Aragon reinvents itself to claim CCS Division IV softball crown

No. 4-seed Aragon (15-13) rolled to an 11-0 victory over No. 3 Christopher-Gilroy (15-10), scoring early and often to sew up the title in an abbreviated five-inning mercy-rule format. The Dons banged out nine hits through the first three innings while pitchers Are Makropoulos and Rae D’Amato combined on a one-hit shutout, backed by an array of dazzling defense.

“Literally everything went right,” Aragon senior Janelle Jee said.

With six seniors on roster, including Makropoulos and D’Amato in the circle, Aragon stepped onto the field Saturday knowing the game would be its final game of the year, win or lose. While the winner traditionally qualifies for the CIF Northern California tournament, the Dons deferred their Nor Cal bid after Saturday’s win.

The Dons left it all on the field Saturday, sparked by a four-run first inning. Makropoulos then went to work in the circle. The senior right-hander allowed a two-out double to Alyssa Farrow in the first. It was the only hit the Cougars recorded on the day. Aragon went on to score two runs in the second and five more in the third.

“Are did amazing,” D’Amato said. “Us as a duo, we’ve just grown together and worked so hard to figure out how to help win games. I’m so happy … watching her do amazing out there.”

D’Amato entered in relief in the fourth and fired two perfect innings to close it out. It was a perfect way for the senior right-hander to finish out her pitching career. While she is committed to play NCAA Division II softball at Cal State San Marcos next season, she was recruited exclusively as a hitter.

Aragon’s pitching tandem has personified the gritty program Roscoe has grown over the past two years. Gone are the two current Pac-12 stars, Megan Grant and Oivia DiNardo, who graduated in 2022. Now, after not making the playoffs in 2023, the Dons are relying on players like Makropoulos, who hasn’t pitched since she was 12, and D’Amato, who pitches for Aragon only because the team has a need in the circle.

“To take those two and to see what they’ve done is amazing,” Roscoe said. “They’re just good players.”

It certainly relaxed the pitching and defense when Aragon erupted for four runs in the top of the first.

Jee got hit by the first pitch of the game. Destiny Garcia followed with a frozen-rope triple to right field to get Aragon on the board. Makropoulos followed with a comebacker that scored Garcia when Christopher committed an error during a rundown between third and home. D’Amato singled Makropoulos to third, and a passed ball brought Makropoulos home. Caroline Harger then singled through the middle with D’Amato scoring when the outfielder booted the ball, staking the Dons to a 4-0 lead.

“They hit the crap out of the ball,” Aragon senior Morgan Marburger said. “I think they did great.”

Then the Aragon defense kicked into high gear. Jee made a clutch play in the first as the senior shortstop ranged toward the left-field line to chase down a flare off the bat of Melissa Lugo.

“With Are coming in, it’s been her first year back, it’s been really important for us to have defense,” Jee said. “And, honestly, we’ve been struggling a little bit, just like minor errors here and there. But today we really locked in and were in it to win it.”

After Farrow’s two-out double, Marburger in center field kept Christopher off the board by sprinting into the right-center gap to track down a long fly ball off the bat of Zoe Griffin to end the inning.

Marburger followed that up with the play of the game to open the second. Aragon added to its lead in the top of the frame with a two-run double by Harger to make it 6-0. Then Marburger kept Christopher in check by covering plenty of ground, flying into the right-center gap to glove it with a high backhand while on a dead sprint toward the wall.

“My goal is just to be ready for everything that comes to me,” Marburger said. “Honestly, I think that as long as you’re ready for the pitch, whenever the pitch comes, and you take the right drop step, you can get to any ball.”

In the third, Aragon sent nine batters to the plate amid a five-run rally. A two-run triple by No. 9 hitter Olivia Mukherjee got the ball rolling. Jee followed with a sneak-attack bunt single and used some opportunistic baserunning to turn first and keep on going to second. Jee drew a throw to second, allowing Mukherjee to dash home to make it 9-0.

“I was thinking second base all the way,” Jee said. “[With Mujherjee] on third, I was like: ‘There’s no way they’re going to throw to second.’ And they left second open, so I was like: ‘I’m going. I’m going.’”

The extra base paid off as Garcia followed with a strikeout but, with the pitch in the dirt, Jee took off for third. The Christopher catcher threw to third to try to peg Jee, leaving Garcia to advance to first on the strikeout-wild pitch. Garcia then moved to second on a wild pitch, another key base, as Makropoulos followed with a strikeout with another third strike in the dirt. When the throw went to first base to retire Makropoulos, Jee motored home to score run No. 10.

Garcia later scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-0.

“This is crazy,” Jee said. “I didn’t expect it to come out this way. … We really came together, and all played together, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out.”

Jee finished with two hits to up her season average to .326, while Harger added a 2-for-3 day. D’Amato was 1 for 2 with a walk and finishes the year leading Aragon with a .481 average.

Makropoulos and D’Amato split pitching evenly this season, with Makropoulos working 90 1/3 innings, and D’Amato 87 1/3 innings.

“I’m just going to give it up to the pitchers,” Marburger said. “I think they did amazing today. The defense behind them is what makes the games. If we make errors, that costs us runs, and we didn’t really do a lot of that today. So, I think that really helped us overall.”