Central Catholic softball powers past Oakdale to set up tie atop VOL standings

Emry Couch vowed that she wouldn’t pitch at all this season, but there she was, a starter in a Valley Oak League rivalry game against Oakdale.

The sophomore has not pitched since her younger travel ball days and says she gave it up because she enjoyed playing in the outfield. She has played primarily in center field and her speed, athleticism as a multi-sport athlete and ability to track the ball could be appealing to college recruiters.

But this season, her goal was to do whatever it took to help her team win, even if it meant stepping back into the pressure-packed pitching circle once again.

“I told myself this year I didn’t want to pitch, but it’s a team sport,” Couch said. “I want to help my team win and continue to grow so I stepped in.”

Couch pitched 6.1 innings, allowing just two runs on three hits. She allowed just one hit through her first six innings of work to power Central Catholic to a key 6-2 win over the Mustangs, who entered the matchup as the VOL’s No. 1 team.

It was just her fourth pitching appearance in her varsity career, all coming this season. She has a 3-0 record with a 1.05 ERA.

Given the magnitude of the game, some may argue that was the best game she’s ever pitched. Not Couch. You could tell she was proud of herself postgame, but the competitor in her still found a way to improve.

“There were a lot of walks,” she said with a laugh, noting the six free passes allowed. “But I think I did a good job getting outs for my team. I wasn’t worried about strikeouts or anything like that as long as I put the ball in play for my defense to make plays.

Junior Jazmarie Roberts, who also hasn’t pitched since her early travel ball days and has played all over the infield in her varsity career, closed the game, forcing a ground ball with one out for a game-ending double play.

“It’s contagious,” said Raiders coach Sam Nichols. “They’re all about just winning and whatever we need to do to win. They say coach (I’ll play) wherever you need me. They’re just all about the team.”

“Us vs Us”

Central Catholic’s motto over the past few weeks has been “Us vs Us”. Nichols says the team has solely been focused on what it has to do to improve.

That included focusing more on their approach to one of the biggest, most emotional games of the season.

They didn’t focus on the fact that they had beaten Oakdale five straight times over the past two seasons heading into Wednesday or the fact that the matchup was between two of the top 10 Sac-Joaquin Section — Oakdale is ranked No. 2 and Central Catholic is No. 6.

“We didn’t make it a big deal, but I know everyone feels it,” Nichols said. “Everyone shows up. It’s still a big game. But mentally, we just tried to stay within ourselves.”

Nichols says he saw a calm, relaxed, focused team in warmups. A contrast to years prior, when the team put a lot of pressure on themselves to beat the Mustangs. Often, Nichols said, the team would be “tight”.

“They were loose, and I told them before the game that I liked the energy, we were ready and prepared,” Nichols said of their approach Wednesday.

The Raiders were hot from the first inning. Freshman Samantha Nichols converted a 10-pitch at-bat into a solo home run for a 1-0 lead. Couch sent a solo shot over the center field fence in the second and senior Emori Machado scored on a throwing error later in the inning after Carson Lomeli-Garcia singled. Junior UNLV commit Taryn Calderon homered to left field in the fifth inning to give the Raiders a 4-0 lead. The three total home runs tied a season high. The Raiders added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning.

“We have a team full of hitters,” Couch said. “Anybody can hit a home run and I feel like it’s all just about having confidence in yourself and having a good mentality to know that you can hit any pitcher you face.”

VOL gets tighter

The win for Central Catholic wasn’t only sweet because it came against a rival, it also was big because it makes an already competitive VOL title race that much more interesting.

Oakdale entered the afternoon with a 4-0 record against league opponents, good for first in the standings through the first half of league play. The Raiders were tied for second with Manteca at 3-1. Now each of the top three teams have one loss.

“From that standpoint, this game was big so we can stay in the hunt,” Nichols said. “If they go up two games on everybody, it’s gonna be tough to get back in it. Our goals are still right in front of us and now we’ve just got to take care of business.”

League play continues for both teams next week as Central Catholic travels to Kimball on April 23 and hosts Manteca April 25. Oakdale travels to Sierra on Tuesday and hosts East Union Thursday.

The win is Central Catholic’s fourth in the past five games and its second straight victory after dropping a non-league contest to Capital Christian.

“I’m just super proud, we executed today and put the ball in play. We gotta cut the strikeouts down but (Oakdale pitcher) Raegen (Everett), she’s good,” Nichols said. “The team aspect of it, they were rooting for each other and everyone stepped up and played a part. Even if they didn’t get a hit, they played great defense. It was just a great team game.”

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