Capuchino falls in CCS Division II softball finals

But an unearned run in the second on the heels of a borderline third-strike call that wasn’t set the tone for Capuchino’s frustrating afternoon.

“I was feeling really confident in the first couple of innings,” Livingston said. “I knew how to pitch to them, and I was just trying to get in the same mind with the umpire to see what he likes as well. I just have to work around him as well.”

Livingston came out of the gate dealing, but the Toreadores found a way to break through in the second. After Cap’s ace right-hander struck out the Monterey cleanup hitter on three pitches, Mia Henson stepped to the plate and wasted no time in jumping on the first pitch to single sharply to center. Then an infield error set up Monterey nicely, when Cap third baseman Madi Choi picked a ground ball cleanly, but her throw to second base was dropped.

With that, Cap went from potentially turning an inning-ending double play to opening the door for the Toreadores’ Alison Levin singling home the game’s first run.

“Just trying to do too much,” Capuchino head coach Tanya Borghello said. “We have a conversation daily — you have to have the ball before you do anything else.”

The Mustangs thought they had strike three to Levin two pitches earlier with a fastball on the outside that was called a ball. Levin then whacked one through the right side to give Monterey a 1-0 lead.

“I really did think I had it,” Livingston said. “He was calling it before, so I thought nothing different … but it ended up not going my way.”

Cap had a chance to answer back in the bottom of the inning, but Monterey’s ability to play catch stifled a bases-loaded opportunity. Lola Sierra led off with a single, and Alexis Centeno followed by outrunning a nicely placed bunt up the right side for a single, putting runners at first and second.

Salinas pitcher Ella Myers bounced back, navigating the bottom of the order to get two quick outs on a strikeout and a pop-out. But Cap looked to be back in business when Jasmine Shapiro followed with a line-shot single to right field. Sierra took a wide turn around third with third-base coach Buddy Wolf waving her home, but the throw home from right fielder Jordan Chiewpanich made Sierra think otherwise, and as she scampered back to third, catcher Katarina Manuofetoa threw behind her for the momentous third out of the inning.

“There’s no playing around on the bases because when you play around, you get taken out,” Borghelllo said.

After Livingston retired the side in the order in the fourth, Monterey broke through in the fifth. The Toreadores loaded the bases on a two-out hit batsman of No. 9 hitter Taylor Page. Gia Roth then made the Mustangs pay, driving a two-run double up the gap in right-center to give Monterey a 3-0 lead.

Monterey scored again in the fifth on an RBI single by Henson. In the seventh, the Toreadores enjoyed a coronation rally, scoring three more times with an RBI single by Henson, an RBI double by Darcy Fisher to knock Livingston out of the game, and an RBI single by Levin against the Cap reliever Sierra.

In addition to her 6 1/3 innings in the circle, Livingston went 3 for 3 at the plate.

“Nohemi did this all year,” Borghello said. “She carried the team. She pitched, she hit, she did everything. She was the team leader when we needed a team leader. And we just couldn’t great the hit when we needed the hit.”

But the Toreadores were tactical in their its approach to hitting Livingston and disciplined themselves effectively.

“We had to make an adjustment because she was down in the dirt, and then she was up high,” Monterey head coach Mike Royster said. “And she was hoping that we were going to swing on that rise ball. That’s not our zone; that’s a pop-up or a swing through. So, we were trying to tell them to be right in the zone, be patient, and swing at the ball that’s an actual strike, not up. And that’s the adjustment we had to make.”

Livingston went on to surrender seven runs on 10 hits, while totaling nine strikeouts.

“She had a good game today,” Choi said. “She’s been on fire lately. They were just getting hits so there was nothing we could do about it.”

For Monterey, the first CCS softball title in program history comes one day after the school’s baseball team claimed the CCS Division III baseball championship with a similar 7-0 victory over Burlingame. Myers’ performance was not unlike the Gentleman Toreadores’ heroic pitching effort from sophomore right-hander Nate Wedderburn, who was on hand for Saturday’s softball triumph.

“Just to see them win,” Wedderburn said. “They had a really good season. Their pitcher, Ella, she’s a freshman and she just deals. She’s done it all year. I’m just excited for them. They definitely deserved it.”

Unlike Wedderburn’s dominant three-hit, however, Capuchino had its chances. The Mustangs stranded nine runners in the game.

“We still had hope all the way to the end,” Choi said. “Clearly it didn’t work out, but it was a nice year.”

There is a sense the Mustangs are positioned to make another run at CCS glory next season. Cap graduates just one senior in center fielder Alexandria Lapiz.

“I feel like there’s going to be a stronger more experienced group than the years before,” Livingston said. “So, I feel like we can go all the way with this team.”