Foothill pitcher carries Cougars to NSCIF championship win against Vikings

CHICO — The Foothill High School softball team knew that if it was going to win a Northern Section championship, it would have to do so by following its leader and only senior, Elisea Wiegand.

Led by first-year head coach Tayler Walker, third-seeded Foothill came from behind Saturday to defeat top-seeded Pleasant Valley in the NSCIF Division II championship game 4-2.

The section championship victory for Foothill is the first for the Cougars since 2017, a year when Chico and PV faced off for the NSCIF D-II section championship and Foothill, Enterprise, Paradise and Red Bluff competed together in the NSCIF D-III bracket.

“This game is so mental, it’s hard not to get down on yourself especially after a game like this,” said Pleasant Valley centerfielder Bella Cox, a senior. “Win or loss I’m very happy with how our team played. Obviously with states coming up we’re going to have to get our bats going and get it back together but I’m sure we’ll do that.”

Foothill pitcher Elisea Wiegand limited the Vikings to five hits and struck out 13. All five hits came from the top four batters in the Vikings’ order. When the Vikings faced her Thursday, Wiegand allowed three hits and struck out 14.

Cox said at practice Friday players and coaches talked about not swinging at Wiegand’s best pitch — her rise ball — and getting ahead in the count each at bat.

“It’s all about our approach and that’s what we said,” Cox said.

Cox tripled to begin the game, Alissa Snipes followed up with a two-run home run to left center when Wiegand missed her spot. Lily Thurman had a double in the fifth inning, and Kodi Aisthorpe singled in the first inning and singled again in the third.

“When we’re all together working together we’re pretty dirty,” Cox said about the Vikings’ top-5 of their order. “That’s how the game should be when our top five is our best five. Throughout the lineup I feel like we have a pretty good lineup, but when that top five is going we’re all going.”

However after three hits in the first inning, Maryland-commit Wiegand got into her groove. She allowed two hits the remaining six innings and struck out 11 (after striking out two in the first). She finished with a final line of seven innings pitched, five hits allowed, two earned runs allowed, no walks and 13 strikeouts.

“(Elesia) is awesome. That kid over there can deal it,” said Pleasant Valley coach Tony Tallerico. “When she started getting better and better as the game went on, we were fortunate enough that Alissa can go toe-to-toe with her typically. It was just one of those games where they had a couple crazy hits here and there and found ways to get the runs when they needed to, but it is what it is.”

After PV took an early 2-0 lead, both Wiegand and her coach made it a point to stress the importance of their lone senior keeping calm and composed. With a roster made up of five juniors, four sophomores, four freshman, the one senior and a first-year head coach, everyone in the dugout follows Wiegand’s lead.

“They completely feed off her and her energy, and I was just reminding her to stay positive because they’re watching you,” Walker said. “I told her they’re seeing what you’re doing. She takes on that role with so much confidence, and she is so good at it.”

After giving up the first inning home run Wiegand knew she couldn’t get down and had to keep the energy up. Before each game she emphasizes to her teammates that the game is not won or lost in the first inning, particularly with a young team who may need to see a pitcher once or twice before getting a good at bat, and that proved to be the case Saturday.

Wiegand doubled down the left field line to open the fourth inning, stole third base and scored when the throw from PV catcher Ava Dunn was dropped by third baseman Carisma Ta’amai to trim PV’s lead to 2-1.

The Cougars brought eight batters to the plate in the top of the sixth inning, scoring two runs on four hits and one walk (an intentional walk to Wiegand). Snipes escaped the inning with bases loaded when she struck out TatiAnna Seuasoukseng. The Cougars added a fourth run in the top of the seventh when Malia Webb doubled with two outs, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a single past a diving Ta’amai.

After the game Tallerico told his team that the biggest thing is staying together, knowing both the winner and loser of Saturday’s game will still be playing in the CIF NorCal playoff games when they begin June 3.

“We still have NorCals to play in, so we just have to stick together and refocus,” Tallerico said. “We’re giving them a few days off to gather themselves because we won’t even find out until next Sunday, since everybody else doesn’t finish until next Saturday. We’re going to give them time to let them be high schoolers, and then get back to work and hopefully be able to perform.”