Tuesday’s road trip to Martinez paid off for Escalon’s varsity softball girls, as the squad held on for a 6-5 victory over the number four seed Alhambra Bulldogs in the opening round of the NorCal Division IV championship competition on June 2.

Game time was 4 p.m., with Escalon scoring a run in the first, three in the third and two in the fifth; host Alhambra scored two in the third to get back in the game, then put three on the board in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t quite get the tying run in, as Escalon earned their 16th win of the season and advanced to the NorCal semifinals.

Tenley Adams had a home run, three RBI and a run scored; Arianna Velasco had a triple, two RBI and a run scored. Lauryn Siegel had two hits, Jayci Trimble added one. Madi Babasa and Kyla Holback each had a single and two runs scored on the afternoon. They each also had a stolen base, as did Velasco.

Escalon had six runs on seven hits with two errors; Alhambra had five runs on five hits and no errors.

Alhambra ended its season at 14-14-1 with the loss. By virtue of the win, Escalon gets to travel to face off with the Division IV top seed, West Valley, in Cottonwood – south of Redding in Shasta County – on Thursday, June 4. Game time is 3 p.m.; this is the semifinal round and West Valley comes in with a 28-2 record while number five seed Escalon is now16-11. Winner Thursday moves on to the play for the NorCal D-IV championship on Saturday, June 6.

The other semifinal match Thursday will feature number two seed Alisal of Salinas hosting number three Live Oak of Morgan Hill, with a 4 p.m. start time. Alisal topped seven seed Newark Memorial in the opening round, Live Oak defeated number six Amador.