Softball: Mustangs routed by St. Francis, Falcons advance in CIF SJS playoffs

The visitors held St. Francis scoreless through the first inning. However, unable to put runs on the board at 0-0, the Troubadours finally caught fire at the bottom of the second when they built a 6-0 lead. 

Marshaled by sophomore pitcher Luna Lopez, the Mountain House defense once again held firm with a shutout inning in the third. But the offense just could not take advantage of the opportunities presented to them to get the Mustangs back into the game. 

The hosts scored one more at the bottom of the fourth and four more at the bottom of the fifth, while up 7-1, to ice the game via mercy rule.

St. Francis pitcher Kiley Shea struck out five and limited the potent Mustangs offense to just three hits while her teammates notched up nine for 10 RBIs. 

The Mustangs’ lone scoring play of the game came at the top of the fifth inning when senior Veronika Emerson connected with an RBI single to score Lopez. The remaining hits came through Lopez (1-2) and senior standout Kaiya Simmons (1-2) who was kept quiet by the Troubadours defense following a tremendous regular season. 

The hosts were led by Kylee Garrett who came up big with a three-run home run on her lone hit of the game to provide the biggest spark. Reese Lewis and Isabelle Vela had a pair of RBIs apiece. 

Lopez pitched the majority of the game for the Mustangs and struck out six while walking five. 10 of the 11 runs given up by the visitors were earned. Lopez allowed eight hits while sophomore Haylie Townsley allowed one at the tail end of the game. 

Millennium 0, Delta Charter 0 (FF)

The Millennium High Falcons – who are the No. 1 seed in Division 6 – were met by an unexpected surprise in the shape of a forfeit before their first round matchup against the No. 8 crosstown rival from Delta Charter. 

After punching their ticket to the playoffs with a 3-3 record in the Mountain Valley League (2nd place), the Dragons did not have enough players to field a team in Tuesday’s opener. 

Moving on, the Falcons will face the No. 5 Summerville High Bears at home in the second round on Thursday. The Bears defeated the No. 4 Ben Holt College Prep Academy 6-1 in round one. They went 7-8 and finished third in the Mother Lode League this spring. 

Contact Arion Armeniakos at aarmeniakos@tracypress.com, or call 209-830-4229.