STOCKTON – If it is always darkest before the dawn, it is a wonder the lights were not on Saturday afternoon on Don Smiley Field at the Arnaiz Softball Complex.
Ripon was trailing Linden by a run in the bottom seventh inning of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship softball game, had two outs, nobody on and a two-strike count to Felicia Ceja when Ceja staved off elimination with a foul ball.
Then the sun started to peek through. Down to her last strike, Ceja got around on one and ripped it down the left-field line for a single. Shay Furtado was up next and blasted a double to the left-center field wall, scoring Ceja from first to tie the game and Furtado took third on the throw home.
And then things went from dawn to high noon as Taylor Jaquez took the first pitch she saw and deposited it into left field, scoring Furtado and giving the Indians their first softball blue banner in school history with a heart-stopping 7-6 walk-off win.
“I was thinking ‘I really want a hit right now,’” Ceja said of her last at bat. “I was in the heat of the moment and I was thinking of music – trying to clear my head and get a good hit.
“I definitely thought it was my pitch. It was right there – inside pitch – and ready to go right up the line.”
Jaquez had a myriad of things going through her mind as she made the journey to the batter’s box with bedlam erupting around her.
“When I went up to bat I was so scared I was almost crying,” Jaquez said. “Because I hate being in that type of situation and then I realized this is what you play softball for and these are the moments that you live for and will remember the most.
“So I took a deep breath, talked to coach and went out there, hit the ball and had fun.”
Ripon coach Robert Vernon had some calming words for Jaquez.
“I told her that in the grand scheme of things this is not near as important as growing up and having kids,” Vernon said. “This is important but this is not the most important thing that is going to happen.
“I told her what she needed to do was to crush the first strike she saw, and that is exactly what happened.”
Furtado had a hot bat for the Indians (22-4) on Saturday. In the first game with the Lions (24-7) – a 4-2 Linden win to set up the winner-take-all championship tilt – the Ripon sophomore had a solo home run, hit a second one over the fence just outside the foul pole and hit a third one to the wall.
In the second game, she was hit her first two times at bat and struck out before launching her game-tying double.
“I was just looking for a strike and I was ready to hit whatever came to me,” Furtado said. “I was thinking something in my zone and just put it in play.”
Trailing 6-2 early in the finale, Vernon was wondering early what his team’s fortunes would be.
“About the second inning I looked over at my assistant coach and told him I did not know what God had in store for us right now,” Vernon said. “But we are about to find out. And after Jaquez’s hit, I found out what God had in store for us.”
In that second inning Vernon replaced his senior pitching ace Daniel Sperry. The four-year starter sported a 1.05 ERA this year, but got knocked around a bit and took the loss in the first game and had been tagged for six runs – albeit behind three errors – in the first one-plus innings of the second contest.
“I came out and made a pitching change and that was very difficult for me to do,” Vernon said. “We rode her (Sperry) for four years and she has been lights-out for us and normally you would win or lose with your horse, but she didn’t have her best stuff and we didn’t help her out a lot.”
Vernon went with sophomore Lillian Dillard, and with three across in the second already and a runner on first with no out, Dillard got a double play on her first pitch. Third baseman Hoku Lee snagged a line drive and then fired to Jennica Baldwin at first to double up the runner. The next batter flew out to end the inning and Linden would not score again.
“She (Dillard) did not give up any runs and she kept them at bay,” Vernon said. “I know how our lineup can hit and in between innings I just kept telling the girls to keep their heads high and keep after it.”
In just her fifth appearance all year, that opening double play helped set Dillard at ease. 
“That double play helped me relax a little,” Dillard said. “I was more comfortable with the game after that.
“I knew that the defense had my back and I was pitching for grounders and popups and hoping for the best.”
After the Lions took advantage of two first-inning errors to take a 3-0 lead in the finale, Jaquez got her first RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the frame to plate Lee. Ceja came home on a wild pitch to make the score 3-2.
In the third inning, Mikaela Ferreira (2 for 4, RBI) singled and eventually scored on an error to cut the lead to 6-3. Baldwin then singled in Furtado to come within 6-4. In the fourth, Hana Lee beat out a bunt single, took second on a sacrifice bunt by Hoku Lee and raced home on Ferreira’s single to make the score 6-5 where it would stay until the tumultuous seventh.
Furtado’s solo home run in the second inning of the opener gave Ripon its only lead at 1-0. The Indians tied it at 2-2 in the fifth when Ferreira singled in Karla Calderon. Then in the seventh the Indians committed an error which help lead to a pair of runs for Linden for the win. 
“I took a first strike,” Furtado said of the at-bat when she hit the home run. “So I wanted to redeem myself.
“I saw the next one and it was my pitch”
Also the Lions’ football coach, Mark Miller has seen his share of fantastic finishes and knows that Saturday’s championship is something neither team will soon forget.