LOS GATOS — The beat goes on.
St. Francis simply dwells on a different planet than most all other mere mortal high school softball teams.
On Wednesday the Lancers defeated Willow Glen, 10-0, in five innings at Los Gatos High School in a Central Coast Section Open Division semifinal. They will renew their rivalry with Archbishop Mitty on Saturday with the CCS Open Division title going to the winner.
St. Francis beat Mitty twice in West Catholic Athletic League play, 6-0 and 10-8.
Against Willow Glen, Kate Munnerlyn threw a shutout with nine strikeouts and hit a grand slam home run in the second inning that blew the game open early
St. Francis is 27-0 on the season with 250 runs scored as opposed to 30 runs allowed. Munnerlyn’s homer was the team’s 38th of the season — a gargantuan number for most any team — except previous St. Francis teams. The 2022 team that finished 31-2 hit 58 home runs.
“Our pitching’s good,” St. Francis coach Mike Oakland said. “It was good in ’22 also, but they’re two years older, more experienced. We kind of know that in order for us to be successful we’ve got to put the ball in play, we’re not going to rely on home runs. It’s more of a station to station, hopefully the opposition makes some errors and we capitalize on them. It’s a scrappy bunch with pitching and defense.”
In the top of the first inning freshman Catalina Medina led off for Willow Glen with a ringing double down the right-field line. With one out Alanna Clincy hit a deep drive off the center-field fence. Medina waited to see if the ball would be caught before taking off at full speed. Clincy pulled into second with a double. The throw from center fielder Jaime Oakland went to second baseman Peyton Tsao, who made a perfect relay throw home to nip Medina.
Two doubles but no run scored as the result of flawless defensive execution.
St. Francis scored in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Rebecca Quinn, and then broke it open with a seven-run second.
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Last year St. Francis was upset by Hollister in the CCS Open final and then lost to the Haybalers again in NorCals. But instead of a rematch with Hollister, the Lancers will play Mitty, which beat Hollister 6-0 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
Regardless of who they play, the Lancers will be out to purge the memory of losing in last year’s final.
“It’s pretty much our goal every year,” Oakland said. “Not having done it last year is a motivator to try to get back and do it this year. It’s not going to be easy. Mitty’s an excellent team, very senior heavy and just a super talented team.”
