The Christopher High softball team did its part. Now the Cougars
will wait.
The Christopher High softball team did its part. Now the Cougars will wait.
By winning its final four Monterey Bay League tilts to end the regular season, including a 3-1 nod at Watsonville on Tuesday, CHS (16-9-1, 9-3 MBL) sits in second place, one game up on Seaside in the win column. The Spartans (8-3 MBL) visit first-place Monterey (20-4, 11-0 MBL) on Thursday. If the Spartans lose, the Cougars clinch second place outright and an automatic bid into the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“All we can do is sit and wait and hope Monterey doesn’t decide to call it in,” CHS manager Larry Nabzeska said.
Nabzeska said the tiebreaker first goes to head-to-head outcomes between CHS and Seaside. The two teams split their season series. After that it is decided by how each team faired against the league champion, in this case Monterey.
If Seaside prevails on Thursday, it would own the tiebreaker and jump ahead of the Cougars in the standings. CHS lost both outings against the Toreadors.
“It’s possible that we would still get in with an at-large bid,” Nabzeska said. “But I’d rather not have to try it that way.”
On Tuesday, the Cougars broke a 1-1 deadlock with a two-run top of the seventh inning to grab the lead and ultimately the win.
Angellica Carrillo doubled home Kristen Dennis, who singled earlier in the inning, to put the Cougars up 2-1. The next batter, Kayla Medrano singled in Carrillo.
Starting pitcher Aly Olvera held the Wildcatz to five hits in seven innings, striking out six and no base on balls.
The Cougars close out the regular season with a non-league matchup with Los Gatos on Thursday at CHS. Game time is 4 p.m.
