PLEASANT HILL – Under the baking Pleasant Hill sun, with graduation a few hours away and the winning run on the base paths, three College Park hitters came up to bat with a chance to tie or win the NorCal Division III softball semifinal with a hit.
One got a single, but visiting Sutter High made the plays it needed on ground balls in the other two at-bats to close out the Huskies’ 3-2 victory over the top-seeded Falcons.
“We were able to compete every game even when we played against tough competition,” said coach Scott Wood, the former San Jose SaberCats quarterback from the original Arena Football League of the 1990s.
Fourth-seeded Sutter, which improved to 29-0, went up by three after two innings, but Jessica Delatorre and Vanessa Brunal each drove in College Park runs in the fifth inning to cut the deficit to one.
Falcon pitcher Savannah Wilson threw three shutout innings in relief of senior starter Keira Pfeiffer to keep Sutter from expanding its lead.
College Park’s Vanessa Brunal (7) scores on a sacrifice fly hit by teammate Abby Wood (11) as she slides past Sutter catcher Morgan Heggstrom (2) in the fifth inning of their NorCal Division III softball semifinal game at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Sutter defeated College Park 3-2. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
But despite having runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh, the Falcons just couldn’t get the breakthrough hit they needed to tie or win the game.
College Park finished the season 15-10.
A few minutes after shaking hands and a quick postgame talk, Delatorre and the rest of the Falcon seniors rushed away from the field to change out of their uniforms and into their graduation gowns.
“It’s been a crazy day,” Delatorre said after going 2 for 3 with an RBI. “We had graduation practice this morning, and then we had to go straight to the game, and now it’s straight to graduation.”
College Park’s Jessica Delatorre (26) connects for a single against Sutter in the first inning of their NorCal Division III softball semifinal game at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Sutter defeated College Park 3-2. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Getting their diplomas might have been on their mind after the loss, but the Falcons said they were 100-percent focused on their formidable opponent before and during the NorCal showdown.
Sutter entered Thursday 28-0, but the school from the rural town north of Sacramento was seeded fourth after winning the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V title.
College Park finished the regular season third in the Diablo Athletic League, and then rolled through Arroyo, Granada and red-hot Liberty in the North Coast Section Division I playoffs to reach Amador Valley.
The Falcons came back from down two runs in the seventh inning, but ended up losing 3-2 to the Dons in eight innings.
“We always fought to the end, and we never gave up until the game was over,” Delatorre said.
That loss sent the Pleasant Hill school to Division III, where the top-seeded Falcons enjoyed a bye before playing Sutter.
Sutter, which got RBIs from Alexa Carino and Morgan Heggstrom, plus a complete game by Olivia Bauer, will play the winner of Dixon or Capuchino on Saturday for the title.
College Park pitcher Keira Pfeiffer (5) pitches against Sutter in the first inning of their NorCal Division III softball semifinal game at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Sutter defeated College Park 3-2. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Sutter pitcher Olivia Bauer (5), from left, celebrates with her teammate Morgan Heggstrom (2) and Grace Diaz (9) celebrate after defeating College Park during their NorCal Division III softball semifinal game at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Sutter defeated College Park 3-2. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
