It took the Gavilan softball team exactly one game to surpass
last season’s win total and it used some late-game dramatics to do
it.
Gilroy – It took the Gavilan softball team exactly one game to surpass last season’s win total and it used some late-game dramatics to do it.
Amanda Roseveer blasted a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning and Melissa Gaxiola delivered an RBI single in the eighth as Gavilan rallied to beat City College of San Francisco 7-6 in the first game of its season-opening double header at home Saturday.
“That was a great way for us to start,” said coach Nikki Dequin-Thompson, whose team went winless last season.
Gavilan also jumped out to a 5-3 lead through five innings of the second game, but CCSF rallied for a 7-5 victory.
Early in the opener, Gavilan experienced some shaky defense which helped CCSF take the lead. The visitors took advantage of two errors to score three runs (two unearned) in the first two innings to post a 3-0 advantage.
Gavilan rebounded to tie the game in the third. Andrea Castaneda led off with a double and scored on a pair of wild pitches. Nisa Cevallos (Gilroy) and Amanda Perez both reached on walks and sophomore leadoff hitter Megan Smart, a Live Oak product, delivered a two-run single to tie the game.
CCSF scored twice more in the third to regain the lead and Gavilan got one of those back in the bottom of the inning.
The lead was boosted to two when CCSF scored an unearned run in the sixth.
Smart, a speedy, slap-hitting lefty, kick-started Gavilan’s sixth-inning with a one-out bunt single. Gaxiola bunted her to second before Roseveer (Live Oak) got every bit of the first pitch she saw from Michelle McMahon and parked it over the left-field fence.
“That was a big hit for her,” Dequin-Thompson said. “It really brought the team up.”
After pitcher Jen McBain, who pitched every inning of both games, put up two straight zeros, Perez doubled to open the Gavilan half of the eighth. Smart followed with a walk and Gaxiola fought off an 0-2 pitch and bounced it down the line and over the third baseman’s head for the game-winning run.
“That was clutch for us,” Dequin-Thompson said.
In the nightcap, Gavilan got a third-inning RBI single from Roseveer and two-run homer from Haylie Cloud to take a 4-2 lead.
Roseveer delivered her third RBI hit of the game in the fifth inning to make it 5-3, but CCSF scored three runs in the sixth and added an insurance run in the seventh to prevent the Gavilan sweep.
Roseveer, a freshman third baseman by trade who was seeing her first college action at catcher, finished the day 5-for-7, with five RBIs and two runs scored.
McBain struck out 10 and allowed seven earned runs over her 15 innings of work.
“Jen did a great job,” Dequin-Thompson said. “She’s probably going to be our only pitcher.”
