Saturday rain on March 7 left softball players and fans wondering “What could have been?”
Rain left the fields at the Franklin High School Sacramento Tournament too damp for the final day of the event. Oakdale competed on Thursday and Friday, going 3-0 over the two days. On Thursday, March 5 the girls defeated Lincoln of Sacramento 4-3. The Lady Mustangs had a total of 10 hits in the game including Marilyn Waterman who had a triple and three RBI. The winning pitcher was freshman Delanie Everett. She pitched six innings, gave up two runs and struck out three batters.
“That was a good Lincoln team,” said Oakdale head coach Larry Loger. “We did not play our best defense (committed three errors), put a lot of runners on base. We won on a wild pitch in the bottom of the final inning.”
Friday the girls played against Douglas of Minden, Nevada. Oakdale trailed 5-4 entering the bottom of the fourth inning but tacked on runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to win 7-5. Cortney Koelmans pitched three scoreless innings in relief. She struck out four and allowed no hits.
At the plate, Koelmans went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a double. Amanda Bricker went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBI and scored two runs. Rylie Goodridge and Jazz Velasquez each had a double and two RBI. Everett had three hits in the win including an RBI triple.
In their final game Oakdale knocked off Cosumnes Oaks 9-3. Everett capped off her huge weekend with a grand slam, her first high school home run, and had five RBI on three hits. Her big blast came in the third inning when Oakdale was down 3-1. Koelmans pitched three innings and had five strikeouts. Dylan Gonzalez had three stolen bases and went 2-for-3 from the plate.
Earlier in the week the girls hosted Sheldon, a top Division I team from Northern California. Oakdale edged the visitors 6-5 as Amanda Bricker hit a walk-off double with one out to win the game.
“This is a big win for our program,” said Loger.
Tuesday, March 10 the girls were scheduled to host Calaveras following The Leader’s press time. Wednesday, March 11 the preseason continues when they travel to take on the Tigers of Patterson at 4 p.m. Their busy week wraps up on Friday, March 13 as they travel to Merced for a 4 p.m. showdown.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Rain put a damper on the tournament play for the JV girls as well. Oakdale began their week with a win over Sheldon 13-1. Katy Thomason gave up just three hits and had three strikeouts. Taylor Word had a perfect day at the plate as she went 3-for-3 with three RBI and a double. Karlie Fonseca went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
At the Franklin Tournament the Oakdale JV girls went 3-0 before the rain hit and canceled the final day. They defeated River City 19-0 behind Paige Norris’s pitching as she had seven strikeouts. Haley Campbell went 2-for-2 with three RBI and she also scored three runs. Daniela Romo went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a double.
They followed up that game with a 10-0 win over Cosumnes Oaks. Fonseca had three RBI and Thomason struck out nine batters. Their final game was a 17-2 win over Rodriguez. Kylie Valente had five RBI on three hits and Word had two doubles and a pair of RBI.
