Cinderella run continues for #13 Wolverines, will play for state title at West Valley

On March 19, the Sierra College softball team sat at 8-16 and many may have thought playoffs were out of the question, but the Wolverines battled back to finish 8-6 and qualified for the postseason as the 13-seed in NorCal. 

After taking down West Valley in three games in the first round, Sierra was set to face San Jose in the second round this past weekend. Despite losing the first game of the series, the Wolverines battled back to keep their title hopes alive, winning game two 4-2 and game three 2-0 to advance to the CCCAA Softball State Championship for the third consecutive season.

"We have a running joke on our team that we like to do things the hard way," Sierra coach Taylor Martinez said. "In the beginning of the season, it made me want to pull my hair out, but now we just embrace it. We have built our culture around being resilient, there is no quit in this group and we are excited to go compete at the highest level. I think anytime you have big changes it takes time for everyone to settle in. Being 8-16 definitely was not part of our plan but looking back it was what we needed to go through to get where we are. It has made our team resilient."

The Wolverines lost game one 5-0 on Friday, only managing to record five hits in the contest. In game two, they answered back as Jessica McPartland pitched an outstanding game in the circle, recording 10 strikeouts in five innings while allowing just two runs. Riley Ernst hit a double and a triple while sophomore Kendal Manley totaled two doubles. Kayleigh Lugowski had two RBIs in the game while Whitney Montoya and Mya Quick added one apiece.

In game three, it was a quiet game at the plate for both teams until Manley stepped up and hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning which turned out to be the final result. Lexy Saelee, Manley and McPartland combined for a five-hit shutout while striking out five batters.

"After Friday's games, we had no choice but to get the bats going if we wanted to keep our season alive," Manley said. "I went to the box focusing on the outside of the plate to narrow my focus and it led to success. Jessica threw game two and had an outstanding performance, but going into game three, Jess and I had thrown a lot of innings already, so the game plan was to throw all three of us. The mindset for all of us was to give it our all for the few innings we were in."

Montoya had another solid game at the plate as well, going two for three while Lugowski and Maddy Redinger also recorded hits. 

Sierra is one of eight teams to make it to state with the others being: Delta, San Mateo, Cosumnes River, Palomar, Cypress, Mt. San Antonio and Fullerton. Fullerton will be the first team that Sierra faces with the game being scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday. The winner will face the winner of San Mateo and Palomar on Friday morning while the loser will advance to the loser bracket.

"We know Fullerton is a very well coached team," Martinez said. "My team knows we need to have high energy, clean defense, and timely hitting to get deep into the state tournament."

"Everything is fair game and it all comes down to what team shows up to play, no matter wins or losses or anything in between," Manley said.