Wildcats softball team opens playoffs with 8-7 victory

Pitcher Kaydence Koepsell pitched a complete game for the victory. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Paloma Valley High School softball team won their Division 5 first-round CIF playoff game against San Jacinto 8-7 Thursday afternoon at home.

Catcher Lynda Guerra started the Wildcats off with a double that brought in Kayla McGee in the bottom of the first as an answer to San Jacinto’s one run in their first at-bat. Freshman pitcher Kaydence Koepsell threw for the Wildcats and held the Tigers to that one run for the first four innings.

Meanwhile, Paloma scored seven more runs. Three doubles (from Meghan Bradley, Abigail Rogers and Faith Joseph) and three singles (from Guerra, McGee and Brooklyn Berni) in the third brought in four runs.

Then three singles (from Ashlynn Ferguson, Jaylin Haacker and Bradley) started off the fourth and runs were scored on doubles from McGee and Guerra to make the score 8-1.

San Jacinto fought back with four runs of their own in the fifth, coming on a double, sacrifice fly and a Paloma error. But Koepsell did not show her youth in her response to the Tiger rally. Coach Jon Barnes said this is one of the things the freshman pitcher exceeds at.

“This kid has been our MVP all season long,” Barnes said of Koepsell. “She has faced adversity and whenever we’re down, nothing changes [with her demeanor]; her whole aura is the same. Some players drop their head or shoulders when they’re down, but she is a confident kid.”

Koepsell threw a called strikeout to end the fifth inning rally, then recorded three quick outs in four at-bats in the sixth.

The first two San Jacinto outs came quickly on two fly balls to right and left field. Then a single followed by a Tiger home run cut the Wildcats’ lead to just one, increasing the pressure for Koepsell in her first-ever CIF pitching debut.

After throwing one ball, Koepsell threw a contact pitch that was hit to center field and caught by Rogers to end the game.

“You just have to trust everything and your defense and yourself big time,” Koepsell said of her mindset in the last inning.

Trusting seems to work for the pitcher, who finished the game with eight strikeouts and one walk with six earned runs on 10 hits.

The Wildcats were led offensively by Bradley, Guerra and McGee, who all had three hits on four at bats, combining for four RBIs and four runs. The team totaled 16 hits in the game.

Though they had faced the Tigers earlier in the season, this game was wholly different. Where the Wildcats had won 11-2 before with 19 hits and only one strikeout, the San Jacinto team had clearly learned from the last meeting. That’s something Barnes tried to prepare the team for.

“I told the girls all week long that playoffs means everyone we play has earned their right to be here,” Barnes said. “I told them that every game we play will get harder and harder.”

Paloma is now 16-9 overall and has a chance to test Barnes’ words in the second round of CIF. They will head to their next matchup Tuesday afternoon at Linfield Christian Academy of Temecula.

Kayla McGee rounds third on her way to score a run on Thursday. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)

Ashleigh Pyle takes the throw at first base to complete a double play. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)

 

Outfielder Abigail Rogers catches a fly ball for the last out of the game. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)