With seven games left in the Tri-County Athletic League softball
season, Hollister High may want to buy into some of the philosophy
of North Salinas coach Keith Berg.
SALINAS – With seven games left in the Tri-County Athletic League softball season, Hollister High may want to buy into some of the philosophy of North Salinas coach Keith Berg.
“My stance is it doesn’t matter what you do in league,” said Berg following his Vikings’ 2-0 victory at home over the Balers. “It only matters what you do in playoffs. You’re not remembered for league, you’re remembered for the playoffs.”
The loss drops Hollister (13-6, 5-3) two games back of first place Notre Dame (17-2, 7-1) and a game behind the Vikings (16-4, 6-2).
The defeat forces the Balers – who have two more meetings with the Spirits and another with the Vikings before league play ends – to pretty much run the table if they want to reap, at least, a share of the first place bounty when all is said and done.
After a gutty three-hitter by sophomore Dani Hernandez was lost on two throwing errors in the infield which caused two unearned runs for the Vikings, Baler head coach Scott Smith could only sum up the frustrating, chilly, blustery Salinas day with this:
“We got a lot of work (ahead) now. We got Salinas High on Thursday, the Watsonville Tournament coming back on Saturday. We’ve got to get some wins under our belts. Last thing we need to do coming back against Notre Dame with four losses in a row. We got to make a statement against Salinas High.”
The Vikings’ Monica Abbott, who looked to be making a statement herself, had as much to do with the Balers’ demise as any defensive boo-boos. Abbott was near-perfect, pitching to two batters over the minimum. To be succinct, the lanky, lefty, who blows serious smoke, was two change-ups away from a perfect game.
The first off-speeder just missed high on 3-2 to the Balers Megan Smith with none out in the third. Abbott, who had 10 strikeouts, blew away the next hitter for out No. 1. She then fielded Johni Kiesewetter’s comebacker and forced Smith at second for out No. 2. The throw to first, however, was errant and Kiesewetter, despite hesitating, dangerously made it to second base. Abbott (14-3) bore down and whiffed the next Baler batter to get out of trouble.
The second change-up was delivered to, once again, Smith with two out in the fifth. Smith, a talented sophomore, waited on it perfectly and belted it into the gap in left-center to break up the no-hitter. Vikings left fielder Ashley Eismen did a good job to cut it off or Smith would have had two bases. Liz Stewart, up next, took Abbott’s first pitch and sent a threatening drive to medium right field. Vikings’ right fielder Tricia Perez didn’t move more than a couple of inches as ball found glove, which was dangling two feet over her head.
“That’s a whole new ballgame if that ball gets over their fielder’s head,” said Scott Smith.
The Vikings, perhaps underrated defensively, flashed some leather when they had to. North Salinas shortstop Rachelle Morales robbed the Balers Jenny Maheu twice. Maheu lined to Morales’ left in the first inning, with Morales having to dive to make the play. In the sixth, Morales ranged to her right on a Maheu grounder and rifled the ball to first to nip the mercurial Maheu by a fraction.
The Vikings runs were scored by Eismen in the second, when a potential inning-ending double play ball was thrown into right field and by Perez in the third, when a throw to first with two out was in the dirt.
The victory was particularly sweet for the Vikings, avenging a 2-1 11-inning loss to the Balers on March 25.
“That was in the back of our minds,” said Vikings first baseman Ashley Pemberton, who had one of the Vikings three hits. “We should have scored more runs today. I don’t know why we (didn’t). Usually when they come out, they come out to play us. But they didn’t come out to play today. We got the breaks today. They didn’t.”
“A lot of it is lucky breaks,” added Berg. “Whether it’s Hollister or Notre Dame. It’s really who gets the breaks who wins. Hollister is a very good team. When you try to take away the bunt at second, it will either take a rally away from a team, or one slip-up will give the team their chance. Because, not only, they might have a runner on second, if they bobble, that person will go into third. If the fielders don’t back it accurately and it tails away from them, they don’t have a chance.”
The Vikings might have had a couple of more runs, but the Balers made two fine defensive plays in the first two innings to hold the scoring down. In the bottom of the first, with Alixis Villarin on at third and Pemberton on at first, Smith held a conference with his infield. One option was to walk Vikings clean-up hitter Jennifer Patterson and set up a force at any base with Abbott at the plate.
Hernandez and the Baler brass opted to pitch to Patterson, who ripped a smash through the middle. The Balers, though, employed a shift and second baseman Maheu, who was virtually standing on the bag, fielded the ball, stepped on second and threw to first for the double play.
In the bottom of the second, Hernandez snagged a shot from Kristin Archuleta and threw quickly to third base to double off a scrambling Jessica Blackwell to end the inning.
Still, the two errors and the presence of a dominating Abbott were too much for the Balers to bear.
“It’s tough,” said Scott Smith. “Dani pitched a superb game. We got the ground balls that we wanted. Different ballgame if they’re not ahead 2-0 on those errors. Our kids weren’t intimidated. We got up there and took our cuts. I can’t say enough about how Dani did against a good-hitting ballclub. They have the leading hitter in the league who went 0-3 against (Dani). Unfortunately we couldn’t help (Dani) out with any runs.”
“Monica was throwing first pitch strikes and we didn’t adjust,” said Baler co-captain Nashia Alvarez. “We have to keep on improving. We will improve.”
Pending a meeting in Division I of CCS, the Balers have one last crack against the Vikings – at home on May 8.
Baler bits: Injured hurler Alyssa Baker, who turned her ankle in practice last week, was suited and available for duty, but did not pitch. – After Salinas on Thursday, Hollister battles Aragon Saturday at 11:30 a.m. as the Watsonville Varsity Softball Tournament resumes. – The Balers are at Notre Dame on Monday in a must-win game. – North Salinas, which has won the CCS Division I title two of the past three years, won’t know if it will play in Division I or Division II this year until the pairings are determined. – In the latest CCS rankings, North Salinas is No. 3 and Hollister is ranked 6th. Notre Dame, now ranked 8th in the state, is ranked No. 1 in CCS and No. 1 in the state for Division IV schools.
JV score: Balers 10, North Salinas 4. In the sixth inning, Hollister’s Corynn Pacheco, Ari Romero, Nicole Clay and Courtney Almaguer put hits together for three Baler runs.
With the score knotted 4-4, Hollister (12-5) put up a six-spot in the seventh inning.
Hollister0000000-013
N. Salinas011000X-231
Hernandez and Baxter; Abbott and Patterson. WP – Abbott (14-3). LP – Hernandez (9-4).
