Stockton softball showdown ends with St. Mary's blowout win over Bear Creek

Arnaiz Softball Complex was riddled with blue and green for the Stockton softball showdown between host St. Mary’s and Bear Creek.

The No. 3 seeded Rams took on its familiar foe the No. 11 Bruins for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 softball quarterfinals. They played lights out from beginning to end to shock Bear Creek 10-0 and take the crown as top dog in the 209.

Here are the key takeaways from St. Mary’s quarterfinals victory.

Rams locked and loaded

According to senior pitcher Ariel Nava, the winning atmosphere started way before the Rams took the field.

“It started in the morning when we were at school we were just locked in. We wanted to play, we wanted to win,” Nava said. “It carried over to the car ride here listening to 21 Savage and some Drake. We were all just ready to play.”

The show began after Nava sat the Bruins down 1,2,3 at the top of the first inning. Junior Alyssa Garcia got the Rams’ first run across the board just off her speed on the bags and Bear Creek made two errors. In the following two innings, the hits started coming through.

Three St. Mary’s batters finished the game with two hits. Leading the fiery offensive charge were Nava, Garcia, and senior Rhea Rascon. The icing on the cake came from Rascon at the final at-bat of the game where she hit a two-run home run to end the game in the sixth inning.

“Our one-to-nine is pretty strong,” said Dennis Gomes, St. Mary’s head coach. “We work at hard-hitting every practice and they take pride in their hitting. But the one thing that stood out to me was our defense ending the game with no errors.”

Errors plague Bear Creek

While St. Mary’s played a nearly flawless game, the Bruins couldn’t say the same. In the first inning, a ball got past first base marking their first error. The next followed swiftly after, once Bear Creek’s catcher overthrew the ball to pitcher Natalie Trujillo allowing a run.

Those kinds of errors would continue for the majority of the game. With each error, it further solidified the end of the Bruins’ stellar season.

“I think it was just the nerves of the level of the game that got to them,” said Kirk Klucznik, Bear Creek’s head coach. “I just saw a lot of nerves today but we started loosening up towards the end and played some better innings.”

After allowing the Rams to score for the first three innings, Trujillo and the Bruins responded holding them scoreless the next two innings. While it wasn’t enough to get back in the game, it was a notable effort in Kluczink’s final game of his 25-year coaching career at Bear Creek.

“At the beginning of the season, I would not imagine being where we are now,” he said. “I’m very proud of them and where we got. This has been an awesome year and I’m glad I came back for my last 20 years of being a varsity coach.”

St. Mary’s sets its sights on the semifinals

Taking down its local rival was just another tick on the checklist for this St. Mary’s squad. Next up for the Rams is the semifinals which will be played at 4 p.m. on May 23. They will play the winner of the game between No. 7 Elk Grove or No. 2 Whitney.

If the higher seed of the two teams wins then the Rams will be on the road and if the lower seed wins then they will be packing up the Arnaiz Softball Complex again.

“We’re not going to be afraid to have the opportunity or where the site of the game is at,” Gomes said. “I think this team has a very good shot of knocking off the number two team. We feel like we can handle our own.”

Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: St. Mary's softball routes local foe Bear Creek in SJS quarterfinals