Locked in a scoreless tie with visiting No. 10 Roseville on Tuesday, Manteca’s Lauren Moncada came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning with two out, Rayana Ladd on second and Baylee Willenbrink on first.
The Buffaloes freshman laced a sharp grounder past a diving Tigers shortstop on a 2-1 pitch, plating Ladd from second and giving host No. 7 Manteca a walk-off 1-0 win in opening-round action of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III softball playoffs.
“I was thinking that I had to get this done,” Moncada said. “I want to be the person to turn to at the end of the game.
“I felt on top of the world at the end.”
Buffaloes coach Josh Farris thinks Moncada plays above her freshman status.
“Lo (Lauren Moncada) is a freshman, but she doesn’t carry herself like a freshman,” Farris said. “She just has a swagger about her that is confident. As the catcher, she dares runners to try to run on her, she wants to be in that moment. So, when she came up, I was very confident she was going to get that done. That was a moment I know she was made for.”
Marissa San Nicolas belted a one-out double in the seventh for Manteca (17-8). Ladd was intentionally walked, and Baylee Willenbrink hit a comebacker to the pitcher, who threw San Nicolas out at third, bringing Moncada to the plate with Ladd on second.
“That was the first time I was ever intentionally walked,” Ladd said.
In the top half of the seventh, Kylee Crossman (double) led off for Roseville (13-14) with a towering fly ball deep into right field. Ladd chased it down for the first out of the frame, with the third out coming when Moncada fired to shortstop Willenbrink to cut down Taylor Black trying to steal second.
“I definitely prayed that I had that fly ball,” Ladd said. “I haven’t been playing right field all that long, I just started this year. It’s new, and I have to see the field differently. I knew that ball was going deep.”
Buffaloes pitcher Nayellys Torres (nine strikeouts, four hits, one intentional walk) found herself in a bit of a pickle in the sixth inning with the bases loaded, two outs and Tigers cleanup batter Jill Anderson at the plate. Torres then racked up her ninth strikeout of the day to end the threat.
“I just knew I had to throw strikes when the bases were loaded,” Torres said. “I know my defense has my back. So I just trust my defense, throw strikes and keep my confidence level up.
“I felt really confident in the first couple of innings. I started to get tired toward the end but I didn’t want to give up and I let my defense do its thing if I wasn’t getting my strikeouts.”
Leadoff batter J.V. Goldsmith doubled with two outs in the Roseville sixth. Karissa Avila hit a shot deep in the hole to Willenbrink for an infield single to advance Goldsmith to third. Torres then issued an intentional walk to No. 3 batter Bella Tonso, bringing Anderson to the plate for Torres to strike out. That was Anderson’s third strikeout, the second one in a row looking.
“I knew based on the numbers we had seen, their No. 2 and No. 3 hitters were spectacular,” Farris said. “With the swings I had seen from their No. 4 hitter, I thought Nellie could get us out of that jam.
“And she does that all the time where she just bears down and gets that meaningful out and obviously that was huge for us. We couldn’t be more proud of her. I think last year she threw 10 innings of one-run softball and today she threw seven innings of no-run softball. She’s a competitor.”
Manteca will travel to Shingle Springs to face second-seeded Ponderosa either Thursday or Friday at 4 p.m., with the day to be announced tonight.
