One and done. Calexico’s historic season ends in El Cajon
Playing in the program's first ever state playoff game, Calexico fell behind early and never recovered
EL CAJON, Calif. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - For the first time in program history, the Calexico Bulldogs softball team played in the CIF South Region State Tournament. On Tuesday, the #8 seeded Bulldogs traveled to El Cajon to face the top seed in Division III, Granite Hills.
Both teams were making their first appearance in the state playoffs. Calexico entered as the CIF San Diego Section Division III champions. Granite Hills, the champions of Division II. In a wild coincidence, the last time Calexico won the CIF Division championship was on May 28th, 2016. This year, they won their second crown on May 28th.
Calexico's hopes of advancing in the state playoffs were dashed early and often. Granite Hills scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning, added two more in the second and in the blink of an eye, Calexico found themselves in a deep hole at 7-0.
Granite Hills added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on back to back solo homeruns with two out. Heading into the fifth inning, Calexico trailed 9-0 and was in danger of being mercy ruled.
"The silver lining of this yes, at one point the the score just kind of took us away from maybe the possibility of winning," Calexico head coach Jennifer Lopez said. "But, it also gave me an opportunity to allow every single one of my players to come in and just savor that moment. I made sure that every girl had an opportunity to play because all 14 girls contributed to the success of this program this season."
The Bulldogs showed their toughness and resilience. Andrea Lopez hit a solo homerun in the top of the six. Lopez put herself into the Bulldog record books as the first player to score a run in a state tournament game and the first to also hit a homerun.
"Going up to that at bat I didn't even think that this could possibly be my last ever at bat," Lopez said. "I fouled a few off and just told myself, just hit the ball hard, you have nothing to lose."
The Bulldogs hung on to extend the game the full distance, falling 9-1 and seeing their wonderful season come to a close.
"We really didn't know what to expect this season," Senior Natalie Gonzalez said. "We just came into the season to try to win some games. We had about seven young girls on the team that are new and all we could do was have a positive mindset. We got some good results."
"This was just icing on the cake," Coach Lopez said. "Whatever happened from here on out was just adding to the proudness that I felt for them. The journey they've had is amazing."
Calexico finished the season with a record of 24-8. The 24 wins surpasses the 23 games won by the 2015-16 team. That team won the program's first ever CIF SDS Division title. Calexico says goodbye to five seniors, Andrea Lopez, Alyssa Galaviz, Shanelle "Shorty" Gascon, Liah Valdez and Natalie Gonzalez.
