Woodside softball falls to Valley Christian; proves it can hang with WCAL

Head coach Alexa Daines wasn’t exactly happy following the game, but she did have a healthy outlook with her team playing its final non-league game of the season against such strong competition.

“It’s healthy, because it kind of keeps us grounded,” Daines said, “and makes us learn and realize that there’s a lot of strong competition up and down the Peninsula. And that’s not a team we’ve played in many, many years. So, always opportunities to learn from what’s going on elsewhere, and to not take the easy way out.”

The lopsided final score doesn’t do the game justice, though. Woodside was very much in it until the late innings, rallying back from two runs down to tie it 2-2 in the fifth.

Valley Christian (11-3) broke it open in the sixth against Wildcats starting pitcher Hannah Walker, sending 10 batters to the plate amid a five-run rally, though only one of the runs was earned. The Warriors scored five more runs in the seventh against the Woodside bullpen.

“Yeah, you’re in that game,” Daines said. “And that’s a very, very competitive team that’s been scoring a lot of runs. And they’ve played some good teams so far in preseason, and early on. So, yeah, if we’re in that game, down by one, you feel pretty good that you have a chance.”

Walker locked up with Valley Christian starting pitcher Hannah Paquiz for an engaging pitchers’ duel through the first five frames.

A sophomore right-hander, Paquiz returned to action Tuesday after a three-game absence. One of the Warriors’ key players both sides of the ball, she enjoyed her longest outing in three weeks, allowing two runs on four hits through five innings of work. Through 51 innings this season, she has recorded a 1.10 ERA while, at the plate, she is batting .436 for a Valley Christian team batting .377 as a unit.

“It’s night and day the way our team shows up when she’s here versus when she’s not,” Valley Christian head coach Jackie Hinojosa said. “Not necessarily because of her pitching, but more so of the leadership part of it, and the energy part of it, and the focus. ... The girls miss her if she’s not here, for sure.”

Valley Christian jumped ahead in the first on a two-out RBI double by cleanup hitter Charlotte Coney. The Warriors got to Walker for another single tally in the fourth, making it 2-0 on a two-out RBI knock by Soledad Healy.

Woodside (8-5) managed two hits through the first three innings, but was having trouble contending with Paquiz’s array of off-speed offerings. Her drop ball and her changeup were particularly nasty, with the change her most reliable punch-out pitch in getting hitters way out in front.

“She threw a lot of junk pitches, she had a lot of movement,” Woodside cleanup batter Ellie Severin said. “She’s pretty good. So, you’ve got to go up with a plan.”

Severin was in the middle of each of Woodside’s run-scoring rallies. In the fourth, she followed a leadoff walk with a sharp single to left. Ong eventually scored on an RBI grounder off the bat of senior Lacey Barstad. Then in the fifth, with runners on second and third, Severin grounded out to the shortstop to score Marisa Calderon, tying it 2-all.

“I knew she was probably going to give me a drop ball first pitch,” Severin said. “So, I was just thinking: ‘Stay up in the box and just make hard contact.’ Not going for any home runs or anything. Just some good, solid hits. Just put the ball in play.”

Walker enjoyed her finest inning between Woodside’s two run-scoring rallies. After Valley Christian batters reached in each of the first four frames, Walker retired the side in order in the fifth. She got a little lucky to start the inning on an at ’em ball off the bat of Shyla Paredes that found the glove of second baseman Victoria Torsh. She then induced a routine grounder to Ong at short for the second out and a fielded a harmless roller back to the circle to retire the side.

“The importance is just keeping the energy and the flow and the rhythm of the game,” Daines said of the shutdown inning. “She’s done a really good job for us so far this season.”

In the sixth, though, Walker was betrayed by her defense.

The Warriors scored one earned run after back-to-back singles from Sia Marsh and Paquiz, when Makenzie Leon produced an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 3-2. Then after a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Walker seemed to be on the verge of another escape act on a fly ball off the bat of Healy, but the routine fly was dropped in the Woodside outfield to score two runs and open the floodgates for a big inning.

“One mistake turned out to be extremely costly,” Daines said. “Big bats in their lineup. And we had that third out. But ... we have to learn, and not dwell, and not fixate, and learn from this moment, and continue to grow and develop as a unit.”

Woodside turned to Calderon in the seventh for one inning of work.

“Obviously, when you’re going deep into the game, we’re going four, five times through the lineup,” Daines said of Walker’s six-inning outing. “They’ve already seen her quite a few times. They’re able to make their adjustments. That’s a great team, and a great offensive team.”

The Warriors totaled 14 hits in the game, paced by Marsh’s 4-for-5 day with a double and two RBIs. Paquiz added three hits. Calderon had half of the hits logged by Woodside, going 2 for 4 to raise her team-leading batting average to .432.