Aragon senior Morgan Marburger, second from left, hoists the Central Coast Section Division IV softball championship trophy Saturday at West Valley College.
SARATOGA — By virtue of winning the Central Coast Section Division IV softball championship Saturday at West Valley College, the Aragon Dons earned the right to advance to the CIF Northern California. Aragon, however, declined the bid, opting to end its season on a winning note.
Aragon defeated Christopher-Gilroy 11-0 in Saturday’s CCS finals, the program’s second all-time section championship. The loser of the Division IV finals is not guaranteed a bid to the Nor Cal tourney. With Aragon deferring its bid, Christopher will now host No. 6 Lowell-SF in the CIF Nor Cal Division V bracket, opening Tuesday.
The winner of Tuesday’s opener advances to the Nor Cal regional semifinals Thursday, the same day as Aragon’s graduation.
“We have six seniors, they’re all graduating that day,” Aragon head coach Liz Roscoe said. “There’s so much going on that they want to go out on a high, and I’m good with that.”
The decision made for an emotional sendoff Saturday, especially for seniors like Aragon outfielder Morgan Marburger. The college ranks are missing out on a slick fielding center fielder in Marburger, who will not be playing in an official capacity at the next level.
“She’s been my best outfielder for four years,” Roscoe said.
Marburger — who helped preserve the shutout Saturday for pitchers Are Makropoulos and Rae D’Amato with two dazzling plays in center — will be attending University of Colorado Boulder academically and has joined a club softball team in Boulder to stay engaged in the sport.
“I was tearing up in the field, I’m going to be honest,” Marburger said. “I didn’t really know how to absorb it in the moment because I was so emotional. I mean, I’ve been playing since I was 5.”
D’Amato, who led Aragon with a .481 batting average this season, will be playing collegiately at the NCAA Division II level for Cal State San Marcos. However, after pitching 193 2/3 innings throughout her varsity career, including six career postseason appearances, D’Amato will be focusing on hitting at the next level.
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The right-handed hurler closed out the season in style, entering Saturday’s abbreviated mercy-rule victory to start the fourth inning with an 11-0 lead. She set down all six batters she faced and was in the circle for the game’s final out. She recorded a 1.45 ERA through three CCS playoff appearances this season.
“It was fun,” D’Amato said. “That was the last time I’m ever pitching, so I kind of started to get a little sentimental out there. Just being with the girls and everything, I’m so excited right now.”
Aragon also graduates Makropoulos, Amelia Gullo, Caroline Harger and Janelle Jee.
Two years ago, Aragon qualified for the Nor Cal Division II bracket in the first CIF softball tournament in history. The Dons played in the eight-team CCS Open Division tournament that season, advancing to the semifinals to punch their ticket to Nor Cals. Unlike the lower CCS division, in which only the champions advance, the top four teams in the CCS Open Division earn the right to move on to the CIF Nor Cal tourney.
There was some drama surrounding Aragon playing in the Nor Cal tournament that season, as the team called a meeting, with softball staff and school faculty attending to implore the players to keep the team together, despite the game being played after graduation on a weekend where many of the team’s club players had conflicting schedules with their respective club teams.
The spring CIF Nor Cal tournaments continue to present challenges in various sports. Last season, when Hillsdale baseball advanced to the Nor Cal Division IV semifinals, eight senior players skipped to the game due to the school’s graduation trip to Hawaii. As a result, Hillsdale relied on several junior-varsity callups to field a team in a 6-5 loss at Sutter.
In 2022, Aragon ended its softball season with a 9-1 loss to Central Classic in the Nor Cal Division II opener. It marked the end of an era for the Dons, who graduated Pac-12-bound stars Megan Grant and Olivia DiNardo that year. Grant, now at UCLA, will be playing in the Women’s College World Series for the first time, starting May 30 in Oklahoma City. DiNardo’s University of Arizona team advanced to the NCAA Super Regional tournament.
The Dons did not qualify for the postseason in 2023 but were able to rebuild the program into a CCS champion this season.
“We obviously lost some good players a few years back and we’ve just been working, and battling hard, and fundamentals,” Roscoe said. “Last year, we didn’t have very many club players and just building those players to believe in themselves and know that they can do this. … We believe, and we have to make them believe. And that’s what we do. We make ’em believe.”
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