La Jolla’s softball team took a while to figure out Mission Bay pitcher Cassidy West. The 5-foot-10-inch tall freshman, who is a talented club team player, struck out the side in the second and third innings of the CIF Division 4 championship game May 27. She had a streak of seven straight outs via strikeout early in the contest.
But the Vikings finally broke into the scoring column with a run in the fourth, and after the Buccaneers scored the equalizer in the fifth, La Jolla’s Josie Sinkeldam drilled a 1-0 fastball into centerfield with one out in the bottom of the seventh to score Sina Anae from second base for the walk-off game-winning hit for the title.
In the same way, coach Andrea Denham’s squad took a while at the beginning of the season to settle in and figure things out. Sinkeldam, earlier in the week during the playoffs, was asked why her team was playing so well. The junior shortstop responded, “We’re having fun. We’re all here, and we’re feeding off each other.”
The Cal State Dominguez Hills commit was referring to the fact that starting the season, key players were missing and the Vikings struggled to a 0-6 record. Kyra Ferenczy, the sophomore pitcher, and Vanessa Shaffer, a spectacular fielding centerfielder, were delayed in coming to the team because of the school soccer team’s run to the CIF Division II title.
Even when they were back on the softball field, the team could hardly win a game. Ferenczy, rusty in the pitcher’s circle and normally an outfielder in club ball, hadn’t pitched a ball in seven months. Her swing at the plate, which led to a .451 average as a freshman, also showed signs of neglect and was slow-starting.
How did the red-and-black eventually put together their hot streak at the end of the season through the playoffs to the title, which they were denied last year by a 5-0 loss in the final to Christian?
Assistant coach Tracy Brown’s explanation: “I’ve been working them hard. I leave practice hurting. The girls leave pretty well-done.”
Then, different players alternated sparking the batting lineup, and Ferenczy got her effective changeup back. In a narrow, hard-fought first-round 3-2 win at Mission Vista, which required a long drive through traffic, Ferenczy, hitting in the third slot, led the attack with a pair of RBI doubles in a come-from-behind thriller. This came after the team won a do-or-die play-in game against Tri-City Christian two days before.
Then, in the second round, Sinkeldam, in the leadoff spot, had four RBI’s as the Vikings won again on the road at Mar Vista, the number-two seed, 7-2. La Jolla was the sixth seed in the bracket.
That win gave them last Tuesday off, enabling them to rest and prepare for whoever met them in the semifinals May 25. Coronado, the top seed, couldn’t answer the call as La Jolla’s offense unleashed a 19-hit attack, led by Linda Brown’s pair of two-run home runs, and exploded for a 12-3 win. Catcher Hailey Ramos had two RBI’s on a double that started the Vikings’ scoring.
What is consistent is the girls’ enjoyment of their friendships on the team. Says left fielder Ava Verbrugghen, “I came out because of the camaraderie. How do you pronounce that word?”
She talked Anae, who had never played softball before, into coming out this year and playing right field. Shaffer, initially, didn’t plan to return to the team this year as a junior after making several leaping catches the past two years at her spot in left field. But a little persuasion, apparently by her soccer teammate Ferenczy, did the trick.
And Sara Tyrus, a consistent second baseman who planned to take her senior season off to concentrate on golf, had her mind changed as well. Otherwise, Denham’s roster wouldn’t have had enough players.
Lending some energy and the ability to relax, which La Jolla wasn’t able to do last year in falling in the final to Christian, have been rally giraffes Pancho, George and for the championship game, Geo. “I like the giraffes. They give the girls something to have fun with and stay loose,” said Tracy Brown.
Ramos had two hits in the finale. Emily Alvarez, playing a steady first base, also contributed a key role in the Vikings’ success.