San Benito loses for first time by more than a single run
The San Benito girls softball team lost 3-1 against Leigh and defeated Presentation 1-0 in the Mission College Classic on Saturday to finish in third place.
San Benito (17-5, 5-2 TCAL) finished 5-1 in the tournament and will resume league play against North Salinas on Tuesday.
For the Balers, the loss to Leigh was the first loss by more than one run this year.
“We lost to Leigh because we had a lot of dumb mistakes,” said Baler coach Scott Smith. “Dani (Hernandez) was throwing so well, we shouldn’t have given up a run.”
After San Benito got the game started with a run in the first inning, Leigh scored two runs in the sixth inning.
The Longhorns hit a little chopper on the left side of the infield that neither third baseman Megan C. Smith nor Hernandez fielded after some miscommunication.
With the bases loaded, shortstop Jenny Maheu tried to come home on a grounder but threw the ball low to allow a run to score.
The second run scored on a ball hit to second baseman Hillary Williams. Williams’ throw to first was low, and JT Temperino couldn’t pick it out.
With the Balers down 2-1, Amy Baxter led off with a triple but was unable to score after a couple strikeouts and a groundout.
On a routine fly ball hit to right field, the Balers forgot about the Leigh runner tagging up from second.
And then a groundout brought in the the third run for the Longhorns.
Against Presentation, San Benito scored its only run on a two-out walk-off base hit to right center field in the seventh inning by Kassandra Sonnier.
Hernandez gave up her first extra base hit of the year, but Presentation tried to stretch it to a triple, and the Balers threw the runner out at third.
“We didn’t hit the ball as well as I thought we should have, but we played really solid defense,” Smith said.
