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It’s been an up-and-down season for the Foothill High girls’ softball team – and a 13-11 overall record shows exactly that.
But it’s a young team and it can take a while to find a rhythm. The next-to-last game of the regular season, the Falcons turned in their worst game of the season, making 11 errors in a 13-1 loss to Carondelet.
“It’s been a rough year figuring things out,” Foothill coach Greg Chandler said.
By going 11-11 during the regular season in arguably the toughest league in the section, the Falcons got a North Coast Section berth in the D-II playoffs.
But because of the .500 record, the best they could get was a No. 9 seed, which meant it was time to go on the road. It wasn’t anything new for the program, as last year they were on the road for three straight NCS games.
This year’s journey started with a game against three-time NCS defending champions Cardinal Newman, as they won D-IV three years ago, D-III two years ago, then D-II last year.
The Cardinals may have been a little full of themselves.
“Their coach made a point of telling me they had won three in a row,” Chandler said. “I said, OK, then went and told the girls what he had said.”
By the end of the day, Foothill made sure it would not be four in a row and dumped the Cardinals 11-3.
That set up a second-round game with Marin Catholic, the top-seed in D-II and for the second time in three days, a trip up to the North Bay.
This time the two teams battled through 11 innings with the score tied 5-5 – and since NCS insists on starting the games later in the day, darkness put a halt to the game.
Chandler was staring at Foothill’s Senior Ball on Saturday so he had no choice but to ask for an early start time.
“I asked for the 9 a.m. start because something like 12 and we wouldn’t be getting home at 4 p.m. and we didn’t want the (senior) girls feeling rushed,” Chandler said.
Since it was after 8 p.m. on Friday, Marin Catholic happily agreed to the 9 a.m. start as it meant a quick turnaround for Foothill.
“We didn’t get out of there until 8:30 p.m., so that put us home around 10 p.m.,” Chandler said. “We left (Saturday) at 6:45 a.m., but the girls showed up ready to play.”
Chandler and assistant Derek Perez had one little bit of information they saved to tell the girls Saturday morning. Since the other quarterfinal was a Casa Grande (No. 12) against Rancho Cotate (No. 13) game, if the Falcons could pull off the upset, they would host the semifinals.
“We didn’t say anything Friday,” Chandler said. “But before the game Saturday we told the girls what was out there.”
Foothill scored a run in the top of the 12th, but Marin matched the run and had the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning. The Falcons got a big break when a Marin bunt appeared like it would score the game winner, but the ball hit the batter out of the box, which was an automatic out and a dead ball.
In the 13th, winning pitcher Myra Galzie did damage at the plate, ripping a shot over the centerfielder’s head, scoring two runners.
In the bottom half of the inning, Galzie struck out the first batter, then got a flyout to left, followed by a fly ball to right that freshman Genevieve Duncalf ran down to end the game.
“I told the girls this was the best softball game I had seen,” Chandler said. “The girls deserved it.”
Now they have a semifinal at home against Casa Grande on Wednesday. It’s the first home NCS home game since 2019. And the Falcons are playing on house money.
“I think so,” said Chandler, about playing on the house. “But (the girls) have earned it.”
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
