Bonita Vista High School girls softball coach John Carlson admitted it was an honor for his team to receive the No. 1 seed in this year’s San Diego Section’s exclusive Open Division playoffs. He also conceded being the No. 1 seed carries a drawback: it provides a sizable target for other teams to take aim at.
The latter proved to be the case in Wednesday’s quarterfinal playoff round against the eighth-seeded Imperial Tigers. The teams battled through five scoreless innings before the Lady Tigers scored once in the sixth inning and three more times in the top of the seventh inning to hand top-seeded Bonita Vista a shocking 4-0 setback.
The only consolation for the Lady Barons is that they weren’t eliminated outright. The Open Division is a double-elimination tournament like the other divisions in the section playoffs.
Bonita Vista (21-4-1) will host fourth-seeded Patrick Henry (22-4-1) in Saturday’s challenger bracket contest.
Wednesday’s playoff loss snapped the Lady Barons’ 10-game winning streak.
“We didn’t play nearly as good (against Imperial) as we had been playing toward the end of the season,” Carlson explained. “We had been playing well until today.”
Braced by that 10-game winning streak, the Lady Barons earned a Metro-Mesa League co-championship with Mater Dei Catholic as both teams finished with 7-1 league records.
Mater Dei Catholic edged visiting Bonita Vista, 2-1, on April 15 to take the early lead in the league standings. The Lady Barons reversed that score in a game played at BVHS on May 1 to draw into a tie with the Lady Crusaders atop the league standings.
Mater Dei Catholic (23-6-1) shut out host Patrick Henry, 3-0, on Wednesday to advance to Saturday’s Open Division semifinals against Imperial (21-5-1).
Reyna Jamison, Kellie White and Amorette Hernandez each scored runs for the fifth-seeded Lady Crusaders while Jamison drove in two runs and Anissa Carrillo picked up one RBI.
White spun a complete game shutout by holding the Lady Patriots to just three hits. She struck out four batters and allowed one walk.
Carlson said his team will need to win four games to advance to the Open Division championship game on May 30. However, he said, for the time being, his team will narrow its focus to Saturday’s game against Patrick Henry.
“There are no easy games in the Open Division,” the BVHS coach said. “Every game is a final.”
Three of the four lower-seeded teams in Wednesday’s Open Division quarterfinals emerged with victories to make a statement for parity in the elite eight division.
Maritza Rojas (14-1) recorded Wednesday’s shutout win over Bonita Vista.
SAN DIEGO SECTION
SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
Open Division
Quarterfinals
Wednesday, May 20
(8) Imperial 4, (1) Bonita Vista 0
(5) Mater Dei Catholic 3, (4) Patrick Henry 0
Division I
Play-in round
Wednesday, May 20
(10) Ramona 4, (7) Otay Ranch 1
Division III
Play-in round
Wednesday, May 20
(7) Hilltop 3, (10) San Dieguito Academy 2 (9 innings)
Division IV
Play-in round
Wednesday, May 20
(5) Monte Vista 12, (12) Southwest 6
Division V
Play-in round
Wednesday, May 20
(1) Chula Vista Calvary Christian Academy 17, (8) Chula Vista Learning Community Charter 0
(3) Calvin Christian 4, (6) Castle Park 3
