This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

SOFTBALL: Soquel Loses CCS Playoff Squeaker

Knights bow out in semifinals after 23-win season.

Behind a one-hitter from freshman ace pitcher Anna Gurr, the Soquel High softball team nearly added to it’s stellar 2011 season with a berth in the Central Coast Section Division III Championship Game.

However, No. 1 seeded Santa Catalina High-Monterey made the most of it’s lone hit in the fifth inning, scoring three runs on the play to help edge past Soquel 4-3 in a D-III semifinal game Wednesday afternoon at PAL Field in San Jose.

The RBI single bounced past the Soquel outfielder and rolled all the way to the fence, allowing both base runners and the hitter to touch home safely on the play. Santa Catalina (22-3), who needed nine innings to get past San Lorenzo Valley 1-0 in the quarters over the weekend, led 4-1 after the crucial turn of events and eventually won the game, 4-3.

Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Gurr, a southpaw, struck out four hitters and hit three, but was really hurt by four Knights errors.

“It’s tough one to swallow,” Soquel head coach Shawn Gallardo said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this team. We weren’t able to do it today, but we have huge upside. We’ll be very strong for the next three years.”

Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Junior Annalise Bryant zoomed down the base line to beat out the throw for an infield single to open the contest nicely for the Knights. After a sacrifice moved Bryant over to second base, sophomore third bagger Faith Apolskis blooped in an RBI single to center field to score Bryant and give Soquel a 1-0 advantage.

Santa Catalina loaded the bases in the fourth inning with nobody out, but was only able to tie the score at one off a hit-by-pitch.

After the score was evened up, Gurr locked in and recorded three straight ground balls that went sent home for the force to get out of the major mid-game jam.

“We got out of a big jam there,” Gallardo said. “Anna has been throwing balls that get ground balls all year. She did a great job to get us out of that.”

Soquel (23-5) scored 12 runs in a round one victory over Castilleja and eight more in a quarterfinal win against Notre Dame-Belmont on Saturday.

An RBI single from Knights junior Brianna Sugimoto scored teammates Valerie Silva and Sydnee Hall to slice the Santa Catalina lead to only one after six.

Soquel put two runners aboard in the seventh, but couldn’t get the tying run across to extend the playoff bout.

Seniors Hall and Jessica Szychowski played in their finals games donning Soquel blue on Wednesday.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Santa Catalina 4, Soquel 3

SQ- 1 0 0 0 0 2 0- 3 6 4

SC-0 0 0 1 3 0 0 – 4 1 0

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?