The glove of Paige Vraneswich set an early tone for the Rancho Cotate softball team on a windy Thursday afternoon in Rohnert Park.

The sophomore outfielder leapt over the right center-field fence to rob Cardinal Newman slugger Mackenzie Dennis of a home run to end the first inning. With the ball securely in her possession, Vraneswich climbed out of the mesh fence to the embrace of her cheering teammates back in the dugout.

The Cougars wasted little time converting on that momentum, plating five runs in the bottom half of the inning in what was ultimately a 7-0 win over the Cardinals in the championship game of the North Bay League-Oak tournament.

Vraneswich was just one of several standouts the top-seeded Cougars (17-5) had in their win over the second-seeded Cardinals (13-13).

The other headliner was starting pitcher Lexi Samson. The junior righty fired a complete-game five-hit shutout with no walks and three strikeouts in her seven innings of work on just 64 pitches.

She also got plenty of support from her offense. Haley Wyatt had a three-run double in the first, followed by an RBI double from Alex Schmelzel, and Tiare Guerrero went 3 for 4 and scored twice.

All in all, it was a good day for the Cougars.

“We knew coming into this game it was going to be a tough one,” Guerrero said. “Newman has had a lot of success and are a very competitive team. So, we knew coming into this game we had to simplify things and play at our pace and that’s exactly what we did. It feels great.”

After losing twice last week, the Cougars steadied the ship as they approach the North Coast Section playoffs, which are set to start next week. As the NBL-Oak league champion, they’re guaranteed a first-round home game but would like to play in Rohnert Park as long as possible. They’ll look to shore up their ranking in Division 2 in their regular-season finale at Vintage, a Division 1 powerhouse, on Saturday.

“We’re feeling good,” Samson said of heading into the postseason. “We know we’re going to face some tough teams, but as long as we just keep doing what we do we’re going to be great.”

If they keeps playing like they did on Thursday, the Cougars should be in great shape going forward.

The Cougars’ first three batters of the game all reached to load the bases for Wyatt, who laced a ball down the left-field line to bring everyone home. After a strikeout, Schmelzel doubled to make it 4-0 and then scored herself on a single from Tiyana Hunt-Martinez.

The Cougars threatened for more but the Cardinals ended the inning with a double play on a line drive comebacker that was snagged by starting pitcher Callie Howard, who then doubled off pinch-runner Callie Figoni at third.

After the exciting first, both teams settled down until the fourth, when Rancho Cotate added their final two runs. A fly ball to left from Wyatt dropped over the head of Cardinal Newman’s outfielder, which allowed Guerrero to score all the way from first. Wyatt then scored on the very next batter due to another Cardinal Newman error.

With the lead at 7-0, the Cougars and head coach Tracey Poueu-Guerrero could breathe a bit. In their first two meetings of the season, Cardinal Newman rallied for two dramatic wins. So, their 5-0 lead felt anything but safe.

“I still wasn’t comfortable,” said Poueu-Guerrero. “I was telling them, ‘Hey, I don’t like this, this is what we always do with Newman. We need to score more runs because they always come back on us. So don’t settle.’”

In the end, the seven runs were more than enough, as Samson delivered one of her best outings of the season. She’s now 7-1 on the year with a 1.89 earned run average in 59⅓ innings pitched.

Cardinal Newman’s regular season is now over. It’ll find out on Sunday its placement for the NCS Division 4 playoffs. The Cardinals are one of the top teams in their division and should be in line for at least a couple postseason home games.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.