Isabella Cueva has not only worn the same pair of socks for every Vanden High softball game this season. The senior can also tell the socks apart and easily pick the one she must wear on her right foot. Being “so superstitious,” she will not tempt fate by putting the wrong sock on her right foot.
Some socks are designed or labeled to be left and right, but Cueva can tell the difference just by looking at her pair. The right sock is soiled with dirt from dragging her right foot when she delivers a pitch. Bleach stands no chance against the sock – just like many of the batters who have faced Cueva. She is 15-2 with a 1.59 ERA for the Vikings, who are 21-4 after winning the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship.
Vanden enters the Northern California playoffs with a 17-game winning streak and will host Foothill of Pleasanton at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The Vikings have not lost since March 25. The Falcons are 16-9-1 and have not lost since last Wednesday in the North Coast Section Division I semifinals.
This week is Cueva’s last at Vanden and will be hectic with the possibility of three regional playoff games and graduation on Friday. The Vikings, who are seeded No. 1 in Division II, could play for the Northern California championship Saturday with four players who are no longer in high school.
Tuesday’s game comes three days after Cueva attended prom and a day after she signed a letter of intent Monday to pitch at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. All of this comes after Vanden was in jeopardy of squandering the season by starting 1-2 in the Monticello Empire League.
Those two losses came against defending league champion Vacaville and MEL newcomer Pioneer. Cueva had her worst MEL performance of the season in an 11-5 loss to the Bulldogs on March 13. Eight of the 10 runs the right-hander allowed were earned and she issued a season-high six walks.
Cueva did not survive the third inning in an 8-3 loss to Pioneer on March 25 after yielding five runs. Only two runs were earned because the Vikings made three errors – just as they did against Vacaville. The Patriots and Bulldogs were both 3-0 on March 25. The Vikings were 1-2 and wondering what was wrong.
“I knew I had to get better,” said Cueva, who was 13-4 in her junior year as Vanden finished second in the MEL. “Those were learning moments for us. We had to brush it off. I knew we were going to be OK. We weren’t in the zone and taking it seriously. We had to push each other to get locked in.”
Vanden is unbeaten since losing to Pioneer. Cueva got even with the Patriots on April 9 by tossing a four-hitter in an 8-1 win. She settled another score by beating the Bulldogs 9-4 even though the Vikings were without Niayli Calvo, who was attending a softball camp at the University of Arkansas.
Calvo is batting .717 with six home runs with 31 RBI as a sophomore, but Vanden has won games when she did not have a hit. The Vikings won two games when the shortstop was absent. With Calvo missing against Vacaville, Cueva got a rare opportunity to bat and went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Cueva would much rather have Calvo in the lineup than have to grab a bat. “I’ve known her since I was 8 years old. I knew she was going to be as good as she is,” Cueva said. “She’s so amazing.”
So is Cueva, who has not allowed more than four runs in a game since the loss to Pioneer. She had not issued more three walks in a game since losing to Vacaville until she walked four in a 12-4 win over Central Catholic in the section championship game. And Cueva might face the Raiders again.
Central Catholic is the No. 5 seed in Division II and will travel from Modesto to Brentwood to play No. 4 Liberty on Tuesday. If the Raiders pull off an upset and the Vikings can avoid one, Central Catholic will come to Fairfield on Thursday to face Vanden. Cueva and her dirty sock will be waiting.
