San Benito remains undefeated in TCAL play following Tuesday’s
2-1 victory over the Mustangs
It wasn’t as if starting pitchers Paige Miguel and Sarah Lira
served up much of anything to hit on Tuesday. Quite the opposite,
in fact.
Just four hits apiece for San Benito and Gilroy was all that
scattered the infield, and very rarely the outfield, during
Tuesday’s TCAL showdown in Hollister that not only pitted the top
two teams in the league against one another, but also two of the
top three ranked teams in the Central Coast Section.
Hard-hit balls are expected to be a rare occurrence, in that
case.
San Benito remains undefeated in TCAL play following Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Mustangs
It wasn’t as if starting pitchers Paige Miguel and Sarah Lira served up much of anything to hit on Tuesday. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Just four hits apiece for San Benito and Gilroy was all that scattered the infield, and very rarely the outfield, during Tuesday’s TCAL showdown in Hollister that not only pitted the top two teams in the league against one another, but also two of the top three ranked teams in the Central Coast Section.
Hard-hit balls are expected to be a rare occurrence, in that case.
But Brittani Newman found one Lira (7IP, 2R, 4H, 1K, 3BB) offering that she liked, and she didn’t hesitate to take a healthy hack at it – even if it was on the first pitch.
“They told me the first pitch was a strike, so if it was, then I was swinging,” Newman said afterward.
Needless to say, the first pitch was a strike.
The San Benito sophomore ripped a one-out, two-RBI double to the left-center field gap in the second inning Tuesday, and supplied just enough offense for the Balers to outlast the visiting Mustangs by another tight, 2-1 margin.
It was one of only four hits for San Benito in the game, but tough-enough defense, strong-enough pitching and one timely hit was enough to supply the Balers with their 16th straight win over Gilroy.
“It was a pretty big win,” Newman said, as the Balers remain undefeated in the TCAL at 7-0, and now carry a two-game lead in the loss column over the runner-up Mustangs (7-2).
“We just try to play our best game,” she added. “That’s all we can do.”
Gilroy was just one timely hit away from perhaps topping the Balers, though. It, too, had four hits, but stranded five runners on base, two of whom were in scoring position.
“I don’t think anything today went wrong … but it would have been nice to get a couple more key hits,” Gilroy manager Julie Berggren said. “I’m glad that we came back and scored that one run. Mel did a great job.
“But they got the hit when they had runners on second and third …”
Still, the Mustangs certainly kept it interesting with a leadoff single by Dani Hemeon to start the sixth. Teammate Stephanie Rodriguez then bunted her over to second base, supplying the Mustangs with two outs to plate one run.
And Melanie Morelos didn’t waste any time.
On the very first pitch – much like Newman – the senior catcher blasted an RBI single to center field, scoring Hemeon from second base, cutting the Balers’ lead in half, and shifting the momentum well into Gilroy’s favor.
But the energy gained was somewhat short-lived. Miguel (7IP, 1R, 4H, 3K, 1BB) induced a ground ball to second base on the very next batter – she had 12 ground-ball outs in the game – and Samantha Puentes subsequently turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Recording that key hit simply never happened for Gilroy. It had the lead runner on in the fourth inning, too, when Hemeon reached first base on a fielding error, but couldn’t lay the bunt down in order to advance Hemeon into scoring position.
“We work on it. They were so anxious,” Berggren said of the sacrifice bunts. “But we’ve got three more key games left in our season, and then the playoffs. So we just need to focus on the next three, and then worry about facing them again later.”
Which could very well happen, despite the two teams often being pitted on opposite sides of the CCS Division I bracket.
San Benito manager Scott Smith knows the likelihood of seeing Gilroy again in the playoffs. After all, the two teams squared off in the D-I title game in 2008 and 2009.
However, Smith wasn’t too pleased following Tuesday’s game. Although they played last Thursday against Valley Christian, it was just their second game in 10 days.
“If we keep improving, I’m OK,” Smith said afterward. “But we really worked hard and had a long time to prepare for Gilroy. We come up with a game plan mentally, as far as our approach would be against Sarah (Lira), and we didn’t execute.”
Smith spoke of patience, of crowding the plate, of hitting the ball toward left field and not right, which is directly into the wind, as well as other factors.
“I was frustrated with that,” he said.
Newman, though, did crowd the plate, and pulled an outside pitch from Lira into left-center, scoring courtesy runner Ellie Burley and Jessica Steigelman from second and third base, respectively.
“I was just trying to pick my team up,” Newman said. “I was just trying to put the ball in play.”
Smith said the team spoke all week of crowding the plate, as well as knowing your pitch.
“If you see it, go hit it,” Smith said. “I thought she did that as good as anybody today.”
