Baler softball team seeded second in Central Coast Section
tournament
While most all of the teams in the Central Coast Section
Division I softball tournament have been battling it out on one of
the five fields at the Salinas Sports Complex this week, the
defending champion Balers of San Benito High School, thanks to
their 29-3 overall record, has enjoyed an opening round bye.
Baler softball team seeded second in Central Coast Section tournament
While most all of the teams in the Central Coast Section Division I softball tournament have been battling it out on one of the five fields at the Salinas Sports Complex this week, the defending champion Balers of San Benito High School, thanks to their 29-3 overall record, has enjoyed an opening round bye.
On Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on Field #2, the No. 2 seed Balers will square off against either No. 7 seed Monte Vista or No. 10 seeded Wilcox High.
The exact match up for tomorrow’s game was determined after press time.
“We didn’t play Monte Vista this year, but we have played them in the past. Typically, they have some good hitters, and they like to play small ball. They also have a good defense and they are well coached,” said San Benito High coach Scott Smith. “I’d say that we would match up a little better against Wilcox because we’ve already played them twice in a tournament. We also feel like we can run on them.”
The Balers can evidently score on them as well. In the two previous meetings this season against Wilcox, San Benito won both games by margins of 10-0 and 6-2 – and those were two games when the Balers’ pitching ace, Marissa Ibarra, wasn’t feeling up to snuff.
“Her scoot (velocity) was down a bit. So they might think they can handle her better this time, but I think they’ll be surprised. She’s throwing a lot harder now,” Smith said. “Wilcox has some pretty good size kids and an outstanding shortstop. They have three or four hitters that can hit the long ball too, and they are going to feel more confident each time they face us.”
Considering how dominant Ibarra has been on the mound this season it’s hard to believe that any team in the tournament is seeded higher than San Benito High, but Carlmont, with its record of 28-1-1, is seeded No. 1.
This season Ibarra has 19 shutouts, 29 wins and 24 complete games for the Balers. At less than 1.00, her ERA is one of the lowest in the state. She also has more than 200 strikeouts to her credit this season and four no-hitters.
And the scary thing for San Benito’s next foe is that the Balers offense is equally impressive.
“It doesn’t matter which team we play next,” Smith said on Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve been so successful all year that we’ve been able to force our will on other teams and have gotten them to play our tempo and style of game.”
That style often involves clutch hitting and the ability to generate runs from anywhere in the lineup.
This season, second baseman J. C. Clayton batted .610 in league to go along with her 36 stolen bases. Clayton’s average was the highest in league history.
Elena Fata posted a .534 overall batting average and a .513 mark in league and Lizzy Gato batted .483 overall.
Last year’s team that won the school’s first-ever section title in softball batted just .230 as a team, and Ibarra was only a freshman. This year the team’s overall batting average is .354 in a sport where hits are few and far between.
“It’s just crazy,” Smith said. “As a coach you look at these stats and just want to stay out of their way. In the past, it would be a fight just to get one kid to bat over .300. Overall, talent wise, this team is as good or a little better than last year’s team. But performance wise, this team is exceeding any team that I have ever had. We just go out there and do what we need to do.”
