Del Oro gets revenge against Oak Ridge: CIF NorCal regional softball championship roundup

Lance Smith

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Del Oro gets revenge against Oak Ridge: CIF NorCal regional softball championship roundup image

Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2024-25 California high school sports year closed on Saturday with an exciting day of softball and baseball regional championships.

In Division I of NorCal softball, Del Oro got the last laugh in one of California's premier rivalries.

Here's a quick recap of the five CIF Northern California regional softball finals.

DIVISION I: Del Oro 5, Oak Ridge 3

The Sierra Foothill League juggernauts did battle for the fourth time this season, and it finished in a 2-2 split. After they split two conference meetings and Oak Ridge won 3-2 in the CIF-Sac Joaquin Section championship, Del Oro struck early to finish on top, winning 5-3 to take home the NorCal regional crown. And the Golden Eagles reportedly did it with just 10 players while missing some key names.

Del Oro went up 3-0 in the first inning and never looked back, going up 4-0 in the fourth before Oak Ridge got on the board in the fifth. Del Oro tacked on another insurance run in the top of the seventh, but Oak Ridge nearly came back from down 5-1, scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning and getting the tying run to the plate before Del Oro shut the door. It was a complete game victory for sophomore ace Mikayla Finn, who finished the season 21-1 with a 1.13 ERA in a hefty 148.1 innings of work.

Freshman Caelyn Campos had one more clutch performance in the tank for Del Oro, going 3-4 with three doubles and coming around to score twice.

The Golden Eagles finished 31-2, and a perfect 29-0 against all opponents besides Oak Ridge.

DIVISION II: Salinas 4, Liberty (Brentwood) 1

Abi Jones closed out her high school career with another gem. She held a strong Lions offense that was one day removed from scoring 17 runs to two hits, one walk, one run, and zero earned runs in a complete game victory with 12 strikeouts. Salinas scored one run in each of the first three innings and tacked on one more in the fifth while Liberty scored its only run in the top of the third. Gigi Rossi was the star of the night on offense, going 3-4 with a home run and a double for Salinas.

DIVISION III: Hillsdale 1, Cardinal Newman 0

It was the pitchers' duel of pitchers' duels as Hillsdale walked it off in the bottom of the seventh with the game's only run – after getting no-hit for the first six innings. Lola Jones held the Cardinals to three hits with no runs, no walks, and seven strikeouts to nullify a brilliant pitching performance in turn by Callie Howard (6.1 innings, two hits, two walks, eight K's, one run). Mia DeMartini ended Howard's no-hit bid with a double and scored on a base hit from Taylor O'Mahony.

DIVISION IV: East Nicolaus 4, San Leandro 0

East Nicolaus finished the season on a nine-game winning streak to claim at both the Northern Section Division V and NorCal regional Division IV stages, capped off by a shutout of San Leandro. Stevie Knight turned in nearly a perfect two-way performance to end her career as a Spartan, cooking up a one-hit shutout with eight strikeouts and batting 4-4 with an RBI.

DIVISION V: Biggs 4, King City 2

Biggs outlasted King City 4-2 in the only regional championship played on Friday. Allie Little went 3-4, Mailey Seipert went 2-3 with a walk, and Arden Vines went 2-4 with each player scoring one run. Despite not recording a hit, Riley Harrison drove in two runs and scored once.

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Lance Smith

Lance has covered high school basketball, football and softball since 2019. A graduate of The USC Marshall School of Business, Smith dabbles in linear algebra and football and basketball computer rankings.