Gavilan keeps Hartnell at bay with 5-4 victory, will head to
regional playoffs for just the second time in 25 years
SALINAS
Gavilan pitcher Melinda Ortiz didn’t have her best stuff Thursday at Hartnell College, but she had just enough to stave off the host Panthers.
Trailing 5-3 heading to the home half of the seventh inning, Hartnell loaded the bases behind a pair of walks and a single when Ortiz hit a batter to plate a run and bring the Panthers to within one.
But with two outs, Ortiz got the Panthers’ leadoff hitter to pop out, ending the threat and supplying Gavilan with a 5-4 victory.
“It wasn’t her best game. She was struggling a little bit,” Rams manager Nikki Dequin said. “But she was able to keep her composure and battle through it.”
Ortiz, a Gilroy High product, pitched a complete game and allowed four runs on six hits, striking out four. She gave up 10 free bases, however, including eight walks and two hit-batsmen.
But unlike Gavilan’s 6-1 loss to Foothill College on Tuesday, the Rams were able to supply enough offense for Ortiz to pick up a win against Hartnell.
Gavilan scored early in the top half of the first when Audra Brown laid down a suicide squeeze, scoring Danielle Scibuola from third base. Although Hartnell tied it up at 1-all in the third, the Rams responded with two runs apiece in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth, following a pair of singles from Angelica Galindo and Audra Brown, Gavilan plated two runs when Mikhaela Osuna and Danielle Payne connected on back-to-back RBI singles.
In the next inning, the Rams made it 5-1 when Brown hit an RBI triple, scoring Haley MacFarlane from second, while Nicole Salcao followed with an RBI double to plate Brown.
“We were hitting the ball today … and we had enough of a cushion to back [Ortiz] up,” Dequin said. “We were able to back her up offensively today.”
The win sews up second place in the Coast Conference South for Gavilan, which improves to 10-4 in league, 14-23 overall. The Rams hold a three-game lead over Cabrillo College in the loss column.
Unable to catch undefeated San Jose City College for first, Gavilan will head to the regional playoffs for the second straight year as the No. 2 team from the Coast Conference South. Historically speaking, it’ll be just the second playoff appearance for Gavilan since 1984.
Prior to the playoffs, though, the Rams will play their regular season finale against Monterey Peninsula College Tuesday at 3 p.m., in Gilroy.
GAVILAN – 100 220 0 – 5 9 2
HARTNELL – 001 020 1 – 4 6 0
