Rose's Clutch Hit Sends Redwood to NCS Round 2

The girls softball team enjoyed Thursday’s opening-round win in the North Coast Section Championships so much, it couldn’t wait to play again.

And NCS has obliged.

The Giants didn’t get even a full 24 hours of rest between their hard-fought, 4-1 win over Clayton Valley of Concord and Friday’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal matchup with De La Salle’s sister school, Carondelet of Concord.

“That’s kind of nice going back-to-back like this,” Redwood coach said. “I really like building on the momentum. I got no problem going the next day, and the girls like it, too. You get the whole Memorial Day weekend off.

“As long as my pitcher is OK.”

Well, is she?

“I asked , ‘Are you cool?’’’ Casassa disclosed. “She said, ‘Oh, yeah.’’’

Boyer cooled the Clayton Valley bats Thursday, giving up just four hits. But the visitors nonetheless rallied to tie the game at 1-1 in the sixth inning, setting up some anxious moments for the Marin County Athletic League champs.

But came through in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out, two-run double.

“We needed that one,” Casassa assessed. “It was going to have to come from other people (non-seniors) sometimes. This time it came from a sophomore. That bodes well for next year.”

followed with an RBI double that gave Boyer a three-run cushion entering the last inning, which was more than enough.

The win vaulted the Giants into the second-round matchup at home with Carondelet, another team that enters the game with a lower seed (fifth) than Redwood (fourth).

That doesn’t matter, Casassa assured after having sweated out Thursday’s win over the No. 13 seed.

“When I get to NCS, I expect every team is good enough to beat any other team,” he said. “We were the better team (against Clayton Valley), but you never know. It depends on how the ball bounces.

“I could tell by reading the stat sheets this next team (Carondelet) is a lot deeper (than Clayton Valley). I just know it’s going to be tougher.”