BUTTE VALLEY — The 2022 Butte College softball team has continued to make history. With two wins last weekend against Merced College, the Roadrunners advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association Super Regional playoffs. This weekend, they took advantage of that opportunity.
Butte College defeated Folsom Lake College 5-2 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday to advance to the CCCAA State Championships, which will begin Thursday in Bakersfield.
With the two wins, the Roadrunners (43-1) have now won 35 consecutive games dating back to Feb. 12. In Bakersfield, Butte College will be a part of eight final teams competing for a championship, with four teams coming from Northern California and four teams from Southern California.
Butte enters the CCCAA State Championship as the No. 2 team from Northern California. The final eight teams in Bakersfield will be College of San Mateo, San Jose City College, Sierra College and Butte College from Northern California, and Mt. San Antonio, Santa Ana, Cypress and Santiago Canyon from Southern California.
This year’s softball team has made it farther than any Butte College softball team under head coach Stayce York, who has been a part of the program since the 2013-14 season. The last time Butte College made it to the CCCAA Super Regional Playoffs was in 2004.
“Obviously, this team has the ability to do that, and 42-1 going into this game you think we’re going to go,” York said about how she felt about her team’s chance before Saturday’s game. “This game is exactly what’s going to help prepare us for next week, answering back and forth back and forth back and forth. Folsom played hard and they gave us a run for our money, but we needed that so we can make sure we know we can do it…But it feels good. We’ve never won super regionals, we’ve never been to state, so it feels pretty special.”
Butte College faced a familiar foe in the No. 10 seed Folsom Lake in the CCCAA Super Regional Playoffs. Butte defeated Folsom Lake 2-0, 6-1 in the Roadrunners’ first two games of the season Jan. 29 in Butte Valley.
Butte entered Saturday needing just one win in two games to clinch a spot in the state championships. After a 5-2-win Friday, York and her coaching staff told their team not to underestimate a team that had a .500 record, that they were going to give it their best, “and they did.”
On a warm day in Butte County, the Roadrunners clinched a state championship birth in the first game of the day Saturday, coming from behind to defeat the Falcons 3-2.
“This group has bought into our foundation and what Butte College softball is about if you put in the work, and these girls work and they study and they watch film, they prepare, they make plays, they get hits and we only have 11,” York said.
Cowan Stadium at Butte College was packed full of fans cheering on both teams. Members of the Butte College football team stood in centerfield in support of their fellow student-athletes and following the game the Butte College softball team went to the fence to take a photo together and show their appreciation.
“They mean a lot. Beside the football team and sharing their BC family, their BC pride, the fans all around here it was a great crowd today and having some football voices out there was a plus,” York said.
After a two-out single by Adriana Gonzalez-Perrier in the top of the first inning, Butte College starting pitcher Maggie Smith got seven straight outs as both teams entered the fourth inning tied 0-0.
Mary Avila and Ashley Carbah singled with one out in the third inning for Butte College, but the Roadrunners stranded runners at second and third base.
Folsom Lake took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Lillyanna Alvarez led off the inning with a double, and pincher runner Lauren Martinez advanced to third base on a sacrifice fly by Gonzalez-Perrier. Martinez scored on a single by Pamplona.
After a walk, Kiya Hamar replaced the starting pitcher Smith for Butte. Hamar got out of the inning with just the one run scored off Smith, after an out on a bunt and a fly out to right field.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Butte scored two runs to take a critical 2-1 lead. Laney Berkowitz singled, before scoring from first base on a double off the left-field wall by Savannah Wahl. Wahl scored on a single by Grace Stearns with two outs to give Butte a 2-1 lead.
The back-and-forth game continued for both teams into the fifth inning. Folsom Lake scored once to tie the game in the top of the fifth inning, before the Roadrunners scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Hamar walked leadoff hitter Olivia Dominguez with two outs before Alvarez got her second hit of the game and first RBI of the game on a double to left field, tying the game at 2-2.
The lead did not last long. Butte’s leadoff hitter Carbah got her second double and third hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth to lead off the inning. Dylan Gonzalez attempted to place a sacrifice bunt down, but the throw was dropped by the second baseman covering first base and Carbah came all the way around from second base to score on the play.
The aggression on the base paths is something that York and her coaching staff have preached all season long, and it was key in one of the most clutch times of the season thus far for the Roadrunners.
“It was just Butte College softball. We’ve been preaching all year to take those extra bases and make the mistakes hurt worse,” Berkowitz said. “She saw a mistake and just made it hurt even more for them. I’m very proud of her and her baserunning and happy that our coaches have instilled this aggression on the bases in us. That’s what helped us win the game was our aggression.”
In the top of the seventh inning, Folsom Lake threatened to tie the game. Pinch hitter Taylor Eby doubled to left center and attempted to make it to third base, but Butte left fielder Isabelle Hernandez ran it down and threw the ball to shortstop Hayley Sites, who relayed the throw to the third baseman Berkowitz who then tagged Eby out at third base.
Dominguez doubled with two outs, but a fly out to centerfield secured the win and a birth to Bakersfield for the Roadrunners.
“Big games, these are the games that are going to prepare us because we’re going to play the top eight, the Elite 8,” Berkowitz said. “We’re going to need to know how to push through and compete through these tough games like we just did, so I’m really excited to see how we compete at state.”
