Bulldogs closing in on league title; need one more win

Folsom High's softball team is a win away from a Sierra Foothill League championship. The Bulldogs, not long ago bottom dwellers of the league for quite some time, have put together a great season and Friday defeated Del Oro on the road, 2-0, to bring themselves within a win of the league title. All Folsom (11-3) needs to do is beat Oak Ridge (1-13) on Wednesday and they will be champions, as they hold the tie-breaker over the Golden Eagles by winning two-of-three games against them. "It would feel really good to win the league," senior infielder Hailey Scott said. "We almost won it my freshman year and last year we were a game or two away. It's great to beat Del Oro again. I knew we had a lot of potential this season and it would be our first league title in a long time. Tom Pfeiler, Folsom's coach in his fifth year leading the team, is proud of his team. "I wanted to turn the program around, but didn't think I could do it in five years," Pfeiler said. "It's great how everyone has come together. Against Del Oro, I knew our plate discipline would be important and we did a pretty good job with it. We did a good job making contact and didn't strike out as much. Gracie did great to get on and Cristina had a big hit. Haven came through with a home run, and we made some good plays on defense, including some nice catches by Shay in right field." Folsom senior pitcher Emma Falen brought her A-game in her team's biggest game of the season. She only allowed one hit and three base runners, the other two on a walk and her own throwing error. She struck out 12. In the second inning, she allowed a one-out walk to Caroline Grimes, but struck out the next two batters. In the fourth inning, Haylee Engelbrecht led off with a single to right field, but Falen got a fly out and then struck out the next two batters to end the inning. Del Oro's biggest threat came in the sixth when with one out, Jenna Birch bunted a ball back to Falen, who overthrew Scott running to cover first and Birch advanced to second. Trailing 2-0, it was now or never for the Golden Eagles and the loyal hometown crowd was excited and loud. Engelbrecht followed with a hard-hit line drive to right field. Battling a blazing sun shining right in her face, Folsom freshman Shay Sacay made the biggest defensive play of the day catching the sinking line drive on the run. With tension high, Falen uncorked a wild pitch during a classic battle against Olivia Robison, which moved Birch to third. After several pitches and fouls, Falen struck out Robison to end the threat. "I was just trying to get her to pop it up," Falen said. "They were hitting my pitches on the outside pretty well, so I went hard in and it froze her, but I wasn't trying for the strikeout." Offensively, Folsom scored single runs in the first and fourth innings and had six hits in the game and Del Oro pitcher Caroline Grimes struck out 11. Gracie Carpenter led off the game reaching on an error. She stole second and then scored on a single to center field by Cristina Jones. Haven Slama led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to center field and that's all the runs Folsom scored and needed. "I wanted to win this so bad," Falen said. "Folsom hasn't been in a place to win a league title in years and to do it my senior year would be awesome. Everyone did their jobs today, and our defense was incredible." Pfeiler was pleased to defeat Del Oro for a second time. "Sean has a great team and great program going here," Pfeiler said. "It's an honor to play them every year and it's also a struggle to play them."