Despite losing to Monterey High School 10-3 in the Division II semifinals of the Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament on Tuesday, May 26, softball is ending on a high note. After being relegated to the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Ocean Division this season, the team showed its dominance by placing first in the league (9-1) and being moved back up to the PAL Bay Division for next season.
The team also had a decisive victory over Mercy High School on Saturday, May 23 in the CCS quarterfinals. The game ended in the fifth inning because of the mercy rule at 10-0. The team had previously lost to Mercy in the regular season, which, according to junior Maddy Koo, showed the team’s growth.
“It feels amazing. I’m so proud of our team. We really improved because we played them at the beginning of the season, so now it feels a lot better knowing that, we’ve come out on the better side,” Koo said.
Sophomore pitcher Brooke Arce pitched a dominant five innings against the Bears, striking out six batters, with her sister senior Sam Arce at third base also contributing to the defense. On top of her strong pitching, Brooke Arce hit a three-run home run at the top of the fourth inning, which brought the score to 7-0.
Senior catcher Kendall Gorshen said the team played extremely well on both sides of the bat against Mercy High School.
“I’m really proud, I feel like, as a whole, we played amazing. I feel like our defense was really good, and also our offense. I feel like everyone was hitting really well,” Gorshen said.
After playing Mercy, on May 26 the team faced Monterey High School in the CCS semifinals. For the first three innings, the Panthers kept the game extremely close, but in the fourth inning, Monterey took an 8-3 lead. After putting in Brooke Arce as the fourth pitcher of the game in the middle of the fourth inning, the Dores were only able to scrape off two more runs, but the Panthers struggled to catch up offensively. According to head coach Al Del Rosso, even though rotating through pitchers had worked in previous games, the strategy was not effective against Monterey.
“The way it was laying out, and with the reentry stuff, it was looking like we were going to get a bridge to Brooke towards the end of the game, and it just didn’t work out,” Del Rosso said.
Junior Kiley Lyons, who pitched an inning, said the team struggled with defensive errors later in the game.
“I think this game, we came in, we knew we were playing a strong team, and we had a good start, but then it started getting a little rocky in defense, we had a few errors. Then we just didn’t really hit our best, but overall I think we did pretty good,” Lyons said.
Freshman Alexis Mah, who was called up from junior varsity in the second part of the season, and scored a run in the second inning of the game against Monterey, said her first CCS experience was positive.
“It felt really good to have this be my first season. It was my first CCS experience, and that was really cool. Me coming in halfway, the girls were also very welcoming,” Mah said.
Looking forward, Del Rosso highlighted the team’s youth, with multiple returning underclassmen next year.
“I’m sad to see some of the seniors go, they were good leaders, but at the same time, we’re young, we’ve got a lot of returning players next year, and then we have a lot of returning players the year after, and we look to be good for the next couple of years,” Del Rosso said.
