The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Fremont falls to Leigh in softball semi's
By Mike Barnhart
It was not the way that coach Ray Loya or his Fremont Firebirds wanted the curtain to fall on their history-making softball season.
Performing on a bigger stage than any other Fremont squad before it, the 2007 Firebirds did not save their best for last. In fact, they made more mistakes and fewer clutch hits than usual. Yet, there were no regrets in the post-game huddle.
"No Fremont team has ever done what you have done," Loya reminded his 13 players and two assistant coaches following an 8-2 loss to Leigh in a Central Coast Section Division II semi-final game on May 23 at San Jose's PAL Stadium. "I'm so proud of you guys. You have nothing to be ashamed of."
After claiming the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division championship for the first time, the Firebirds won their first game in their first trip to the CCS playoffs, 7-2 over North Monterey County of Castroville.
"Seniors, you got your wish, you should be happy," Loya encouraged the team's two seniors, first baseman Samantha Ellis and right fielder Nicole Gil. "You said at the beginning of the season that you wanted to play in a CCS game. You met your goal."
For the other 11 players, including six freshmen and two sophomores, Loya suggested that this season's performance--an 18-7-1 record and a CCS appearance--could be the start of something big for Fremont softball.
Fremont started big against Leigh, another young team with just two seniors but a squad with a solid track record in CCS tournament play.
The Longhorns, who won the CCS Division II crown in 2004 and lost in the semi-final round in each of the past two seasons, could not score against Fremont in the first two innings. Freshman pitcher Tieni Householder retired the Longhorns in order in the top of the first and pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out challenge in the second.
Ellis doubled over the left fielder's head to begin the bottom of the second and, after J.T. Wozniak walked and stole second, scored the game's first run moments later on freshman Rachael Mahoney's base hit through the middle. Wozniak and Mahoney were left in scoring position, though, as Leigh sophomore pitcher Carissa Theis retired the next three Fremont batters.
Theis, who finished with 10 strikeouts and two walks, also pitched out of jams in the first and fifth innings. Freshman second baseman Jessica Lopez belted a one-out triple for the Firebirds in the first, but could not score as Theis retired the next two hitters.
In the fifth, Gil shot a ball to right field for a double. One out later, junior shortstop Samantha Jennings dumped a soft liner into center field. Gil, who had to hold up on the play to make sure the ball was not caught, moved over to third. She was left stranded, as Theis retired the next two Firebirds on a fly to short center and a grounder to third.
Fremont's only other run came in the last of the sixth. Sophomore third baseman Celine Kealiinohomoku singled sharply to left field, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scooted home on a ground out by Mahoney.
By that time, Leigh had gradually built a big lead with one run in the third inning, two each in the fourth and fifth and three more in the sixth. The Longhorns collected 12 of their season-high 15 hits during the span.
Junior left-hander Candi Latini entered the game for Fremont during the sixth inning and slowed down the Leigh attack. She struck out a batter with the bases loaded to end the sixth-inning rally, then retired three of four batters in the seventh.
Fremont finished with seven hits, two by Lopez. On defense, Jennings and Lopez made some strong plays in the middle of the Fremont infield, and sophomore center fielder Bianca Lopez displayed hustle with a couple of nice, running catches.
"This was the most amazing senior season; the girls were awesome the whole time," praised Ellis, the team captain and senior leader, who was a part of two championship teams this school year and will be one of five valedictorians at Fremont's graduation ceremony on June 12.
Ellis, who was named the El Camino Division's Most Valuable Player after leading the Firebirds to the division's water polo title in the fall, will try to walk on and make UCLA's softball team in the fall.
"I've talked to the coach and she is going to give me a chance," said Ellis, who plans on being a pre-medicine major with aspirations of some day being a doctor. "Academics will be the first priority, of course, but if softball doesn't work out, I will play water polo."
Loya praised the efforts of assistant coaches Stephanie Slaughter and Chuck Martinez. Among the other players eligible to return for the Firebirds next season are junior Abby McNeil and freshmen Micaela Henrich and Abby Dugan.
