Destiny Christian of Sacramento edges St. Francis of Mountain View in a CIF NorCal D1 softball semifinal in a matchup on Thursday that saw the visiting Lancers battle in the batter’s box against dominant pitcher Ayla Tuua with numerous full counts, foul balls and some key hits. In the end, though, Tuua got the strikeouts she needed and big help from a sophomore shortstop in a 4-3 win that pushed the Lions one win away from a perfect season.
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The St. Francis of Mountain View softball program has seen it all in the CIF NorCal D1 playoffs. The Lancers have won the overall title before, they’ve lost in the first round as a top seed and they’ve won on the road before.
Despite pulling off a triple play in the bottom of the sixth inning and getting two runners on base in the top of the seventh, St. Francis couldn’t get the late-inning hit it needed to knock off the Lions on Thursday on a hot day in Sacramento that reached into the mid-90s. Instead, it was LSU-bound standout and top candidate for Ms. Softball State Player of the Year Ayla Tuua who rang up the key strikeouts and sophomore Takiyah Henderson who had three RBI to lead the way in a 4-3 win.
Sophomore Takiyah Henderson was the player of the game for Destiny Christian in its win over St. Francis of Mountain View in the CIF NorCal D1 semifinals with a homer, double, single and three RBI. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Destiny Christian improved to 30-0 and will play in the CIF NorCal D1 title game on Saturday. The opponent on Thursday still wasn’t known as the other NorCal semifinal between Clovis East of Clovis (22-4) and Whitney of Rocklin (25-8) was moved to Friday due to Whitney’s graduation being held on Thursday. Either team winning is going to have to face the top seed Lions just one day after playing each other in a matchup several hours away the day before in Clovis. The Lions will be looking to finish off a 31-0 season with a CIF NorCal D1 title and if they do that also will finish with the state’s No. 1 overall ranking. They also are No. 5 in the Line Drive Media Super 70 national rankings.
St. Francis fell to 26-5, which includes an earlier 1-0 loss to Destiny Christian in a non-league game played in Mountain View. The Lancers had bounced back from a loss to Willow Glen of San Jose in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division semifinals with a 4-3 win on Tuesday in the CIF NorCal D1 playoffs over CIF North Coast Section D1 champion San Ramon Valley of Danville.
The St. Francis batters acted as if they’d seen Tuua before, but most of them hadn’t since Destiny Christian head coach Shannon Tuua (Ayla’s mother) went with Roxanne Sardo as the pitcher for six innings in that previous matchup. In the very first at-bat of game, sophomore Emi Yumiba set a tone with nine pitches against Tuua before drawing a walk. Jaime Oakland followed with perfectly placed bunt that went for a single, the runners then moved up on a wild pitch and the bases were loaded on a walk. Tuua was able to limit the damage to one run scored on a sacrifice fly by Marianna Liongitau, a strikeout and then a liner by Maya Meltz that was caught for the third out.
Destiny Christian has trailed in the first inning of a few games earlier this season and against the Lancers responded as it has done before. This time, K.K. Fulmer led off with a single, went to second on a fielder’s choice, went to third on a passed ball and with one out scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Ella Dossey. Junior shortstop Takiyah Henderson then came up with what turned out to be the biggest hit of the game as she launched a two-run homer that gave the Lions a 3-1 lead.
Oakland, the daughter of St. Francis head coach Mike Oakland and sister of former Ms. Softball State Player of the Year Jessica Oakland, then had an RBI grounder single up the middle in the top of the second inning that made it a 3-2 contest.
The Lions got back that run in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Dossey doubled and was followed immediately with Henderson hitting a fly ball into the left field corner that also went for a double. She finished with three hits and three RBI on the day.
St. Francis pitchers Mercedes Caller and Bianka Fisher (who came on in the fifth inning) ended up not allowing any more runs for the rest of the game. The Lancers also made it a 4-3 score in the top of the fifth on a double by Peyton Tsao and a two-out RBI single by Maya Meltz.
Tuua faced constant pressure from the St. Francis offense (only one 1-2-3 inning) but posted key strikeouts when she had to have them. She had 10 on the day, including two against Oakland with runners on base. Oakland had only struck out three times previously all season and stayed alive by fouling off pitches on both at-bats before finally going down.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Destiny Christian looked to add on with a leadoff single by Aubrey Joiner and then there was a mishandled bunt. With runners at first and second with no outs, Fulmer smoked a liner but it was directly at the St. Francis first baseman and practically standing on the bag. She tapped the base for the second out and then fired to second where the runner there also didn’t get back in time. The triple play gave the Lancers plenty of momentum going into the top of the seventh.
A walk and a hit by pitch then put two runners on for the Lancers in their attempt to tie the score or go ahead. Tuua was up to the challenge. She struck out both Maya Meltz and Aryka Gunsager to end the game and set it up for Destiny Christian to win it all on Saturday.
There wasn’t much else to add from the Destiny Christian side of things. The bigger stories could be yet to come. For St. Francis, a good chunk of the lineup will be back next season, including the top two pitchers along with top hitters Liongitau and Tsao (although graduating senior Jaime Oakland will be greatly missed).
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