Prep softball: San Rafael’s title bid unravels in shaky sixth inning
San Rafael High pitcher Thomara Drummer and Cardinal Newman’s Callie Howard battled each other through five scoreless innings in the North Coast Section Division III championship game at San Marin High on Friday night.
San Rafael High pitcher Thomara Drummer and Cardinal Newman’s Callie Howard battled each other through five scoreless innings in the North Coast Section Division III championship game at San Marin High on Friday night.
A pair of errors in the top of the sixth inning by San Rafael opened up the floodgates as the No. 3 Cardinals (24-5) put together a six-run inning en route to a commanding 7-0 victory.
Howard was just about unhittable as the Cardinals claimed their second consecutive D-III title, allowing just a single to Cassidy Kaplan while striking out 11 in a complete-game effort.
“I know the other pitcher very well,” San Rafael coach Thomas Drummer said. “Callie Howard, she’s been battling us for years. We practiced all week on her rise ball and stuff so we knew it was going to be devastating. We had to make sure we kept her in the zone because she throws pretty hard and she commands her pitches. We knew it was going to be a difficult day.”
The top-seeded Bulldogs (25-4) will remain in a bit of a limbo until Sunday morning waiting to see if their season will continue into next week’s NorCal playoffs. The North Coast Section has nine entries into the tournament, meaning three wild cards get in. As the top seed in D-III, the Bulldogs chances of being selected are very good.
“We’ll know Sunday morning.” Thomas Drummer said. “This morning I heard there were only three No. 1s left so our AD said we’d probably be moving on.”
The game plan against San Rafael this season has been to try to put the ball in play and challenge the Bulldogs’ defense to make plays. Through the first three games of the section playoffs, Thomara Drummer basically didn’t give teams the opportunity.
Drummer came into the final having surrendered only two hits in three games while striking out 35 in 19 innings.
Through five innings, Drummer remained largely unhittable. Drummer began the game by striking out the side in each of the first two innings and had 11 strikeouts through five innings against two hits. Both hits were well-struck doubles to center field and left field by Howard and Giana Tamayo, respectively.
The game turned in Cardinal Newman’s favor in the top of the sixth when Izzie Kunimune, the Cardinals’ top hitter, reached on an error in center field.
The Cardinals loaded the bases on a single and a bunt back toward Drummer, whose high throw was corralled at first base by Kaplan, temporarily saving a run.
Howard helped her own cause with a single into center field to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, keeping the bases loaded with no outs.
San Rafael had an opportunity to limit the damage after shortstop Sophia Everett made a spectacular diving catch on the edge of the infield toward the third-base line to save at least two runs.
“All balls are fair game for (Everett) because she covers so much ground,” Thomas Drummer said. “Unfortunately, some of these foul balls we couldn’t get to but she’s the best I’ve seen at just going after the balls.”
Cardinal Newman’s Christell McCormick struck a well-hit ball to center field to clear the bases and put the Cardinals in front 4-0. Another San Rafael error kept the inning alive and the Bulldogs retreated to their dugout down 6-0 with only six outs remaining.
Howard retired the Bulldogs in order in the bottom of the inning, getting Drummer to fly out before striking out Angel Amesa and Kaplan. Howard worked around a leadoff walk drawn by Gabby Rodriguez in the seventh with a couple of strikeouts to close out the game.
The seven runs allowed — only three earned — were a season-high for San Rafael. The Bulldogs had only allowed seven runs total in their previous 12 games combined, going 11-1 over that stretch with the lone blemish a 3-2 loss to San Marin in the MCAL semifinals.