JULIAN — The Calipatria Hornet softball team punched their ticket to their first CIF-San Diego Section Division V-AA small school championship game today, where they will meet the Warner Wildcats this afternoon, May 29th.

The Division V-AA third-seeded Hornets (9-10) will meet the Division V-AA’s top-seeded Wildcats (15-3) at the University of California-San Diego’s Triton Softball Field at 4:00 pm today for the 2025 Division V-AA Championship.

“We’re excited, and I believe we are peaking at the right time; we’re playing our best ball right now,” Calipatria coach Joe Nunez said. “Our big test will be on Thursday (today).”

On Tuesday afternoon, Calipatria advanced to the CIF-SDS Division V-AA title game by eliminating the hosting second-seeded Julian Eagles by a score of 18-2.

On Tuesday, senior Selena Cano pitched the run-rule-shortened five-inning game, striking out eight Eagles, walking four and surrendering three hits, all singles.

“She’s our only pitcher, and she’s learned to pitch out of trouble,” Nunez said. “She had a shutout until the bottom of the fifth inning, then we made a couple of errors and they scored two runs.”

Offensively, the Hornets set the tone for the game, scoring one run in the top of the first inning, rallying for eight more runs in the second, three runs in the third, and five more runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Cano aided her own cause at the plate, getting on base five times, going four-for-four with three singles and a double while being hit by a pitch.

Fellow senior Aubrey Wells, Calipatria’s shortstop, went two-for-four with an inside-the-park home run, while senior first baseman Natalie Lara had one hit.

Junior center fielder Delilah Amezquita also had a big day for Calipatria, going three for five, including two inside-the-park home runs, a single, and a walk.

“They did have fences around the field, but our girls hit balls into the gaps…there were some close plays at home, but the girls beat the throws,” Nunez said.

The Hornets’ 18-2 win was their second over Julian in the CIF playoffs, having previously traveled to San Diego County’s eastern mountains to defeat the Eagles 18-16 last Friday after opening the playoffs at home with a 13-7 victory last Wednesday over San Marcos’ Saint Joseph Academy.

“Actually, the league we were in wasn’t very strong this season compared to when we played in the Valley in the Desert League,” Nunez said. “But we did play some Valley schools in non-league games, and that got us ready for the playoffs.”

Calipatria and Warner both play in the CIF-SDS’s Southern Conference’s Manzanita League and have faced each other twice this season, with the Wildcats prevailing 15-6 in March and 18-12 in April.

“We lost those games, and they were seeded higher for the playoffs, but the improvement we showed in the second game is important,” Nunez said.

In his first year as head coach of the Hornets, Nunez, who coached the Imperial Tiger varsity for four seasons and JV softball at Brawley, has a team that is now competitive after having an early, steep learning curve.

“When we started the season, we had very little experience beyond a few girls…the bottom line is everyone has just worked hard and kept improving,” Nunez said. “These girls have been putting in their time, working hard on the basic stuff, and it’s starting to show.”

Tickets for today’s game are only available digitally at the CIF-SDS’s ticketing partner, gofan.com.

The game will be live-streamed and also available on a replay basis on The NFHS Network. For more information, visit www.nfhsnetwork.com/associations/cif.