San Benito clinches at least a co-championship with 5-4 win over
Notre Dame in eight innings
Salinas
The last time the San Benito Lady ‘Balers played a game in extra innings was on March 29 against Notre Dame at the Charlie Miguel Invitational Tournament.
It was also the last time San Benito lost a game.
On Tuesday, the two teams met up in Salinas and went extras before Jessica Vest connected for an RBI single in the top of the eighth inning and pushed the Lady ‘Balers past the Spirits 5-4.
Although Notre Dame becomes the first team in the Tri-County Athletic League to score a run against the Lady ‘Balers, San Benito pitcher Marisa Ibarra kept the Spirits from scoring outside of their four-run second inning, and allowed her team to triumph in extra innings with the one-run victory.
With the win, San Benito clinches at least a co-championship in the TCAL as they improve to 10-0. They hold a two-game lead on Notre Dame with just two games remaining.
Lizzy Gatto had three RBIs in the game while going 2-for-3 at the plate. She knocked in JC Clayton in the first inning to supply San Benito with a 1-0 lead, but Notre Dame plated four runs on four hits in the second to grab a 4-1 cushion.
“It was huge. The big plus for me was that we didn’t lose focus being down 4-1,” manager Scott Smith said. “The kids stayed positive. Marisa was very calm on the mound. She didn’t get upset. The kids came out onto the field and kept chipping away.”
Ibarra allowed just two hits outside of the second inning, and struck out seven batters to keep the Lady ‘Balers within striking distance.
San Benito began to chip away in the bottom half of the second inning when Gatto knocked in Elena Fata from third base.
In the fifth with the bases loaded, Notre Dame couldn’t help their cause when they walked in a Lady ‘Baler to make it 4-3, while Gatto followed with her third RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly that scored Rachel Maheu.
Knotted at 4, San Benito wasted no time in the extra innings. Bri Romero got on via a walk, stole second base and then advanced to third on an overthrow. The freshman Vest then followed with an RBI single that turned out to be the game-winner.
Notre Dame put runners on first and third in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t plate the tying run.
“Marisa pitched outstanding,” Smith said. “After [the second inning], she buckled down.”
Romero was 2-for-3 and Maheu was 2-for-4 for San Benito, which had eight hits on the day and stole six bases, a statistic Smith said was “the difference in the game.”
Although Vest came through with the clutch hit, she also performed the catching duties and even threw out a player trying to steal second early in the game. Notre Dame didn’t attempt to steal any more bases after that, and Smith feels Vest’s arm had an affect.
“I thought that was real huge,” he said.
San Benito (23-4 overall) can clinch the TCAL title outright on Thursday when the Gilroy Mustangs visit Hollister. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m.
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FROSH NOTE
Trailing 7-1 and grasping to their last three outs, the San Benito freshmen softball team went to work by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the seventh and stole an 8-7 victory over visiting Notre Dame Tuesday.
“The girls brought their ‘A’ game and brought it to the plate,” coach Rebecca Gutierrez said. “I am proud of how the girls kept their heads up and did not give up and won the game. They pulled together as a team and played their best game this season offensively.”
Sarah Gonzalez, Taylor Wood and Alyssa Cabral each had a pair of hits for San Benito, while Helene Escamilla threw 10 strikeouts on the mound.
The Lady ‘Balers managed to load the bases in the seventh when Escamilla connected on a two-run single. Wood and Cabral then followed with RBI hits, while Gonzalez plated a pair on her hit that tied the game at 7-all.
With Gonzalez on second base, Danielle Reische connected for the game-winning RBI single.
“The girls made a lot of fundamental errors that led to the unearned runs, but came back at the end and were aggressive at the plate and got hits,” Gutierrez said. “It was like deja vu. We played Notre Dame on April 3 and lost to them in the bottom of the seventh by one run and this time we won by one in the bottom of the seventh.”
Cabral and Hailey Britton each made crucial catches, Gutierrez said, that staved off Notre Dame.
The Lady ‘Balers will play at Gilroy on Thursday.
