It didn’t take long for Gilroy to secure its championship.
The Mustangs topped the Mt. Pleasant Cardinals 1-0 Saturday to claim the Central Coast Section Division II title.
The victory came in just over an hour – due to in part to Mustangs pitcher Lauren Castro dishing out 11 strikeouts in the game.
“All my pitches were working really well,” Castro said. “I just tried to stay composed. My defense was unbelievable. They backed me up and made sure they didn’t score on us.”
The sophomore pitcher tossed a complete game for the Mustangs, giving up six hits in addition to her double-digit strikeout total.
Gilroy’s lone run came in the top of the fourth inning off the bat of Amber Gamboa. After Castro reached second off a Cardinals throwing error, Gamboa blasted a shot to centerfield, bringing the winning run across the plate.
“(Knowing that was the winning run) feels great,” Gamboa said. “I went in there relaxed, trying to do whatever I can. It was a big situation right there and obviously it helped.”
The Mustangs (19-12) entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed and had a long way to go to make it to the title game. They easily topped the No. 9 seeded Willow Glen 7-1 on May 15. Gilroy followed that with a jaw dropping victory over the top-ranked Archbishop Mitty Monarchs, whom it beat 6-3 in extras on May 18. The Mustangs went on to top Los Altos 2-1 on Wednesday to reach the championship.
“(Being here), it’s crazy,” Gamboa said. “Beating Mitty – no one beats Mitty. We fought hard.”
The Mustangs – despite being the No. 8 seed – never saw themselves as an underdog in the playoffs. Instead, they were confident they could achieve the goal they set for themselves at the beginning of the season.
“I definitely thought we could get here,” coach Julie Berggren said. “This is a fabulous group of girls, we have so much fun together. We play hard together and they’ve worked extremely hard to make this happen.
“This was one of their goals since the beginning. We knew it was going to be a hard road but we did everything we could to do this.”
The title is only the second in Gilroy’s school history and the first since 1999. Being able to accomplish such a feat is especially special to Gamboa, who will now graduate as a champion.
“It’s great (to win as a senior),” she said. “Being there my freshman and sophomore year and not making it was hard. But ending my senior year in first place, I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
