Freshmen give Holtville softball new life in CIF playoffs
HOLTVILLE — The Holtville High softball team successfully returned to the CIF-San Diego Section playoffs after hosting Lincoln High of San Diego in a Div. V play-in game here on Tuesday afternoon.
The playoff appearance is a first for the Vikings in many seasons, which went into the game as the No. 5 seed and worked to defeat the No. 12 Hornets, 15-2, to advance to the double-elimination tourney, which picks up later today.
“I think the girls did a great job knowing that there was a lot of pressure on them,” Holtville High head softball coach Melissa Snyder said. “This is the first time a lot of them have even made it into CIF, so I think they played pretty well since they’re still kind of novice players in this sort of environment. I’m sure they were nervous, but they did well enough to win.”
Playing in a CIF game for the first time in her four-year softball career at Holtville was an exciting experience, Holtville senior Fernanda Reyes said.
“At first, I was really excited. I was really looking forward to it. I thought it went pretty good today,” Reyes said. “I was confident, but not cocky. I really thought we worked hard for this moment and I just want to keep winning.” Pitching for Holtville were freshmen Emily Zarate and Zamara Gutierrez. Zarate pitched the first four innings of the game, then Gutierrez finished the game.
Snyder noted that she has at least four freshmen starting on her team.
“This isn’t normal for them; this is a little bit more exciting,” the Holtville High head coach said. “It gives them a little more to play for.”
Going into the CIF game, the Vikings held an overall record of 8-14, and a winless record in Imperial Valley League play.
“IVL was a very, very long season,” Snyder said. “We played a lot of great teams, and I just told the girls to stay in the process and not to worry too much about the outcome. I told them we might’ve gotten beat pretty bad in the IVL, but remember this feeling, we want to be on the opposite side when it comes to CIF.”
The Holtville head coach expects her team to adjust and step it up a notch through each game of the playoffs.
“We just got to get out the kinks and just continue to get better, and we’re going to be there,” Snyder said. “We’re going to be fighting till the end.”
The Vikings are set to continue tournament play at 3:30 p.m. today in Chula Vista against No. 4 Bayfront Charter High.