San Benito beats Santa Catalina 9-4 Tuesday, and will play
either Carmel or Notre Dame on Thursday
MONTEREY
The San Benito Lady ‘Balers moved one step closer to successfully defending its Tri-County Athletic League championship on Tuesday when it defeated No. 7 Santa Catalina 9-4 in the opening round of the TCAL Tournament in Monterey.
San Benito, which was rewarded the No. 5 seed after compiling a 5-3 record in the TCAL, will now play the winner between No. 4 Carmel and No. 6 Notre Dame. Those two teams played Tuesday as well, although no score was reported.
For what it’s worth, Carmel, carrying the lower seed, was favored in the match-up after it defeated Notre Dame 14-3 during the regular season.
The Lady ‘Balers split its two contests with Carmel during the season.
On Tuesday, though, San Benito picked up the TCAL Tournament where it left off from last year when it defeated Santa Catalina in the league championship.
The Lady ‘Balers started slow, holding a narrow 2-1 lead after one quarter Tuesday, but coach Hayley Vandercook said it didn’t take too long for her team to “get it rolling.”
“Everybody played in the game, all 18 of my girls,” Vandercook said of the win. “So it was kind of the same thing as last time.”
San Benito beat Santa Catalina in the season finale 9-6 on Oct. 28.
Kelsey Russell, Ali Blake and Ronnie Stern each had multi-goal games for the Lady ‘Balers, which are now 14-10 overall.
San Benito will now play either Carmel or Notre Dame on Thursday at Carmel. Match time is 5 p.m.
A win there would put the Lady ‘Balers into the semifinals on Friday against top-seeded Salinas at Hartnell College.
