Scotts Valley’s softball team is back up to speed in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League play following a two-week hiatus that included a pair of postponements and forfeits due to some unforeseen circumstances.
The Falcons improved to 6-1 in the league standings following a thrilling 3-2 victory over San Lorenzo Valley on Tuesday afternoon. Senior Jazzy Doubek tied the score at 2-all with a base hit RBI in the bottom of the seventh, and later scored the game-winning run on a passed ball by the Cougars’ defense.
Senior Gracie Delgado batted 3-for-3 with one walk and one stolen base, while senior Taylor Wilson had a pair of hits, one stolen base, one RBI and scored one run.
“Aptos, SLV, all of our strong competitors, even Soquel and Santa Cruz, everyone’s pretty strong this year,” Wilson said. “I think it should be neck and neck. But if all of our players are on, I believe we can do pretty well and succeed, maybe win. Not to put bad juju out there, but that’s what we’re aiming for just because we won last year.”
Senior pitcher Sofie Seese allowed two runs—one earned—on three hits while tallying eight strikeouts in the complete game win for the defending SCCAL champion Falcons. Her record is now 9-2, and currently owns a 0.52 ERA with 89 total strikeouts this season.
Senior catcher Nick Powell finished with two hits, while teammates Isabella Williams, Chloe Kent and Natalie Murray-Skalland each had one base hit.
Sophomore pitcher Grace Purtscher allowed three earned runs on 11 hits while tallying four strikeouts in six innings pitched for SLV, which dropped to 6-3 in league play this season. Teammate senior Angie Fulkerson hit a solo home run, while junior Sophia Sarmiento had one hit and one RBI.
“I know there’s a little bit more parity in the league this year,” said Scotts Valley head coach Jeremy Wilson. “If we just come out and do our job, I think we should still come out on top.”
Prior to Tuesday’s game, Scotts Valley had to postpone its SCCAL games against SLV and Soquel during the first week of April due to poor field conditions because of the rain. The Falcons also had to skip their games against Harbor and Santa Cruz because both opponents did not have enough players to field a team.
“The team is ready to play, so I don’t know it’s going to be too much of a problem,” Jeremy Wilson said. “Defensivley and pitching, we’re going to be really good. It’s just whether we’re going to come and hit that day.”
The unscheduled time off was a bit frustrating for Taylor Wilson and company, yet they continued to grind during the long layover.
“I think it just makes us a little rusty when we’re going into the league games,” she said. “A lot of our players were off for almost three weeks. It was a little hard coming back to it, but I think we’ll get back in our rhythm now that it’s sunny.”
Luckily for Scotts Valley, they played against some formidable opponents in Palma, Monterey and Chico Senior at the Fourth Annual Monterey Peninsula Invitational on April 19.
The Falcons also had a challenging non-league schedule, recording wins over South Tahoe, Leigh, Santa Teresa, Carmel and Leland. They also went toe-to-toe in a 3-2 loss to Alvarez—the defending Central Coast Section Division III and California Interscholastic Federation NorCal D-IV champion.
Taylor Wilson said their confidence level is at an all time high, especially after facing some of the best teams in the CCS.
“They’re ranked pretty high in CCS, so I think we’re hoping to at least do pretty well in league,” she said.
The SCCAL’s reigning player of the year is currently batting a .542 average (26-for-48) with five home runs, one triple, three doubles, 23 RBIs, 26 runs scored and 13 stolen bases, according to statistics on the Max Preps website.
“We’re just trying to get back to where we were at and find our rhythm,” Taylor Wilson said. “We have a couple of new freshmen this year and we’re trying to rotate them into our lineup.”
Doubek is batting a .469 average (23-for-49) with two triples, four doubles, 16 RBIs, eight runs scored and five stolen bases, while Kent is batting a .439 average (18-for-41) with three doubles, six RBIs and 18 runs scored this season.
Kent, who made a name for herself as a freshman in 2024, also has seven appearances in the circle. Her record is 1-2 with a 1.84 ERA and 32 total strikeouts.
“They have the potential to be a really good team,” Jeremy Wilson said. “We can go deep in CCS. Our pitching is coming along, we’ve really been working on hitting again this year. We’re tuning up at the right time.”
Next up, Scotts Valley (13-5-1, 6-1) will host Aptos (12-5, 8-2) on Thursday at 4:30pm.
