Rams softball falls in the bottom of the seventh Thursday to
West Valley, seeking top-two finish in Coast Conference
Gilroy and Saratoga
The Gavilan softball team fell in the bottom of the seventh inning to West Valley Thursday and suffered a close 6-5 defeat in Saratoga.
The Rams, which defeated Monterey Peninsula College 2-0 Tuesday, are now 12-9 in the Coast Conference – South.
Gavilan was tied with Cabrillo for second place in the conference entering Thursday’s contest. Only the top two in the conference earn an automatic bid.
“Every game for us is huge from here on out,” manager Nikki Dequin said. “We really need to play well.”
Trailing 5-3 heading into the top of the seventh inning, Gavilan plated two runs to tie the game at 5-all after Jennifer Sherratt tripled and Julie Broyer walked to put two on. Both runners later scored on a pass ball.
In the bottom half of the inning, however, West Valley connected on three straight hits to grab the one-run win.
“Today wasn’t a bad game played,” Dequin said. “We fell asleep on some bunts and that caught us.”
Danielle Hernandez threw seven innings and allowed six runs – five earned – on 11 hits.
Danielle Scibuola had two hits and one run, while Alicia Reese had a triple and a pair of singles.
The Rams are now 30-16 overall.
On Tuesday, Gavilan hosted Monterey Peninsula College 2-0.
Hernandez threw a complete game shutout, allowing just four hits while striking out two.
Alicia Reese led off the game with a triple and later scored on a hit by Mikhaela Osuna.
In the third, the Rams padded their lead when Osuna knocked in Scibuola.
“We played great defensively. Our only error came late in the game and didn’t hurt us at all,” Dequin said. “Dani pitched well and we hit and scored when we needed to.”
Last Thursday, the Rams defeated Foothill 17-2 in five innings. Cristine Vasquez threw five innings and gave up two runs on no hits. The Rams committed six errors.
“Cristine pitched extremely well, got them to pop up or hit it on the ground,” Dequin said. “Defensively it was not our best game. We played sloppy, but backed it up with scoring runs.”
Gavilan scored plenty of runs, including seven in the first inning alone. They later added three in the second, three in the third and four more in the fourth.
Foothill committed three errors but allowed 13 walks.
Amanda Perez had two RBI singles and teammate Audra Brown connected on a three-run homer. Reese had a double and three RBIs.
Gavilan will host Hartnell Thursday.
