Vintage fights, but ultimately sees season come to an end against Carondelet in playoff opener
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
WALNUT CREEK-For the Vintage softball team it was a year of growth.
Unfortunately, for the Vine Valley Athletic League runner-up their season came to an end with a 5-2 loss to Carondelet-Concord in the first round of the CIF North Coast Section division I playoffs.
The difference in the game came in the bottom of the third when Carondelet (14-9-1) got a three-run home run by Jesse Junino.
“Honestly, just a bad pitch call on my part,” Vintage coach Robert Poppe admitted as to what the difference was in the game. “That’s the game. Sometimes it happens like that. I let the momentum swing to the to the other team and it’s something I’ll get better at.”
The Crushers (14-7) scored their only runs of the game in the top of the fourth when Taylor Brandt singled and came home on a Mo Groves two-run homer that barely snuck over the right field fence.
Groves was Vintage’s top hitter on the day going 2-for-3 with a home run, double, run, and two RBIs.
“Really good, it felt really good,” Groves said of her solid day at the plate in her playoff debut.
The Crushers also got good contributions at the plate from Brandt (1-for-2, single, walk, run), Shelby Morse (1-for-3, single), and Jordan Allen (1-for-4, single).
The Cougars tacked on a run apiece in the bottom of the fourth and fifth as well.
According to Poppe if his team would’ve gotten a few more breaks they could’ve won the game.
“The girls put up a good fight,” he added. “A couple more balls bounce our way, it would’ve been a different game.”
It was Morse who took the loss in the final game of her fabulous freshman season. She went five innings, walked four, and struck out three in 78 pitches.
Even though the season is now over for Vintage, they’ll bring back the majority of their team next spring as they’ll only lose four seniors.
For Carondelet, they’ll move onto the quarterfinals for a date with Heritage-Brentwood on Friday at 5 p.m. To view the full division one bracket go here.
