For the first time in 17 years, the Denair High softball team stepped onto their home field for the first time for a playoff game. And they relished in the moment in front of a large crowd of people dressed in purple, putting up 20 runs on 17 hits, including a 10-run sixth inning, to pull away late from Lodi’s Elliot Christian and win 20-10 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII quarterfinal.
The No. 2 Coyotes (13-9) now set their sights on a semifinal date with No. 6 Vacaville Christian, who knocked off No. 3 Delta Charter of Tracy by a 23-11 score. The semifinal on Thursday will again take place at Denair High School, and has a scheduled first pitch of 4 p.m.
As for Tuesday’s game, Elliot Christian scored a run in each of the first two frames, but it was not enough to take a lead as the Coyotes scratched across three of their own in the home half of the first. A four-run second inning extended the Denair lead to 7-2.
But the Eagles refused to go down without a fight, cutting the deficit with two runs in the third. After the Coyotes scored two runs on an error in the bottom of the third, the Eagles smacked four hits and scored four runs to make it a one-run game at 9-8.
The Coyotes brought in an insurance run in the fourth, but EC quickly tied the contest at 10 in the fifth.
Denair, after blowing their big lead, took out their frustration in the bottom of the sixth, scoring 10 runs on nine hits, two walks and an EC throwing error to force a mercy-rule ending.
Following the 30-run marathon, the box score showed that each Coyote in the lineup reached base at least twice. Leading the way in the hits columns was junior Brealyn Marroquin with four, driving in two runs in the process. She also worked a walk.
Fellow junior Daisy Rosas knabbed three hits and another two RBI, while senior ace Makayla Dayton drove in a team-high three runs on a pair of base knocks. Freshman Hayden Stucker, sophomore Kenzie Prine and junior Cloey Ellerd each had two hits on the afternoon.
Dayton started the game on the bump, and despite exiting in a 10-10 game, allowed only five earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out six in her four innings of work. Prine came on in relief for the last six outs, holding the Eagles hitless and scoreless.
“They were sleepwalking there the first couple innings behind, which they’ve done a few times this year, but they woke up and adjusted and were able to put all those runs up,” said second-year head coach Andy Dayton.
The win was also the first for Denair since that 2008 season.
Dayton admitted that he felt some of the players were anxious about playing in front of a big crowd and extra cameras with as high of stakes as they’ve ever played for, but that the adversity they faced Tuesday and their ability to pull away can be huge for their confidence moving forward.
“We explained to them the history and they did come in a little shook because they haven't seen anything this big,” Dayton explained. But I told them to act like you've been here. It’s no different than you playing this team in preseason, and they got the message.”
More than half of Dayton’s roster of 14 are underclassmen, though 10 were around for last season when they just missed out on the postseason with an 8-12 record in the regular season. Following the season, and even in years prior, the skipper had a hunch the group could accomplish something special.
“I've been around these girls around five or six years, with a lot of them playing in Little League in Turlock,” said Dayton, who first joined the Denair program as an assistant in 2023. “I saw the talent they had, they were just undiscovered.”
Offense has been the key for Denair, and Tuesday’s marathon game was nothing out of the ordinary. The Coyotes have sported a respectable .356 batting average as a team with 195 hits and 172 runs batted in, all above national averages, per MaxPreps. They’ve scored 220 runs while allowing 154, though only 91 have been earned.
“When I came here to coach, I said I wanted change here,, and we have the girls to do it,” Dayton said. “The girls didn’t realize what they could do, and so me and Coach Chad (Boucher) just put them in practice and pushed and pushed and pushed, corrected the flaws, and now they’re finally starting to see it all pay off and realize how far they can go.
“Winning a section championship has never happened here. These girls can accomplish something nobody has ever done before.”
SOFTBALL ACTION CONTINUES WEDNESDAY
Wednesday is when all other divisions get underway.
Up in the Division I bracket, Turlock’s team was dealt a heavy hand and matched up with top-seeded Del Oro.
The No. 16 Bulldogs went 12-15 in the regular season and placed third in the Central California Athletic League at 9-6, winning four of their last five games against conference opponents.
Meeting them in Loomis is a Golden Eagles team that has lost just one of 26 games. They won the mighty Sierra Foothill League at 13-1 and are riding a 14-game winning streak.
The winner will meet either No. 8 Mountain House or No. 9 Davis in Friday’s quarterfinal.
Division V is where Hughson landed, earning a home game as the No. 8 team.
The Huskies went 14-8-1 in the regular season and were a runner-up, two games behind 9-1 Ripon in the Trans-Valley League.
They’ll welcome No. 9 Ben Holt College Prep Academy of Stockton, who’ll enter Wednesday's contest 14-9 and as this year’s champion of the Central California Athletic Alliance at 7-1.
No. 1 Casa Roble or No. 16 Union Mine will meet the winner Friday in the quarterfinal round.
Also earning a home game is Hilmar in the Division VI bracket.
The No. 5 Yellowjackets, 10-11 in the regular season and 4-6 (fourth place) in the TVL, will welcome No. 12 Summerville to town.
The Bears sported a 10-12 record in the regular season and were 6-9 in the Mother Lode League, landing in fifth place.
The winner will face No. 4 Amador or No. 13 Colfax in the quarterfinal on Friday.
All games have a scheduled first pitch of 4 p.m.
