TOKAY WINS TCAL TOURNAMENT
The Tokay High girls golf team is looking ahead rather than back after surprising the Tri-City Athletic League with a victory at the TCAL Final on Monday.
The Tigers shot 474 as a team, ahead of second-place Lodi at 490 and third-place St. Mary’s at 499. In the final TCAL standings, Tokay finished third at 104-1 (the league final acts as a dual match against all five other teams, so Tokay added five wins to its league record, Lodi added four wins and a loss, and St. Mary’s added three wins and two losses).
“It was really exciting. I’m really proud of them,” Tokay coach Kasey Ota said. “Going in, I felt we were kind of underdogs, and the girls have worked really hard this season, so that was really exciting for them.”
Lodi finished with a 13-2 record for the TCAL title, and St. Mary’s finished second with an 11-4 record.
Aleesa Ohata led the Tigers with an 80 on the par-73 Elkhorn Golf Club in Stockton. Elisa Cabrera added a 91, Hannah Hauschildt had a 93, Mariko Hashimoto and Annika Hauschildt each had 105s, and Emma Jellen had a 121. The top three of Ohata, Cabrera and Hannah Hauschildt will move on to the Division I tournament as individuals.
“I think they were playing a lot smarter, managing the course, learning to play different situations,” Ota said. “Especially when you’re playing 18 holes instead of nine, you have different situations that come up.”
The one tie in Tokay’s record came from a 259-259 tie against Tracy on Sept. 26. A win there would have sent Tokay into a tie
with St. Mary’s in the final standings at 11-4, which would have been settled with a playoff for the second team qualifying spot from the TCAL to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Tournament, which is next Monday at Timber Creek Golf Course in Roseville.
“You can always think if this had went different, or if that went different, that’s so many things along the way where one stroke counts,” Ota said. “So yeah, we could have gone on to a playoff with St. Mary’s, but in the grand scheme of things I’m proud of the improvements we made this season, and I’m proud of the way they competed on a difficult course today.”
For Lodi, Amelia Garibaldi tied for the tournament’s low medalist with a 76. The Flames that followed were Delaney Vasquez at 96, Desiree Vasquez at 105, Reese Koenig at 106, Kerrie Nickel at 107 and Meagan Ky at 133.
“Under the circumstances, I thought we played reasonable well. Amelia at 76 is out of this world,” Lodi co-coach Jim Staal said. “And our 4-5-6 players really came through. Reese shot 106 and Kerrie shot 107, which doesn’t sound like impressive scores, but on a day like today it was. We had an advantage with out depth.”
The Division I tournament will send six teams and nine individuals to the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament, which is back in Stockton at The Reserve at Spanos Park.