It's Tiffany's diamond: Colusa dominates Pierce
Tiffany Friel's performance in the third inning of Thursday's game was a microcosm of her prep softball career.
The Colusa High senior dispatched three members of the Pierce Bears lineup on nine pitches and all three outs came by way of strikeout.
That feat, referred to as the "immaculate inning," has only been accomplished by 41 pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball.
Friel has been putting up big-league stats throughout her four-year tenure with the Redskins though. This season she moved into second place on the Northern Section's all-time strikeouts and wins list.
With her performance Thursday, Friel continues her push for No. 1.
Friel struck out eight and only allowed two hits in Colusa's 10-0, mercy-rule victory that only lasted five innings at Egling Middle School.
Her 72 career wins and 1,070 strikeouts both rank second behind University of Oregon star Jessica Moore who compiled 85 wins and 1,279 punchouts in her high school career at Sutter.
Though the 5-foot-4 Friel stands about six inches shorter than Moore, her stuff in the circle has been just as electric.
Friel isn't really concerned with breaking records. She said the Redskins have three goals to attain: Win the Sacramento Valley League, the Northern Section championship, and 30 games overall.
"The (strikeouts) will hopefully come with that," Friel said. "Our top goal is to get the wins. We have a lot of seniors on the team and we'd like to take it all the way."
Last season ended in disappointment for the Redskins (16-2-1, 5-0) with a swift exit from the playoffs after a 2-0 loss to Quincy.
Progressing to the later rounds this season shouldn't be a problem if Colusa can put together complete, team efforts like Thursday.
Colusa totaled 12 hits, didn't commit an error, and all of that is usually more than enough for Friel.
The bottom half of the aforementioned third inning was even more immaculate after the Redskins scored six runs and batted through the order.
Junior third baseman Cheyenne Rogers finished 2 for 3 with four RBIs and Friel helped her own cause with a 2-for-4 day and the game-ending RBI on a single up the middle.
A pretty sweet birthday present for coach Randy Watt, who said getting back to the section title game has been this team's goal for two years.
Colusa lost to Etna back in 2009's section championship, 2-1.
"Last year we bowed out way too early and the kids weren't too happy with that," Watt said. "It's been in the back of their minds all year. Everybody's been pretty focused."
Friel couldn't care less about the records held by Moore, though she does envy one stat that the former Husky possesses.
Moore won three section championships; Friel will be happy with one in 2011.
"She's consistent," said Watt, who has known Friel since she was 9 years old. "She keeps the ball close to the zone and she has good movement in all four directions. That makes her really tough."
