Cardiac Cowboys: Livermore lassos NCS comeback win over Alameda with stunning sixth-inning rally

LIVERMORE — All Kaci Norton could do was watch. 

“Very nerve-wracking in the dugout,” Livermore’s starting pitcher said. “Kind of sitting there, praying.”

No. 2 Livermore trailed No. 7 Alameda 4-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning on Friday afternoon, and the home Cowboys were six outs away from the end of their season. 

Livermore put two runners on base as Laine Macosky walked to lead off the inning, then Gianna Willes singled to get the tying run on base. 

Alameda pitcher Julia Lambert retired the next two Livermore batters, putting the Cowboys in a precarious position. But they were ready to meet the moment. 

Sydney Aguilar walked to load the bases, then freshman Jules McCafferty stepped up to the plate. On the first pitch of the at-bat, McCafferty looped a bloop to right field. 

It fell in front of Alameda right fielder Sadie Ramirez, tying the game 4-4. Then Eliza Gerochi and Sophia Gerochi laced back-to-back RBI singles, and suddenly, it was Livermore who had the two-run lead. 

After that, it was Norton’s turn to come through. The junior finished off a complete game with a 1-2-3 seventh-inning, and the Cowboys had officially lassoed a playoff victory from the jaws of defeat. 

“Another year off my life,” Livermore coach Andy Paulazzo quipped. “Ain’t got many left at 60.”

Paulazzo’s lucky that McCafferty was unfazed by the moment in her first-ever NCS playoff game. The four-sport star, who also made the Cowboys’ varsity flag football and basketball teams in her first year at Livermore, had faith that the time she had put in would come to the light. 

“All the work that I’ve put in leading up to that, there is no pressure there,” McCafferty said. “Just leave it up to God and hope for the best. I hoped (it would drop). But all I knew is I was rounding first and it was on the ground. It was great.”

There wasn’t much in the previous innings to indicate that Livermore (19-8) was poised for a comeback. After Sophia Gerochi led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run into the right-field netting, the Cowboys trailed 4-2. 

But they couldn’t get much traffic on the basepaths after that, as no runner advanced past first base in the next two innings. For a good long while, it appeared Lambert was a puzzle Livermore wouldn’t be able to solve. 

“We did really well defensively in innings one through five,” Alameda coach Meida Tautalatasi said. “We could have hit a lot more rather than just that one inning where we got the four runs.”

Indeed. Alameda’s four-run offensive explosion in the third changed the game, but Norton buckled down afterward and gave Livermore a chance to come back.

Norton stranded Abbye Haines at third base to end the top of the third and did not allow a runner past first for the rest of the game. 

“Our team always comes back, and they always have my back,” Norton said. “We always work really hard, and they work extra hard to keep me up and motivated. It’s always so important to kind of stay ahead and work for my team and get it as close as possible.”

When it came down to it, it was a ninth-grader taking the most important at-bat of the season for the Cowboys. McCafferty, who also plays club rugby, was right in the heart of the figurative scrum.

But when you’re used to literally partaking in full-contact battles of will, maybe a psychological one seems like a walk in the park. 

“It’s great,” McCafferty said. “I love these girls, and these seniors have been really kind to me this season. They’re all great players, and I hope to have a next game with them no matter what. Getting that win really meant a lot to everyone. I know that.”