SPSV’S SOFTBALL team poses with the championship banner after crushing top-seeded Pinole Valley in Friday’s Tri-County Athletic League Tournament title game.

The third time was the charm for the St. Patrick-St. Vincent High softball team.

The Lady Bruins, who lost twice to Pinole Valley during the regular season, hit five home runs and pummeled the host Lady Spartans, 16-4, in five innings in Friday’s Tri-County Athletic League championship game. It was only Pinole Valley’s second loss all year after going 10-0 in the TCAL during the regular season. SPSV, which outscored its TCAL Tournament opponents 29-7, earned an automatic berth into the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs.

“It was impressive,” SPSV manager Rich Gigliotti said of Friday’s TCAL championship victory. “We beat the crap out of them. We haven’t had a game like this all year against a quality-pitching team like Pinole Valley.”

The Lady Bruins (16-8) needed only three batters to take an early 3-0 lead. Neenah Pangilinan and Natalya Ocon led off the game with hits and Deijah Pangilinan followed with a three-run homer.

“She makes our whole lineup better,” Gigliotti said of Deijah, one of three Pangilinan’s on the SPSV roster. “Everybody is more confident with her in the lineup.”

SPSV, which scored only three runs the last time they faced Pinole Valley pitcher Brittany Martinez, knocked Martinez out of Friday’s game with a seven-run second inning. Jaeleen Pangilinan led off with a single and Maria Borges followed with another single. After a strikeout, Neenah Pangilinan stroked a RBI single and Deijah added a two-run single to make it 6-0. Olivia Soley kept the rally going with a RBI single and Cydney Hampton followed with a three-run homer.

Neenah Pangilian added a solo home run in a two-run third inning, and Neenah and Deijah each hit two-run homers in the fourth inning.

“They were blasts,” Gigliotti said of SPSV’s five home runs. “They were way over the fence and there was no doubt in all of them.”

Deijah Pangilinan went 3-for-4 on the day with four runs and seven RBIs. Neenah Pangilinan went 4-for-4 with four runs and three RBIs, Ocon scored three times and Hampton had four RBIs.

SPSV pitcher Cecily Kaluza went all five innings to get the win, scattering seven hits and one walk with one stikeout. Kaluza’s only mistake came when she allowed a two-run homer to Martinez in the bottom of the third inning.

The Lady Bruins played without senior Jaydee Boursaw, a perennial all-TCAL catcher.

Now that SPSV has captured the TCAL Tournament championship banner, the Lady Bruins turn their sights on the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs, which begin Tuesday and Wednesday. SPSV is expected to get a home game after winning a league title and is looking for its first NCS championship since 2012.

“I’m hoping we get at least a No. 3 seed,” Gigliotti said. “I think we played a really challenging schedule against bigger schools and we hung with most of them.”

Pinole Valley (17-2-1) is expected to be one of the top seeds in the Division III bracket.

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