No. 3 San Benito exhibited a redeeming quality on Saturday and
played flawless in the field to keep its title-defense hopes in
tact with a 4-1 victory over Piedmont Hills; Lady Balers will play
Wilcox Tuesday in CCS semifinals at San Jose’s PAL Stadium
SALINAS
One would think the Lady Baler softball team would prefer to steer clear of Piedmont Hills by any means possible in a win-or-go-home setting such as the CIF-Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, especially after the Pirates handed San Benito one of its four losses this season.
One would think.
“To get another shot at them, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” manager Scott Smith said last week. “I think it’s gonna be great for the girls to play Piedmont Hills again and redeem themselves.”
Having previously fallen to the Pirates 4-1 at the Charlie Miguel Invitational in late March, in a game where it committed four errors, No. 3 San Benito (25-4) exhibited that redeeming quality on Saturday and played flawless in the field to keep its title-defense hopes in tact, and even reversed the previous outcome when it delivered a 4-1 victory over No. 6 Piedmont Hills (21-9).
“We just played great defense,” Smith said.
The Lady Balers will now play No. 2 Wilcox (21-5) in Tuesday’s semifinal round at PAL Stadium in San Jose after the Chargers silenced No. 7 Fremont (16-10) 4-0 on Saturday.
First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“They hit the ball pretty good,” Smith said of the Chargers. “It’ll be a good match-up … It should be a slugfest. If Marisa (Ibarra) has her ‘A’ game on, we’ll give them a good go.”
Ibarra, though, had tightness in her shoulder on Saturday against Piedmont Hills and was getting massaged in between innings as a result. She still managed to throw a complete game, allowing one run on two hits while striking out eight, but allowed four walks, including three in the fourth inning.
“I was a little tight and I wasn’t throwing very well,” said Ibarra, who struck out Pirate Jasmine Arciga in the fourth to end the first-and-second threat. “My velocity wasn’t that good today and I wasn’t as loose as I usually am.
“There were a little bit of nerves. This potentially could have been my last high school game. But it was a little bit of everything.”
While it was nerves that may have played a role on the mound and at the plate early on in the game – the freshmen were new to the postseason, the seniors didn’t want the postseason to end – it was San Benito’s defense, as well as the bat of Taylor Powell, that ensured victory.
“The nerves got the best of us, for some of us,” said JC Clayton, who was 3-for-3 with two runs scored.
“I think our defense played a lot better (than the previous game), and we hit the ball better too this game.”
There were seven hits total this time around – just one prior to the third inning, though – but none were bigger than those that came off the bat of the freshman Powell. After striking out in her first at-bat against starter Mary Ortega (6IP, 7H, 4R, 5K, 1HBP), Powell redeemed herself in the third when she lifted a two-run triple into the right-center field gap, scoring Marissa Moisa and JC Clayton for a 2-0 lead.
“[Ortega] was all right, but we could have done a lot better,” Powell said. “Just the nerves of CCS, I guess.”
Sitting at third, Powell later scored in the inning when Jessica Vest grounded out to the shortstop, allowing the first-year frosh to plate San Benito’s third run of the inning.
“The first at-bat was just all the nerves coming to CCS,” Powell said. “The second at-bat, [Smith] talked to me and I was a little relaxed.”
Whatever was said clearly worked. Powell came up in the fifth inning and, after Clayton singled on and stole second, blooped a ball into shallow left field that spun into foul territory and away from any and all chasing Pirate fielders, allowing Clayton to score easily.
“I felt like we were a better team than they were,” Smith said. “They have some really good athletes, and not to say that they aren’t a good team, but I just thought we were a little more talented than they were.
“We just played good defense.”
Ibarra seemingly rose to the occasion when she needed to, making the right pitch at the right time. Her only hiccup came in the sixth when Jenina Ortega roped a triple down the right-field line and later scored on a sacrifice fly. Otherwise, Ibarra allowed just a pair of hits – one to the first batter in the first inning, the other to Ortega in the sixth.
“But our defense did very well,” Ibarra said. “They did a good job of picking me up. I wasn’t throwing well, but they picked me up.”
PH – 000 000 1 – 1 2 0
SB – 000 301 X – 4 7 0
WP: M. Ibarra
LP: M. Ortega
