Carpinteria's Erin Saito takes a swing in Tuesday's second-round CIF victory for the Warriors.
Carpinteria’s six-run sixth inning was the knock-out blow in an 8-0 second-round CIF win for the Warriors softball team on Tuesday, as visiting Whitney could not crack Catalina Maldonado in the Division-6 playoff game.
The third-seeded Warriors advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals, where they will host Yucca Valley, 6-5 winners over Rim of the World. It will be Carpinteria’s third-straight playoff game at home.
“We just go out and play our game,” said Maldonado, adding that having eight seniors is giving the team more motivation in the playoffs.
Tuesday’s crowd, filling the bleachers and stretching down the foul lines, was tense until the big inning by Carpinteria late in the game.
Warriors starting pitcher Catalina Maldonado
Hannah Galsterer drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the sixth. Tatiana Verdugo, Elyse Rodriguez and Teagan Singer knocked in runs during the inning with hits of their own. Galsterer came in to score the game’s final run.
Dakotah Wilcox was 3-for-3 in the game, including one of the Warriors’ six hits in that inning alone. All six runs were earned after a pair of unearned runs in the first and fourth innings.
Maldonado and Verdugo were both 2-for-3 with a single and double.
It was the 11th shutout of the season for Maldonado and the Warriors’ defense. It’s also their 10th straight victory overall.
“We believe we have a pitcher that can keep people off the bases but also we believe we have a defense that can help her with that,” said Warriors head coach Henry Rodriguez. “So we pride ourselves on keeping people from scoring.”
Whitney, champions of the Academy League, managed just four hits and never had more than one base runner in any inning. The Wildcats finish their season with a record of 16-4.
Carpinteria, 20-5-1 overall, is 9-3-1 at home this year. Yucca Valley, 18-7 on the season, scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to edge Rim of the World and advance. The Trojans have averaged more than 10 runs a game over their last eight contests.
Contrasting styles have Maldonado and the Warriors allowing less than two runs per game in the same time period.
Thursday’s CIF quarterfinal begins at 3:15 p.m.
