The first league championship flag has been ordered and it is for the No. 1 Petaluma Softball team.   Petaluma cinched at least a tie for the league championship on Thursday, with a 7-2 win over Sonoma Valley.  The Trojans have a two game lead over Analy with two to go. The next goal is a solo crown, which they can wrap up with a win over El Molino on Tuesday.   They end the regular season at Analy next Thursday.

 

 

 The championship is the fourth straight for Petaluma with the last two being outright titles.   The one that started the streak in 2011 was a co-championship with Analy.    They have won 27 straight SCL League games; the last loss was on April 26th, 2012 to Windsor.   During this SCL run, they won the NCS championship in 2011.    The last two years they have been defeated by Concord in the championship game.

 

If they are going to make a run like that this season they are going to have to do it from the middle of the pack seeding wise.   Even though they are ranked No. 1 in the YSN rankings, they aren’t in Division 2.

 

Petaluma is 15-6 on the season.   Five of the losses were the nightmare tournament weekend of the Livermore Stampede and they took a hit in the rankings.   In fact, both Rancho Cotate and Maria Carrillo are higher in the power rankings for Division 2 than Petaluma is.

 

 

Petaluma has won seven straight since that weekend in Livermore.  It is a young team with only one senior.   They have two juniors, Brie Gehrhardt and Joelle Krist, who have a batting average of over .500.   Over half of Krist’s hits are for extra bases, including ten homers.   They have three pitchers who have pitched at least ten innings, one a freshman, another a sophomore and the other a junior. Emily O’ Keefe has pitched the most innings, has an ERA of less than 2.00 and is the freshman.

Joelle Krist homer total is at ten
Joelle Krist’s homer total is at ten

 

We maybe only seeing the beginning with this crew.

 

WHO’S NEXT

With wins on Friday, two baseball teams can wrap up a tie for their league championships.  They are No. 1 Maria Carrillo and No. 2 Analy.

 

Maria Carrillo is hosting Santa Rosa.  They are not only trying to wrap up the tie for the league championship, they are going for their 17th straight win and their twentieth of the season.   Maria Carrillo goes into the game with a two game lead over Montgomery with three to go.   Montgomery is at Ukiah.

 

Maria Carrillo is at Montgomery next Wednesday.

 

Analy is in the same situation when they travel to Piner.   A wwin gives them at least a tie for the SCL championship.  Analy has won ten straight and has a two game lead over Petaluma with three to go.   Petaluma hosts El Molino and only has one league game left, at Piner next Friday.

 

Analy has a home game with Elsie Allen and then goes on the road to Healdsburg next week.

 

The last two games of the winning streak Analy have been back to back wins over El Molino.   On Tuesday, a five run sixth blew open an 11-1 win.   

In that game Grant St. Martin had quite an offensive day.   It started calmly enough with a first inning single.  Then he got going by leading off the third with a homer to make it a 3-0 game.     He would follow that an inning later with a three run shot to make it 6-1 and added a sixth inning double.   He ended the game with four hits, two homers, six RBI and scored three times.   The big day raised his average to an even .400.   He has a team high 18 RBI.

 

Grant St. Martin's big game vs. El Molino puts Analy on the verge of a title
Grant St. Martin’s big game vs. El Molino puts Analy on the verge of a title

One difference in the two ties is that Analy, because of its two wins over Petaluma, would sew up the league championship for NCS purposes.

If Montgomery and Maria Carrillo end up tied, Montgomery gets that tie-breaker because of numbers drawn before the beginning of the season.

 

NO LEAGUE TITLE YET

It took close to a miracle win, but the North Bay League softball race is set up for a big finish.

 

 The miracle win belongs to No. 5 Santa Rosa, who scored five in the bottom of the seventh to steal a 6-5 win over Casa Grande.   Brianna Doane hit a three run homer to get them close.  Luisa Ciaffa hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the game winner.   Casa Grande had just scored three in the top of the seventh to apparently break open a 2-1 game and put it away.

 

With three games left, Santa Rosa is tied with No. 2 Maria Carrillo for first place, one game ahead of No. 3 Rancho Cotate.    Santa Rosa travels to Maria Carrillo on Tuesday and then has a home game with Rancho Cotate on Thursday.

 

STATE PLAYOFFS

The SRJC Baseball and Softball team have both made the State Playoffs and are hosting best of three series this weekend.

 

The baseball team is a No. 3 seed and is hosting No. 14 College of San Mateo.  SRJC is 25-10 on the season, finished second in the Big 8 race and has won nine of twelve.   

 

No. 14 College of San Mateo (23-13) has a four game winning streak and has won seven of eight.

Game One of the series is Friday at 2 pm.   Game Two is Saturday at 11 am with Game Three (if necessary) a half hour after Game 2.   It is the first of three Best of three series before a double elimination Final Four.

 

Meanwhile the SRJC Softball team is in the state playoffs for the first time in a decade.   The No. 7 seed will host No. 10 San Jose City College in what is also a Best of Three Series.  Game one is Saturday at 2 pm.  Game two is Sunday at noon with Game 3 at 2 pm.

 

SRJC is 28-11 on the season and finished third in the Big 8 race.  They enter the playoffs with a four game winning streak.

San Jose City College went 22-15 on the season.

The winner advances to the Super Regional next week, which is a series of four team double elimination tournaments.

My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net