Almaden Resident

Sports

Mustangs, Chargers finish strong, advance to CCS softball playoffs

By Dick Sparrer

There was no catching Leigh in the race for the softball championship in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, but the girls at Pioneer and Leland certainly gave it their best shot this spring.

The Longhorns cruised to the division title, but the Mustangs and Chargers went right down to the final day of the regular battling with Westmont for second place.

Pioneer ended up beating Leland in the league finale to wind up in second-place tie with the Warriors, each club sporting a 9-5 record. Leland finished a game back at 8-6, in fourth place.

But all four of the top finishers in the division earned berths in the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs and will open play this week in opposite ends of the section.

Pioneer, the No. 7 seed in the tourney with a 20-8 season record, was to face No. 10 St. Francis (14-12) on May 17 at Hawes Field in Belmont with the winner to meet No. 2 Presentation (25-3) on May 20, 10 a.m., at the Salinas Sports Complex.

Leland, the No. 8 seed with a 14-9 season record, was to battle No. 9 Aptos (18-7) on Wednesday in Salinas with the winner to face No. 1 Leigh (22-5) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Salinas.

No. 5 Westmont (18-8), the other Mt. Hamilton entry in the playoffs, as to open Wednesday against No. 12 Cupertino (13-12-1) at Hawes with the winner to face the Monterey (No. 13, 14-10-1)-Notre Dame Belmont (No. 4, 18-8) winner on Saturday at Hawes, 12:30 p.m.

The tournament semifinals will be played next week at San Jose's PAL Stadium with the championship game set for May 27 at PAL.

Pioneer clinched a share of second place in the division with two big wins in the final week of the regular season. Along with beating Leland, the Mustangs nailed a 5-1 win over Santa Teresa on a 4-hitter by Alyssa Walker. Katie Town had two hits to a seven-hit attack for the Mustangs. It was a four-run rally in the second inning that sparked Pioneer to the win.

Leland had posted two wins, including a clutch 2-0 victory over Leigh, before losing to Pioneer last week.

Vanessa Truan whirled a 2-hit shutout to lead the Chargers to the win over the Longhorns. Her teammates staked her to an early lead with two runs in the second, and that's all she needed to roll to the victory.

Ashleigh Adams had a key hit to lead a four-hit assault for Leland.

Truan had tossed a 6-hitter to take Leland to a thrilling 2-1, eight inning win over Oak Grove earlier in the week. Kristen Rorie was the offensive star for the Chargers with a single, a double and two stolen bases.

The game was scoreless through three innings before Leland broke that up with a run in the fourth. Oak Grove tied it in the bottom of the sixth, but Leland scored a run in the top of the eighth and Truan blanked the Eagles in the bottom of the frame to nail down the win.