‘Balers use six-run first inning to crush SLV in Circle of
Champions
Salinas – San Benito softball coach Scott Smith preaches to his players that when someone makes a mistake, others need to pick up the slack to make up for it.
So when it was Smith who made the mistake, the team needed to pick its coach up.
The Haybalers did in a big way Friday and that propelled them to an 8-0 win over San Lorenzo Valley in their opening game of the Circle of Champions at Salinas Sports Complex.
Smith’s mistake came in the top of the first inning. JC Clayton had reached on a single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch.
When another throw went wild, Smith shouted “go” and Clayton raced toward the plate. But the catcher quickly fielded it and flipped to the pitcher, who tagged out Clayton for the first out.
“That’s my fault,” Smith said. “Coach made a mental mistake, but they picked me up.”
Picked him up is right. Rachel Maheu followed with a double, Lizzy Gatto was hit by a pitch and Elena Fata blasted a triple for a 2-0 lead.
Lindsay Clay then reached on an error as Fata scored, Audra Brown doubled and Alyssa Ashford blasted a shot to the outfield that got by the centerfielder and all three runners scooted home to make it 6-0.
“That got us going a lot,” Fata said of the big first inning. “At first we were worried about making mistakes, but we just have to play like we can play.”
The ‘Balers scored two more in the fourth. Maheu walked and moved to third on a Gatto single and a Fata fielder’s choice. She scored on a wild pitch and Brown drove in Gatto with an RBI single.
When sophomore pitcher Marisa Ibarra, who twirled a one-hit shutout, struck out the side in the fifth, the game was called due to the eight-run mercy rule.
Ibarra finished with seven strikeouts and her only blemish on the day was an infield single that went no more than five feet past home plate.
“If she has all her pitches, the sky’s the limit with her,” Smith said of Ibarra, who is now 5-0 on the season and has allowed just one earned run in 33 innings of work for an ERA of 0.21.
For the defending Central Coast Section Division I champions, the five straight wins to start the season may seem nice, but Smith says the team is playing at only about 40 percent of its capabilities and it believes it can keep getting much better.
“We’re not really worried about wins right now,” Fata said. “We just trying to do things the right way so we can win games later on at playoff time.”
San Benito continues tournament action when it faces Burlingame at 4pm today.
San Lorenzo Valley 000 00 – 0 1 1
San Benito 600 20 – 8 8 0
Lipard and Moran. Ibarra and Clay.
WP – Ibarra (5-0), LP – Lipard.
