Archer Softball Wins, Advances to Second Round

Before a standing room only crowd at The Archer School for Girls, the Panthers, rolled past North County Christian, with a dominating 16-2 victory in the opening round of the Division 7 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Sectionhigh school playoffs.  

Archer, now boasting a school record 15-3 overall record and a ten game win streak, will play #4 seeded softball power Faith Baptist (15-9) on Tuesday, May 22 at Faith Baptist School in Canoga Park.  Game time is 3:15pm.  North County Christian finished the year 13-3.

NCC made the four hour drive south to Archer from Atascadero to Archer. This was the first Archer has hosted an CIF playoff game on its designated National Historical Landmark campus, originally built in 1931 as the Eastern Star Retirement Home.  

It was, however, Archer pitchers Christine and Caroline Zaccaro who did the retiring, the "Z's" put NCC to sleep as they combined to allow only four hits and strike out ten batters.  Senior Christine Zaccaro recorded the win, improving her record to 9-1 on the season to go with a 1.39 ERA.  Archer junior Lindsay Levesque led a powerful hitting and base running display with two triples and four RBI's while also scoring twice.  

On defense, Archer center fielder Rebecca Samuelson chased down a powerful blast into the right center gap from NCC in the first inning, setting the tone for Archer's error free game.  The game's first run came in the bottom of the second inning as Archer sophomore shortstop ShaVonne Higgins scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt.  

Archer is one of 32 teams out of close to 100 teams in division 7 that qualified for the main draw of the single elimination playoffs.  Archer's second round opponent Faith Baptist has one of the strongest programs in the division.  

The Contenders return 8 players from a team that in 2011 won 17 games and advanced to the CIF semifinals.  Their overall record of 15-9 is deceptive in that they have played several school in higher divisions.  The Contenders' top players include senior shortstop Emily Godown (.429 batting average) and senior pitchers Susanna Suard and Jacquelyn Rasmussen. The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to CIF quarterfinals May 24th to play either Mesa Grande Academy (Calimesa) or Lee Vining (Yosemite).  

CIF-SS DIV. 7 SOFTBALL 2ND ROUND PLAYOFF INFO:

Archer vs. Faith Baptist at Faith Baptist School 7644 Farralone Ave., Canoga Park, CA 91304, on Tuesday, May 22nd. The game starts at 3:15 p.m. and fans are encouraged to arrive early to secure parking either on campus or on local streets.