Another doubleheader, another split.
Gilroy – Another doubleheader, another split.
It’s been that way for Gavilan since the beginning of the women’s softball season. It continued Thursday as the Rams topped Allen Hancock 9-4 in the opener before falling 12-8 in the second game.
“We hit the ball much better today,” Gavilan coach Nikki Dequin-Thompson said. “We made some changes in the second game, moved players around and came in a little lax coming off the win in the first game. It seemed like we weren’t expecting them to hit ball as well as they did and lost our focus a little, mainly in the first inning.”
The Bulldogs had 13 hits in the nightcap and took advantage of six Rams errors. Hancock scored six runs in the first inning and Gavilan was forced to play from behind for the rest of the game.
The Rams did trim the deficit to 6-4 in the third on two-run doubles by Hayli Cloud and Amanda Jackson. But the Bulldogs put the game away with another six-spot in the third.
Jen McBain pitched a seven-hitter with two strikeouts in the opener. Melissa Gaxiola was the offensive star with four RBI. Her two-run double capped a five-run second inning that wiped out a 2-0 Hancock lead. Angelina Fernandez had a two-run single and Nisa Ceballos walked with the bases loaded for the other run.
Gaxiola smacked a two-run triple in the fourth inning and finished the doubleheader with four hits.
“We started a little slow in the first game and picked it up,” Dequin-Thompson said. “We were hitting the ball and picked up our intensity. I thought we played well and we kept scoring runs.
“In the second game, we started to come back. But we were in a hole right away. We’re still a pretty young team trying to find the right chemistry. That’s what the preseason is all about.”
Gavilan has four homegames this weekend, facing De Anza College at 10am Saturday and Sunday, and Monterey Peninsula College at 2 pm both days.
