Ripon softball upset undefeated No. 5 ranked Manteca

Two undeafted softball teams entered Monday’s game at Manteca High School. The 8-0 and No. 5 Sac-Joaquin Section ranked Buffaloes hosted the 2-0 Ripon Indians for a non-league matchup.

Manteca may have had the home-field advantage, but Ripon had the momentum.

Led by junior Kharime “Mims” Caratachea, the Indians pulled off an upset win beating the Buffaloes 6-1 and handing them its first loss.

“I’m super proud with the way they played today,” Tanner Jordan, Ripon’s head coach, said. “They played as a team. That's the key to everything playing as a team, and they did that today.”

Here are the key takeaways from Ripon’s dominating victory.

Ripon’s got hot bats

It didn’t take long for one of Ripon’s batters to hit a ball deep into the outfield. Sophomore catcher Alana Hernandez started things for the Indians with a triple. The triple earned her the first RBI of the game and got her team on the board first.

Hernandez was just getting started. She ended the game with two triples, a walk-off two-run home run, and two RBIs. The deep homer marks her first home run of the season.

“Honestly, the pitch was a ball, but I had to pick it up as high as I could to try to get it out of the park,” Hernandez said. “It’s always fun hitting far like that. You can just feel it when it’s a good hit.”

She wasn’t the only Ripon player to hit a home run. Caratachea and junior Katie Rhodes banged in homers of their own in one of the Indians' most offense-heavy games. As a team, they finished with 10 hits off Manteca’s two pitchers, Nayellys Torres and Isabel Tonna.

“I’ll be honest, I was not expecting three home runs this game because this is probably the toughest pitching we faced this season,” Jordan said. “I know we’re capable of it, but I guess I need to have a little more faith in our batters and our strength.”

Manteca’s inexperienced showed

The Buffaloes were plagued with errors from the first inning. After the rainy weather caused canceled games and practices, the young Manteca squad wasn’t performing like usual.

“That was by far the sloppiest game we played so far, and our youth came out today,” said Josh Farris, Manteca’s head coach. “We haven’t played like that all year. We’ve had errors here and there, but it’s never snowballed like that.”

On top of errors on defense, Manteca struggled offensively with Caratachea on the mound. The problem wasn’t getting on base, though, as they had 12 baserunners during the match. Clutch at-bats were hard to come by, though.

At the bottom of the fourth inning, the Buffaloes had the bases loaded with a 3-0 deficit hanging over its head. They missed the opportunity by stranding all three runners and ending the inning with no runs.

Their first score of the game wouldn’t come until the fifth inning. Senior Elon James hit a deep single to bring a girl home from third base a snag an RBI. James and the Buffaloes will be back in action for Valley Oak League play at 4 p.m. this Thursday against long-time rival Sierra.

“ I think we're just a little disappointed because of how poorly we played today, but I want to see how they respond, especially the freshmen,” Farris said. “For them, this is their first loss as a Buffalo, and I told them, ‘odds are it probably won’t be your last one, so they got to respond quickly.”

Caratachea thrives under pressure

On the mound, Caratachea rarely was beaten by the Manteca batters. She pitched the game and knew what winning would mean for the Indians, who play in a lower division than the Buffaloes.

“I know that Manteca has a really good record right now, and they’re a really solid team, so this weekend I reflected and made tweaks,” Caratachea said. “I really just came into this game just throwing my game, not doing anything extra because I know this game was really important for us to win.”

You could tell she had to win on her mind with each pitch she threw. The junior finished the game by striking nine batters and walking three. What was more impressive than the three-and-outs was her ability to get out of tough situations.

Manteca had runners on second, third, and bases loaded, but Caratachea didn’t clamp up. Thanks to her long history of travel ball, handling the pressure wasn’t new for her, so when Ripon needed her to get the final out or strike, she delivered.

“Since this was a really big game, when I scream after striking out a batter, it’s just like a release of all that adrenaline,” she said. “It's just the fact that I was able to succeed in what I was trying to do, and all the hard work going into getting that third strike is so important to me.”

She will look to continue her pitching success this Wednesday in Ripon’s league opener against Riverbank.

“We’re going to enjoy this win for a little bit, but we’re back to work as soon as we get back to practice,” Jordan said. “This is a good example of what we are capable of, but we're not the kind of team that's just going to relax. We’re going to keep trying to get better.”

Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.