Marisa Ibarra was congratulated by teammates after guiding the Balers to their first Central Coast Section title last season.

Notre Dame appears to be final hurdle in quest
They’re the defending Central Coast Section Champs, which sounds
funny when considering the fact that the San Benito High School
softball team has never won a league title in the history of the
school.
Notre Dame appears to be final hurdle in quest

They’re the defending Central Coast Section Champs, which sounds funny when considering the fact that the San Benito High School softball team has never won a league title in the history of the school.

This Tuesday at 4 p.m. at home, the Balers can get that monkey off their back forever if they can pull off a victory against perennial powerhouse Notre Dame – winners of an umpteen number of Tri County Athletic League titles.

As it stands now, both schools are knotted up in a first-place tie with just four games remaining in the regular season.

“As long as we can take care of business and beat the teams that we need to beat, and beat Notre Dame we’ll be in a good position to attain that goal,” San Benito High coach Scott Smith said. “That is one of the goals, but we don’t want to get too caught up in it.”

So far this season the Balers have squared off with the Spirits of Notre Dame on two different occasions. San Benito beat its nemesis in the first meeting 3-2 that took place in a tournament and lost to Notre Dame 3-1 in their first league meeting of the season March 29.

“We beat them once and they beat us once so this will be the rubber match,” Smith said. “I think we wanted to win too badly the first time. We need to just stay within ourselves. I think we can beat them.”

In the March 29 road loss, the Balers had managed to put runners on base every inning – and even loaded the bases twice with their 3, 4, and 5 hitters coming up, but failed to muster any clutch hits when it counted most.

In contrast, the Spirits could only manage to pick up five hits off Baler ace Marissa Ibarra. Unfortunately, four of them came in a row.

This time Smith and company will be happy to get them at home.

“When we played them down there, several fans were rude to our kids,” Smith said. “I think it affected some of the kids. It wasn’t the best showing of sportsmanship. If the games are up here and our fans get on another team, I will tell them to stop. So it will be nice to not have to face them at their house in front of a bunch of hostile fans.”

The other thing the Balers will have going for them on Tuesday is the Baler field itself – a field that most teams can’t seem to figure out.

The predominant wind on the San Benito high varsity softball field blows hard towards home plate from right field. Over the years, Smith has manufactured a number of wins using those winds.

“We know our field and we hope the wind is blowing for that game,” Smith said.

When it is, Smith will often signal Ibarra to throw the ball away from the strike zone, which forces the right-handed hitters to hit the ball to the opposite or right field. By doing this, many balls get knocked down in the prevailing wind, allowing Smith to play his right fielder, Danielle Scibuola, shallow, which opens the door for a number of fly outs and 9-3 double play balls.

But the biggest advantage the Balers have is Ibarra herself, who this season has an overall record of 18-1, 12 shutouts and two no-hitters. Not to mention her jaw-dropping ERA, which is less than 1.00.

Notre Dame has two pitchers that could get the starting nod against the Balers. San Benito High only needs one.

“Sometimes when you have too many good pitchers it works against you because your pitchers can never get in a groove,” Smith said. “Marissa pitches every game for us. They have a good pitcher, too, in Sarah Solis (Hollister resident), but she doesn’t have the control or variety of pitches that Marissa has. Marissa can throw a screwball, a rise ball, a curve, a drop ball, a changeup and a peel drop.”

Smith knows that if his team is firing on all cylinders on Tuesday that it could lead to another historic season.

“Last year we became the first girls sport at the school to win CCS. Now we’re hoping to become the first girls softball team to win league,” Smith said. “It’s something that we’re looking forward too. We have five seniors on this team and it would be nice to send them off as league champs.”

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A staff member wrote, edited or posted this article, which may include information provided by one or more third parties.

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