At the end of the softball season, coach Brian Osborn’s optimism and pride in this year’s team seemed unrealistic. “This is the best hitting team that I ever coached,” he said. This, despite the team’s season-ending .500 record (12-12).
“Five hundred’s always the goal, you know,” said Osborn as the league season neared its end just two weeks ago. “If you could finish .500 or over, then I feel like we did a good job and it sets us up well for playoffs when we get back to playing teams that are our size.”
Now Osborn seems prophetic. When the NCS division 6 rankings were released, Healdsburg was seeded #2 – which meant they got a bye for the first game of the championship tournament. Come the second game on May 22, they defeated St. Patrick-St. Vincent by a score of 11-8.
And last night, Wednesday May 27, they took down #3 ranked Willits, 5-2. It marked the third time this season they have defeated the Mendocino County team, but this time it placed them in the division championship game to take place Friday, on their home field in Healdsburg.
Last night in, the #1 seed Swett was upset by #5 ranked Justin-Sienna, 15-12. The Braves had to work hard the whole game to beat the Warriors, capped by a six-run fifth inning that put them ahead 10-4 at the end of five. Swett came back with two four-run innings, but the Napa County team kept up with their own four-run sixth to hold onto the lead.
That sets up the Lady Hounds for the division playoff game on Friday, May 29, against the Lady Braves. It’s a team that Healdsburg defeated handily on May 5, scoring a season-high 30 runs against 12 for the Braves.
“I am proud of this team,” said Osborn following the Willits victory. “They put in the work and have continued to improve. They are each other’s biggest fans and hopefully we can continue that for one more game.”
If the odds, the seeds and past results are any indication, a second NCS division title might come to Healdsburg on Friday night, this time a Division 6 title. In April the basketball Lady Hounds took the Division 5 title – the first division title for Healdsburg since 1991, 35 years ago.
Should the softball girls follow the basketball girls in winning a division title, it will be a rare double division championship for Healdsburg in a single year.
Baseball footnote
Across campus, the baseball varisty Greyhounds also made the division playoffs, and were also seeded #2. They were the big winners of their first-round game 9-0 over Kennedy. In the second round, however, they lost 4-0 to Sonoma Valley’s Dragons on Friday, May 23. And it is the Dragons who are now lined up to play in the division championship final Saturday against Montgomery, the North Bay Redwood league pennant winners.
