Deuces are wild for College of San Mateo at state softball tourney

Friday, CSM came back from a pair of deficits for a 7-3 win over Cypress in the second round of the eight-team, double-elimination California Community College Athletic Association state softball tournament at Bakersfield College.

For the second game in a row, CSM rallied from behind for the win. The Bulldogs trailed 1-0 after the first inning against Cypress, the day after trailing Santiago Canyon 3-0 after half an inning Thursday.

For the second straight game, the Bulldogs got the clutch hits when they needed them.

And for the second day in a row, CSM got a late home run to ice the game. Thursday, it was a two-run homer from Bubbah Fa’aita in the bottom of the sixth. Friday, Chloe Moffitt crushed a three-run bomb to center in the top of the seventh to break a 3-3 tie.

With the win, CSM (42-3), the No. 1 North seed, moves into the winner’s bracket final Saturday, two wins away from claiming their first state championship. The Bulldogs will take on Mt. San Antonio College (43-4) — the No. 1 South seed, ranked No. 1 in the state and the defending (2019) state champion — at noon Saturday. Mt. SAC advanced with a 4-0 win over Santa Ana.

Mt. SAC beat CSM 6-5 in the Bulldogs’ season opener.

But as the Bulldogs are finding out, there are no weak teams, as Cypress gave them all they could handle Friday. In the end, it was a big performance from Moffitt that helped carry the Bulldogs to the second-round victory. She worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win in the circle and at the plate, went 3 for 3 with a double, home run, a sacrifice fly, four RBIs and two runs scored.

After CSM starting pitcher Kealani Cardona struggled in the early going for the second game in row, Moffitt came on in relief with one out in the third. Moffitt bounced back from a rocky relief effort Thursday to shut down the Chargers on Friday. She retired eight of the first nine batters she faced and then wiggled out of trouble in both the sixth and seventh innings to close out the win.

But it was her third hit of the day that made the difference. After CSM twice rallied from one-run deficits, Moffitt gave the Bulldogs the lead for good in the top of the seventh. Logan Bonetti led off the inning with her third single of the game, followed by the second walk in a row to Sarah Giles.

Following a flyout and popout, Moffitt came to the plate. She had just missed a home run in the top of the second, settling for a double when she one-hopped the center-field fence. In the seventh, she did not miss. On a 1-1 offering, Moffitt backspun the ball just to the left of straight-away center for the three-run shot and a 6-3 CSM lead.

The Bulldogs added another run in the inning as Cardona singled and came around to score on a Celeste Casillas double to the fence in left field.

Moffitt then had to work around a pair of infield hits in the bottom of the seventh, but got out of the inning unscathed to pick up the win.

“[Thursday] was a rough day for me, not going to lie. So I needed to come back strong,” Moffitt said in a CCCAA Sports interview posted to Twitter. “I was up at the plate (in the seventh) and I was praying. … I was, like, ‘Here we go. This is my time.’”

The Bulldogs, again, showed grit and determination in winning their second straight in the state tournament. Cypress (36-14), which went undefeated in winning the 2017 state title, jumped on Cardona and the Bulldogs quickly, scratching out a run in the bottom of the first inning. Chargers pitcher and leadoff hitter Emily Rush, who hit a team-leading 11 home runs this season, walked to lead off the game. A sacrifice bunt, a bloop to center and an infield hit later, pinch runner Eliana Mora raced across the plate for a 1-0 Cypress lead.

Much like the Bulldogs did in their Thursday opener, they answered right back Friday, scoring twice for a 2-1 lead in the top of the second. Mofitt’s double got the rally started and two outs later, Jada Walked reached on an infield hit.

That hit flipped the lineup over and brought Lafu Malepeai to the plate. She continued her torrid play, driving a two-out, opposite-field, two-run double to the fence in left to put CSM ahead.

Back came the Chargers, who answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third. A walk and a single set up the rally and a one-out single to center off the bat of Paige Shafer drove in a pair to put Cypress ahead 3-2.

After stranding a runner at third base to end the fourth, CSM pulled even in the fifth. Bonetti and Giles singled and walked, respectively, to open the inning, with Bonetti being forced out at third on a Fa’aita fielder’s choice. Gaby Perez followed and hit a high chopper to third baseman Eliza Sandoval, who had no play on Perez at first.

Sandoval did, however, have a force play at third, but Giles used a head-first, outside slide, grabbing the corner of the bag with her trail left hand and somehow managed to hang on, avoiding any chance of a tag and just before Sandoval’s foot hit the bag.

It proved to be a huge 60 feet as two batters later Moffitt hit a sacrifice fly to left to plate Giles and tie the game at 3-all.

That set up the Bulldogs’ seventh-inning fireworks.

This will be the third time CSM advanced to the winner’s bracket final in its eight trips to the state tournament. The Bulldogs did it in 2019 — the last time the state tournament was held as the 2020 and 2021 postseasons were canceled by COVID. Three years ago, CSM fell to Mt. SAC 3-1 and then were eliminated in the loser’s bracket final, 3-1 to Palomar. Mt. SAC went on to win the 2019 state title.