College of San Mateo softball falls short to Sac City College in Game 1 of super regional

But if CSM is to advance to the state championship bracket for the eighth time in a row, the Bulldogs will need to put together a modest two-game winning streak in the best-of-three series as the ninth-seeded Panthers handed top-seeded CSM a 6-4 defeat at Bulldog Field Friday afternoon — the Bulldogs’ first loss since Feb. 19.

“Sometimes you get beat. Today we got beat,” said CSM head coach Nicole Quigley-Borg. “We have to start a new win streak.”

Sac City (26-16-1) did all its damage in the third inning, scoring six times as they 12 batters to the plate as CSM’s vaunted pitching lost its way for one inning.

The big blow was a Taylor Buci grand slam, followed by a two-run single from Yvonne Vega.

In that inning, Quigley-Borg used both her studs. Kealani Cardona struggled to find strikes in a tight strike zone and she hung a 1-0 pitch to Busi, who whacked it over the fence in left field to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead.

It was first home run allowed by Cardona this season.

After Cardona gave up a double to the next batter, Quigley-Borg turned to the undefeated Chloe Moffitt. She also struggled to find the strike zone as Sacramento loaded the bases for a second time in the inning and Vega made the Bulldogs pay with a two-run single, with a bang-bang play at the plate.

Moffitt settled down after that, retiring 13 of the final 14 batters she faced.

“Chloe came in a did a good job to shut them down,” Quigley-Borg said.

But the damage was done.

And Quigley-Borg was not about to make an issue of the strike zone.

“[Sacramento] had to deal with the same thing and they pitched well. We still have to adapt,” Quigley-Borg said. “A few missed spots equals a lot of runs.”

Quigley-Borg could have applied some of that same logic to her team’s offense because while the Bulldogs hit the ball hard, most of them were right at a Panther defender.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single from Sarah Giles, the Bulldogs looked poised to add on in the second inning. Celeste Casillas walked to open the inning and went to third on a Avery Revera sacrifice bunt. Jada Walker was intentionally walked and she kept on going into second to put runners on second and third with one out.

But Sacramento starter Emily Deatherage worked out of the jam. After Lafu Malepeai was intentionally walked to load the bases, Logan Bonetti came to the plate and smoked a 1-2 pitch — that was snared by Sac City shortstop Eliza Deatherage, who threw to second to double off Walker and end the inning.

Giles led off the third with a home run to cut the CSM deficit to 6-2 and that was followed by a single from Bubbah Fa’aita and a one-out knock from Gabi Perez, who went to second when the Panthers failed to hit the cutoff man to put runners on second and third.

Following a popout for the second out, Moffitt came to the plate for her first at-bat of the game and turned on a 2-2 pitch that seemed destined for center field.

But Eliza Deatherage was there to snap the hot line drive again and end the inning.

The Bulldogs continued to hit at ’em balls the rest of the game and kept coming up short. In the sixth, Perez led off the inning and hit the first pitch she saw on the screws — right to Sacramento second baseman Hannah Clavelle. The Bulldogs would go on to score two runs in the inning to cut the Sac City lead to 6-4 on a Jada Walker single and a bases-loaded walk to Giles, but they would get no closer.

“We hit the ball hard,” Quigley-Borg said. “The shortstop and second baseman took three hits away from and at least a couple runs. We had runners in scoring position.”

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is scheduled for noon Saturday. If CSM wins, Game 3 will follow about a half hour after the completion of Game 2.

Quigley-Borg and the Bulldogs hope Saturday is a long day.

“I told them after a tough loss, take a little time, then you have to move past it,” Quigley-Borg said. “I knew [Sac City] would be a tough opponent. I knew we’d have to be at our best.”