Showing they are intent on making a deep postseason run, the Oakdale Lady Mustangs crafted a 10-0 win in their opening round softball playoff game on Tuesday, May 17. The contest was played at Oakdale, with the No. 3 seed Oakdale girls hosting No. 14 Beyer in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 competition.
A five-run third inning got Oakdale on the board and they scored another five in the bottom of the fifth. Oakdale rapped out 14 hits on the day and had no errors. Beyer’s Lady Patriots were held hitless on the afternoon and committed two errors.
Leaders for the softball team were Amanda Bricker with three hits, Kylie Valente and Sophia Ortiz with two each. They each drove in a pair of runs as well.
Delainey Everett got the start and pitched the full five innings, amassing 10 strikeouts on the day.
With the win, Oakdale moves on to the quarterfinals and will host that game on Thursday, May 19 with a 4 p.m. start, taking on the winner of the first round match up between No. 6 Manteca and No. 11 Lincoln.
Section semifinals are set for May 24 and the Section finals are scheduled May 28.
Earlier, finishing up the Valley Oak League season with a pair of games this past week, the varsity girls were defeated by the Central Catholic Raiders by the score of 2-1 in Modesto on May 10. Central Catholic scored two runs on but one hit against Mustang ace Delainey Everett, who walked three and struck out six in the game. Earlier in the day, Everett had been named the 2022 Softball Most Valuable Player for the southern portion of the Sac-Joaquin Section by 49ers Sac Hi Sports.
The Raiders were able to piece together two walks and their only hit of the game in the fourth inning for two runs. The lone Mustang run came in the top of the sixth when senior Avery Brown singled and was driven in on a single by senior Danny Romo. The Mustangs outhit the Raiders 4-1, including a triple by senior Sophia Ortiz and a single by sophomore Presley Barnes.
The Lady Mustangs played the East Union Lancers in Manteca on Wednesday, May 11 in their final game of the regular season and got a five-inning 12-0 shutout victory.
Oakdale scored five runs in the first, one in the second, three in the fourth and capped off the day with a three-run fifth to put away the host Lancers.
Raegen Everett paced the attack with three hits and three RBI. Amanda Bricker had three hits, including a home run, and drove in two. Delainey Everett had three hits and two RBI; Madison Bohannon and Presley Barnes each added two hits.
Sharing the pitching duties were the Everett sisters; Raegen went four innings, allowing one hit and striking out five while Delainey pitched one inning, allowing a hit and striking out one.
BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
The Oakdale Mustang varsity ballpark seemed like Mudville in the Ernest Thayer poem “Casey At The Bat” on Tuesday, May 10 as the seventh ranked Mustangs in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 baseball tournament dropped a 6-5 heartbreaker to the 10th seeded Bruins of Ponderosa High School from Shingle Springs on a cold, windy, dank day.
Mustang ace, John Wylie, who earlier in the day had been named the 2022 Co-Most Valuable Player of the Year for the southern Sac-Joaquin Section by 49ers Sac Hi Sports, struggled early in the first inning by surrendering a single to the leadoff Bruin and a two-run homer to the second batter, before retiring the next three hitters. The Mustangs struck back in the bottom of the first inning on a double by Landon Nunes, a walk to Preston Vieira, and an RBI single by Lukas Cox.
Wylie gave up two more singles in the top of the second but was able to get out of the jam when the ninth hitter in the Bruin lineup hit a soft liner to shortstop Nunes who then stepped on second for a double play to end the Bruin half of the second. In the bottom of the second, junior designated hitter Donovan Johnson drove a home run over the left center field fence to tie the score.
After Wylie had pitched a 1-2-3 third inning, the Bruins got three big runs on four singles, a walk and a Mustang error in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead. Nate Criswell cut the lead to two runs in the bottom of the fourth by hitting a solo home run and then the Mustangs tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on walks to Wylie and Nunes, a single by Vieira and two errors. Wylie retired the next eight consecutive batters in the fifth, sixth and seventh. With two out in the top of the seventh, however, Bruin center fielder Nick Zuccaro, who up to that point had been 0-3 on the day, hit a big home run to left field to give the Bruins a one-run lead, three outs from victory. But the never-say-die Mustangs were not about to go quietly. Vieira drew his third walk of the day for a perfect day at the plate (three walks and a single) and Lukas Cox walked. But Bruin relief pitcher Benny Maxinoski was able to strike out the next two Mustangs and get a third one to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game and the Mustangs’ season.
The Mustangs, under first year head coach Joey Machado, finished the year with a very credible record of 18-8 overall and 9-3 in VOL play, good enough for second place.
