Success will not end for Vanden High’s softball team once this season does. Three freshmen have come of varsity age in the Vikings’ march to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship and the Northern California playoffs. The Vikings are looking ahead without losing focus on the present.
And the present is a semifinal game against Liberty of Brentwood at 4 p.m. Thursday. A two-run rally in the seventh inning Tuesday allowed Vanden to slip past Foothill 7-6 and avoid being upset as the top seed in Division II. The No. 4 Lions had an easier time in beating Central Catholic 14-3.
Vanden is 22-4 with an 18-game winning streak because freshmen Ayrelyn Chavez and KJ Horton refused to let it end. Chavez drove in the tying run with a two-out double in the seventh. After Niayli Calvo drew her third intentional walk of the game, Horton won it with an RBI double.
No one in Vanden’s dugout or cheering for the Vikings was surprised when Chavez and Horton rose to the occasion. They have been doing it all season. Horton is batting .453 and has 32 RBI to tie Calvo, a sophomore, for the team lead. Calvo went 1-for-2 against Liberty and is batting .710.
Chavez had three hits Tuesday and is batting .333 with as many hits (27) as runs scored. And let’s not forget a third freshman, Amiya Clay, who is 8-for-16 in the postseason to boost her average to .476. Clay scored twice Tuesday and trails only Calvo (37) and Horton (30) in runs scored with 29.
And there is a fourth freshman, Kendyll Childers, who is the heir apparent to senior pitcher Isabella Cueva, Childers has pitched just 33 innings to 125.2 for Cueva this season, but she provided a glimpse of her potential March 8 by allowing five hits and striking out six in a 3-0 win over Vintage.
Vanden tied Pioneer and Vacaville for the Monticello Empire League title. Vacaville has a freshman, Maddie Rhodus, who made her presence felt by batting .452 with 17 RBI. Her average ranked third to seniors Hayden Kyne (.584) and Paige Witte (.469) among the Bulldogs with 70 or more at-bats.
Vacaville had ample pitching depth, so freshman Sydney Marcelli was sent to the junior varsity until rejoining the varsity for the playoffs. Marcelli did not pitch in the two playoff games, a 10-1 win over Elk Grove and a 6-5 loss to Rocklin, but her return showed the coaches believe she can be the future.
Pioneer did not prepare for life after Jia Beebe by having the senior throw every pitch in 29 games this season. Beebe led the state in victories with 23, but her sixth loss came in the section Division IV championship game May 24 when the Patriots were shut out 4-0 by Destiny Christian Academy.
Six of Beebe’s wins were in games Pioneer won by 10 or more runs. Having her pitch in two games against Sacramento High, which was 0-12 in the MEL, was nothing more than a ploy to inflate her state ranking in victories. The Patriots won the first game by 21 runs and the second by 19.
Beebe will be pitching at Sacramento City College next spring as Pioneer tries to figure who to put in the circle.
