Warrior softball shares third in league with 5-5 record

Fallbrook High School's softball team finished its season with an overall record of 9-18, including a 5-5 mark in Valley League competition which gave the Warriors a share of third place in the six-team league standings.

"Overall we continued to improve throughout the year. The girls really worked hard for us," said Fallbrook co-coach Patti Drew.

The Warriors began the season with a 1-8 record. "It was a disappointing start, but our goal is always to just get better as a team and we did that," said Fallbrook co-coach Shannon Koran.

Fallbrook was 4-14 before the Warriors won five of their final nine games. "We had a lot of improvement throughout the season," Drew said. "We just never could get everybody healthy at one time."

Catcher Morgan Pilbin sprained her ankle during a pre-season scrimmage against San Marcos and missed the first 10 games of the season. A sprained ankle also left the Warriors without the services of third baseman Madi Casillas, and second baseman Tatiana Arias broke her pinky finger during the season. "We just made the best we could with what we had," Drew said. "They never got healthy all at once to see what we could do."

Fallbrook entered the final Valley League game of the season with a winning league record, but the Warriors traveled to Ramona and the Bulldogs completed their undefeated league season with a win in a game which began May 14 and ended May 18.

The game against Fallbrook was Ramona's final regular-season home game, and the Bulldogs had a pre-game ceremony to honor their two seniors. Rain began falling during the introductions. The Bulldogs and Warriors played in light drizzle to begin the game with frequent breaks to dry off balls. The game was finally suspended with one out in the top of the third. Ramona had a 4-0 lead when the game was suspended.

The CIF San Diego Section had originally scheduled a May 16 playoff seeding and selection meeting, but the May 14 and May 15 rains changed that meeting to the night of May 18 to allow postponed games to be played. The Fallbrook coaches and Ramona coach Cori McDonald agreed to resume the game. "It made a difference for them in the standings," Drew said.

Had the suspended game not been completed Ramona likely would have been the 11th seed in the Division I playoffs. The 5-3 win allowed the Bulldogs to have the 10th seed and a play-in match against Otay Ranch; a 4-1 Ramona victory against the Mustangs allowed the Bulldogs to advance to the double-elimination portion of the CIF Division I playoffs.

"Luckily we had that Thursday start because on Monday when we continued we scored one run and Fallbrook scored three," McDonald said.

"In the last game we played very well to the very end. We gave them a run for their money," Drew said.

"We played four really good innings up there, so it was a good way to end," Koran said.

Ramona's 10-0 Valley League record was followed by Valley Center's 8-2 circuit figure, although the Jaguars joined the Warriors as one of the four Division I teams not invited to the CIF playoffs. Fallbrook shared third place in the league standings with Oceanside, which is in Division IV for CIF playoff purposes and was given that division's first seed. The other two Valley League teams, Orange Glen and Mission Vista, were also given Division IV post-season berths and both won their play-in games to advance to double-elimination play.

"We were probably the third best team in league, and that's where we finished," Koran said.

"I thought we did well," Drew said. "Ramona and Valley Center were tough teams ahead of us."

Fallbrook lost two games apiece to Ramona and Valley Center. The Warriors split their contests with Oceanside while sweeping Orange Glen and Mission Vista.

"The girls had fun and they competed every game," Drew said.

Koran also noted the positive attitude of the players. "It made for a much more enjoyable year than it could have been," she said.