Bulldog softball team wins league championship for fifth year

Five of the eight Ramona High School softball players who earned all-league recognition from Valley League coaches last year were seniors, so the team’s new coach, Lexi Slater, knew that the Bulldogs would not be as strong as they were last year when they reached the CIF Open Division final. This year’s team developed well enough to win the Valley League championship for the fifth consecutive year.

“Overall I think this team has really come together,” Slater said. “I am very proud of the girls and how far they have come.”

The CIF San Diego Section’s eight highest seeded Division I teams participate in the CIF Open Division playoffs and the other teams compete in the CIF Division I tournament. The CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting May 12 gave the Bulldogs the seventh seed in the Division I playoffs and a May 15 home game against 10th-seeded Torrey Pines to start postseason play.

The 2018 varsity roster consists of six seniors, two juniors, six sophomores and two freshmen.

“I think we faced a lot of challenges earlier in the season,” Slater said calling this a growing year rebuilding the program.

The Bulldogs took a 5-10-1 record into their Valley League opener April 11 at San Pasqual. A Ramona run in the bottom of the sixth created a 6-6 score and after neither team scored in the seventh inning the game went into extra innings.

San Pasqual scored three times in the top of the ninth, but four Ramona runs in the bottom of that inning gave the Bulldogs a 10-9 win. Sixteen of Ramona’s 18 hits were singles with the exceptions being home runs by seniors Alexa Neil and Kim Reckling. Neil scored four runs and drove in three. Sophomore Cambria Jeffers also drove in three teammates. Jeffers had four hits while Neil, Reckling and sophomore Elle Roberts had three hits apiece.

A 5-2 league win April 20 at Escondido included junior Seneca Curo hitting safely in all three at-bats, including a home run. Curo had four hits, including a home run, and five runs batted in during the Bulldogs’ 16-0 triumph April 25 at Fallbrook. The game against the Warriors lasted only five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule and gave Ramona 40 consecutive league victories.

Vista High School won 53 consecutive Avocado West League games between 1974 and 1977, which is the CIF San Diego Section record for consecutive league wins. On April 24 High Tech High San Diego defeated Liberty Charter in a Summit League game for the Storm’s 40th consecutive league victory. The High Tech High and Ramona streaks were the second-longest in San Diego Section history, but both ended on consecutive days. High Tech High Chula Vista took an 8-3 victory over the Storm in the April 26 game at High Tech High San Diego. Ramona’s April 27 game at San Pasqual ended as a 2-1 Golden Eagles victory.

“San Pasqual has really improved this past year,” Slater said.

Roberts homered in the fourth inning for the game’s first run, but in the bottom of the sixth San Pasqual junior Annie Villalobos homered with a teammate on base.

“We didn’t have all aspects of our game that day,” Slater said. “You can’t win a ballgame by scoring one run.”

Only three Bulldogs struck out against junior Raquel Moore, but Moore limited Ramona to five hits and one walk.

“It wasn’t by errors, it wasn’t by mental mistakes. That game we just got beat,” Slater said. “It was disappointing, but I’ll take a loss like that over errors and mental mistakes.”

Two of Ramona’s hits were by freshman Ashlie Alshouse, who executed a sacrifice bunt in her other plate appearance and also stole a base.

Ramona’s next league match May 2 was a 6-4 home victory over Valley Center. The Jaguars took the May 7 game in Valley Center into extra innings, but two Ramona runs in the top of the eighth provided a 7-5 Bulldogs triumph.

“Overall I think the league has improved,” Slater said.

San Pasqual lost once to Escondido and once to Valley Center. Ramona’s May 9 home game against Escondido was an 8-2 Bulldogs win. The Bulldogs closed out league and regular-season play May 11 at home against Fallbrook. Three Ramona runs in the bottom of the fifth created a 16-6 score, which ended the game due to the mercy rule.

Including non-league games the Bulldogs won 10 of their final 12 regular-season games for a 15-12-1 overall record along with the 7-1 league mark.

Slater’s focus for the program is still on the long term, but how the team overcame its start to capture the league championship is part of that growth.

“I think the seniors have done a very good job of having that role model attitude,” Slater said. “I think the underclassmen have definitely listened and are taking in a lot of what the seniors say.”