Prep Softball playoffs: Vacaville blanks Laguna Creek

May 14-Sydney Marcelli is just a sophomore, but she looked like a playoff veteran on Wednesday afternoon.

The Vacaville High School softball star allowed just two hits and walked two in six innings while collecting two hits herself on offense. As a result, the Bulldogs cruised to a 10-0 first-round win over Laguna Creek in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.

"Sydney came out and started early in every at-bat. On every mispitch she might have had, she came back and fixed it in the next at bat," Vacaville head coach Destinee Santistevan said. "She came out ready to go."

The No. 7-seeded Bulldogs advance to play No. 2 Del Oro on Friday on the road.

In the bottom of the first, the Bulldogs took the advice of former baseball player Willie Keeler, who preached to, "Keep your eye on the ball and hit 'em where they ain't." Vacaville did just that by taking a 4-0 lead thanks to a few bloop hits, one an RBI bloop single by Madison Blurton and the other an RBI single by Marcelli to right.

"They all came out looking for their pitch to hit," Santisveban said. "Whether it went their way or not, they came back in their next at bat and tried again by putting the ball in play. That made a huge difference."

The first four runs were all Marcelli would need in the circle. She allowed a double in the third and a single in the fourth, but faced the minimum in the fifth and sixth innings.

"My rise ball was really good today. My curveball was also good, and my drop ball was hit or miss, but we figured it out," Marcelli said. "After the first inning, I changed my mindset. I decided to attack the glove and start ahead in the count rather than behind."

The Vacaville lead was stretched to 6-0 in the bottom of the third when two runs came home on a Laguna Creek error.

While Laguna Creek was struggling on defense, Vacaville was thriving. A diving catch by third baseman Makayla Morgan in the sixth resulted in a double play to end any kind of threat.

"On that play, I'm thinking I have to go 110 percent and go as far as I can," Morgan. "I'm thinking no matter what, I'm trying to catch that ball on the fly, not on the short hop."

Morgan then proved she could shine on offense as well by hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to make it 8-0.

"The previous at-bats didn't go my way, so in that bat I wanted to just see the ball and hit the ball," Morgan said. "Not do anything too big, but just do what I can do."

Vacaville ended the game a few moments later in the sixth when Marley Walpole singled to center to make the score 10-0.

"This game, we showed that we were a team and we work great as a team," Morgan said. "Everyone was producing, and we need to keep doing that."

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