The push for the playoffs is officially over, and now, area teams will eagerly await their destinies.

The Turlock, Pitman and Hilmar programs each ended their regular seasons this week in the win column, while Turlock Christian and Denair dropped their final contests. The Bulldogs, Yellowjackets and Eagles each have automatics berths to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, while the Pride and Coyotes must hope that they are ranked within the top 15 of their respective divisions in order to see their schools featured in the playoff brackets that will be released Saturday.

Turlock starter Dutch Lawrence tossed 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball and Jadon Boyer nabbed an RBI single in the first inning in a 1-0 win at Downey on Wednesday. Boyer had another two hits and three RBI on senior day Friday as the Bulldogs, back at Mark de la Motte Field, dominated in a 10-1 win over the Knights to cap off a three-game sweep. The floodgates opened for the Turlock offense after a go-ahead, two-run home run to center in the fourth inning to make it a 4-1 ballgame. On the pitching side, the lone flaw on starter Andrew Sevilla’s stat line came on a throwing error in the third inning. He was spotless the rest of the way, holding the Knights to three hits over six strong frames. With the wins, the two-time defending CCAL champions ended their regular season campaign with a 14-1 record and an 19-6-1 overall record. They’ll hope that they have done enough to earn a first-round bye.

While most of the Trans-Valley League had already wrapped up their conference games, the Yellowjackets had unfinished business with Ripon Christian on Thursday evening, making up a rain-postponed game from earlier in the year. Hilmar, coming off a series split with Ripon last week, ended their campaign strong with a 9-1 victory over the Knights, backed by six, one-run frames from Marlin Kindberg. He struck out six in his effort. First baseman John Labno, pushed his team-leading batting average in his stellar senior year to .419 after collecting two hits, driving in a pair and coming around to score three times. The ‘Jackets will enter the postseason 17-4 overall and tied for second in the TVL standings at 9-3 alongside Escalon, whom they split with in mid-March.

Pitman capped off their regular season with a 10-2 senior day win over Modesto, following an 8-3 win Monday in the series-opener and a 15-1 throttling on Wednesday. Friday’s win finished off a sweep of the Panthers and gave them a fifth straight winless season in league play. The Pride secured a 6-9 record against conference opponents and 11-15 overall. Though they finished in fifth place in the standings only ahead of Modesto, the guys in green were ranked No. 15 out of Division II schools by MaxPreps, providing hope for a postseason berth.

Despite losing their final two games of the season this week to Stockton’s Venture Academy (4-3 on Monday and 8-2 on Tuesday) to close out Central California Athletic Alliance play and finishing with a 7-3 record against conference opponents, they remain alone in second place and will qualify for postseason ball. They went 13-5 overall and look to build on their D-VII semifinal exit from a year ago.

The Denair program also ended their regular season in the loss column, and it might be at the ultimate cost. The Coyotes fell 8-0 on their senior day Thursday afternoon to Mariposa, a team they had beaten in their first meeting back on March 4. The loss dropped them to fifth place in the Southern League with an 8-6 record. At 9-8-1 overall, the Coyotes entered the weekend ranked 18th in D-VI by MaxPreps.

Bulldogs running wild on softball diamond

With a game to go in CCAL play, the Turlock varsity softball team has already clinched third place in the CCAL with a 9-5 record and a spot in the postseason, and they’ve done it in explosive fashion. 

The Bulldogs are riding a four-game winning streak ahead of their regular season finale on Tuesday against Enochs in Modesto. Amid the wins have been plenty of runs. In a doubleheader against Modesto High on April 17, a Tuesday home game against rival Pitman, and a Thursday road match against Downey, the Bulldogs have outscored opponents 61-1. The Knights scored that lone run in their spoiled senior day.

It was the Audrey Bailey show in the first game against Modesto on April 17, as the freshman allowed just three hits and struck out 10 in a five-inning complete game shutout, while tagging Panthers pitching for three hits and three RBI. Setting the tone at the top of the lineup was senior shortstop Cadee Campbell, who drove in four on three hits, including a solo home run in the fourth inning, her sixth long ball of the year.

The second game saw a fireworks show courtesy of junior Abby Maxwell, who drove in six runs and passed Campbell atop the team’s home run leaderboard with a pair of bombs, a two-run shot in the first inning and a grand slam in the fourth. On the mound, Campbell and freshman Madelyn Robinson tossed a combined no-hitter. Campbell handled the first 2 1/3 frames, punching out four and walking a pair. Robinson took it the rest of the way, also walking two while striking out three.

In Tuesday’s game against the Pride, Campbell again showed off her power, slugging a fifth-inning grand slam to dead center to tie Maxwell with seven homers. Bailey was on the bump again, this time holding the Pride to just one hit in her five-inning complete game effort. She struck out seven as the Pride dropped to 2-12 in league play and 8-16 overall.

Bailey continued to dominate Thursday, striking out 11 batters while allowing the single run on a base hit and a walk. As for Campbell, it was deja vu all over again, collecting three hits and bringing home another four runs.

Campbell has been a menace for opposing teams all year, leading the club in hits (45), batting average (.556), slugging (1.025), RBI (29), runs (39), stolen bases (27) and of course, tied for home runs with the seven.

Bailey has been nails pitching, leading the team with eight wins, 85 strikeouts and a 2.31 ERA.

Ahead of the Bulldogs in the standings is Gregori (11-3) and first-place Enochs, undefeated through the first 14 conference games. The Eagles will enter Tuesday’s contest confident against Turlock, as they won 17-13 on March 11 and 14-4 on April 15. Behind the Bulldogs in fourth place is 5-9 Modesto, which makes it mathematically impossible for Turlock to drop out of third. Softball playoff brackets will be released May 9.

Pride’s boys volleyball eliminated by Monterey Trail

While the young Pitman High boys’ volleyball program achieved plenty of regular season success, it was no match for the gauntlet that is the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

On Wednesday night in Elk Grove, the Pride fell in four sets to Monterey Trail. The Pride, ranked No. 11 in the bracket, were on the losing end of the first two sets by 25-18 and 25-23 scores. As first-year head coach Cat Silveira said earlier this week, her team was the epitome of  “gritty” and are not ones to go down without a fight, made evident by a 25-23 set to extend the game. Ultimately, the Mustangs were too much, advancing in the bracket with a 25-18 in the fourth set.

After a 10-0 campaign in CCAL play, the Pride finished their third season in history with a 22-9 overall record, their all-time best.

Note: Results from the CCAL track and field championships, CCAL boys tennis championships, and boys golf divisional tournament will be available in Wednesday’s Journal