Secton Champions, Again! Sheldon Beats Tracy, 2-1

Taliyah Miles was kind, cordial and looks you right in the eye when you talk to you. On the pitching mound, it’s a different story. Just ask the batters of Tracy, Gregori, Chavez and all the other teams that fell victim to her blazing fastball during the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

Or for that matter, ask the batters she faced during a 14-0 run of Delta League play or any assortment of non-league opponents that were brave enough to face this year’s Sheldon squad.

On Thursday, Miles was her usual self, keeping batters off balance, collecting easy fly balls and ground balls for her teammates to field. Throw in there a few strikeouts and the junior lefthander was leading her team to a second consecutive Section championship. This day Sheldon needed several key defensive plays behind Miles to wrap up a 30-2 season with a 2-1 win over Tracy.

Taliyah Miles allowed just five runs in five playoff games

Miles had allowed just one hit through the first six innings and the furthest any Tracy runner got was second base.

In the seventh, though, Miles needed some help from her defense and they came through – in a big way.

The inning started by Tracy getting just its second hit of the game. Miles then walked one and with runners at first and second, a single was stroked to center. Up came Jaciana Vasquez with the ball and wisely threw to third baseman Shea Moreno to tag out the runner trying to move from first to third rather than try for a play at the plate.

With one out then the next batter stroked a crisp ground ball right down the third base line and Moreno made a nifty backhanded grab of the ball and threw out the batter at first for the second out.

Then the next Tracy batter stroked a Miles’ fastball up the middle. Sheldon second baseman Maci Fines dove to stop the ball from going into the outfield and quickly hopped to her feet. The Tracy base coach was sending his runner at second home to try to tie the game. Fines threw a bullet to Huskies’ catcher Jessica Scott who applied the tag. The runner was called out and the championship celebration was underway.

Miles said afterwards she had every intention of wrapping up a win in that deciding seventh inning.

Mary Jo Truesdale with the 2016 Section Championship banner, her 7th at Sheldon

“I knew my team would have my back no matter what,” she said. “Tracy is probably the best competition we’ve seen out here. They wanted to go to a second game. I knew this was going to be a real championship game.”

Miles, who had an older sister play at Sheldon, was looking forward to this moment since she was a young girl.

“I’ve been wanting this opportunity since I was eight,” she said. “I’ve been preparing and wanting to have that moment – the seventh inning, get that last out and everybody just so happy because I helped win the Section.”