The talented senior core of nationally-ranked Amador Valley is locked in for its final ride.
By CHACE BRYSON | Editor
Johanna Grauer might never have been so happy to lead off an inning.
With her Amador Valley High softball team locked in an East Bay Athletic League battle with a talented Granada team fast on the rise, the Bay Area’s most dominant pitcher over the past three seasons had just surrendered a game-tying run in the bottom of the fifth. Suddenly it was a 1-1 game and the home fans for Granada had come to life.
Grauer, who hits in the No. 3 hole for the nationally-ranked Dons, held a laser-lock focus in the on-deck circle prior to the start of the sixth inning.
“There’s a reason we have her batting third,” Amador Valley coach Teresa Borchard said. “We know she’s going to come up with a clutch hit, because she’s just stubborn that way.”
With two strikes on her, Grauer took an outside pitch and spanked it into right field for a single. Emily Roskopf came in as a courtesy runner and promptly stole second. Then Ashley Lotoszynski — a senior who might be just as stubborn as Grauer — laced an RBI single to left field and moved up to second base on the throw home. She would score two batters later on senior catcher Victoria Molina’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Grauer didn’t let another Granada batter reach base, retiring the Matadors in order in their last two frames. Game over. The Dons win again.
That’s how championship-level teams operate. Amador Valley is unquestionably a championship-level team — even though Grauer, Lotoszynski, Molina and the other four seniors on the team haven’t put an NCS championship medal around their necks since their freshman year.
Two years of dominance ending in disappointment and frustration have built up to this season. Even the clichè of being on a mission seems like an understatement.
“I think we’ve had two disappointing years,” Borchard said of an NCS Div. I runner-up finish in 2012 and a shocking first-round upset in 2013 when Grauer was unable to pitch due to an ankle injury. “Each year we had a team that could take the NCS title home and just couldn’t finish that. They are not going to take things for granted this year. They’ve continued to work all year long. They’re a year older and more mature. They adjust quicker to the situation and they are more present when they need to be present.”
The Dons entered their final game of April with an unblemished 17-0 record. They are ranked No. 2 in the nation by MaxPreps.com and No. 2 in the state by CalHiSports.com — behind an also-undefeated Mission Viejo in both cases. Amador Valley had the opportunity to finish 2012 as MaxPreps National Champions before suffering their first loss of the season, 1-0 to James Logan in the NCS Div. I final. Grauer allowed just three hits in that game and struck out 17.
It’s scary what she might produce if she gets another chance at starting an NCS final with an undefeated record and potential national crown on the line. She’s doing everything she can to get there.
The UCLA-bound fireballer has pitched all but 1.2 innings for the Dons in 2014. In 120 innings of work, she’s allowed just three earned runs (0.17 ERA), struck out 187 against 27 walks. Ten of her 17 wins have come by shutout.
“I think a lot of people think of her as a power pitcher,” Borchard said. “I think that discredits her in many ways. I think she’s very smart about adjusting to batters. As she’s gotten older she’s learned to add finesse. … It’s just been fun to watch her pitch, and I think she’ll continue to get better. The bottom line is that she’s a gamer.”
The entire group of seniors is composed of gamers it seems. Many of them have been playing with one another since they were 9- or 10-years old.
“We’ve all known each other for the longest time,” said Lotosynski, a gold glove-level UC Davis-bound shortstop who led the team with 11 RBI over the first 17 games. “We all sit together at lunch, joke around with each other, make faces at each other when we’re doing interviews.”
When the calendar hits May, the Dons will have six regular season games left on the schedule — all of them EBAL contests. Two of those will come against a scrappy Carondelet team, and there will also be a rematch with Granada on May 8 and a season finale against rival Foothill on May 15. Confident in their pitching and defense, the Dons will be stressing offense down the stretch.
“I think our biggest thing that we’re focused on is just hitting,” Grauer said. “We’re not having a lot of high-scoring games. Most of them are pretty close. For us, it’ll be about keeping up and not just sitting on that one run when we get it.”
Perhaps the perfect record will be in play, and perhaps it won’t. But Borchard would be shocked if this group let anything get in its way of an NCS crown.
“I think they want two (NCS championship) medals around their neck at graduation,” the coach said. “It’s a very special group, and I don’t think for one second they don’t want to do anything other than take that title home.”