Redwood Empire teams play for softball, baseball titles this weekend

Three local teams are competing for North Coast Section championships Saturday, and Sonoma County is guaranteed to come home with at least one title.

In Division 5 softball, top seed Cloverdale will host No. 2 St. Vincent of Petaluma, assuring a local team will be the section champion. First pitch is at noon.

In Division 2 baseball, No. 2 Maria Carrillo travels to Diablo Valley College to face No. 1 Alameda at 3:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live by the subscription-based NFHS Network.

The Cloverdale-St. Vincent game will showcase two of the top talents in local softball, Cloverdale's Tehya Bird and St. Vincent's Sully Henry.

Each is a threat from both sides, as their team's ace and at the plate. Both lead their teams in nearly every stat category in the book.

The title game will be a rematch of a March 27 game that the Eagles (12-7) won 4-2.

Cloverdale coach Margaret Fitzgerald said her team improved significantly since that early-season game, in which the Eagles (18-1) committed three errors.

“We're a different team than they saw the first time. People have moved around and we've settled in,” she said. “And we play way better defense than we did the first time around.

“To me, everything is coming together. It's perfect timing. We're hitting well, fielding well, the team chemistry is over the top.”

Bird and Henry likely will face off from the pitching circle.

Henry (4-4) threw 64 innings for the Mustangs, allowing just 21 earned runs (2.28 ERA) and striking out 94.

Bird (18-1) pitched all but five innings for Cloverdale, striking out 128 in 111 innings and allowing just 16 walks and 14 earned runs for an ERA of 0.88.

Bird and Sully lead their teams offensively, too. Bird is hitting .660 and Henry .533.

“There will be two good pitchers,” Fitzgerald said, adding that St. Vincent's 12-7 record is deceiving.

“At this time of the year, anybody can beat anybody,” she said.

Carrillo baseball coach Sam Bruno said Alameda is a bit of a mystery, since the team doesn't publish its statistics and the teams didn't play each other this year in preseason.

Against common opponents, Maria Carrillo is 9-2 and Alameda 7-0.

“They're a good team,” Bruno said. “They're 26-2-1 for a reason. They have good pitching and defense is what I hear.”

The Hornets haven't allowed a run throughout their NCS journey, winning 7-0, 1-0 and 1-0.

Carrillo (23-6) hasn't had quite as easy a run, winning 11-1, 4-3 and 5-4 en route to the title game.

“We just have to execute when called upon,” Bruno said. “We're an explosive team. We have a couple facets to our game, we can score runs quickly and we also have the small-ball game. I expect a good, low-scoring defensive battle.”

Cade Sheets will be the Pumas' starting pitcher. In 56 innings this season, he struck out 52 and walked just 22, allowing 16 earned runs for a 1.98 ERA.

“He's a senior leader that's pretty much gotten it done all year for us,” Bruno said. “We have a pretty dangerous lineup, 1 through 9. We rely on everyone offensively.”

You can reach staff writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.