Prep Softball: Oak Hills tops Sultana in a showdown of cousin pitchers in the circle

Pick a sport and any game between Oak Hills and Sultana and it will elicit strong emotions between rival high schools within the same school district.

That rivalry especially carries over into softball with both teams being at the top of the Mojave River League for the better part of the last decade.

The cherry on top of the softball rivalry? Oak Hills’ Maddie Romo and Sultana’s Savannah Vanderpool are cousins.

A member of Vanderpool’s family married into Romo’s family. The two grew up together and pitched on the same Little League teams with each other. Other teams would comment on how good the pitching staff was on whatever team Romo and Vanderpool were on and it led to the two trying to one-up each other.

“We would even have competitions then even being on the same team like how many strikeouts can I get this game, how many strikeouts is Savannah getting,” Romo said after she outdueled her cousin in a 2-1 victory on Monday afternoon.

These days the two are the aces of their respective teams that face off against each other at least twice a year. Off the field, it is all love between the two, but it is a rivalry on the field with how competitive they are.

With just a one-run lead and one runner on base, Vanderpool came to the plate in the seventh inning as the potential go-ahead run. Romo was still in the circle, having struck out Vanderpool twice to that point.

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Romo said she tries not to focus on the fact that it is her cousin stepping into the batter’s box against her and tries to see just another Sultana batter. Romo got Vanderpool to flyout for the second out of the inning and then got the final out of the game two batters later to seal the deal.

Oak Hills takes advantage of early mistakes

The Bulldogs got their only two runs of the game in the first inning due to defensive miscues from Sultana.

With runners on second and third with two outs, Amaya Sigala singled to right field. Daylin Hoenisch scored easily from third base while Isabelle Obregon raced home from second base. Sultana right fielder Natalie Pardo threw the ball to third base instead of home, allowing Obregon to score without a play at the plate.

Despite it being just the first inning, Sultana head coach Obie Galindo decided to pull her from the game right after that play.

“Game like this, you can’t have those brain freezes. That’s something that hopefully she learns from and goes from there,” Galindo said.

Confusion in the sixth

After the first inning, Vanderpool held the Bulldogs scoreless and finished with 11 strikeouts, while Romo struck out eight.

The trouble for Romo came in the sixth inning, much like her last start against Apple Valley.

An error from third baseman Dallyse York on a throw to home gave Sultana a run and bases loaded with one out.

Hope Merrill stepped to the plate with a chance to blow the game open for Sultana.

Merrill hit a flyball to short left field. Amaya Sigala appeared to catch the ball at first but the ball bobbled into the air which she caught again before it hit the ground.

In the confusion of whether she caught it or not, Katelyn Parrish at third base and Jordan Mullinax at second base both tried to figure out what to do. Parrish and Mullinax appeared to start running forward when she bobbled it but went back to tag once she had caught it again.

Sigala threw it to second base as Mullinax was off the bag and she was ruled out for the double play before Parrish could tag up from home to score the tying run.

“The umpire said that she never tagged up. He said that she never tagged up so they threw back and they doubled her up there,” Galindo said.

Sultana’s last chance to get back in the game was with Parrish in the seventh. With two on and two out, Parrish blasted a pitch to center field. Rylie Gresham-Center kept tracking backward and made the game-ending catch near the fence.

Silence fell over the crowd when the ball was hit as even Oak Hills head coach Kelli Rios thought the ball was a home run.

“It did but when I saw Riley going back the way she was I was like that’s not over,” Rios said.

What’s next

Oak Hills is now the lone team unbeaten in Mojave River League standings at 2-0. Sultana, like three other teams in the league, are currently 1-1.

Both teams are back in action Wednesday, and also have games on Friday afternoon. Sultana will host Serrano on Wednesday, while Oak Hills travels to Burroughs.

Sultana heads to Hesperia on Friday afternoon, while Oak Hills is at Serrano.

The teams will meet again at Sultana on April 17.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Prep Softball: Oak Hills tops Sultana in a battle of cousin pitchers