Prep softball: San Marin punches return ticket to MCAL final

The San Marin High softball team took the best punch Archie Williams had to offer in the fifth inning of the MCAL semifinals on Thursday night but immediately responded with one of its own.

After the Peregrine Falcons scored three times to take a two-run lead, the Mustangs fired right back with three runs in the bottom of the frame on RBI hits by Leah Cronin and Amanda Postel. Starting pitcher Taylor Testa retired six of the final seven batters she faced from there as San Marin won 4-3 and secured a spot in its second consecutive MCAL title game.

“We still had a lot of game left and I was confident in my girls that they were going to get it done,” San Marin coach Samantha Tong said. “They wanted it and they know what it takes to get to that championship game and they gave it all they got.”

The Mustangs were seeded fourth last season, taking down No. 1 San Rafael and No. 2 Redwood to win the title. San Marin (17-6) is the top seed this time around and hosts No. 3 Marin Catholic (16-6) on Thursday night in the championship game. MC won the first meeting between the two teams 3-2 on March 24 then San Marin won the second game 6-4 on May 2.

Six of the seven runs scored in Thursday’s semifinal came in the fifth inning. Testa cruised through the first four innings allowing just one hit, but finally ran into trouble in the fifth.

Sam Singer led off with a double to the wall as the No. 4 Peregrine Falcons (18-8) strung together four hits in the inning. Ana Flandermeyer tied the game at 1-1 with a single to center field then Chase Unger hit a one-out single to set the table for a big inning.

Leadoff hitter and starting pitcher Paige Murphy hit an RBI double to give Archie Williams a 2-1 lead then Parker Conrad added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

“Once you see someone a couple of times through the lineup, you start seeing them better,” Testa said. “But in the middle of the game sometimes it’s hard to keep the focus and they’re a good hitting team. Props to them, too. I was leaving some pitches kind of fat but I got it back together at the end of the game.”

With nine outs remaining at their disposal, the Mustangs sent the heart of the order to the plate in Nos. 3-5 hitters Lauren Fong, Savannah Reynolds, and Testa. Reynolds reached on an infield single then Testa drew a walk to bring Cronin up to the plate.

Cronin laced a triple just inside the right-field line to score two runs and tie the game at 3-3.

“Last time I faced Paige – the last game – I was getting a lot of inside pitches so this game I was really focusing on fastball inside till I got two strikes,” Cronin said. “I didn’t think they were going to pitch me inside for a strike any more. She threw me the changeup for a strike so I was expecting a changeup next in the count and it was a rise ball but after I was ready for a changeup. I made sure I kept my weight back and my mindset was right side (of the field).”

Postel, who drove in San Marin’s first run in the bottom of the fourth inning, came up again. The infielders were playing in to try get the out at home with one out so Postel looped a single just over the shortstop to score Cronin with the eventual winning run.

“I was definitely a little nervous because we did have that runner on third but I was looking for my pitch only,” Postel said. “Then I got down to an 0-2 count so I knew anything anywhere close I had to swing at it. The umpire had a big strike zone, too, so it wasn’t my perfect pitch but I got the bat on the ball and did what needed to be done.”

Testa was back in the circle with the lead in the top of the sixth and closed out Archie Williams from there. Testa registered two big strikeouts sandwiched around a two-out single by Singer to get through the sixth inning and struck out another hitter in the seventh.

“The last innings of every game, it’s mainly Taylor shutting people out,” Postel said. “Taylor just gets this momentum at the end of a game where she wants to finish it. She honestly has the biggest winning mentality on this team and she just gets this burst of momentum to win and to shut everyone out. It’s almost like she gets a little more power behind her those last few innings.”

Testa allowed six hits and struck out seven in a complete-game effort. Archie Williams ace Murphy, the league’s player of the year last season, allowed nine hits and struck out five.

Postel still had another part to play in helping San Marin secure the victory. Flandermeyer led off the top of the seventh for Archie Williams with a looper into shallow center that looked like it might find a hole between Postel at second, Cronin in center, and Reynolds in right.

“Our outfielders and infielders have really good communication with each other with little bloopers like that in between us,” Postel said. “We work on it a lot. What helps me a lot is I just keep going until they either call me off or call my name. Unless I know I can get that ball I’m not going to call it and wait for them to call me off.

“I was running back and heard both (Savannah) and Leah screaming my name telling me to go get it and it was a good snag. I wasn’t expecting to catch it.”

Around the county

Marin Catholic starting pitcher Malliah Foster limited Redwood to four hits and struck out nine batters over seven innings and the Wildcats scored four times in the fifth inning without the benefit of a hit in a 7-4 victory on Tuesday.

The No. 3 Wildcats (16-6) put together a four-run rally with an error, a sacrifice bunt , a walk, a fielder’s choice, a dropped third strike, and another error to take a 5-2 lead.

No. 2 Redwood (15-10) climbed back into the game in the sixth inning, loading the bases with no outs. Foster got the first two outs on a pop out and a line out but Stella Belluomini hit a two-run double to pull the Giants within 5-4. Foster induced a groundout to get out of the inning with the lead.

Anna Held singled home Morgan Carlson for a 6-4 lead then came around to score on a wild pitch later in the inning to push MC’s advantage to 7-4.

Carlson had two hits and scored three times for MC. Bella Ferrety had a team-high two RBIs.

Ashley Ball and Belluomini had two RBIs each for Redwood. Belluomini allowed five hits and struck out eight in seven innings of work. Only three of the seven runs were earned.