Boron ace tosses a 2-hitter as Bobcats deny Dos Palos in Valley Championship softball game

The Dos Palos High School softball team’s bid for a Valley Championship came up short.

The Broncos ran into a tough pitcher in Hailey Davis, who struck out 12 en route to a two-hitter as No. 2-seeded Boron defeated No. 12 Dos Palos 6-1 on Saturday afternoon at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond in the Central Section Division V final.

“These young ladies battled hard and we were on the road for, you know, I think we said about 1600 miles the last three weeks,” Dos Palos coach David Jacobo said.

“We’re a team that showed a lot of resilience, battled and we played all year and we played a really good team,” Jacobo added.

The Broncos (13-9) logged a lot of hours on the bus during their playoff run with trips to Bakersfield, Bishop and Woodlake in the first three rounds.

Dos Palos briefly led 1-0 on an alert play by Denise Fonseca, when she scored from third off a popup in the infield.

The Bobcats (22-2) scored three runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth.

Only two of the six runs off Broncos ace Breann Raney were earned. Raney surrendered four hits in six innings. She finished with six strikeouts.

Two of Boron’s three fourth-inning runs came on defensive miscues by the Broncos.

Davis helped herself by driving in two and Leannie Lopez added two hits and two runs scored.

Jacobo says the Broncos have a lot to be proud of this season.

“We started 1-7 this year and came back and won a bunch of games,” he said. “We’ve always been in the mix of it and it’s one thing this team has done is battle through the year.”