The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
College of San Mateo received the No. 2 Northern California seed for the California Community College Athletic Association softball tournament and will play at home prior to the state tournament at West Valley College in Saratoga, May 15-18.
Nohemi Livingston
The No. 3 state ranked Lady Bulldogs (35-3) are set to host No. 15-seed Feather River College (22-12) of the Golden Valley Conference in a best-of-three series, opening Friday at 2 p.m. at College Heights. Competition concludes Saturday, starting at noon.
CSM and state No. 2 West Valley (37-3) tied atop the Coast Conference standings with 12-2 records. The Vikings were awarded the league title and No. 1 Nor Cal seed based upon a 2-0 record against CSM in conference games.
This was the sixth straight year CSM has finished in a top position in the Coast standings. The Bulldogs won the 2022 state title.
West Valley opens with No. 16-seed Taft College (24-15) in Saratoga and is in an opposite bracket. So, the two teams with the best records in the north cannot meet until the state finals tournament.
CSM pitcher Nohemi Livingston (Capuchino) led Coast Conference pitchers with 22 wins and a 1.05 earned run average, which ranks third in the state. The sophomore fashioned a 22-3 record over 146 innings, recording 113 strikeouts, while also posting a .366 batting average — including three home runs. CSM also has the state’s No. 4 ranked ERA in Nia Mapa (San Mateo) at 1.11 with a 6-0 record.
CSM has the Coast home run leader in Hannah Ames, with seven. The Bulldogs’ top regular hitters are Notre Dame-Belmont grad Katie Johnson (.440), with six homers, and Jessica Gutierrez (.423).
Gutierrez (Wilcox-Santa Clara) and Emma Kinder (Woodside) each stole 25 basses, tied for second in the Coast.