Sage Creek outlasts Mission Vista in softball showdown between first-place teams

To those unfamiliar with Mission Vista High School, you’re not alone.

Mission Vista is a comprehensive dual magnet school in the Vista Unified School District, despite its address in Oceanside, with 1,682 students who had to apply to attend. One of its curriculum courses is Socio-Political History of Rock and Roll.

“We’re not real well-known,” said Damian Leal, who is in his sixth season as Mission Vista’s softball coach. “We’re constantly being mixed up with Mission Hills, Monte Vista, Vista or whatever. But we’ve had some success. We won CIF in 2019. Won league last year.”

Kassidy King is but a freshman at Sage Creek, but she is getting to know the Timberwolves quite well.

In a battle of first-place teams in the Avocado League, King pitched a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts as Sage Creek edged Mission Vista 2-1 on Wednesday.

The win puts Sage Creek (16-8, 6-1) in the driver’s seat toward the league title with three games remaining. Mission Vista (17-7, 5-2) fell into a second-place tie with Oceanside (13-5-1, 5-2). Mission Vista entered the day No. 2 in the San Diego Section Division 3 Power Rankings and Sage Creek No. 4.

King, a 5-foot-4 right-hander, tied her matched the career-high 12 strikeouts she also had in a 2-0 loss to Mission Vista on April 22. By striking out the final two batters on Wednesday, she tied and set a new single-season school record with 145. Kalissa Nadal had 144 in 202.

The only run King allowed was unearned in the sixth inning, and the tying run was on third with one out when King struck out freshman Addison Raphael (.439, 1 HR, 24 RBI) for the third time and coaxed sophomore Liliana Gonzales (.386, 5 HR, 20 RBI) into a popup to second. As a freshman, Liliana Gonzales was the Avocado Player of the Year when she hit .500 with school records of 10 HRs, 43 RBI and 48 runs.

“Kassidy almost lives for that pressure,” Sage Creek coach Tim Trudeau said. “She is the ultimate team player.”

Batting cleanup for the Bobcats, King (.443) was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

“As good a player as she is, she’s an even better person,” Trudeau said. “She’s humble beyond belief. A marvelous person. A great soul. Obviously, her parents raised her well.”

Batterymate Kaimana Coleman was 3-for-4 and led off the fifth with a single to right field. After a lineout by her sister, Makena, sophomore Torii Ramirez slapped a single past third base. After a wild pitch, King placed a bunt in front of MV pitcher Hannah Waclawski (9-2) that she beat out for an RBI single.

The difference in the game came when Lola Carson flied out to center fielder Baylie O’Neill. Ramirez was caught off third base when O’Neill threw a strike to catcher Liliana Gonzales, but Gonzales’ throw to third was not fielded cleanly, and Ramirez scored on the fielding error for a 2-0 lead.

“I knew this game was important,” Kaimana Coleman said, “and we wanted good energy throughout the game.”

While not making any predictions, King said her team “can go really deep” in the CIF playoffs.

Leal believes the same is true of Mission Vista.

“This year, we’re loaded with seniors,” he said. “We’ve got a good, strong Division 3 team. We thought we would be tough, so we loaded up with a pretty good schedule this spring.”

Mission Vista is 8-0 against Division 2 teams and 0-3 against Division 1 members La Costa Canyon (4-1 in 11 innings), Helix (4-2) and Torrey Pines (2-0). The Timberwolves started 2-4 but are 15-3 since.

Waclawski is 9-2 with a 0.59 ERA. She missed 1½ weeks when her church group traveled to Guatemala for humanity aide. Sophomore Rian Hickman (8-5, 1.22) has 108 strikeouts in 86 innings, and three of her losses came against Division 1 opponents.

Mission Vista’s first softball team was 4-17 in 2012 and the first winning record was 17-9 in 2019 when the Timberwolves won the San Diego Section Division 4 championship with a 4-0 run in the playoffs. Mission Vista was 21-8 last spring and 8-0 to win the Avocado League.

“We’re a more balanced school with academics and athletics now,” Leal said. “It’s come a long way.”