A roller coaster of a season for the Oakdale High School varsity softball team came to a screeching halt this past week. Oakdale entered the 2017 CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Championship tournament as the No. 12 seed. The Lady Mustangs surprised the entire tournament with their first round 13-1 victory over fifth seeded Pioneer on Tuesday, May 16. Their Cinderella postseason came to an end with a heartbreaking 3-1 loss against fourth ranked Vanden on Thursday night, May 18.
In the team’s surprising upset win over Pioneer at Pioneer High School in Woodland, Oakdale used the long ball to defeat the Lady Patriots. Home run balls by Maddy Brewer, Lexi Webb and Shay Trent helped power Oakdale to victory. With the score 2-0 in the fifth inning, Brewer entered the batter’s box with one out and two runners on base. With the count at 1-1 Brewer blasted the ball over the left field fence, over traffic and into the Raley’s Shopping Center across the street to give Oakdale a 5-0 lead.
“We have been working hard on staying on top of pitches. She sent me a fastball and I put my power behind it,” Brewer said of her monster shot.
Later in the inning Oakdale added on to their lead on an RBI double by Brittany Bye to make it 6-0.
The Lady Mustangs pulled away from Pioneer in the seventh inning, scoring seven run in the rout. Starting the inning off was Lexi Webb who crushed a solo home run over the center field fence. Two batters later, Shay Trent went yard on a two run home run to center field giving a 9-1 advantage to Oakdale.
“I have been struggling at the plate this season. I have had quality at bats this year, but nothing amazing. I’ve been working on my swing and finally pulled one,” said Trent, who was 0-for-3 in the game prior to that at bat.
Later in the inning Webb connected on a bases loaded triple to give Oakdale the decisive 13-1 lead. Webb also pitched a complete game striking out five batters and issuing no walks in the game.
“We wanted to come out strong. We have three seniors on this team and they did not want this to be their last game. So we as a team made sure it wasn’t their final game,” Webb said.
Oakdale’s defense was truly a team effort. Big defensive plays by Trent, Bye, Rilyn Cassaretto, Adrianna Aguilar and Farrah Gomes helped Oakdale advance.
But all good things must come to an end, and for Oakdale the end came against Vanden with the 3-1 defeat on Thursday.
The Lady Mustangs were limited to two hits in the loss. Oakdale led 1-0 in the fourth inning on a RBI double by Webb that scored Grace Green. A three run sixth inning by Vanden, however, was enough for the Vikings to advance to the semifinals.
“Vanden has one of the best pitchers in Northern California in Dori Orme. Lexi pitched a very good game against their strong line up,” Oakdale head coach Larry Loger said. “We struggled at times during the season, but played some of our best softball at the end. Thank you to our seniors; Shay, Maddy and Farrah.”
