Paloma Valley’s Kayla McGee prepares to take the throw at 3rd base. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
The Paloma Valley High School softball team lost in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs to Rancho Cucamonga, 9-1, on Friday afternoon.
Wildcats pitcher Kaydence Koepsell faced some early trouble in the 1st inning. Following a single and a stolen base, it looked like the Cougars took the lead on a double. The run was negated, however, after the umpire found that the batter stepped out of the box, making it a dead ball out. Back-to-back pop-ups followed and Koepsell got out of the inning with no harm done, however.
With that momentum shift, the Wildcats aimed to strike early in the bottom half of the 1st. A walk and back-to-back singles set them up with the bases loaded and nobody out. After a pop-up, Kayla McGee stepped up to the plate and laced a single to left to open up the scoring. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the following batter grounded into a double play, leaving the bases empty with no further damage done.
After a quick out in the next inning, the first of 4 costly errors by the Wildcats occurred with a misplayed fly ball in the outfield. The Cougars made Paloma pay for the error. With two outs, they recorded back-to-back hits that drove in 2 to give them the lead 2-1 before Koepsell got out of the inning.
Despite the 9-1 scoreline, Koepsell pitched well. She went the full 7 innings, striking out 5 batters and giving up only 2 earned runs.
A couple innings passed where the Paloma bats stayed cold, and Rancho Cucamonga could not add to its lead until the 4th rolled around. Once again, errors in the outfield cost the Wildcats big. Koepsell recorded two quick outs before allowing a single. It looked like that would be the only traffic of the inning after a fly ball was hit to center field. But the ball was misplayed and dropped, which not only allowed the inning to continue, but scored a run for the Cougars.
Three consecutive singles followed, which drove in another run for Rancho Cucamonga and loaded the bases with 2 outs. Koepsell induced a shallow pop-up behind the plate, but it wasn’t caught by the catcher for the 2nd error of the inning. The Cougars capitalized on the mistake with a bases-clearing double that brought the score to 7-1 before Paloma finally got out of the inning.
Coach Ray Arredondo commented on the team’s errors and slow offense after the game.
“That’s never happened to us. That’s not us,” he said. “They don’t make errors like that. The error to (Brooke) Bobbette in right, the errors on Kennedi (McGee), I was literally taken aback, but Kaydence just kept dealing. She would look to me and I would say, ‘You’re doing fine, we’ll pick it back up.’ But every time we hit the ball, they fielded the ball, even when we hit it well. It was one of those games. I’ve told the girls over and over again, you can’t win them all.”
Following the rough 4th inning, Paloma could not respond with the bats. The Wildcats loaded the bases in the bottom of the 5th, but a pitching change for the Cougars stifled the Wildcats and they ended up not scoring any of those runners. Rancho Cucamonga added another 2 runs in top of the 7th following a Paloma error to make the score 9-1.
Despite a disappointing end to the season, there is still a lot to be proud of for the Wildcats, who finished with a 21-5 record.
“We’ll be better because of this in the end,” Arredondo said. “We’re losing some very good seniors who will be hard to replace, but people better watch out for Paloma Valley softball. I believe that we’re back on the map and that we’re better than we’ve ever been before. First time ever being in Division 3, first time being a number one seed, longest win streak .. the records go on and on that these girls set. We’ll be back next year bigger, badder, and better.”
Kaydence Koepsell pitched a complete game for the Wildcats (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Brooklyn Berni crosses home plate with the Wildcats’ only run of the game. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Kayla McGee makes the long throw from 3rd base to 1st. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Hailey Alarcon leaps to keep the ball in the infield. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
Laura Liera connects on a pitch for the Wildcats. (Photo by Action Captures Media)
