SAN JOSE — If you were to give Holly Azevedo and the Pioneer High softball team a three-run lead midway through the game, the chances the Mustangs were on their way to the program's first Central Coast Section Division II title seemed like shoo-in. But once again, Mitty had something to say about that.
The No. 2-seeded Monarchs rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the top-seeded Mustangs 4-3 giving Mitty its third straight CCS D-II title game victory over Pioneer Saturday afternoon at PAL Stadium.
“They just played their hearts out all year for each other,” Mitty first-year coach Joe Gron said. “I had no doubt that they were going to fight and go all the way through and finish this thing off.”
Freshman Hannah Edwards came on in relief to get the win. Edwards threw the final four innings, allowed three hits, no runs and struck out one.
Following a year in which Mitty lost nine seniors including star pitchers Desiree Severance and Stephanie Kriso, Edwards felt it was the job of her and fellow freshman pitcher Savannah Smith to give the Monarchs their best chance to win.
“The two freshman have been phenomenal all year long,” Gron said. “I split them up pretty much every game and Hannah came in there and shut them down. Hit her spots and did what she does and let the defense play behind her.”
Pioneer (25-3) grabbed the momentum in the bottom of the third, scoring all three of its runs to take a 3-0 lead. The Mustangs scored the runs with two outs as No. 9 hitter Eternity Guzman started the rally with a single before the next four hitters all followed suit.
No. 3 hitter Lauryn Garcia and cleanup hitter Azevedo capped the inning with back-to-back RBI singles.
Azevedo was her usual dominating self through four innings allowing only a pair of singles and striking out seven.
In the fifth, things changed as Mitty got three hits off the UCLA verbal commit including an RBI single by Alyssa Valdez and a sacrifice fly by Edwards to cut Pioneer’s lead to 3-2 after five.
“We were just trying to keep the motivation and energy up,” Edwards said. “We knew that we’ve done this year and we just needed to keep working, working and working like we do at practice all the time.”
Mitty (20-4) took the lead in the top of the sixth on runs scored by leadoff hitter Lauren Lopez - who began the inning with a single - and McKinsey Thorpe, who scored on a Julia Lucas sacrifice fly.
Gron knew his team would be up against a juggernaut and prepared them for Pioneer immediately after beating Leigh to reach the title game on Wednesday.
“I told them you are practicing and scrimmaging against in my opinion the best team in CCS,” Gron said. “When we went out on the field it was just a softball game. I don’t know if we have their number it’s just a couple of things went our way and fortunately for us we got the ‘W’.”
As Mitty was feeling ecstatic celebrating the program's 14th CCS title on one side, Pioneer was down after coming so close to finally edging the Monarchs for a CCS title.
Unlike last year when Mitty scored in the first inning and ultimately defeated Pioneer 1-0 this year with a three-run lead and Azevedo in the circle it seemed fate was on the side of the Mustangs.
Azevedo, who threw another gem (7 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 10 Ks) felt Pioneer got complacent after taking the 3-0 lead.
“I think we got a bit too comfortable,” said Azevedo, who also went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. “You can’t get like that especially against them because they are smart. I think we definitely had a shot to beat them but mentally we weren’t tough enough to go through with it.”
Pioneer, which defeated No. 5 seed and Blossom Valley Athletic League-Mt. Hamilton Division foe Mt. Pleasant 2-0 to reach its third straight D-II title game, won its third straight Mt. Hamilton title this year.
Brooke Niewoeher went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Mustangs while, Mac Drake, Kelsey Fager and Makaylah Garcia all had singles in the loss.
“We were hitting the ball pretty well we just weren’t producing runs,” Drake said. “If we had continue to hit we could’ve pulled through and beaten them but we just weren’t finding holes.”
Pioneer will lose one senior this year in leadoff hitter and shortstop Drake, who will play at San Jose State next year.
Despite coming up short for the third straight year in the D-II title game, Drake said she’s going to remember her time fondly at Pioneer.
“I came in here wanting it more than anything,” Drake said. “I’m happy with the four years I spent at Pioneer so I came out with a positive attitude.”
