Loaded Woodside rolls to win

So far, so good. Hosting Notre Dame-Belmont, Woodside methodically pulled away for a 10-0, six-inning, mercy-rule win Tuesday afternoon to stay undefeated three games into the season.

“We’re excited coming off such a great (2025) season,” said Woodside head coach Alexa Daines. “They’re hungry (this year) and they see the potential.”

Starting senior pitcher Hannah Walker, who emerged as one of the top pitchers in the CCS last season, was on point against NDB (1-2). She retired the first 10 batters she faced before Skylar Loo broke up the perfecto with a chopper up the middle with one out in the top of the fourth.

Walker would work five innings, allowing two hits while striking six, including striking out the side in the third.

“She’s more than proven herself,” Daines said of Walker. “Our pitching staff, as a whole, has grown up.”

Marisa Calderon, another senior, pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit as Daines expects her to be in the circle a little bit more this season after a heavy workload as a sophomore two years ago.

With the pitching and error-less defense doing its job, the Woodside bats got off to a quick start, getting to Tigers’ pitcher Hailey Truong for a run in the first inning. Calderon led off with a single to right-center. She went to second on a Walker sacrifice bunt and would score on Mo Overbey’s one-out, inside-out looper to right field.

The Wildcats would add three more runs against Truong in the second before she was lifted one batter into the third inning after giving up a leadoff triple to Vanessa Carlos.

In the second, Victoria Torsch, Calderon and Caroline Ong all drove in a run to put the Wildcats up 4-0.

Truong, who was named the 2025 Ocean Division Player of the Year, is in the unenviable position of having to replace the graduated Alli Lui, who was the Ocean Division Pitcher of the Year after the Tigers claimed the 2025 Ocean Division crown.

“Hailey pitched four innings Monday,” said NDB head coach Nick Dykes. “We don’t need to burn her out early.”

The Wildcats continued to hit. They scored two more runs in the third, with Elizabeth Severin and Ava Baker each plating a run for a 6-0 lead.

Severin and Baker batted in the No. 7 and No. 9 spot, respectively, along with No. 8 hitter Torsch, had a big day at the bottom of the Wildcats’ batting order. Combined, they went 4 for 8 at the plate, reaching base a total of six times in nine trips to the plate and scored four runs. They also had six RBIs, with Baker supplying a team-high three.

“One through nine, they all can get it done,” Daines said. “They have full confidence in each other.”

Woodside tacked on three more in the bottom of the fifth, with Baker collecting a two-run single. The Wildcats ended the game in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-loaded, one-out, groundout from Severin to drive in Ong with game-ending run.

“It was a complete team win,” Daines said. “I think this group knows its strengths and competes at a high level.”

Woodside was just the latest in a tough start for the Tigers, who have not shied away from competition. NDB opened the season with 13-5, season-opening loss to a San Mateo team that has the bulk of its team back from the one that made it to the CCS Division II championship game last season.

The Tigers followed that with a 5-2 win over a solid St. Ignatius team before taking on the Wildcats. NDB has a core group of returners that advanced to the CCS Division II semifinals last year when the Tigers had only a nine-member roster.

This year’s roster currently stands at 19, but a lot of the talent is young, so Dykes spent a lot of Wednesday’s game coaching and evaluating.

“We have a lot of new faces. This is Game 3,” Dykes said. “We’re just trying to see what kind of pressures these young players can withstand.

“These are the games you learn the most from.”