Nipomo softball loses to Caruthers in CIF final: ‘You guys played your hearts out’

After making it to the California Interscholastic Federation finals for the first time, Nipomo High School’s varsity softball team faltered this weekend in the final championship game.

The Caruthers High School Blue Raiders beat the Nipomo Titans 6-5 on Saturday as the CIF Division V SoCal Softball Championships come to a close.

Nipomo made it to the CIF finals for the first time after defeating Capistrano Valley Christian in the semi-final game on Thursday.

Nipomo head coach Robert Oliver said the team had “good moment(s)” on Saturday, hitting some hard shots right at people — until they began over-swinging and ended up missing the grand slam by inches.

“I never felt like we were in control, but I felt good about the game,” Oliver said. “And then I was just feeling the fatigue of just playing too many intense games over the last couple of days, all the road travel we’ve been doing.”

Oliver said Caruthers “kept fighting,” which made the game exciting to see right down to the walk off.

“Of course losing hurts, but I was so proud of this team,” Oliver said. “We shouldn’t have been here — like everything came together and we just went on this run and it was magical.”

Based on the team’s early season performance, Oliver said, he didn’t initially think Nipomo would make it to the playoffs. At some games, the Titans couldn’t even get to the fifth inning to exercise the mercy rule, and Nipomo even had to concede one game to Lompoc.

But Oliver said the team turned out “better than anything that I’ve ever coached.”

On Saturday, Nipomo was down early with 1-2 in the first inning. The Titans came back and tied the game by the fourth inning with a second home run by senior Madeline Hageman.

Senior Key-annah Pu’a “hit an absolute towering bomb” over their outfield fence.

By the fifth inning, Nipomo was in the lead 5-4, but lagged behind after that.

Oliver said the Titans left eight runners on throughout the game.

Yet his message to the team was to hold their heads up high.

“You guys got here,” he told the players. “You guys played your hearts out.”

He told the players to not leave the game wishing they would have tried harder or wishing they would have dove into the base.

“Scabs heal faster than regrets,” Oliver said. ”Don’t hang your head low because you gave me your all; that’s all I could ask. That was our message: ‘Do it for your teammates. Don’t be afraid to get scraped up for your team.’ ”

Oliver said losing seniors, including Pu’a, is going to hurt Nipomo next season.

“You’re not going to find many pitchers like her,” Oliver said. “She is legit.”

Now, the coach says he’s looking for another pitcher who can throw strikes.

“This year’s thing was just like, work with what we got,” Oliver said. “We didn’t have all the pieces we needed. We just kind of built them and we’re gonna do the same thing next year. We’ll just keep getting better every day.”

The softball windmill pitch “takes years to develop” and it’s difficult for him to teach, Oliver said.

Yet he’s confident he can build a strong defense. First, second, third and short are all still intact with returning players — and they’ll getting back to work pretty soon.

“Next year, we’re gonna struggle,” Oliver said. “But I guarantee you they will be playing better than when we started.”