Prep softball: Fleet Redwood secures MCAL title shot

The Redwood High softball team showed the resiliency of a champion on Wednesday in the MCAL semifinals, running past Archie Williams 8-2.

After winning the MCAL playoffs last season and making the North Coast Section semifinals, the second-seeded Giants suddenly find themselves as the top remaining team after No. 4 San Marin upset regular-season champ San Rafael 3-2 in the other semifinal.

The MCAL final is Friday at 6:30 p.m. at San Marin High.

“The top four teams are so close,” said Redwood coach Emily Atkinson. “It was anyone’s game on any given day this season. It’s hard to beat someone three times.”

The Giants (17-7) beat Archie (15-7) for the second time in three meetings thanks to superior base running, especially in the four-run fifth inning when they scored on two very close plays at home.

“Baserunning probably made one of the biggest impacts of the game,” said Atkinson. “Taking the extra bases definitely gave us some advantages — lots of close plays at home that could have gone either way.”

The Peregrine Falcons, who were making their first MCAL playoff appearance since 2017, stayed right with the Giants until their letdown in the fifth when they committed three errors.

“Redwood played really tight defense and that was our mistake this game,” said Archie coach Joe Bell. “There were some close plays and none of them went our way. It’s a tough loss for us.”

The Giants ended up batting around in that pivotal fifth inning, highlighted by singles from Addy Dunn and Josie Templeton. Dunn went 3 for 4 with two runs scored to lead the Giants.

“We definitely have good base runners on this team and overall softball IQ is really important,” said Dunn. “Our hitting has been medium but we really stepped it up today.”

The Falcons, who expect to receive an at-large berth to next week’s NCS D-III tournament, scored first after Chase Unger hit a very high pop-up just behind third base and raced to second. The sophomore went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield grounder by Kennedy Dunsing.

After the Giants struck back in the bottom of the first for a 2-1 lead on runs by Ava Brown and Gia Meyers, the Falcons rebounded for their final run in the top of the second on an RBI single by Emma Freed.

“We’ve fought all year,” said Bell. “This is our best season in many many years.”

Redwood ace Stella Belluomini stepped up her game after the first two innings when Archie scored both its runs. The sophomore right-hander finished with eight strikeouts allowing just four hits.

Getting to see Archie star pitcher Paige Murphy for a third time helped the Giants put the ball in play. The Falcons’ junior right-hander only had two strikeouts and gave up eight hits.

“Just putting the ball in play made things happen,” said Atkinson.