Senior Day festivities helped Escalon’s varsity Lady Cougars softball squad get their afternoon started on a high note Wednesday and they kept the good going, taking a regular season finale win against visiting Mountain House.
Head coach Art Brooks said they introduce not only the senior players and have them escorted onto the field by their parents, but then each player takes a turn behind the plate, catching the ‘first pitch’ their parent or parents throw out. Flowers, jars of infield dirt and signed softballs are also a part of the festivities.
“It’s fun,” Brooks said of the elaborate Senior Day sendoff.
Then it was down to business for the Trans-Valley League finale, the Lady Cougars finishing the season in second place overall.
“It was a run-shortened game, five innings,” said Brooks. “We got two runs in the first, added seven more in the second.”
Mountain House got a single run in the fourth inning to avoid the shutout but Escalon continued their scoring to take the game via the 10-run rule in five.
“Chardae Hoskins went the first three innings, Molly Brown went the final two,” Brooks said. “They combined for 12 strikeouts and no hits.”
Haylie Corriea went 3-for-3 with a home run and three runs batted in on the afternoon, Hoskins was 2-for-2 with an inside the park home run, a triple, two walks and four RBIs. Laura Brasil and Tristin King each went 2-for-3 in the regular season finale, while Natalie Arnold, Morgan Reider, Hailie Webster, Nicole Luis, Cindy DeFreitas and Molly Brown all had hits.
With the win, the varsity girls completed the TVL campaign with a mark of 8-2; their only losses against TVL champ Ripon.
Escalon will start the playoffs today, Wednesday, May 18 at 5 p.m. at Arnaiz Softball Complex in Stockton, taking on Summerville in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs.
“Ripon went in as the number one seed, Marysville is number two, we are the number three seed,” explained Brooks. “If we win at 5 p.m. we play again at 7 p.m.”
The bracket includes top seed Ripon going against number eight Orestimba and number four Linden against number five West Campus, with number two Marysville against number seven Riverbank and number three Escalon against number six Summerville on the other side.
“It’s doable,” Brooks said of getting all the way to the Section final. “If the girls get focused, it is doable.”
