Brawley comes out swinging, stu s Del Norte 6-0
BRAWLEY — The Brawley Wildcats opened their CIFSDS Division II softball postseason Thursday afternoon with a 6-0 home victory over the Del Norte High School.
Showing no signs of rust after a week off following their regular-season-ending loss to Central, the Wildcats (26-6) were at their punchy best against the Nighthawks (15-12), riding a few sharp hits and stout defense to the win.
Jalyn Ayala got the start and the win for the Wildcats, tossing seven innings of four-hit ball, striking out six and walking one.
It was a windy day with the sky occasionally showing more brown than blue, but that didn’t really seem to register with the unflappable Ayala. She kept a steady hand on the tiller all game long, changing speeds, hitting her spots and trusting her fielders to make plays when they had to.
She came up especially clutch in the top of the third when, in a bit of a jam with runners at the corners and just one out, she reached deep into her bag of tricks and came up with back-toback strikeouts to end the threat and keep the game docked at zeroes.
That set the table for the game’s one true leap-out-of-your-seat moment in the bottom of the inning — a threerun, two-out homer by shortstop Savannah Contreras that caught the wind and floated out over the fence in right-center. That plated Haylee Garcia and Ayala (who reached on an infield single and a fielding error) to give the Wildcats the lead.
Contreras wasn’t done there. She was in the thick of the Wildcats’ other three-run rally two innings later. She fought off a long series of pitches from the Nighthawks’ Emma Giaime before finally hitting a sharp double to left to bring
home Ayala (who had again reached on an error) and shuttle Brianna Sandoval (running for Dilynn Gill, who had singled Ayala to third) over to the hot corner. Contreras eventually scored herself (along with Sandoval) on a twoRBI single by Mikalyn Emmanuelli to make it 6-0.
For all her individual heroics, Contreras was quick to pivot to team effort when asked what went into the day’s win.
“I’m just really proud of my teammates,” she said. “We all came together. We knew the first game of CIF was gonna be tough, and we just wanted to come out and work.”
As for her personal approach at the plate? It was simple enough: “We knew the wind was gonna be a big factor in the game today. I just tried to drive the ball to right-center, and I did … and that was that.”
Contreras is all in on this year’s team. She said she believes they’ve got the right stuff to make a championship run after sputtering in the finals last year.
“I love these girls so much. They’re really special. We all get along so well, and we feed off each other’s energy. … We want to get back in there and take it this year,” she said.
Brawley’s next opponent will be an intimately familiar one — the Valley’s own Southwest Eagles — whom the Wildcats will host in a Saturday game scheduled for 10 a.m.
The Wildcats swept the regular season series between the two schools, topping the Eagles 2-0, 2-1, but Southwest has hit their stride since then, and anything is possible.
Contreras said she respects what Southwest brings to the table and expects Saturday’s game to be a scrap.
“They have great pitching — Sadriena (Rodriguez) is a great pitcher,” Contreras said. “And they have a solid lineup throughout. We’ve just gotta come out and play our game and stay true to ourselves and hopefully we’ll come out with the win.”