St, Joseph defeats Bishop Amat to take Del Rey League softball title

LA PUENTE >> Two seasons ago, the St. Joseph High School softball team had reached rock bottom. The Jesters had won only one league game and was buried deep in the Del Rey League standings.

Two seasons later, their view of the league standings is a lot more pleasurable.

The Jesters won the Del Rey League championship Thursday by defeating host Bishop Amat, 11-6. It’s the first league championship for St. Joseph since 2010.

“When he started league play, with no disrespect to the rest of the teams in our league, we said that league was going to go through us,” second year St. Joseph coach Michael Smith said. “It was a mindset we had to have. We had to play with that type of confidence on the field.”

The players credit Smith.

“He is a former travel ball coach and that makes a huge difference,” said Jesters pitcher Giana Lopez, who will be pitching for University of Purdue next season. “He’s a very intelligent coach, he knows what he is doing.”

While Lopez won her 14th game of the season with a complete game performance, it was the play of junior McKenzie Wilson that was the main story line. Wilson, who has verbally committed to Fresno State, had four hits, which included two triples, and she scored three times.

“When we played them this year, all they pitched to me was outside, so I made my adjustments,” Wilson said. “I scooted up on the plate and I was expecting them to pitch me outside. My freshman year we were at the bottom and now we’re at the top. I am very grateful to all the players and our coaches.”

The Jesters (17-9, 10-2) broke through in the first inning when sophomore McKenzie Barbara hit a grand slam off Amat’s Amanda Hernandez for a 4-0 lead.

“We’ve been fortunate this year, we’ve been able to do that quite a bit,” Smith said.

Said Amat coach Kristen Dedmon: “We told the girls that the game is not over after the first inning. If we have one at-bat, one strike left, we have an opportunity to make something happen.”

In the fifth inning, trailing 7-3, the Lancers (14-11 -1, 9-3) scored three runs on singles by Madeline Ramirez and Sofia Saucedo. The inning came to an end when Bryanna Perez was thrown out at second base by right fielder Katie Brauckmann.

The Jesters then sealed the victory by scoring five runs in the seventh inning on a single by Julia Magrini and a double by Rebecca Ramirez.

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“We knew that it was going to be high energy on both sides coming out,” Dedmon said. “I am really proud that after St. Joe’s jumped ahead, our girls battled through all the way to the end. It speaks to the character. The loss stings, but it also a good opportunity to fuel them going (into) the post season.”