San Benito’s hopes of a second straight Central Coast Section
title are alive, but the Haybalers did plenty of nail-biting and
sweating to keep it that way.
San Jose – San Benito’s hopes of a second straight Central Coast Section title are alive, but the Haybalers did plenty of nail-biting and sweating to keep it that way.
Gilroy scored three runs in the third and three more in the fourth to build some tension in the San Benito dugout, but the ‘Balers delivered a six-run rally in the fifth and scored four more in the sixth to produce a 13-7 victory to advance to Saturday’s 4:30pm title game against Carlmont.
After it was scoreless for the first inning and a half, the bottom of the order got things working for San Benito in the bottom of second. Audra Brown led off with a walk and Ashley Perriera and Alyssa Ashford both put down sacrifice bunts to move her to third.
Danielle Scibuola delivered an RBI single to left for the first run and advanced to second when the ball got past the left fielder. Clayton followed with a single past Gilroy’s diving second baseman Lauryn Chris to make it 2-0.
But the Mustangs immediately fought back. With two on and two out in the third, Kylie Herrada slapped a hard-hit ball over the left fielder’s head. The two base runners easily scored and the relay throw to home was in time, but Herrada slid around the tag of catcher Ashley Perreira and on a second effort tagged the plate for the three-run homer – her first round-tripper of the season.
San Benito also wasted little time in responding. Fata and Gatto drew one-out walks in the bottom of the third and Clay brought home Fata with the tying run with a double to center. The rally ended there when Clay was tagged out after rounding the base at second and Brown grounded out to end the inning.
Gilroy regained the lead a half-inning later. Jasmine Perez led off the third with a single and scored with Caitlyn Pierotti ripped a triple to right. With one out, Brittany Balanesi hit a grounder back to the pitcher. Ibarra fielded it and looked back the runner at third and threw belatedly to first.
Pinch-runner Alyssa Castro broke from third and evaded the tag to score as Balanesi went to second. After a pop out, Yolanda Esquivel reached on an error to plate Balanesi for a 6-3 lead for the Mustangs.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth, but the ‘Balers couldn’t be denied for very long.
Four straight singles by Fata, Gatto, Clay and Brown produced two runs to make it 6-5. Perreira was hit by a pitch to load the bases and with one out, pinch hitter Katrina Ibarra single to right to tie the game.
Clayton gave the lead back to San Benito when she hit an infield single up the middle and Fata, the league MVP, smashed a single up the middle to plate another run. When the throw home was wild, Clayton scored to make it 9-6.
Ibarra set the Mustangs down in order in the top of the sixth and after San Benito boosted its lead with the four-run sixth inning rally, Gilroy scored a run in the seventh but it wasn’t enough to overcome the ‘Balers.
