SACRAMENTO – For 10 innings, Tracy's softball gave Rocklin all it could handle as the two teams battled it out for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 championship.
From clutch hits to gut-wrenching double plays, these softball squads gave their fans a show that would end in the Bulldogs running out of gas, losing 7-5 to the Thunder.
“It was a tough loss,” said Elisa Galli, Tracy softball’s junior pitcher. "It’s always a tough loss especially when you fought hard all the way to the end. But it’s like coming in we knew that they were going to be a strong team just from the people who told me about Rocklin.”
Here are the takeaways from the Bulldogs' extra innings lost that resulted in Rocklin’s second section championship in program history.
A sneaky seven-seed
Entering the SJS Division 2 blue banner match, Tracy was the No. 1 seed while Rocklin entered as the No. 7 seed with a losing record of 14-15. None of those rankings mattered once they stepped on Shea Stadium at Sacrament State University.
The Thunder fell behind by two runs after just an inning of play but they quickly answered back thanks to senior Sydney Barker. With runners on second and first, the Oklahoma-bound slugger smacked the ball clear out of the park for a three-run homer snatching the lead from Tracy.
“During that home run I felt like I could’ve pitched a different pitch,” Galli said. “It’s just simple mistakes like that can cost bigger in the long run. So I wouldn’t do anything differently in this game but I would definitely want to change that at bat.”
Barker’s big-time hit made the next two innings a slugfest between the two squads. The Bulldogs answered back with two runs at the bottom of the third inning thanks to freshmen Taylor Sansaver and Hayden Fell. Sansaver bunted to get on base and made her way around all the bases for a run while Fell hit a deep single for an RBI to give Tracy a brief 5-3 lead.
By the sixth inning, the game was all knotted up 5-5 and little did these teams know the game was just getting started.
Lacking key hits
Despite opening up the game with a huge inside-the-park two-run homerun from senior Emma Golden, Tracy struggled to string hits together.
“We just didn’t get the key hits we needed to but the desire never wavered,” said Paulette Keeney, Tracy softball’s head coach. “I know I may sound like a broken record but this team has the desire to be the best and to win and we just came up short on a couple of key situations where we needed a base hit.”
Getting into scoring position wasn’t easy against the Thunder’s relentless defense despite Tracy’s sluggers putting the ball into play almost every strike they saw. When the Bulldogs got runners on second and first at the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs they could taste the game-winning run.
Junior ReAnna Zuniga came up to bat and smacked the ball deep into a hole in the outfield but a Rocklin outfielder went diving for the ball to push the game to 10 innings. This put the pressure back on Galli who pitched all 10 innings and was a strikeout machine for her team so far.
She ended the game with a season-high 15 Ks doing it all for the Bulldogs' defense against a strong hitting Rocklin team.
“I can’t ask anything more from her, she gave everything she had,” Keeney said. “She is a big part of this program and I'm really excited that we get her again next year. It’s just tough when you just don't get those key hits and as a coach, I can’t ask for a better pitching outing than that.”
The Bulldogs ended the game scoreless while Rocklin banged in two more runs to secure the dub. Both teams will advance to the 2024 CIF Regional Softball Championships set to start on May 28.
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.
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