Third-seeded Capital Christian did all of its damage with two outs, and freshman wunderkind Ayla Tuua handled the rest in a 5-2 win at No. 2 Ripon in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinal on Tuesday.
Tuua tallied a season-high 18 strikeouts in a dominant no-hitter, leading the Cougars (15-5) from Sacramento to their fourth SJS championship game and first since 2010 when they captured their first tile. They’ll face defending champ and top seed Dixon (22-6) on Saturday at Cosumnes River College starting at 1 p.m.
“She’s been getting better and better and better,” Capital Christian coach Caitlyn Olan said. “The kid smiles on the mound, is having a great time, and the team has her back and supporting her.
“She’s had performances like that throughout the season. She’s a stud, and she’s unstoppable at this point. I hope that she continues being the humble and great person she is on and off the field. The future is bright for her.”
For Ripon (14-5), it’s the second straight year it has been stopped short of the title round. In fact, it was Dixon that eliminated the Indians at this stage last season. Ripon coach Tanner Jordan came away impressed from Capital Christian. Like his Indians, the Cougars have only one senior on their roster.
“That’s the team to beat right there,” Jordan said. “They are very talented, and they’re going to be good for a while. They have a lot of good young players. Nothing you can do but just tip your hat.
“I’m just happy with the way we competed with them, honestly. My team didn’t back down for a second, and it would have been real easy in a couple of those moments to give up, but they stuck with it and played with all heart. That’s all I can ask for.”
Ripon pitcher Kharime Caratachea did well to keep her club in within range, but the Indians had no answer for the hard-throwing Tuua. She only allowed three balls to be put in play, two of them by Ripon senior Peyton Naranjo.
The William Penn University-bound outfielder popped out to second base and grounded out to the pitcher but was also one of three Ripon batters to reach base, doing so with a five-pitch walk.
“She’s a good pitcher, and honestly I think we were just intimidated,” Naranjo said, adding that her squad had trouble catching up to Tuua’s velocity. “If we were able to see her more, we would have been able to hit her.
“We’re a young team,” Naranjo added. “I’m the only senior, but I think they’ll be good next year and win a Section championship, for sure. This definitely shows them what playoffs is all about, especially with the better pitching. We don’t normally see that in our league.”
Ripon actually took the first lead in the second inning. Izabelle Spurzem drew a walk, advanced twice on passed balls and hustled home after the pickoff to third was offline.
Capital Christian responded in the top of the third. Kelsey Joiner led off with a walk and was bunted to second by Maddilyn Woodcock. With two outs, Ripon opted to intentionally walk Tuua, who is also among the Section’s top hitters with a 0.566 batting average, 12 home runs and 48 RBIs coming into the contest.
Clean-up hitter Hailey Alkire made the Indians pay, crushing a two-run triple to right. Naranjo nearly tracked down line drive in the gap, but the ball glanced off the tip of her mitt.
The Cougars plated all of their runs with two outs. Joiner finished 2 for 2 with two RBI singles. Alannah Tuua singled and scored on an infield error for an insurance run in the seventh.
“Those were the biggest moments,” Olan said. “Not only does it get the offense going, but for the defense, it’s the hardest thing to come back from. You get two outs, and you think you’re going to get the third, and then you prove them wrong. It really brings the team together. It’s big moments like that that puts runs in the board.”
Capital Christian totaled eight hits against Caratachea, who struck out six and walked five. Offensively, she was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, and courtesy runner Addyson Wilmshurst scored on a passed ball to close the Indians in, 3-2.
“Just her composure alone was helpful,” Jordan said of Caratachea. “Even after (giving up) a hit, she shrugged it off and smiled and helped everyone to stay in it. That’s a team that can put up a lot of runs on the board, and to be able to hold them to a few hits and five runs, we’ll take that.
“If our bats could come alive for a little bit, I feel that we could have given her more support, but she did a great job of stepping up for the team.”
