Championship Saturday: Wheatland falls; Colusa, East Nicolaus take home titles
May 23—Making its first trip ever to the Sac-Joaquin Section championship, the No. 3 seeded Wheatland Union High softball team ran into a pitcher fresh off dethroning one of the premier programs in the state in Sutter Union High School.
Wheatland (20-9) struggled against No. 4 Orestimba (23-4), out of Newman, falling 8-3 in the Division V final at Cosumnes River College.
Orestimba scored five in the fourth to pull away from Wheatland. The Pirates tried to rally with three in the sixth and seventh innings, but it wasn't enough to topple the Warriors.
Jacquelyn Lujan, the arm who silenced Sutter in the semifinals, went seven complete with 14 strikeouts, allowing just one earned run. On the other side, Wheatland used two pitchers beginning with sophomore Chasidy Sills, who gave up three earned runs on five hits in 3.2 innings. Hallie Prather, a junior, relieved Sills for the final 3.1 and allowed only one earned run. At the plate, Prather went 2-4 witn a double and two RBI, while Utah State signee Zereniti Sousa drove in the other run in defeat.
East Nicolaus, Colusa NSCIF champs
Two of the most worthy championship programs in the area, Colusa baseball and East Nicolaus softball, again toppled its playoff bracket over the weekend, as Colusa won the Northern Section Division IV title over University Prep, 10-2, while East Nicolaus claimed its fourth straight NSCIF D-V title over Los Molinos, 11-1.
Both should receive invitations into the Northern California state playoffs on Sunday.
For top-seeded Colusa (26-3-1), it has gone back-to-back in D-IV and completed a 59-4-1 stretch since 2022.
Joel Magallon had three hits and drove in three, while Bo Coronado came up with a pair of hits, runs and RBI against the Panthers (17-12), seeded second.
East Nicolaus over Los Molinos
By the fourth inning Saturday, East Nicolaus was well on its way to its fourth straight championship in the NSCIF. The Spartans (28-1-1), scored sixth in the fourth to enact the run-rule and eventually take down Los Molinos by 10 runs. Kira Mashburn had three hits and four RBI, while Danni Farris drove in five on two hits, one of which was a home run.
Meika Lauppe, who is headed to Arizona State, struck out four in 3.2 innings to get the win.
All Sac-Joaquin Section tickets will be available online at https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFSJS. In the Northern Section, tickets can be purchased by visiting https://gofan.co/app/school/CIFNS.
