St. Joseph took care of business Wednesday, Lompoc played spoiler and the Knights successfully defended their Mountain League softball championship.

Soon, the Knights will embark on a bigger task – defending their CIF Central Section Division 2 championship.

For now, St. Joseph can bask in being a repeat league champ. The Knights defeated Cabrillo 7-0 on J. Chavez Field at St. Joseph Wednesday. Lompoc beat Righetti 5-1 at Righetti that day. Those results gave a second straight outright league championship to St. Joseph.

The Knights (21-6, 12-2) led second-place Righetti (18-7, 10-4) by one game before Wednesday. Now, the St. Joseph margin is two games with one league remaining for both teams. Thus, the St. Joseph-Righetti league finale at Righetti Friday will have no bearing on who wins the league championship. Start time is 4:30 p.m.

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St. Joseph’s Taylor Mediano bumps Jessi Escobedo after the Knights beat Cabrillo and the senior pitcher recorded her 600th career strikeout.

Len Wood,Contributor

Cabrillo (6-16, 1-13) will finish its season with a league game against Mission Prep at Cuesta College Friday at 5 p.m.

Lompoc (16-10, 9-5) will garner a share of second place if the Braves beat Arroyo Grande at home Friday and Righetti loses. The Arroyo Grande-Lompoc game will take place at 4:30 p.m.

“We’ve had a long season,” second-year St. Joseph coach Anthony Razo said after Knights freshman relief pitcher Khandi Rodriguez got a strikeout to end the game Wednesday.

“We lost eight seniors from last year’s team. We have a lot of new faces,” said Razo. “The new players have brought into the culture here.”

St. Joseph’s starting pitcher, senior right-hander Taylor Mediano, notched her 600th career strikeout at St. Joseph in the top of the first inning.

Mediano and Rodriguez combined on a one-hitter. Mediano pitched the first four innings. Rodriguez worked the last three. Mediano struck out nine batters and walked two. Rodriguez struck out seven and walked no one.

Cabrillo right-hander Lily Pottle kept her team in it the first three innings. St. Joseph led 2-0 going into the bottom of the fourth. However, the Knights scored two runs in the fourth inning then Kaycie Gavlak hit a three-run homer over the center field fence off Pottle in the sixth.

Annalyssa Cota kept up her recent hot hitting streak. Cota walloped an RBI double to left field in the second inning and smacked an RBI triple to left in the fourth.

Dedication ceremony celebrates St. Joseph softball, baseball facilities

Cota has six RBIs in St. Joseph’s last four games.

“They’ve been pitching me pretty much everywhere (in the strike zone) lately, but today they pitched me mostly middle-in,” said Cota. The pitch she hit for the triple “was middle-out,” said Cota. Wherever opposing pitchers have pitched her lately, Cota has handled it well.

Cota is a junior who was a productive guard the last three seasons for a St. Joseph girls varsity basketball squad that has won a Mountain League championship each of Cota’s seasons with the team.

However, “Softball is my No. 1 sport,” said Cota. “I’ve talked to a couple of schools. I’ll probably make my decision this summer as to where I’m going to go.”

St. Joseph shortstop Seleny Chavez finished with three hits, including a triple, and an RBI. Chavez made a diving catch on a foul ball for the third out in the top of the third.

This time, St. Joseph will have to make do in the playoffs without the graduated Charli Escobedo. Before going off to play for Azusa Pacific,  Escobedo hit .388, the second-highest average on the team behind Gavlak’s .411, last season.

Escobedo was 10-0 with a 1.77 ERA as the second pitcher in St. Joseph’s starting rotation behind Mediano. Escobedo had two hits and two RBIs in St. Joseph’s 4-0 win over Porterville Monache in the 2024 Division 2 championship game on Maggie Wright Diamond at Fresno State.

Still, “We’re healthy, and everyone’s been battle tested,” said Razo. “I’m confident that we can make a strong run in the playoffs.”

The Braves scored twice in the top of the first inning and never looked back en route to halting the Warriors’ bid for at least a share of the league title.

Lompoc finished with 12 hits, and eight Lompoc batters had at least one hit. Rianna Stouppe finished with three hits, including two doubles, and three RBIs.

Alex Brooks pitched a complete game for Lompoc.       

St. Joseph repeats as Mountain League softball champ | Photos