Lady Pintos softball season ends in first round district loss to Versailles

Democrat photo/Evan HolmesSenior Ellie Clay squares up to the plate during her first at-bat against the Lady Tigers.
Democrat photo/Evan HolmesSenior Ellie Clay squares up to the plate during her first at-bat against the Lady Tigers.

As the season of fall athletics nears its end at California High School, teams like the Lady Pintos softball squad have had their sights set on bringing a district championship back to California.

The Lady Pintos finished their regular season with a record of 12-11, which earned them the #6 seed in the Class 3 District 5 softball tournament in Versailles. California was cast in the role of underdogs in their first-round game against the #3 seed Versailles Lady Tigers. Versailles had already beaten California twice during the regular season, 10-9 on Aug. 28 and 6-5 in 11 innings on Sep. 14. Now, California had another chance at Versailles. The winner would move on to play Fatima in the semifinals last Friday, while the losers would head home for the season.

A third defeat - this time 10-1 - was the result, ending the Lady Pintos' season with an even 12-12 record.

The Lady Tigers were not only the host of the district tournament. They were also one of the best hitting teams in the Tri-County Conference, and they demonstrated that in the first two innings.

The Lady Pintos struggled with getting batters out at the plate and California's outfield struggled to make catches in the outfield. The Lady Tigers rallied off of those mistakes for six runs in the first two innings.

On the flip side, every time California put the ball in play, the ball would go right to a Versailles defender for an out. California also grounded into two double plays in the third and fourth innings.

Even though California played better collective softball from the third inning on, they weren't able to get the big score innings they needed to catch up. When the final out was made, the scoreboard read 10-1 Versailles. Versailles finished the game with ten runs on six hits with no errors, while California scored its run on two hits with four errors.

Head coach Steven Stock gave credit to Versailles for jumping out to an early lead and noted how his team played better as the game wore on.

"They jumped on us early, much to their credit. We made a few mistakes and we allowed them to score a few runs and get ahead early," Stock said. "Then over the next three or four innings, we went up and battled. We had a couple of situations where we just absolutely crushed the ball right at somebody. I think we had five times where we hit the ball really well and just right at them. If a couple of those get in there, 6-0 maybe becomes 6-3 or 6-4 and we've got a game."

With the end of another softball season, it means having to say goodbye to another senior class. The Lady Pintos will be losing four seniors this off-season - Ellie Clay, Kaylena Riggs, Desirae Miller and Zoey Rimel.

"It's always hard to say goodbye to seniors. You've got kids that come every day and work hard and do a lot of things to play this game. That day of reality comes when they're done," Stock said. "It's hard to lose anybody, especially seniors who have been with you a long time, but they're all going to go on to bigger and better things."

When asked how he will best remember his 2021 team, Stock said it would be by how well they represented the town of California.

"They were a good group of kids that came in here and worked hard. They got a lot better throughout the year. We started out the year with about five one-run games and just didn't really know how to win," Stock explained. "And then as the season went on, we started to win some of those close games. So, they're a good group of kids who liked to compete and when they put that shirt on, they represented it well."