THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

Pitted together for the first time in a section playoff game, the Whitney and Rocklin softball teams made the best of a damp, overcast day by warming up the crowd with a great game Tuesday. Played on the No. 7 seed’s field at Whitney High, the No. 10 seeded Thunder jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoff opener for the two teams. The defending champions got hits from Andrea Hildan, Makenna Firenze, Juliana Henderson and a home run from Alina Gonzalez to take an early 4-0 lead. Rocklin starting pitcher Kayla Gibson kept the Wildcats off balance through the first four innings. “They threw a new pitcher that nobody had seen because she had been injured,” Whitney head coach Mike Mello said. “And it took time to catch up with (her).” But catch up to her the ‘Cats did in the fifth inning. And when that happened, the Thunder began making mistakes. After putting two runs across the plate, one on an error, Rocklin head coach Jerry Wallace brought in reliever Ryanne Millington. Whitney’s Claire Stover greeted Millington with a double and later scored on an overthrow to make the score 4-3. Mazie Macfarlane drew a base on balls and ended up on third base when the Wildcats loaded the bases. Macfarlane scored to tie the game when a throw to the plate went wide. Makenzie Macfarlane and Micaela Harris were able to score on a single and another error to make the score 6-4 in favor of Whitney before the inning ended. Wildcats’ starting pitcher Alexandria Romanov began to find her grove and retired the Thunder in the top of the sixth. She struck out two batters and the third flew out to left field. “Our pitcher struggled in the beginning. She told me ‘I’m struggling,’” Mello said. “I said OK, just calm down and relax, and then she came over here and warmed up a little bit, threw some more and got her spins down.” “Over here” was a pitching area alongside the field where Romanov could throw while the ‘Cats were at bat. Millington also found her stride, as she put Whitney down in order in the bottom of the sixth. And Rocklin showed they were not done yet. Hildan led off and singled and Firenze followed with a walk. Gibson then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her teammates into scoring position. Slyler Wuelfing then hit a sacrifice fly ball to right field to score Hildan, closing the gap to 6-5. But Firenze was left on third when Romanov struck out the last batter. “Kudos to Alexandria. She really came through; big strikeout at the end,” Coach Mello said. “You couldn’t ask for better.” Mello added that those batting in the bottom of the order were the ones who scored. “And during the game it wasn’t our top four batters who did it all,” Mello continued, “team effort 100 percent; team effort, awesome job by these girls.” The Wildcats head to Stockton Thursday to take on No. 2 St. Mary’s. The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Arnaiz Complex. The Rams advanced by beating No. 15 Inderkum 9-5 Tuesday.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

WHITNEY PREVAILS OVER ROCKLIN 6-5 IN PLAYOFF

JIM LINSDAU

Placer Herald | 5/17/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Whitney High School Athletics