Late home run sinks Indio softball in quarterfinal loss to St. Joseph

For the Indio High softball team this postseason, the sixth inning has been magic. On Thursday afternoon in a CIF-SS Division 6 quarterfinal against visiting St. Joseph, that magic disappeared.

In a well-played game between two top-5 teams, it was the Jesters who pulled out a 3-1 win, thanks to a clutch two-out, two-run home run by Aris Garcia in the sixth inning with the Rajahs leading 1-0. The Jesters then played impeccable defense in the sixth and seventh innings to pull out a hard-earned win.

"That could've been a championship game, that's what it felt like," Indio coach Jerri Schlickenmayer said. "The defense was great on both sides I don't remember any errors for either team. We were in it to win it until the final out, and that's all you can hope for is to be within striking distance if you're playing a good team like we were in this one."

The Rajahs, ranked No. 5 in Division 6, played toe to toe with the fourth-ranked Jesters, an all-girls school from Lakewood. Indio scratched across a run in the first inning on three straight two-out singles by Jaeda Diaz, Victoria Huerta and then an RBI shot by Carmen Gordilla back up the middle to score Diaz.

The score stayed that way for the next five innings as both teams were able to produce multiple hits and base runners, but the two defenses kept coming up with big stops and played error-free softball to prevent any more runs.

In the top of the sixth, Mariah Becerra of St. Joseph hit a one-out double over the centerfielder's head. After a pop-up for the second out, Garcia stepped to the plate.

"I knew that I wanted to do something for the team to help the girls out and I had that opportunity in the sixth and I was so happy that I came through," Garcia said.

She came through, all right. Garcia hit a rocket to right center field, that landed well past the outfield fence for a two-run opposite-field homer. It was a game-changer.

All of a sudden, the Rajahs found themselves trailing in a game they had controlled. Never fear, though: This was the sixth inning, after all, and in the first two playoff games, the Rajahs combined to score a remarkable 18 runs in the sixth inning.

That's not a typo. In their first-round win over Rancho Verde, the Rajahs scored eight times in the sixth to turn a 5-3 nailbiter into a 13-3 mercy-rule win. In the second round, Indio actually trailed Calvary Chapel 6-5 heading into the sixth inning in which they scored 10 runs for a 15-6 win.

In this one, though, it wasn't the Rajahs' bats, but the Jesters' gloves that stole the show.

With one out, Miya Matah hit a sinking liner toward centerfield. The Jesters' centerfielder Morgan Mora raced and dove for it. She stuck out her glove and the ball hit her glove, popped up in the air and started to fall. But shortstop Breanna Ochoa caught it before it hit the ground. It had the look of a ball that hit the ground for a key single, but the body language of the two girls involved as they shrieked with joy at the crazy play made it clear what had happened, and it was confirmed by the umpire.

And St. Joseph had more defense in store. The next batter, Jaslynn Garcia pinch-hitting for the Rajahs, laced a double to the wall in right field, but the Jesters put together a bang, bang, bang relay to throw her out at third base to end the inning. In the bottom of the seventh, with Indio now down 3-1 after the Jesters added a run in the top of the inning, Julissa Alford led off with a hard line drive that was stabbed by the St. Joseph shortstop for the first out. Diaz hit a ground ball to second and then Huerta hit another hard shot that was handled by the shortstop to end the game.

As the Jesters celebrated, the Rajahs could only stand and stare at the missed opportunities to make a special season extra special.

It was the final game in a Rajahs uniform for three talented seniors: Huerta, who had a solid outing as the starting pitcher and also went 2 for 3 at the plate; Matah, who singled and played a stellar second base; and Sienna Rodriguez, who played a flawless left field.

The Jesters, with home run hero Garcia also putting in work as the pitcher, were able to hold down the Indio offense, something few opponents have been able to do. Diaz, the Rajahs' unmatched slugger with 19 home runs on the season, had that single and scored a run in the first inning, but had a crucial chance slip away in the second inning when she came to bat with the bases loaded only to hit a groundout to shortstop. She also hit a long line drive to right field that was hauled in near the fence.

"For the first time, we faced a team that kept our hitting to a minimum. I mean I think we didn't hit poorly, we just didn't have timely hits this time," Schlickenmayer said. "I don't think anybody expected us to be here this year and we'll be back, we'll have a really strong team next year as well. I would say we exceeded other people's expectations, but we met our own expectations."

The Rajahs' season, which included going undefeated in the Desert Valley League, saw them finish 22-6. And the future looks bright with several key players returning next season.

St. Joseph (18-4) advances to a Division 6 semifinal game on Saturday, which will be at home against Ganesha.

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun, reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Late home run sinks Indio softball in tough-luck quarterfinal loss