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Sports

SOFTBALL: Castilleja Bounced By Soquel

Gators overwhelmed by potent Knights offense in CCS playoff opener Wednesday in Soquel.

The Score: Soquel 12, Castileja 2

The Stars: Soquel High junior shortstop Valerie Silva let her bat do the talking in the third inning as her double earned her two RBI’s. The key knock was one of several big moments at the plate on the day as the Soquel High softball team shined in a 2011 Central Coast Section Division III first round playoff game against Castilleja School-Palo Alto Wednesday afternoon in Soquel.

Silva also had a single as she finished the game going 2-for-3, helping Soquel win the playoff opener 12-2 to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round of play.

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The other hot bat belonged to sophomore third baseman Faith Apolskis.

An Apolskis double in the third inning gave Soquel a 5-2 lead, but a deep home run a few innings later to left center field broke the game wide open in the Knights favor.

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Castilleja pitcher’s senior Amy Yamamura and junior Aryana Lee were selected as top performers for this game and the season for the visitors.  Yamamura was able to hold the potent bats of the Knight quiet in the first inning, while Lee did her best to cool the hot Soquel bats with her off-speed pitching in the latter innings.  Yamamura and Lee were a big part of why the Gators were able to be as good as they were this season after losing a big part of their offense to graduation last year.

The Turning Point: Soquel was down by two runs going into the bottom of the second inning when freshman outfielder Jamie Corder drew a walk.  Sophomore Paolina Valdez later knocked in Corder, bringing the Knights within one run. The Knights tied the game with the help of their junior center fielder Annalise Bryant as her single scored freshman outfielder Lela Bombaci.  Soquel took the lead for good off another walk drawn by catcher Sydnee Hall.  A double by Apolskis later in the inning added two more insurance runs to extend the big inning  and make the score 5-2.

The Gators wasted little time settling in as Lee quickly put the visitors on the board. Lee, who reached on a base hit, scored off a hit from sophomore Annie Apffel. 

Freshman Frances Hughes followed with an RBI shot of her own and just like that the No. 13 seed in the bracket had a 2-0 lead advantage.

The Quotes: "To their credit, they (Castilleja) were aggressive and got out to a 2-0 lead,” Soquel head coach Shawn Gallardo said about the early hole. “ When you’re down early in the game, you just have to be patient and get quality at-bats to back into the game. That’s what happened for us.”

The Soquel offense responded in a big way to overtake the lead.

 “My double was kind of a shocker because I was scared of the speed of the pitcher, Soquel’s junior shortstop Valerie Silva said about her approach at the plate. “ I hit better off a faster pitcher. I honestly thought the ball was going to be caught for an out, but it went into the gap.”

Faith Apolskis was another Knights hitter that came through when her team needed her the most.

“I love my teammates. We work very well together and this team is really having a lot of fun out there,” Apolskis said. “I didn’t go up there looking for a home run, it always happens when I don’t think about it.”

The Gators season ended on Wednesday, but the young team was happy with the 2011 campaign as a whole.

“I think the season went well. No one expected us to get this far,” Castilleja  junior pitcher Aryana Lee said. “We are all really happy with ourselves. It was a total team effort.”

The Gators coach agreed with one of his key players.

 “We lost a big part of our team from last season, but we still finished this season as co-champions,” Castilleja’s head coach Robert Burley said.

What's Next? Soquel (22-4) moves on to the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Sectional playoff and will play the No. 5 seed Notre Dame-Belmont (17-11) on Saturday.  Time and place has yet to be announced.

Bottom Line: Soquel induced the mercy rule with some red-hot hitting. If the bats continue to be this deadly, the group could extend its playoff journey into the middle of next week.

—————————

Castilleja       2          0          0          0          0          2

Soquel           0          5          6          1          -           12

Winning pitcher: Anna Gur

Losing pitcher: Amy Yamamura

 

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