RB’S VAUGHAN COMES UP BIG

RANCHO BERNARDO

Kayla Vaughan is not like most of the softball pitchers to come out of Rancho Bernardo High School. Mostly, they are tall, quick with a pitch and intimidating in the circle.

Hurlers like Laura Winter, Sara White, Allison Boaz and Melissa May — all Division I college pitchers — seem to show up on the Broncos’ doorstep whenever they are needed.

There’s even current senior Maddie Hulse, who also kind of fits that mold.

But Vaughan looks more like she just showed up from math class and volunteered to pitch.

Vaughan, a senior, pitched a complete-game one-hitter Thursday in a 5-0 victory for the No. 2-seeded Broncos over No. 6 Torrey Pines in the second round of the San Diego Section Open Division playoffs.

“We have Maddie and Kayla this year, so we have a 1A and a 1B when it comes to pitchers,” Broncos coach Summer Boyle said.

Vaughan allowed just a second-inning single by Falcons freshman catcher Mina Crouch.

The small, skinny righthander walked one Torrey hitter and struck out nine.

By the time Crouch got that hit, the Broncos (24-4) already had a 2-0 lead thanks to run scoring singles by Ellery Housand and Mia Cascio in the first inning.

That was all the Broncos needed to advance to skip playing Saturday, idle in the winner’s bracket until next Tuesday’s third-round game at home in the double-elimination tournament.

“I was a little nervous at the start, but I relaxed as the game wore on,” said Vaughan, who improved to 8-0 and is headed to the Art Institute of San Francisco in the fall. “Getting those first-inning runs took all the pressure off everyone and we just played our game. I just trusted my defense the rest of the way.”

Torrey Pines (20-8) has an offense that averages 5.8 runs a game, but Vaughan flustered the Falcons all day. They managed one runner into scoring position and went hitless over the final five innings.

“Kayla gets more strikeouts because of her riseball and Maddie throws more sinkers and gets more grounders,” Boyle said. “Since they’re both seniors, we’re just trying to enjoy them the rest of the time they’re here.”

Now 12-0 at home, the Broncos also have a 12-game winning streak since a 1-0 loss to Anaheim Esperanza on April 1.

Senior shortstop Keely Gousha, who is headed to Boise State, was 4-for-4 — all singles — and an RBI.

Housand was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Cascio was 1-for-2 with a second RBI on a sacrifice fly in the third inning.