Pirates refuse to quit, rally for 8-6 win over Modesto

SARATOGA -- The Orange Coast College softball team showed the heart of a champion on Thursday by rallying for an 8-6 win over Modesto College in the opening round of the 3C2A Softball State Championships, hosted by West Valley College.

With the win, the south's top-seeded Pirates (33-7) will advance to the second round of the winner's bracket, where they will face the College of San Mateo (40-3) on Friday at 11 a.m. at WVC. With the loss, Modesto (29-13-1) takes on Palomar in a must-win game on Friday at San Jose City College, also at 11 a.m.

Coast trailed 4-0, 5-3 and 6-5, only to rally each time to catch-then-pass Modesto to the finish line in the opening-round win. 

The big blow in the bottom of the sixth came off the bat of freshman rightfielder Olivia Pedraza. With Coast trailing 6-5 in and runners on second and third with one out, Pedraza ripped a sinking liner to center, where MJC's Kesaia Faasisila made a do-or-die diving effort on the play, but the ball bounced in front of her and rolled all the way to the fence, allowing both runners -- and Pedraza -- to come around to score on the inside-the-park home run, putting Coast up, 8-6. 

Pedraza went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI for OCC, while Kelsey McNair added three hits, a run and an RBI to go along with two scoreless innings of relief and five strikeouts to collect the win and improve to 6-0 for the season.

Modesto jumped out in front, 4-0 going to the bottom of the third before Coast began to show signs of life against MJC pitcher Brooklyn Heffernan (24-10). Maiah Rodriguez led off the third with a single and scored two batters later on an RBI-double by Pedraza, cutting MJC's lead to 4-1. McNair followed with a single to center which scored Pedraza to make it 4-2. On the play, the ball got away from Faasisila, allowing McNair to make her way to third. Jasmyn walked and stole second and when Kimora Tuipala struck out on a bounced pitch, McNair stunned Modesto when she scored on the throw down to first to retire Tuipala, bringing Coast to within a run at 4-3.

A key moment in the game for Modesto came in the top of the fifth. With OCC relief pitcher Camila Hernandez trying to get out of danger, MJC used a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-3, but, Hernandez regrouped and used a key strikeout and an inning-ending grounder to Morales to end the threat.

More baserunning shenanigans for the OCC Pirates in the bottom of the fifth happened again on a third strike. Singles by McKenzie Koshi (2-for-3, 2 runs), Pedraza and McNair loaded the bases with nobody out. Morales lined a sacrifice fly to center, moving up all the baserunners and cutting the MJC lead to 5-4. After a pop out for the second out, Modesto looked to get out of the inning when Kayla Vargas struck out on a one-hopper to the catcher. Vargas busted her tail down the first-base line, making the play not-so-routine. In fact, the Modesto catcher threw the ball in time to the first baseman, but she didn't get her foot on the base in time, allowing the Pirate baserunner to score on the play and tying the score at 5.

Modesto again added stress to the situation in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out. But McNair allowed just one inherited runner to score and Modesto heading into the fatefull bottom of the sixth leading, 6-5.

Reyna Hernandez reached on a fielding error, stole second and went to third on a single by Koshi, setting up Pedraza's heroic at-bat. 

In the top of the seventh, McNair worked around a pair of OCC errors and got all three outs by way of strikeouts, ending the game in favor of the OCC Pirates. 

As for OCC's next opponent, CSM, the north's No. 2-seeded Bulldogs silenced the bats of the best offensive ballclub in the state -- Palomar College -- 4-2 in the opening game of the State Tournament. CSM pitcher Nohemi Livingston (25-3, 0.92 ERA) went the distance and held the Comets to two runs (none earned) on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts. 

The Bulldogs are led offensively by Katie Johnson, who's batting .429 with 24 hits, 6 HR and 22 RBi, while Jessica Gutierrez is batting .403 with 48 hits, 36 runs and 26 RBI. Keep an eye on the Bulldogs once they reach base as their 133 stolen bases (on 139 attempts) would attest.