Under seeded Liberty shows off power to beat Vintage in CIF North Coast Section playoffs quarterfinals
By Kyle Foster
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Power plays. It doesn’t matter where and when it can change a game in the blink of an eye.
In Friday’s CIF North Coast Section Division 1 playoff quarterfinal No. 7 Liberty of Brentwood blasted a pair of long balls to beat No. 2 Vintage, 8-3.
The knockout blow was landed in the sixth when Taylor Jennings hit a solo homer over the fence to bump the lead to 8-3 and make the Lions grand slam proof.
The Lions (20-3) took control of the game on the heels of a massive four-run second inning. It all began when Madison Tuttle singled and got to second on a bunt single by Kaitlyn Macias. On that same play, an error allowed Tuttle to get to third. Kelsie Skaggs reached on an error to bring in Tuttle. The big blow came when Savannah Page came up in the next at-bat and roped a three-run home run to left-center. That was Page’s third homer of the year as well.
Liberty tacked on two more to go up 6-3 in the third. Jewel Cooper ripped a double down to the left field line and scored on a Tuttle single. After advancing to second on the throw, Tuttle scored on a double by Paige Breitstein.
In the fourth, the Lions added another when Jennings doubled and scored on a single by Tuttle.
The Liberty offense was led in the game by Tuttle (3-for-4 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs), Jennings (2-for-4 double, home run, 1 RBI, 2 runs), Page (1-for-3 home run, run scored, 3 RBIs), Breitstein (1-for-3 double, RBI), Cooper (1-for-4 double), and Kaitlyn Macias (1-for-4 run).
Vintage (17-6-1) was able to make the game interesting when they scored three runs in the second inning to cut the deficit to one. It began when Devin Viruet walked and Angie Rubalcava and Mia Griffith were hit by pitches to load the bases. Desiree Griffith reached on a fielder’s choice to bring in Viruet. On the overthrow to the plate, each of the Griffiths moved up a base and Rubalcava was caught in a rundown and tagged out. A single by Abygail Sims brought in Mia and Desiree Griffith.
“This group of girls is always resilient,” Vintage head coach Megan Lopez said of the fight her team showed in the second inning. “They’ve always answered back in one way or another. That’s always our key to score more runs and keep knocking at the door. I think this was a great matchup, and probably one of the best competitions we’ve seen awesome all season.”
The Crushers had a few other chances where they put runners on but were unable to get a key hit.
In the fifth, Sims singled and got to second on an Audrey Manley walk.
Again in the sixth, Brianna Allen walked and got to second on a wild pitch. That was then followed by a walk to Devin Viruet. However, a rare 6-4-3 double play ended the inning.
Leading the Vintage offense in the game were Sims (1-for-2 2 RBIs) and Malina Viruet (1-for-3).
Getting the win in the game for the Lions was Kate Skinner. She threw a complete game and allowed just two hits in the game. The sophomore left-hander struck out 10 and walked 4 in the game as well. On the way to getting her 11th winning decision of the year, she also allowed three runs to score, all of which were unearned on 140 pitches.
Taking the loss in the game was Rubalcava. She worked four frames and allowed 7 runs to score, with 5 of them being earned. She also struck out 5 and walked 2 while permitting 8 hits and throwing 91 pitches.
Working the final three innings in the game was Malina Viruet. It was a great bounce-back effort for her as she struck out 2 and allowed one run on one hit.
“We just talked to Malina after the game and she expressed her gratitude for this season, and we were just expressing our gratitude as coaches back to her,” Lopez explained. “We’ve constantly raised the bar for Malina and Malina has continued to raise the bar for herself and meets us at what we’ve raised her and keeps raising the bar and raising the bar. I’m so proud of the growth she’s made in such a short period of time and I’m looking forward to three more years with her.”
With the win, Liberty will advance to the semifinals on Tuesday where they’ll face No. 3 seed College Park in Pleasant Hill.
As for Vintage, this is the end of the road. It’s also the end of the line for their core group of seniors that consists of Devin Viruet, Brianna Allen, Mia Griffith, Dessiana Garcia, and Taylor Lauritsen. They were the heart and soul of the team.
“This is a really special group of seniors,” Lopez pointed out. “Special in their bond with each other with the rest of their teammates, their respect for the game. We will definitely feel a void without them next year, but obviously, we wish them well and continued success. In my opinion, these five are pretty irreplaceable.”
It also ends a bit of a crazy season where the Crushers had to deal with a lot of adversity but they still found a way to win the Vine Valley Athletic League title through it all.
“You know, this season was probably the first of my three years where we have battled adversity at every turn, whether that was injuries, illnesses, weather, coaching changes, lineup changes, and we’ve really discovered with this team that the equation is always changing,” Lopez reflected on the season. “But these girls have been incredibly successful with that and I hope that that’s a lesson that they can take beyond softball and into their life into school, into their future career that they are valuable wherever we plugged them in.”
