SOFTBALL: St. Francis Season Ends in Quarters

The Score: Gilroy 11, St Francis 2

The Star: Gilroy’s senior pitcher Sarah Lorranie Lira did a little bit of everything, helping herself and her Gilroy High softball team defeat St. Francis High-Mountain View 11-2 in a 2011 Central Coast Section Division I Softball Playoff Quarterfinal Saturday morning at Salinas Sports Complex.  

After an early St. Francis stand-up triple, the seasoned playoff performer Lira settled down and held St. Francis scoreless for six innings.  Lira also had an inside-the-park home run that  padded the Mustangs lead to 5-0.

St. Francis’ sophomore Carolyn McGuire  recorded the lone RBI off Lira for the visitors on Saturday.

The Turning Point: After earning a bye in the first round, Gilroy wasted little time getting off to a quick start in the quarterfinal bout.  The Mustangs used their potent hitting to open up a 3 –0 lead in the first inning with the key knock coming from senior Lindsay Holt. Holt’s RBI shot scored teammate’s Stephanie Gomez and Dani Hemeon.

The Mustangs hot hitting continued in the fourth. Junior Casey Lester scored off of a base hit from catcher Melanie Morelos then with two runners on, Lira stepped up to the plate and belted a shot that found the gap.  The Mustangs starting pitcher raced around the base for the dramatic inside the park home run.  Lira’s big hit gave the Mustang’s an eight-run advantage.

Facing an early exit from the game, the Lancers needed base runners. They got one in Alyssa Vukcevich.  Vukcevich later scored the first run for St. Francis off a hit from sophomore Carolyn McGuire. A second RBI hit scored McGuire later on in the inning.

The Quotes: "We were coming off a week where we practiced our hitting and we knew we could hit this type of pitcher,” Gilroy’s head coach Julie Berggren said. “We scrimmaged against Mitty this week and we are going to continue to work on out hitting and our defense.”

The Gilroy starter was her usual dominant self in the morning playoff matchup.

“Mel (Melanie Morelos) was calling all the pitches today and she and I were just on today,” Gilroy’s starting pitcher Sarah Lorraine Lira said. “I was hoping the ball would find the gap and it did and the result was a home run.”

St. Francis ended a long playoff drought this year with a playoff berth.

“Our back ground is that we have not been to the playoffs in 10 years and this season we won our first round game so we are getting better,” St. Francis head coach Samantha Aochi said.  “We had some players sick and one player had her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday, those players missed practice.”

Carolyn McGuire enjoyed the ride that took the Lancers into the playoffs.

“This pitcher has a lot of movement. The first at-bat she made me look silly,” McGuire said. “I just went up there wanting to hit the ball hard and it happened to find a hole so I was happy.”

What's Next? Gilroy will move on to the semi-finals and face Leland High-San Jose on Tuesday night at PAL Field in San Jose. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 pm.

St. Francis finished the season in fourth place in the West Catholic league with a record of 15-12 overall. 

Bottom Line: Gilroy faces a Leland team that out slugged No. 2 seeded Homestead High-Cupertino en route to a quarterfinal upset on Saturday. The No. 3 seeded Gilroy bunch has much more experience, but will still need another big showing from it’s ace to book a trip to championship Saturday.

St. Francis rallied to defeat Monta Vista on Wednesday before bowing out a long ways from home against Gilroy. The Lancers program has a bushel of young talent on the roster and looks to be back on the upswing after a decade-long drought in between playoff appearances.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

St. Francis     0          0          0          0          0          2          0          -           2

Gilroy              3          0          2          3          1          2          -           -           11

Winning pitcher: Sarah Lorraine Lira

Losing pitcher: Alli Quinn