No errors. Just one single through the box. No runs allowed.
No errors. Just one single through the box. No runs allowed.
Hollister High, ranked 6th in the Central Coast Section, blanked 11th-ranked Westmont 6-0 Thursday and it was near perfection for the Balers, despite just having four hits in their home debut.
As promised by head coach Scott Smith, the combined pitching of Dani Hernandez (2-1) and Alyssa Baker was a nice combination, indeed.
Hernandez, using a fastball and a wicked change-up, had a no-hitter through 3.1 innings and had given up just one baserunner, that when she bounced one off the ground and hit the Warriors’ Victoria Alexander in the second.
Hernandez had a couple of strikes on Katherine Bamford with one out in the fourth then she gambled with a change-up. Bamford stayed back and shot it back through the middle for the Warriors’ (2-2) only hit of the game.
“That was my fault,” said Smith, whose Balers are 3-1. “I called for three change-ups in the same at bat against the No. 3 hitter. That was a mistake on my part.”
Baker came in at the start of the fifth and pitched extremely well, yielding just a walk in the sixth. The two pitchers totaled nine strikeouts.
“We didn’t swing the bats the way we can,” said Warriors coach Jon Hennig. “We’re trying to find our way. Those are two good pitchers for Hollister.”
Westmont starter Breanna Kuhny (2-1) looked impressive in the first inning, whiffing two Baler hitters in a 1-2-3 frame. But, after Amy Baxter drew a walk in the bottom of the second, Nashia Alvarez laid a bunt down in front of the plate which died in some kind of quicksand about five-feet from home. Alvarez beat it out for a hit and the Balers had runners at first and second and nobody out.
With Rachelle Barrientos up, Smith called for the sophomore sacrifice. Barrientos couldn’t get two bunts in play in working the count to 2-2.
Good thing that bunt didn’t get down.
With a mighty grunt, Barrientos whacked the next pitch down the left field line. The ball got past Warriors left fielder Ann Baumgartner for a two-run triple as Barrientos’ slide just beat the relay to third. It was the first triple of her embryonic career.
“Sometimes I think Rachelle fails to bunt on purpose,” joked Smith after the game.
“I noticed she was pitching our hitters outside, so I crowded the plate,” said Barrientos. “I’m glad to help us get off to a good start.”
Barrientos wasn’t done. In the Balers four-run fifth, she helped break open the game with a single through the box off reliever Allison Carruthers to score Kim Dabo. The basehit might have scored pinch-runner Johni Kiesewetter, too, but Kiesewetter took off from second and immediately collided hard with Warriors shortstop Ashley Britton and could only make it to third.
Smith protested to the base ump that obstruction should have been called.
“I was sending her home,” bellowed Smith to the base umpire.
Hennig had a different viewpoint as he strolled out to check on his shortstop who had a poke in her throat from Kiesewetter. While he was doing so, Hennig bent the base ump’s ear that Kiesewetter intentionally ran into his fielder.
Neither coach was pleased with the non-call.
All of this came in the midst of a streak of wildness from Carruthers, who walked in the other three runs. All four runs were unearned as J.T. Temperino led off the inning with a fly ball to right which was dropped. Carruthers retired the next two hitters, so it was some two-out cooking by the Balers.
The box score was unique for the Balers, who did their only damage in two of their sixth innings at the plate. With the exception of a walk to Shelbi Dillon in the seventh, the Warriors duo hurlers were perfect outside the second and fifth innings.
The Balers played well defensively. Smith had to be credited with staving off a Warriors hit when he moved shortstop Jenny Maheu over and in a couple of steps before a pitch to second place hitter Danielle Chapman. Chapman hit a squibber towards Maheu who threw the speedy Chapman out by a step. Maheu, who handled four chances with ablomb, wouldn’t have had a play on Chapman if Smith hadn’t moved her.
Maheu, however, was not outdone by freshman first baseman J.T. Temperino. Temperino had nine putouts and one assist on the day at first base, a position which is not that easy to play, in softball, especially.
The Balers try to take that quality brand of softball into the prestigious Circle of Champions today and Saturday at Twin Creeks. Pending the expected storm, the Balers tackle Harbor tonight at 6 p.m. If they win, they play Saturday at 11 a.m. If they lose, they play Saturday at 9 a.m.
Westmont 000 000 0 – 0 1 1
Hollister 020 040 X – 6 3 0
Kuhny, Carruthers and Salmiery, Alexander; Hernandez, Baker (5) and Baxter, Smith. WP-Hernandez (2-1). LP-Kuhny (2-1). 3B – Barrientos (H). 2 hits – Barrientos (H). 3 RBI – Barrientos.
