Barstow knocks Beaumont out of CIF softball playoffs
Hannah Ulibarri celebrates the Barstow Aztecs, 5-4, victory over the Beaumont Cougars in a CIF Southern Section Division V Wild Card game at Beaumont on Tuesday.
By Bob Otto / Staff Photographer
BEAUMONT - When they needed her to reach deep and throw her best pitches, Hannah Ulibarri responded like a senior veteran softball pitcher.
Except for one thing - she's not a senior, and she's not a veteran - at least in terms of years of high school pitching experience.
Ulibarri, just a 15-year-old freshman, pitched seven strong innings in leading the Barstow Aztecs to a 5-4 victory over the Beaumont Cougars in the wild card round of the CIF Southern Section Division V Playoffs at Beaumont High School on Tuesday.
With her teammates supporting her with a 4-0 lead, Ulibarri carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and was working on a one-hitter into the sixth, when the Beaumont bats suddenly came to life and erupted for four hits to even the score at 4-4.
Beaumont appeared to seize the momentum, but a fielding error and errant throw allowed Barstow to retake the lead for good in the top of the seventh.
Now the pressure fell on Ulibarri. Could she hold Beaumont - which had gotten to her in the sixth - and get three more outs and nail down the win? Two fly ball outs and a game-ending strikeout answered that question.
"She has been battling like that all year," said Barstow Head Coach, Daron Banks. "In the sixth, she started getting her pitches high and missing a little, but she was able to pull herself up and she battled back in the seventh with good pitches and by hitting her spots."
With the win, the Aztecs improve to 13-9 and move into the first round of Div. V Playoffs where they will take on Calvary of Murrieta, the #1 seed from the Big Sky Conference. Meanwhile, Beaumont finishes its season at 15-10, 10-4 in the Mountain Pass League and the #3 seed.
For Beaumont coach, Jim Tickemyer, the loss came down to who made the plays and who didn't. "We started to hit her hard towards the end, but they played good defense and they made the plays," he said, "and a couple of times we didn't and it ended up costing us the game."
The Cougars'Alyssa Fuimaono, also a freshman, pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing 2 earned runs, while striking out 6. Kristen Monroe relieved Fuimaono in the sixth and took the loss, but she pitched well, allowing two hits, and an unearned run.
Barstow scored a single run in the first on Alyssa Maldonado's leadoff double and she later scored on a passed ball. Then in the fifth, Maldonado belted an inside rise ball high and deep over the centerfield fence to push the Aztec's advantage to 2-0. The Aztecs added two more runs in the sixth on three hits, but were aided by two Beaumont errors to take a 4-0 lead.
But the Cougars answered back in their half of the inning to draw even. Beaumont bunched together four consecutive hits - a lead off single by Skyler Valdivia, followed by Lauren Chatigny's bunt single - and then Jayme Tickemyer doubled to left to bring home Valdivia.
And that set the plate for shortstop Jackie Roberts, who led the Cougars with 34 RBI's during the regular season. The hard-hitting shortstop, batting #3 in the lineup, ripped a double to left field to score two more runs. And a delayed steal sent courtesy runner Lauren Hernandez racing home with the tying run.
But Ulibarri toughened by getting three straight outs, all on ground balls, to escape further damage.
"She is an amazing freshman," said Alyssa Maldonado (3-for-4). "She always has a positive attitude and never gets down."
How did the freshman handle her first-ever CIF Playoff game? With a veteran attitude.
"They had started to hit me a lot," Ulibarri said (13-8 record, 1.62 ERA, 145 innings, 99 strikeouts). "I told myself to relax and pitch my game and don't give up."
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hey this is hannah ulibarri from varsity on BHS.:) thankyou for all the nice comments!
You pitched a very fine game and pitched yourself out of trouble in the sixth inning, and had a strong close in the seventh, so you were one of the lead subjects in the game story. You did a great job of pitching this year, congratulations to you and your team. Bob Otto