Champs! Freshman phenom powers Capital Christian to NorCal softball title; Sutter wins big

Joe Davidson
·4 min read

Neither club expected this before the start of the season, but on Saturday, the final day of the CIF sports schedule for the 2022-23 season, two Sacramento-area programs celebrated hard-earned championships.

The Capital Christian softball team had to blend a new team of incoming freshmen, upcoming junior varsity players and some transfers, and then the Cougars took off. A week after winning their first Sac-Joaquin Section championship in program history with just one senior on the roster, the Cougars became the first area softball program to win a CIF Northern California regional title, doing so with a 6-1 victory over visiting Orestimba to capture the Division III crown.

At about the same time an hour or so northwest of Capital Christian’s campus, the top-seeded Sutter Huskies capped their first season in this section in style, rolling Gridley 10-1 for the NorCal D-IV baseball championship.

Sutter will find room in a bloated trophy case to squeeze in the latest haul of hardware. The Huskies won eight of the previous nine Northern Section baseball championships, then moved into the much larger Sac-Joaquin Section and kept on rolling. Sutter lost to Gridley 7-5 in a nonleague contest in April and finished the season on a 16-1-1 tear, including going 7-0 in the playoffs under longtime coach Stewart Peterson.

Two other Sacramento-area programs lost on Saturday to Central Catholic of Modesto. In D-III softball, top-seeded Ponderosa fell to the No. 2 Raiders 7-0 in Shingle Springs. In D-III baseball action, Central Catholic topped Oakmont 5-2 in Modesto.

Softball

Capital Christian 6, Orestimba 1 — Freshman star Ayla Tuua doubled and tripled with two RBI at the plate and spun a two-hitter with two walks and 12 strikeouts, including the game-ender, to power the Cougars to their first NorCal title in any girls sport in finishing the season 19-5.

Capital Christian players who drove in a run included Abigail Rhee, Alannah Tuua, Savanna Newman and the lone senior in gritty catcher Nani Lose-Mahina. Second-year coach Caitlyn Olan said she sensed her team could do special things by midseason, once everyone was on the same page.

Capital Christian tied for second in the Capital Athletic League, beat longtime area power St. Francis 5-2 in a nonleague game on May 9 and then went 6-0 in the playoffs. Already a national recruit, the 5-foot-10 Ayla Tuua finished the season with a .545 average, 12 home runs and 52 RBI with a 7-0 record in the pitching circle.

Orestimba finished 25-5.

Central Catholic 7, Ponderosa 0 — A week after suffering a 1-0 loss to Ponderosa in the section D-III finals at Cosumnes River College, the Raiders and Cal-bound ace Randi Roelling turned the tables in El Dorado County to cap a 30-4 season.

Roelling tossed a perfect game, striking out nine to cap her prep career with 988 career strikeouts, including 19 in a NorCal semifinal win over Pleasant Valley of Chico on Thursday. Roelling got her offense going with a two-run home run in the first inning. Emori Machado homered and had an RBI double. Taryn Calderon had two run-scoring doubles.

Ponderosa, which won its first section championship in 41 years, finished 25-5-1.

Baseball

Sutter 10, Gridley 1 — The host Huskies cruised past their one-time Butte View League rivals, scoring early and often and receiving another inspired effort from Logan Yacavace, who drove in two at the plate and tossed a four-hitter with six strikeouts and zero walks.

Brady Wickum had three RBI, Rylan Giovannoni homered and had two RBI, and Matt Lorentz drove in two for Sutter, which finished 26-5-1. Wickum’s two-run single gave Sutter a 2-0 lead in the first inning and Yacavace’s two-run single made it 8-1 in the fifth.

Gridley, which finished 17-6, came in having posted recent playoff wins of 8-0, 13-0 and 2-0.

Central Catholic 5, Oakmont 2 — The visiting Vikings of Roseville loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and final inning and scored two runs, but the upset effort ended on a double-play as the second-seeded Raiders finished 24-8-1 and 8-1 in the playoffs.

Oakmont was a tired team but also one without excuses after winning its second section title since 2019. The Vikings took NorCal road trips of some 175 miles to Madera to beat Liberty 3-2 on Tuesday and then, two days later, nearly 210 miles to top-seeded Carmel to deliver a 6-1 semifinal win. Modesto was a 180-mile round trip.

Joel Roberts gave Central Catholic a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and TP Wentworth had a solo blast for a 4-0 lead in the fourth. Adrian Garcia struck out 11, walked two and allowed no earned runs in six innings for Central Catholic. Sophomore Trevor Wilson had three hits, a double and an RBI for Oakmont, which returns a host of players next season for veteran coach Paul Martinez. Junior Jayden Perkins and seniors Noah Rush and Dom Trujillo each had a hit for Oakmont.

Central Catholic’s Joel Roberts hit a two-run home run in the first inning during the Northern California Regional Division III championship game with Oakmont at Central Catholic High School in Modesto, Calif., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Central Catholic won the game 5-2.
Central Catholic’s Joel Roberts hit a two-run home run in the first inning during the Northern California Regional Division III championship game with Oakmont at Central Catholic High School in Modesto, Calif., Saturday, June 3, 2023. Central Catholic won the game 5-2.
Oakmont second baseman Trevor Wilson tags out Central Catholic runner Joel Roberts during the Northern California Regional Division III championship game at Central Catholic High School in Modesto, Calif., Saturday, June 3, 2023.
Oakmont second baseman Trevor Wilson tags out Central Catholic runner Joel Roberts during the Northern California Regional Division III championship game at Central Catholic High School in Modesto, Calif., Saturday, June 3, 2023.