SARATOGA -- No. 2 West Valley softball continued its perfect start to the 2026 season, opening conference play with a 10-0 victory over Monterey Peninsula College before sweeping No. 11 College of the Sequoias on Saturday, setting up a matchup against the top-ranked team in the state on Tuesday.

The Vikings (19-0, 1-0 Coast-South) destroyed the Lobos on Thursday before what, on paper, should have been a tough task against the Giants. But in two of their most complete games of the year, the Vikings downed the Giants (15-6-1), doing so in run-rule fashion in the second.

West Valley took the conference opener on the road at Monterey, taking a first inning lead on a home run from Sadie Heming before sophomore Ana Marquez shut the Lobos out for five innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Heming, starting for the first time since February 19, went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run to give the Vikings a well-rounded win.

Against Sequoias on Saturday, the Giants took a 3-0 first inning lead when Amelia Sizemore walked all three batters she faced as the Vikings' starter, but Marquez entered and allowed all three to score as the Vikings fell into an early deficit. West Valley chipped back in the bottom of the first when shortstop Izzy Paskert mashed a ball to the right-center gap, splitting two defenders and lodging into the fencing. Both outfielders put their hands up to call for a ball out of play, but before the umpires signaled the ball dead, Sequioas centerfielder Madisyn Benedict picked the ball up, nullifying the dead ball and allowing Paskert to score on her first collegiate home run. Mo Temple followed with a double to the exact same spot (not lodged this time) and Raylene Cruz doubled her home.

The Giants added one more in the top of the second against Marquez, but Paskert singled to bring home a run in the bottom of the frame before Heming's groundout evened the score at four. 

From there, Marquez was superb in the circle. She retired 15 of the next 17 Giants' batters, allowing just one hit and one hit by pitch while getting completely into the zone in a tight ballgame. A Paskert sacrifice fly, her third RBI of the game from the leadoff spot, scored the Vikings' go-ahead run in the third before they got some insurance in the fourth on an RBI single from freshman catcher Destiny Solis. In the seventh, Marquez struck out the final two batters she faced to secure the Vikings' victory.

The second game was all West Valley, with the Giants clearly deflated after blowing a large early lead. Starter Katy Lambert worked past a one-out triple with a huge strikeout and a popup in the top of the first. In the bottom half, the Vikings tallied four runs, with Solis doubling home a pair and freshman April Price tripling her home before a fielders' choice brought home the fourth run. Lambert worked a 1-2-3 second inning before Paskert doubled home a run, with Cruz following with a two-run knock of her own. After two innings, the Vikings led 7-0.

Ahead by six in the bottom of the fifth, Aneesa Aguon led off with a single, Zoe Griffin reached on an error and ninth-place hitter Ella Moser singled a run home. Paskert, the hero of the day, doubled home another run to cap off a 3-0 week for the Vikings.

It was a breakout weekend for Paskert, who had hit leadoff in Vicky Piatt's nine throughout the season while putting up solid numbers. But the shortstop is starting to totally blossom, hitting .636 with two doubles, a home run and four driven in out of the leadoff spot in the three games. Solis, another freshman, went 7-for-10 over the weekend and raised her season average to over .400. And Marquez, the sophomore ace, picked up the Vikings' first two wins of the weekend while combining for 12 innings of one-run ball. Even against a borderline top-10 team, the Vikings were clearly the better team.

Those victories should give the Vikings some momentum heading into their biggest game of the season: a battle against the No. 1 team in the state, the College of San Mateo Bulldogs, on Tuesday afternoon.