Oak Ridge wins back-to-back titles with 3-0 win over Whitney

Two of the best teams in the area and two rivals in the Sierra Foothill League battled for a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship on Saturday at Sacramento State. Whitney (21-2) and Oak Ridge (21-4) played three games during league play and Whitney won two, won the league championship and the No. 1 seed in the tournament, while the Trojans took the No. 2 seed and was outscored only one run, 8-7, in those three games. Everyone knew this game would be close and it was, but it was the biggest win by either team against the other, as the Trojans won it, 3-0, to win its second straight Division I championship and the program’s 11th overall. Oak Ridge did all the damage in the second inning, scoring three runs on three hits. All of the team’s hits came in the inning and the only other player in the game to reach base was when Sam Alekman drew a two-out walk in the third inning. Whitney pitcher Hannah Duncan was dialed in. But in the second inning, Brooklyn Paratore led off by drawing a walk and Alekman followed with the first of three hits to put runner on first and third. Carmen Montes de Oca followed with a bunt to third baseman Tylie Kitchen, whose throw home was low and got by catcher Mya Flindt as Paratore scored from third. A batter later with two outs and runners on second and third, Kyden Walker, who entered the game hitting .177, got the game’s biggest hit a bloop single just over the bag at second base and scored Alekman and Montes de Oca for the final two runs of the game, as Oak Ridge took a 3-0 lead. “It feels amazing to do this my senior year and helping us to win back-to-back titles,” Walker said. “It’ an amazing experience to finish off this year. It feels great especially because we’re at Sac State and it’s our second championship and we’re going to on regionals next week. I’m so excited to be able to come through and to step up when my team needed me.” Oak Ridge coach Sam Toy was proud of her senior right fielder. “Kyden stayed focused and came through in the clutch,” Toy said. “Whether she feels that extra pressure or not, she comes up big in those clutch situations and takes the other teams by surprise.” Whitney had batters reach base in each of the first two innings, but in both cases, the runners were thrown out at second by Paratore, as she sent a message that it’s better off not trying to steal against her. In the first inning, Alyssa Flindt walked with one out and was thrown out stealing. In the second inning, Bryanna Decker drew a two-out walk and was also thrown out trying to steal. “No one has really run on my all season and I finally had my chance to show what I can do,” Paratore said. “It was big.” Toy agreed. “Those were two big outs,” Toy said. “They got some runners on but they turned into momentum-shifting outs for us.” Whitney’s biggest threat to score came in the fourth inning. With one out, Mya Flindt, who had three of her team’s four hits, ripped a one-out double to the gap in left field. With Kitchen coming up, Toy decided to intentionally walk her to put two runners on with only one out. In the last meeting between the two teams, Kitchen hit a two-run home run which proved to be the game-winning hit in Whitney’s 3-1 victory. “Kitchen had hurt us before, and we had the open bag so we walked her,” Toy said. Kennedi Freeland took care of the rest, as she ended the inning with a strikeout and fly out to Carly Short at shortstop. It also brought an end to her outing, as the freshman pitched the first four innings and allowed only two hits and struck out five. Ellison Schroeder came into throw the last three innings and allowed two hits and struck out two. It could be risky to take out a pitcher, who’s throwing as well as Freeland was, but Toy has done it a few times in big games this season and it’s worked. “I don’t think it’s that odd,” Paratore said, “especially in a big game like this where players can hit home runs. We need to change the hitter’s eye level. Kennedi throws more up in the zone and Ellison throws lower and gets a lot of ground balls. It worked out for us, because we allowed no runs.” Both Freeland and Schroeder got the job done for the Trojans. “My two pitchers are absolutely phenomenal,” Walker said. “I mean, I got one ball today in right field. Obviously, I like to get balls out there, but my pitchers were pitching shut down softball.” For Whitney, who had one more hit than Oak Ridge, just couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it. “This is a tough one,” assistant coach Rick Fernandez said. “I could say this is a game that we didn’t hit, but that wouldn’t do justice to our team. In all of our games against Oak Ridge, I think we had four or five hits in each game. I tip my cap off and send a lot of respect over to that program. It’s a quality, classy program and we just came up short. “We had a blunder at the plate where we didn’t make the play. I knew it would come down to defense because the pitching on both sides is just too good. “It’s tough on the girls and it’s tough on me because you always feel like you could have done better. Our season’s not over, though. We’ll come back Monday ready to play and get back to work.” Meanwhile, the Trojans will enjoy this win for a few days. “It’s awesome to win it a second time, especially with our new freshmen pitcher in our arsenal,” Paratore said. Added Toy, “I was pretty confident that we could get to this game. The girls were ready all week. In fact, they’ve been ready since our last game against Whitney.”