This past week, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs came to an end for three of the city’s teams that qualified for the postseason, including the Pioneer and Woodland High School baseball teams and the Woodland Christian softball team.

Woodland High baseball

Despite gaining momentum in the three-game series by winning game two one day before, the Woodland High School varsity baseball team wasn’t able to get that coveted second win as they fell to Lincoln 7-6 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D5 semifinal on Thursday afternoon.

Lincoln took a quick lead and scored a run in the bottom of the first inning before Woodland responded with three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-1 lead. The fighting Zebras counted that with two more runs in the bottom of the second to tie it up at 3-3.

After a quiet third inning, the Wolves took their second lead of the game in the top of the fourth by scoring a run to make it 4-3. Lincoln, however, matched that run and tied it up again to make it 4-4.

After the Wolves failed to score in the top of the fifth, Lincoln put up three huge runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 7-4 lead. Despite responding with two runs in the top of the sixth to make it 7-6, it would not be enough as Lincoln held them off in the top of the seventh and advanced to the section title game.

Senior Joseph Cadotte led the way for the Wolves with 2 RBI and a hit. Freshman Riley Salvemini had a game-high 4 hits, to go with an RBI and run scored, while fellow Freshman Cohen Dwyer had 2 runs and 2 hits. Freshman Carlos Vazquez and sophomore PJ Pinegar had 2 hits each.

Woodland Christian softball

On Wednesday, the Woodland Christian softball team’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D5 playoff run came to an end following an 11-1 loss to No. 6 Ripon.

Despite going undefeated in the Sierra Delta League and winning the league championship, the Cardinals had an uphill battle to climb right out of the gates, as they were only awarded the D5 No. 11 overall seed, meaning they likely would have continued to have to play on the road during the entirety of their playoff run.

Despite the lopsided score, the game was much closer than it seemed, as it was a 2-1 game going into the sixth inning.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Ripon added a back-breaking nine-run inning to go up 11-1 and activate the 10-run mercy rule, not allowing the Cardinals to take one last crack at it with a round of at-bats.

Senior Teagan Hayes had the team’s lone RBI, while Kaylee Michel scored the only run. Hayes and Adison Huiskens had two hits each, while sophomore Reese Huiskens and junior Kylee Bihlman had a hit each.

Pioneer High baseball

Last Friday, the Patriots lost a close 3-2 game to the No. 1-seeded Oakmont in the CIF SJS D3 quarterfinals.

In the game before, the No. 8-seeded Patriots defeated the No. 9-seeded Patterson 8-3 in the opening round. Pioneer earned the No. 8 seed in D3 thanks to a 9-3 debut season in the Monticello Empire League, earning a share of the league title alongside Rodriguez.

Oakmont jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning that soon ballooned to 3-0 after five. The Patriots did manage to score two in the top of the seventh to come agonizingly close to extending the game, but Oakmont prevailed 3-2.