head she took last night. As I find out more, you’ll know. I’ll update this thread throughout the night.

Hopefully everyone has recovered from day one of the NCS softball tournament. There were some good games, some not so good, and the requisite upset of a top seed. Why is it in softball that a top seed always seems to go down every year? I’m sure Pinole Valley coach Tiffiny Valdehueza would kick me out if she saw me at the PV/Cal game today (I’m apparently the Spartans’ bad luck charm…) but hey, that could be an interesting one. Let’s get into the games!

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