The Pioneer Valley softball team made sure Thursday that its regional semifinal would be pretty stress-free.

It was pretty much all Panthers from beginning to end, and the top seed rolled to a 10-0 win over No. 4 Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep in the semifinals of the CIF Southern California Division 4 Regionals at Pioneer Valley. The game was called after the top of the fifth inning because of the run rule.

The Panthers (21-12) will host No. 2 Woodlake (29-1) at Pioneer Valley Saturday at 4 p.m. in the first regional final for a Pioneer Valley softball team in program history. The Kares finished 21-7. Pioneer Valley cruised in the semifinals Thursday after getting a first-round bye in the regional.

Pioneer Valley rebounded after falling 12-6 as the No. 7 seed to No. 5 Madera Liberty in the CIF Central Section Division 5 championship game last Friday night.

“We’re excited to be in this position,” Pioneer Valley coach Kristina Sewell said afterward.

The Panthers got on their way quickly Thursday to their historical regional win. Pioneer Valley sophomore right-hander Maya Gutierrez set down the Kares in order in the top of the first inning and the Panthers scored four times in the bottom of the first.

Kares starter Allie Scott struggled with her control and walked the first two Pioneer Valley batters, Kianna Real and Natalia Natalia Rocha. The third batter, Mila Dolores, got her big day started by smacking an RBI single to right field.

Dolores finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs. The senior catcher doubled in two runs in the second inning and singled home another in the fourth. 

The Panthers hit a lot of fly ball outs Thursday, but overall they were pretty efficient. They didn’t swing at many pitches out of the strike zone. Their batters adjusted well to a change of speeds among the Kares pitchers. The Pioneer Valley defense made just one error.

The Panthers ran the bases well. Rocha and Dolores wisely tagged up at third base on deep fly ball outs in the first, and both wound up scoring. Aubrey Paz’s sacrifice fly drove in Rocha, and a Kamila Enriquez sacrifice fly drove in Dolores.

Adrianna Paz singled in two runs for the Panthers in the fourth inning, and Mackenzie Ramirez gave the Panthers their 10-run margin with an RBI single in the fourth.

Gutierrez wrapped up the win by pitching a 1-2-3 fifth.

Gutierrez is Pioneer Valley’s No. 2 pitcher behind senior right-hander Ciena Acosta, who holds the school career strikeouts record at 700-plus. After an ERA of 6.09 in 33.1 innings last season, Gutierrez has been a solid No. 2 behind Acosta this year. Gutierrez has a 3.22 ERA in 54.1 innings pitched. She is also one of the team’s leading hitters, at .318.

Gutierrez pitched a four-hitter Thursday and got the third out in the second and fourth innings with Kares runners on second and third.

“I was mixing my screwball with the curveball today,” said Gutierrez. The strategy worked.  

After seeing the hard-throwing left-hander Scott for just three batters, the Panthers dealt with Kares right-hander Bryce Johnson who had a slower pitch velocity and relied more on placement.

“I waited on her,” said Rocha. After Rocha walked her first two times up, the Johnson pitch that Rocha hit for lead-off double in the fourth “was right down the middle,” Rocha said. Rocha scored on a Dolores single.

“Our hitters did a great job adjusting to the change in pitching speeds,” Sewell said.

The Panthers will go up against a seasoned Woodlake team Saturday. The Tigers have out-scored their opposition by a combined 344-42 and have won Central Section championships each of the last two years. Woodlake won the 2025 Division 4 championship after winning the Division 5 title last year.

Woodlake senior Audrina Rodriguez is 18-0 with a 0.37 ERA in 95 innings pitched. Audrina Rodriguez bats .579, Ella Lara is hitting .536 and Alexis Rodriguez is at .455.

The Tigers have a slightly higher state ranking, No. 222 to Pioneer Valley’s 247. With all that, Sewell implied her team is ready.   

“I think the biggest thing our team has going for it is that it has such a lot of grit,” said Sewell. “They do not give up.”     Â