NorCal softball regionals: St. Francis endures nine-inning thriller to reach Division I final

NorCal softball regionals: Kate Munnerlyn throws seven scoreless in relief to set up walk-off victory

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Two great pitchers loomed large over St. Francis and Central-Fresno’s extra-inning softball duel in Mountain View. 

With a trip to Hollister for the NorCal Division I championship on the line, Central’s Mia Nishikawa and the home team’s Kate Munnerlyn traded punchouts, popups and powerful fastballs while zeroes piled up on the scoreboard. 

Seven innings weren’t enough for the two powerhouses, the game stretching into the bottom of the ninth with the semifinal still scoreless. 

Silhouetted by golden hour light, Rebecca Quinn finally put an end to the pitcher’s duel as the third batter in the frame, her slap into right field driving Jaime Oakland across the plate and giving St. Francis a 1-0 victory.  

“Wherever the ball was, I just had to get my bat on it and get solid contact so we could score,” Quinn said. “We knew it was going to be difficult.”

The defending NorCal Division I champions threw a pregame curveball to the visitors, starting Chloe Cummings instead of aces Munnerlyn or Shannon Keighran. 

But the Grizzlies, who last season made it all the way to the Division III NorCal final, weren’t going to be rattled by unexpected roster moves. 

Cummings threw two and one-thirds scoreless innings, but after the first two runners got on in the third inning, coach Mike Oakland asked Munnerlyn to get out of one of the Lancers’ few jams. 

She answered the call by striking out the last two batters of the frame.

“After going through the lineup with Chloe and seeing how their batters were swinging at the ball, it just mentally prepared me to be out on the mound,” Munnerlyn said. 

Munnerlyn breezed through the rest of the game, striking out nine and allowing just one hit. Nishikawa was just as brilliant, striking out 11 while pitching the whole game. 

“She’s fantastic,” Quinn said about Nishikawa. “The ball was all over the plate … moving in and out, we didn’t know what to expect.”

Munnerlyn operated calmly with traffic on the base, stranding the leadoff hitter on second base with three strikeouts in the top of the eighth, and then leaving a Central player on third in the top of the ninth. 

By the bottom of the ninth, the St. Francis lineup had seen Nishikawa four times, and the Lancers bats finally made solid contact. 

Oakland led things off with a line drive into right field for a double, and O’Gorman collected her second hit of the game to put runners on the corners with no outs. 

On a 2-2 count, Quinn lined a pitch into center field and guaranteed a rematch with No. 1 seed Hollister. 

“I was in the (on-deck) circle, and I personally was like ‘Oh gosh, please Becca get on” because I didn’t want to be put into that situation,” Munnerlyn said. 

St. Francis improved to 28-3, and Central-Fresno ended its season 27-6. 

Though his team walked off the field as losers, Gorton focused on his team’s gritty play before embarking on the trip back to Fresno. 

“I know how quality their team is, and to be able to compete with those girls was a great experience,” Gorton said. “I’m proud of my girls.”

Hollister defeated Whitney-Rocklin 3-2 in the other semifinal. The Balers defeated St. Francis 4-0 in the CCS Open Division championship less than a week earlier, and the Lancers’ stars were adamant lessons had been learned.

Their coach expects a hard-fought game. 

“We’re going to have to do the same thing we did today, and hope we end up on the right side of it,” Mike Oakland said.