Lady Barons lead Metro Conference softball qualifiers into CIF tournament

by Phillip Brents

The San Diego Section playoffs in baseball and softball start next week. First-round games are scheduled for Tuesday, May 20.

The baseball and softball playoffs will both feature seven divisions: Open Division (eight teams for both genders), Division I (12 teams), Division II (12 teams), Division III (12 teams), Division IV (12 teams), Division V (10 teams) and Division V-AA (10 teams).

The Open Division now features a double-elimination tournament May 21-28 for baseball with the championship game May 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium on the campus of San Diego State University.

Other championship venues include University of San Diego’s Fowler Field (May 31 at 1 p.m. for Division IIV, 4 p.m. for Division III and 7 p.m. for Division I), SDSU’s Tony Gwynn Stadium (May 30 at 4 p.m. for Division II), USD’s Fowler Field (May 31) and UC San Diego (May 29 at 4 p.m. for Division V-AA and 7 p.m. for Division V).

Softball championships are scheduled May 29-31 at the following venues: Division V-AA (May 29, 4 p.m. at UC San Diego), Division V (May 29, 7 p.m. at UC San Diego), Division II (May 30, 4 p.m. at SDSU), Division I (May 30, 7:30 p.m. at SDSU), Division IV (May 31, 1:30 p.m. at IC San Diego), Division III (May 31, 4 p.m. at UC San Diego) and Open Division (May 31 at 7 p.m. at UC San Diego).

League champions automatically qualify for the playoffs, plus at-large teams to fill the remaining bracket.

The Bonita Vista Lady Barons will represent the Metro-Mesa League as it 2025 champion after coming up with a pair of clutch wins this week: 4-1 against visiting Mater Dei Catholic on Wednesday and 11-0 at Eastlake on Friday to close out regular season play.

Mater Dei Catholic had taken the league lead with a 2-1 win over visiting Bonita Vista through the first round of league play. However, Otay Ranch dealt the Lady Crusaders a 4-3 upset loss on May 7 to drop the teams into a tie at the top of the standings.

Mater Dei Catholic concluded league play with a 6-0 win over visiting Otay Ranch on Friday to finish 4-2 in league play, 21-7 overall.

Bonita Vista finishes league play 5-1, 21-5 overall.

Poway (21-6) defeated Bonita Vista, 3-0, in a non-league game on April 28. Mater Dei Catholic held the lead in the Division I power rankings over Bonita Vista, Poway, Christian, Cathedral Catholic, Otay Ranch, Del Norte and Imperial. Poway and Bonita Vista will flip in the seedings due to head-to-head play.

The possibility exists that three Metro-Mesa League teams could be seeded in the Open Division. Otay Ranch finished 3-3 in league play, 13-11-1 overall.

Nat Gonzalez (00) started for Bonita Vista versus Mater Dei Catholic and teammate Danica Aboytes (1) finished. Photos by Phillip Brents

The Lady Barons were out-hit 8-6 by Mater Dei Catholic in their premier matchup but Bonita Vista tallied four doubles: one each by junior Aryanna Salazar, senior Danica Aboytes, sophomore Ilma Jurado and junior Leah Letuli. Salazar and Aboytes each logged one RBI while Salazar, junior Kianna Balajadia-Brooks, junior Brooklyn Bartolome and senior Anaissa Del Rio each scored one run.

Senior Nat Gonzalez started the game and pitched 4.1 innings with four hits allowed and two strikeouts before being relieved by Aboytes, who snuffed out an attempted comeback by the Lady Crusaders with 2.2 innings of shutout pitching despite yielding three hits. Gonzalez picked up the win to improve to 8-2 on the season while Aboytes recorded the save (her sixth of the season).

Mater Dei Catholic sophomore ace Arri Romero took the loss. She pitched six innings with , six hits allowed and four strikeouts.

Senior Lilia Alpuche had one RBI for the Lady Crusaders while senior Bella Hiner had one double. Sophomore Maya Matthies scored the lone run.

Bonita Vista rapped out 15 hits in the 11-0 won over Eastlake, led by sophomore Sabrina Perez with four RBI and one home run. Aboytes got the start, pitching six innings with three hits in the shortened run-rule victory.

The Lady Crusaders corralled the Lady Mustangs with nine hits, including two each by Matthies and Harris. Matthies (double) also scored twice in support of Romero, who bounced back in the win column with a complete game one-hitter with three strikeouts.

Aboytes has logged a 1.20 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 87.2 innings while Gonzalez has a 1.23 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 57 innings.

Junior Ariana Magdaleno tops the Lady Barons with a 0.416 hitting average, Letuli leads the team with 21 RBI and Aboytes has slugged four home runs.

Romero is 17-4 in the pitching circle with a 1.64 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 124 innings. She also leads the team with a 0.429 hitting average and 29 RBI. Sophomore Charlize Masingale tops the team with four home runs while Romero has bombarded opponents with 13 doubles. Harris has three triples.