Two La Jolla girls softball teams played for CIF San Diego Section division championships in the past week, with The Bishop’s School winning its first title in 32 years and La Jolla High coming up short.
Bishop’s
Jayla Stafford knew The Bishop’s School’s softball history. The seven straight section titles from 1987 to 1993. Then … zip.
So Stafford, a senior shortstop bound for Duke University, was talking to a teammate last week and told her “At the beginning of the season, we knew we were going to make a difference. We wanted to make history.”
And on a humid, cloudy Saturday afternoon May 31 at UC San Diego, the Knights did just that in the San Diego Section Division IV championship game. With two outs, the bases loaded and the game tied in the bottom of the eighth inning, freshman Jessica Yao smacked a single to center field, giving Bishop’s an 8-7 win over Canyon Crest Academy.
“This is super-duper amazing,” said Stafford, who went 3-for-4 with three doubles, scored two runs and knocked in one.
Yao batted leadoff for Bishop’s in the bottom of the first. Staring at her in the circle, pitching for Canyon Crest, was her sister, senior Grace Yao.
Jessica drove Grace’s first pitch into the left-center-field gap for a double. With Jessica standing on second base, Grace looked at her and jokingly said “I hate you.”
Little sister said nothing in reply.
“I just smiled,” Jessica said.
“I knew she would be the one to hurt us,” Grace said. “She’s good at everything in softball, and she’s got the cutest smile.”
Bishop’s, the No. 3 seed in the Division IV playoffs, scored three runs in the first inning, then four in the third to take a 7-2 lead.
But the fourth-seeded Ravens rallied with three runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh on Kate Newlander’s two-out, two-run triple to send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Jessica Yao took over in the circle for the Knights after starting pitcher Sydney Mafong was banged up making a diving catch for the final out in the seventh.
Yao told head coach Joe Moreno that she wasn’t warmed up enough, but she took the ball anyway.
She pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
“She pitched the best inning ever,” Moreno said.
“The moment is never too big for her,” said Stafford, who finished the season hitting .549 with 41 RBIs.
That set the stage for Yao’s game-winning hit in the bottom of the eighth that helped boost her batting average to .425.
“I wasn’t even nervous,” Yao said. “I was in the moment. I said ‘Trust the mechanics. I got this. I prepared for this.’ I was ready to rock.”
The Knights got to the championship game after beating No. 6 Montgomery in the first round and No. 2 Mission Bay twice, 6-4 in the second round and 7-4 in the semifinals May 27.
La Jolla High
The second-seeded Vikings went into the Division V championship game May 29 against No. 1 seed Lincoln riding a playoff hot streak.
They had rolled over No. 7 High Tech San Diego 13-1 in the first round, won a 12-10 slugfest over No. 3 Southwest High and put up double-digit runs again in a 15-10 victory over No. 6 Crawford.
In the title game, La Jolla’s offense remained solid, but the Vikings fell short 17-7 at UC San Diego.
The game started promisingly for La Jolla, which took a four-run lead in the top of the first inning. Two errors contributed to three of the runs being unearned.
But in the bottom of the inning, Lincoln took advantage of five walks, all resulting in runs. The big blow was Nyema Curtis’ bases-clearing triple that put the Hornets in front 7-4, and they went on to win their first San Diego Section softball title.
Jaycey Taylor went 3-for-3 for La Jolla with two doubles and drove in two runs. Taylor went into the game hitting .662.
Boys baseball
Bishop’s
The Knights climbed to the semifinals of the San Diego Section Division III playoffs as the seventh seed.
After defeating No. 10 Imperial in the first round and losing to No. 2 University City, the Knights faced elimination when they faced off against the sixth-seeded La Jolla Vikings in the third round.
Bishop’s kept its season alive, and ended La Jolla’s, with a 5-2 victory that sent the Knights to a fourth-round game against Clairemont.
Bishop’s pulled the upset with a 9-8 win and advanced to the semifinals May 27 on the road against University City. But the Knights again couldn’t get by the Centurions, losing 3-1.
Sophomore Dane Larson provided Bishop’s lone run with a home run in the fifth inning.
La Jolla High
The sixth-seeded Vikings defeated No. 11 Westview in the first round of the Division III tournament and lost to No. 3 Clairemont in the second round, setting up an in-town showdown May 23 against No. 7 Bishop’s that ended their season with a 5-2 defeat.
La Jolla Country Day
The Torreys continued their quest for a section Division I title with a third-round matchup against second-seeded Cathedral Catholic on May 23.
Sixth seed Country Day was coming off victories over No. 11 Scripps Ranch and No. 3 Point Loma before taking on Cathedral.
But the Dons were too much for the Torreys in a 10-3 victory.
The loss pushed Country Day into an elimination game May 24 in a rematch with Point Loma, which this time came out on top, 8-5, ending the Torreys’ season.
Track and field
La Jolla High’s Chiara Dailey, who swept the girls 1,600- and 3,200-meter races in the San Diego Section track and field championships May 24, finished third in the 1,600 in the California State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis on May 31.
Dailey, a junior, had won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter titles in the Division III competition May 17.
Dailey is looking for her first state gold medal. — The San Diego Union-Tribune ♦
