Nipomo softball comes back from 7-run deficit to score walk-off 9-8 playoff win
It seemed like the fairy tale was over for the Titan girls softball team.
Playing in a first-round game against Fallbrook in the Division V CIF Southern California Softball Championships, Nipomo got off to a rocky start.
A hard luck first inning gave Fallbrook a 4-0 lead after aggressive base running by the Warriors and errors in the field by the Titans led to the first runs of the game.
When Nipomo tried the same strategy with runners at the corners, Fallbrook threw them out attempting to steal second and home for an inning-ending double play.
After two scoreless innings, Fallbrook scored two more on a two-run double and led 6-0 at the top of the 4th inning.
Pu’a allowed only single-run innings in the fifth and sixth while her defense started to make plays. Tania Conde in center field, C.J. Arias at first, Katelyn Petree at third and Melania Ruelas in left all supported the effort.
It was starting to look like the team that finished 4th in the Ocean League before winning the Division VI CIF Central Section Championships perhaps had gone as far as it could.
But the Titans refused to close the book, and they started to make the plays that had eluded them in the early innings.
First, junior Mikayla McKee danced off of third base drawing a wild throw from catcher Baylee Howley, which allowed McKee to score.
Then, the Titans tightened up their plate discipline against Fallbrook pitcher Hana Winton, whose windup has a lot of moving parts.
Trailing 8-1 in the bottom of the 6th inning the Titans loaded the bases with nobody out.
After Winton walked in three runs, Key-annah Pu’a knocked in two more with a hard-hit single.
Suddenly it was 8-6, and the Titans headed into the final inning trailing by only 2 runs.
Pu’a then threw a shutdown inning in the 7th, and the Titan batters walked to the plate with smiles on their faces, some with eye black painted in the shape of cartoon villain mustaches.
Fallbrook brought in a new pitcher, Claire Hawthorne, but the Titans remained patient at the plate.
Nipomo loaded the bases then coaxed a walk to bring the score to 8-7.
Melania Ruelas then hit a single that scored two runs, but everyone on the field was slow to react to the game-winning run.
Fairy tales aren’t real are they?
Fallbrook’s catcher tried to tag out a trailing runner Ella Chew but the tying runner Tania Conde and winning runner Katelyn Petree had already scored.
When Key-annah Pu’a ran out to congratulate Ruelas, the dugout spilled out onto the field to celebrate.
Head coach Robert Oliver said, “We got behind really big early and it was a tough fight and literally just being patient was the key.”
“We had to be smart and not swing at their pitches, just kind of stay back and it ended up paying off for us. We needed that … and Melania coming up huge at the end.”
So the fairy tale’s not over yet, with another chapter to be written in San Juan Capistrano on Thursday at 4 p.m. in the regional semifinals.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 11:40 PM.
