Ceres High’s softball team battled Rosemont in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-III playoffs last week.
The 12th-seeded Bulldogs outscored the fifth-seeded Wolverines 2-0 through three-and-a-half innings of play before suffering a 5-3 loss on May 14 in Sacramento.
“I’m not surprised,” assistant coach Nikole Ferrel said. “The girls were really locked in. They understood they had to have energy to stay in the game. They did a really good job.”
Ferrel, Tim Costa, Mady Costa and Shania Johnson filled in for Bulldogs’ head coach Mike Corsaut, who missed the game for health reasons.
He was hospitalized before the contest for health reasons.
Four months removed from being hospitalized with pneumonia, Corsaut was admitted to Kaiser Modesto Medical Center the day of the playoff game.
“The girls didn’t know what was happening with Mike,” Ferrel said. “They wanted to win the game for him.”
“I had to go to the ER,” Corsaut said. “It was a scary situation. I had some of the same symptoms. I could barely breathe. I started coughing really bad. I hated not being there for my team. I was texting them. I told them don’t worry about me. I feel 100 times better today.”
“Me not being there didn’t make a difference,” he added. “They’re competitors. I trust them and my coaches.”
Ceres High collected a total of 10 hits against Rosemont.
Illianna Saldana batted 1-for-3 from the plate with one double, one RBI and one run.
Kylie Bond batted 2-for-3 with one double and one RBI.
Isabela Giraldes batted 2-for-4 with one double and one run.
Alizae Cole batted 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Samantha Alcarez scored one run.
Kyleigh Robinson batted 2-for-3.
Nani Sagapolu batted 2-for-4.
“We had girls hitting the ball all over the place,” Corsaut said.
Cole (12-6) limited the Wolverines to six hits at pitcher.
She allowed three earned runs with four strikeouts and three walks in six innings.
“She went out there and battled,” Corsaut said. “She got better as the season went on.”
Saldana and Bond collected RBI doubles as Ceres High built a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning.
Down 2-1, the Wolverines scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Bulldogs cut the deficit to two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Giraldes doubled and scored on Cole’s single.
Rosemont induced a groundout to end the game.
“We did all the small things right through four innings,” Ferrel said. “We had one bad inning.”
Ceres High fell short in its upset bid of Rosemont.
“I was confident,” said Corsaut. “Our girls have been playing well. I thought we were going to win. Their coach emailed me and said we had a great team.”
“We did a good job of not focusing on the other team’s record and how successful they’ve been,” Ferrel added.
The Bulldogs might have advanced to the quarterfinals if they had a more favorable draw in the first round.
“We played a tough schedule,” commented Corsaut. “We had the highest, strength of schedule in our league. We didn’t play a bunch of cupcakes. I was kind of surprised by the seeding. They (the Sac-Joaquin Section) pretty much went off of MaxPreps rankings.”
Ceres High amassed a 14-9 overall record this year.
The Bulldogs won 13 of 14 games on their way to capturing their second consecutive Western Athletic Conference title.
Rosemont fell 9-2 to fourth-seeded Ponderosa in the quarterfinals of the playoffs on May 16.
The Wolverines finished 21-2 and first in the Sierra Valley Conference standings with a 14-1 mark.
“I’m proud of the girls,” Corsaut said. “Rosemont was boat racing teams in their league. They were beating teams by 10-15 runs. We wanted to prove we were the better team. We wanted to shock the world. We almost did.”
Youth-laden Ceres High will lose just one player to graduation in three-year standout Isabela Giraldes.
“The girls will have an opportunity to be better next year,” said Corsaut. “We have a ton of talent coming back.”
