Will C. Wood High softball upsets Pioneer, advances to SJS D4 title game

There's a common saying in sports that it's hard to beat a team three times in one season.

The Will C. Wood High School softball team proved that on Tuesday.

After losing by one run to Pioneer twice in the regular season, the fifth-seeded Wildcats rallied to upset the top-seeded Patriots 8-5 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinals.

"These girls are battle ready," Wood head coach Chris Ramirez said. "They're at the point now where whether we're down by one or two, it's a seven-inning game, so we just fight through it."

Wood trailed 3-0 after the first inning, but scored four runs in the fourth, one in the seventh and three in the eighth to pull out the extra-inning win on the road.

Senior Josselyn Alvarez tied the game with a clutch two-out single in the seventh, setting up freshman Jamaya Garrett to hit a decisive two-run home run in the eighth. Kailyn Scott followed with an RBI double to make it 8-5.

"She got a pitch and just let it go," Ramirez said of Garrett. "We've been waiting for that, and believe me, it couldn't have come at a better time."

Senior Maddie Farnham started in the circle and pitched the first four innings, while freshman Sophia Criswell threw the final four. Farnham and Criswell held the Patriots to just two runs after their three-run first inning.

"They're at the stage now where they feed off each other," Ramirez said. "They realize that not one person can do it by themselves, so they feel like, ‘I'm gonna go as hard as I can for as long as I can, and you pick up the pieces.'"

The Wildcats have strung back-to-back road wins and will look to keep their momentum going against second-seeded Central Catholic in the Division IV title game. The battle for the blue banner is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. and will take place at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.

"We got nothing to lose. Like I told the girls, all we do is go up here and play our game, whatever happens, happens," Ramirez said. "I couldn't be more proud of these girls. They battled all year like this."

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