Despite an early lead by the Lady Balers, Notre Dame’s three-run
seventh provided the host Spirits with a surprising 4-3 victory on
Friday, and provided the San Benito softball team with its first
loss in Tri-County Athletic League play.
SALINAS
Despite an early lead by the Lady Balers, Notre Dame’s three-run seventh provided the host Spirits with a surprising 4-3 victory on Friday, and provided the San Benito softball team with its first loss in Tri-County Athletic League play.
With San Benito holding a 3-1 lead entering the bottom of the seventh, Notre Dame put its first two runners on base following a leadoff single and a walk. Lady Baler Jessica Vest then made a strong defensive play at short to get the lead runner out at third base, but a pass ball during the ensuing at-bat moved the other two runners into scoring position.
A single up the middle then brought one Spirit base runner home easily, while the other was met with a play at the plate after center fielder Mari Vallejo delivered a strong throw from the outfield.
The Notre Dame base runner was called safe, making the game 3-all, although San Benito manager Scott Smith saw the play in a different light.
“Mari made a tremendous throw to the plate and I thought she had her, for sure,” Smith said. “We threw her out. It was clear.”
Later in the inning, with two runners on and only one out, San Benito opted for an intentional walk to load the bases and get the force out. But on the fourth pitch from pitcher Paige Miguel (7IP, 5K, 4R, 2BB), the ball got past catcher Marissa Adame.
Miguel covered the plate, but Adame’s throw back was missed and the fourth run for Notre Dame scored from third base.
San Benito falls to 9-1 in the TCAL as a result, 20-3 overall.
“But it was a great game, a really good game,” Smith said. “Paige threw really good and we played good defense. But we’ve got them Tuesday, so we’ll see what happenes.”
The Lady Balers will have a chance to redeem themselves come Tuesday, when they will host Notre Dame in Hollister at 4:30 p.m. With just two games remaining — San Benito will visit Gilroy next Thursday — the Lady Balers need one victory to earn at least a share of the TCAL title.
If they win out, though, they will have claimed the league championship outright.
San Benito nearly took a step toward that goal on Friday by grabbing a 3-0 lead through three innings of play against Notre Dame. The Lady Balers went up 2-0 in the first inning when Mari Vallejo led off with a triple and was promptly knocked in with an RBI single by Samantha Puentes.
Puentes then scored when Brittany Hoff delivered an RBI single up the middle later in the inning.
In the third, Jessica Steigelman hit an RBI double down the left-field line to score Jessica Vest. But the Spirits got the scoreboard in the sixth with one run, setting up the three-run seventh.
Notre Dame is now 9-2 in the TCAL.
SB — 201 000 0 — 3 9 2
ND — 000 001 3 — 4 7 0
