SAN JOSE, CA – There’s a wall at St. Francis where all the plaques of the CIF Central Coast Section Lancers champions are displayed, but one of the few missing was a plaque for a softball championship.
That all changed and a lot more history was made on Saturday at the PAL facility when second-seeded and Prep2Prep NorCal No. 7 ranked St. Francis (23-6) defeated defending CCS Open champion and No. 8 seed Archbishop Mitty, 5-1 to capture the first CCS softball title in school history.
Now the young Lancers get to join a long tradition of St. Francis CCS multi-sport champions and earn their place on the wall.
Not only that, but Coach Mike Oakland, who won a CCS Division I baseball championship in 2013 and Open baseball titles in 2015 and 2016, now adds a softball CCS Open title to his resume.
That’s four CCS titles in six years, and it also makes Oakland the first coach to win baseball and softball titles in CCS history, and possibly the state, although according to record-keeper Mark Tennis of Cal-Hi Sports further research on that fact will be needed.
“I’ll be honest with you. This one is incredibly special because we’ve never won one,” said Oakland when asked to compare the softball crown to his baseball accomplishments.
Many were shocked when Oakland, who was one of the most promising young baseball coaches in the state, decided to switch to the yellow ball last season. In 11 seasons at the Lancers helm Oakland compiled a 273-78-1 record and sent multiple players on to major D1 colleges and professional baseball.
Not surprisingly, the reason was his three daughters. All but the youngest play softball and the oldest will begin playing for him as an incoming freshman in the fall.
“The job was open and I figured whoever takes it won’t give it up for a while, and I was looking at the possibility of coaching my daughters,” Oakland said for a story last year when he was named the Prep2Prep CCS Softball Coach of the Year.
Right from the start Oakland turned around the program. Before he took over St. Francis hadn’t had a winning season in 10 years, and two years ago was 0-12 in the West Catholic Athletic League.
In his first season Oakland guided the Lancers to the first WCAL softball title for St. Francis since the league began championships for women’s sports over 20-years ago, and it culminated in getting all the way to the Open title game last year before losing 9-5 to Mitty.
This year the Lancers and Oakland were not to be denied. They didn’t win the WCAL but they ended up with the grand prize.
Mitty (19-8) came into the game looking for a 16th CCS title in 21 appearances. The Monarchs had won 11 titles in the past 13 years. They’ve been so dominant in the CCS playoffs that their only loss since 2013 was to that year's D2 champion Gilroy, and since 2010 the loss to St. Francis was only their second in CCS action.
“I’m so proud of how you played all season,” Oakland told the girls after the game. “You peaked at the right time and slayed the Dragon.”
St. Francis scored two runs in the bottom of the first and one in the second, and that was all junior sensation Jordan Schuring needed. The tall right-hander pitched out of several jams due to three walks, a hit batter and a couple of fielding gaffes, but she only gave up four hits and all three of her strikeouts came at key times, including leaving two runners on base in the top of the sixth with the Lancers clinging to a 3-1 lead.
“Some of the situations were self inflicted,” Oakland remarked. “But Jordan stayed composed and continued to make pitch after pitch. She was the heart and soul of our team and deserves a lot of the credit.”
“I knew that no matter what happened we would be okay and my team would have my back and make the plays,” Schuring said.
Schuring also had an RBI single in the second that gave St. Francis it 3-0 lead, and she got plenty of offensive and defensive help from senior centerfielder Sarah Stephens.
The diminutive but speedy Stephens was 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple in the sixth that closed out the scoring, and she also scored the Lancers first run on a single by Sophia Roth that also plated Hailey Prahm. Playing center field Stephens made two nice plays, including a deep drive that she hauled in to open the bottom of the sixth that was hit well over 200 feet.
Mitty scored its lone run in the fourth on an RBI single by Alyssa Valdez that drove in Savanna Smith, but Schuring stranded three Monarchs runners in the second and eight overall to snuff out any other scoring chances.
St. Francis has now won all three meetings with Mitty this season, after winning 2-1 and 5-1 in WCAL action.
“When we played them they executed better than we did,” Mitty Coach Joe Gron said. “Today they got the key hits when they needed them and we came up short.”
The bubbly Schuring, who participated in dousing Oakland with Gatorade right after the awards ceremony, was ecstatic long after the game.
“It feels amazing to win and especially against Mitty,” said a beaming Schuring. “After last year and losing in the championship, we were so hungry for it. We got a taste but we wanted more.”
The WCAL and CCS got a taste of the Lancers this season and next season they might get an even bigger taste since 13 girls on the 15-girl roster are returning.
