Call him Scott Smith the Prognosticator. When San Benito was set
to face Carlmont in the championship game of the Circle of
Champions tournament, Smith figured his team may run into the Scots
again in a much more meaningful game. So he kept starter Marisa
Ibarra out of the circle.
San Jose – Call him Scott Smith the Prognosticator.
When San Benito was set to face Carlmont in the championship game of the Circle of Champions tournament, Smith figured his team may run into the Scots again in a much more meaningful game. So he kept starter Marisa Ibarra out of the circle.
“We could see them down the road and I don’t like them to get to see (Ibarra) and get a book on her,” Smith said after the 8-1 loss to the Scots on March 17.
It seems Smith knew a thing or two.
Carlmont got a one-hitter from senior pitcher Ashley Chinn to beat Watsonville in the semifinals Thursday and set up a rematch of last year’s semifinal game against the ‘Balers. In that game, San Benito got a beneficial call in the bottom of the eighth and then exploded with seven runs in the ninth to win it.
Now, they get to do it all over again at 4:30pm today at PAL Stadium. This time with the winner taking home the title.
“It’s going to be big,” junior shortstop Elena Fata said of the team’s second straight finals appearance. “We’re ready.”
Smith’s prognosticating skills going beyond his hunch that the ‘Balers would eventually match up with Carlmont. Before the game against Gilroy, he predicted his team would need 6-8 runs in order to win, despite the fact that Ibarra hadn’t allowed more than three runs in a game all year. The ‘Balers won the game 13-7.
“(Gilroy’s) a good hitting team,” he said. “I figured they’d put the pressure on us.”
So while Ibarra was hit harder than in any game this season, Smith thinks it was a good thing for his sophomore hurler.
“She needs to understand that she’s not always going to have her good stuff,” Smith said. “She was trying to do too much.”
Smith figures the key to the game will be keeping the Scots off the board early.
“If we can get to the sixth inning with it scoreless, I think we’ll win the game,” he said.
Overall, the team knows it’s going to have to put together its best performance of the year.
“Marisa’s going to have to have her stuff,” Fata said. “And we’re all going to have to put it together.”
