River Valley falls to Pioneer in 10-inning thriller

The last time River Valley High softball ace Courtney Smith locked horns with Pioneer right-hander Brittanie Akey, the Falcons were celebrating the biggest win in school history.

That 3-0 victory in the 2010 Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs was just another installment of this brief, yet storied rivalry, which often features games that give the head coaches heart palpitations.

Since River Valley's second season playing at the varsity level in 2008, the margin of victory for the winning team in this matchup has been three runs or less.

That stat wasn't going to change with the way Smith and Akey pitched on Friday.

Both pitchers tossed up zeros for nine innings, until the Patriots broke through with two runs in the top of the 10th inning off two River Valley errors and Pioneer took the Tri-County Conference game 2-0.

By rule, the defending TCC-champion Patriots (6-0, 2-0) started with a runner on second in the top of the 10th with the score knotted at 0-0.

Smith put away the first two batters, but after walking Savana King, Smith's usually reliable defense broke down and committed consecutive errors that allowed the Patriots to score the game's only runs, which were unearned.

Smith picked up the tough-luck loss, despite tossing 10 innings (129 pitches) with 11 strikeouts and she only allowed two hits. She had a no-hitter through 61⁄3 innings.

Following the loss, R.V. coach Andy Pearson circled his girls together down the left-field line and said, "Nobody should be hanging there heads."

It was a tough message to digest for the players, but Pearson said the fact that they took the defending league champions to 10 innings says a lot about his players.

"(This loss) is going to make them eager and want (the league title) even more," Pearson said. "They're not happy with this loss at all. We just a fell a little short today."

Even more frustrating for the Falcons (6-2-1, 1-1) was that they outhit Pioneer 9-2. They left nine runners in scoring position, which was more a credit to Akey, who went the full 10 innings and struck out eight.

Every time R.V. mounted an offensive rally, Akey found a way to shut it down. Pioneer coach Linda Merrida called her starting pitcher a "bulldog."

"She just has an intensity," Merrida said. "We knew this game was going to get tough. Playing a game like this was like a championship game."

The rematch is scheduled for April 19 in Woodland, but for now River Valley will focus on next week with a couple of trips to Sacramento to face off against Natomas and Inderkum,

The loss hurts, but as the Falcons learned last season when they were celebrating in Sacramento, this rivalry has about as many twists and turns as a daytime Soap Opera — the 2011 edition of this rivalry is far from over.

"This loss is not sitting well with them," Pearson said. "It gives us momentum for next time. They want to come back."