With runs always at a premium between the two teams, Notre Dame
dodged a game-tying bullet in the fourth inning, then converted its
dugout excitement into an insurance run in the fifth en route to a
key 2-0 victory over the Lady Balers on Tuesday
— the win supplying the Spirits with at least a share of the
TCAL title.
HOLLISTER
Notre Dame center fielder Brittney Giammanco’s throw to the plate to get a sprinting Samantha Puentes out at home would have tied Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League showdown for San Benito. Instead, it may have provided the visiting Spirits with an added boost of momentum.
“I think we were still positive, but I think that it gave them some momentum,” San Benito manager Scott Smith said.
With runs always at a premium between the two teams, Notre Dame dodged a game-tying bullet in the fourth inning, then converted its dugout excitement into an insurance run in the fifth en route to a key 2-0 victory over the Lady Balers on Tuesday — the win supplying the Spirits with at least a share of the TCAL title.
Who they will share it with remains up in the air, though.
San Benito, which falls to 9-2 in the TCAL and 20-4 overall, will have one last chance to earn a piece of the league championship when it will visit Gilroy on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. However, a Lady Baler loss will give the Mustangs a piece of the league title — a game in which will be the regular-season finale for both teams.
“For our record, it was big. But in our mind, it was just another game,” San Benito starting pitcher Paige Miguel said of the close loss to Notre Dame. “I think we played solid. It was just the little things.
“The simple things is what cost us runs.”
With only four hits between the two teams on Tuesday — two hits apiece — it was Notre Dame that took advantage of costly San Benito miscues.
With two on and two out in the second inning, Notre Dame plated the only run it would need when Giammanco’s flare to left field scored the runner from second. The inning was over just seconds later as Baler Brittani Newman cut off the throw home and instead got the second Notre Dame runner out at third base, but the Spirit run stood, nonetheless.
“I thought we had the girl there out at home, and we had a brain fart,” Smith said. “But that stuff happens.”
San Benito had a chance to tie the game in the fourth when Samantha Puentes connected on a leadoff single, then stole second and advanced to third base on a Marissa Adame sacrifice bunt. But following a Jessica Vest sacrifice fly to center field, Puentes was thrown out at home on a perfect throw from Giammanco.
The play-at-the-plate call drew the ire of the San Benito faithful, though. And while Smith put up a fight in the wake of the run-scoring opportunity, the Lady Balers were still left with a 1-0 deficit instead of a 1-1 game.
“I don’t know what it is about this year,” said Smith, noting that there have been four plays-at-the-plate this season, all of which have not gone in San Benito’s favor.
“It’s testing our fortitude,” Smith added.
An energized Notre Dame squad took Giammanco’s assist and turned it into another run in the fifth, initially sparked by a leadoff single from Giovana Kolofer. A sac bunt and a pitch in the dirt later in the inning allowed Kolofer to score the second run of the game.
“I didn’t get nervous,” Miguel said. “But I didn’t bare down and throw the way I throw.”
It was the sixth straight loss to Notre Dame (10-2, 22-4) and the third this season for San Benito. The Lady Balers were coming off a 4-3 loss to the Spirits on Friday in which they led 3-1 in the seventh inning.
On Tuesday, Notre Dame pitcher Shanae Gasperson silenced San Benito’s bats, and retired nine of the last 10 batters she faced.
“We’ve got to rise to the occasion, quit playing like we’re a young team and start making the plays that we go over and over,” Smith said. “They got two hits and two runs on our mistakes.”
The rivalries or pressure-packed implications won’t subside come Thursday, though, when San Benito and Gilroy will meet up in the season finale. The winner will earn a piece of the TCAL title and take a strong step forward entering next week’s Central Coast Section Division I playoffs.
“We still have to have the same mindset,” Miguel said. “Just go out there and play the way we play.”
