With Paige Miguel allowing just two hits over seven innings, San
Benito got all the run support it would need in the first inning
when it plated two runs en route to a 5-1 victory over Salinas in
Tri-County Athletic League action on Tuesday.
SALINAS
After last Thursday’s Tri-County Athletic League opener against North Salinas, in which the San Benito softball team committed three errors and fell behind by a 2-0 margin in the very first frame, Lady Balers manager Scott Smith challenged his team to have a better approach on Tuesday against Salinas.
“I think they were ready for us. They were pumped,” Smith said of the host Cowboys. “But after the first inning, the kids kind of took all that momentum away.”
With Paige Miguel allowing just two hits over seven innings, San Benito got all the run support it would need in the first inning when it plated two runs en route to a 5-1 victory over Salinas in TCAL action on Tuesday.
The key win over the Cowboys, who were fresh off a 4-3 upset win over Notre Dame last week, keeps the Lady Balers undefeated to open the year. San Benito is now 2-0 in the TCAL and 7-0 overall.
The tone was set in the opening frame when Samantha Puentes singled on to start the game, and later scored when Mari Vallejo knocked her in to supply the Lady Balers with a 1-0 lead.
But Vallejo wasn’t necessarily supposed to plate Puentes from first base — that’s just the way it happened. During Vallejo’s at-bat, the junior center fielder attempted to slap the ball, but ended up fouling it off. Vallejo showed bunt on the second pitch, but fouled that pitch off as well. With two strikes to her name — and with the bunt signal turned off as a result — Vallejo skied a triple to deep left field, scoring Puentes all the way from first base.
“I told her when she got to third base that she did it on purpose, so she didn’t have to bunt,” Smith said.
Teammate Marissa Adame later plated Vallejo with an RBI single, giving San Benito a 2-0 lead through the top half of the first.
Salinas scored its one and only run in the third inning, although it wasn’t met without a bit of controversy. With a runner on second, Salinas singled up the middle and Vallejo’s throw from center field to home plate was on target and in time, and the catcher Adame blocked the plate perfectly, Smith said.
The Salinas runner slid into home, but then popped up and over Adame. Smith was certain the Cowboy base runner never touched the plate, however.
“But that’s the way it goes,” he said. “It was a great play by Mari, a great play at the plate by Marissa. It was a great thing to see.”
And despite Salinas cutting the lead in half, San Benito kept the Cowboys at bay behind the pitcher Miguel, whose complete game two-hitter kept Salinas quiet.
“Paige pitched really good,” Smith said. “She dominated. She had a lot of ground-ball outs.”
San Benito managed to tack on three more insurance runs in the fourth and fifth innings, though.
After Puentes reached on a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning, the speedy freshman stole second base and was then plated when Jessica Vest connected on an RBI single. Jessica Steigelman then scored Vest with an RBI single of her own.
Vest and Steigelman were at it one inning later when Vest singled on, stole second, then scored on a second straight RBI single from Steigelman to make it 5-1 San Benito.
Freshman Brittany Sparrer added a double in the four-run victory for the Lady Balers, who will open the Mission City Invitational this weekend at Mission College in Santa Clara.
San Benito will open pool play against Milpitas on Saturday at 9 a.m. A loss would position the Lady Balers in a second game at 11 a.m., while a win would move them into a game at 1 p.m.
TEAM
SANB — 200 210 0 — 5 10 2
SALN — 001 000 0 — 1 2 4
