So Cal No. 2 Seed Cerritos College Softball season ends in Super Regionals
Cerritos College teammates console each other after their game against Santiago Canyon in the second game of the Women’s Softball Southern California Regional Playoffs at Cerritos College in Norwalk on Saturday. Santiago Canyon defeated Cerritos 4-3 in eight innings. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
NORWALK – After winning 32 games and reaching the California Community College Athletic Association Super Regionals, the 2022 season came to an abrupt ending for the Cerritos College Softball team.
In addition to falling 8-0 (6 Inn.) in the opening game of a three-game series to Santiago Canyon, the Falcons lost the second game on a controversial call to end the game and season Saturday (May 14) in extra innings.
Needing a win to remain alive, the Falcons were trailing the Hawks, 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth with two outs after a bunt single by Alyssa Capps.
The freshman collided with the Santiago Canyon first baseman and before she could get to second base with the possible tying run, the umpire called interference.
Game and season over.
“(The ump) said that she was inside the baseline and she wasn’t,” longtime Cerritos College Softball coach Kodee Murray said. “She went right down the line and she was at the bag when the ball hit the glove. It was a bad call.
“I’m not saying that because that was the end of the game, I’m saying that because he took a years’ worth of work away from the girls because he’s making a call, not to end the game, but to end a complete season on a questionable call. You don’t do that as an umpire.”
With the win, South No. 4 Seed Santiago Canyon moves on to the CCCAA State Championships and they will play North No. 1 Seed San Mateo in their first game.
San Mateo defeated Sacramento in two games to advance to state.
The just completed season by the Falcons was the most wins since the 2014 season when they amassed 33 wins.
Cerritos has won two state titles, which includes the first one in the history of the state in community college competition in 1978.
Murray, who has led the Falcon program as coach for the past 20 years, reflected on the past season.
“The team dynamic with this group was unbelievable,” Murray said. “They fought for each other from day one all the way through. They went through Covid together. We’re got Covid kids, so some of them have their AA Degrees and will be transferring on.
Most of them are great students and great people and they’ve worked their tail off to do what they’ve done.”
The Falcons finished second to No. 1 Mt. SAC in the South Coast Conference by two games and featured a pitcher that pitched in all but four of the 44 games and finished with the fifth-most wins in the state.
Samantha Islas, with a 23-8 overall record, pitched 13 complete games, had 12 shutouts and 186 strikeouts.
“It was her game to win or lose,” said Murray, of Islas in game two. “She didn’t want to come out. At this point I wasn’t going to take her out of the game. She pushed herself as hard as she could.”
Leading the way offensively was freshman third baseman Brooklyn Bedolla with a team-high 53 hits that included a .390 average with 53 hits, 16 doubles, five home runs and 31 RBIs.
Two other top hitters for Cerritos were: freshman first baseman Richere Leduc (49 hits, .353 Avg.,42 RBIs and eight doubles) and freshman second baseman Alyssa Sotelo (.316 Avg., 49 Hits, 32 RBIs and 13 doubles).
Six players played all 44 games for the falcons.
Miranda Diaz, shortstop: “To be honest, we’re all freshmen on this team and didn’t know what the college experience was like and we came on strong and just made a statement because no one believed in us.
“Probably our toughest games were against Mt. SAC. They were all close games.”
Richere Leduc, first baseman: “We started off the season rough and we fought really hard because we were kind of the underdog team. I’m just really proud of what we did and how unexpected we were.
We were the No. 2 Seed. I’m really proud of us. I poured everything I had out on the field (Saturday).”
Game 1
Santiago Canyon 8, Cerritos 0
The game-one defeat by Santiago Canyon broke the Falcons’ eight-game winning streak.
This game was all about the Hawks sophomore pitcher Stella Turner (26-9), as she scattered just three Cerritos hits.
Turner retired the first six Cerritos batters, before freshman right fielder Angelica Gonzalez reached on a bunt single in the third inning.
Gonzalez was sacrificed to second by Capps, but was left stranded. The Hawks led 3-0 after three innings.
Bedolla and designated player Maddy Guillen, each singled to open up the fourth and fifth innings, respectively for the Falcons.
That was it for Cerritos, as the Hawks blew open the game in the top of the sixth with five runs on two hits and two errors to lead, 8-0.
Game 2
Santiago Canyon 4, Cerritos 3 (8 innings)
The Falcons, with a must-win game took a 3-0 lead scoring single runs in the second, third and fifth innings before the Hawks could get on the board.
Guillen singled in the second and eventually gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead as she came home on an infield error by the hawks.
In the third, freshman catcher Vicky Najera gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead with a solo home run to left center to lead, 2-0.
Sotelo gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead in the fifth with a run-scoring double to center, scoring Bedolla.
Meanwhile, Islas was sailing along with a no-hitter through four innings, allowing only three base runners. Two runners were hit by a pitch and the other runner walked.
The next three innings were a different story, as Santiago Canyon tied the game with a run in the sixth, two in the seventh to tie the game, 3-3, and a run in the eighth for the 4-3 lead.
The bottom of the eighth ended with the interference call and the season was over after a successful regular season and opening-round, two-game sweep of L.A. Mission.