Long after the fans had dispersed and visiting North High had
departed on its bus back to Salinas, the San Benito Lady Balers sat
in left field and had a prolonged discussion about their previous
game.
Sure, it was a 6-2 victory over North Salinas
— San Benito’s sixth straight win to start the season and first
in league in what was the Tri-County Athletic League opener for
both teams. But even then, it was uncharacteristic of San Benito
softball.
HOLLISTER
Long after the fans had dispersed and visiting North High had departed on its bus back to Salinas, the San Benito Lady Balers sat in left field and had a prolonged discussion about their previous game.
Sure, it was a 6-2 victory over North Salinas — San Benito’s sixth straight win to start the season and first in league in what was the Tri-County Athletic League opener for both teams. But even then, it was uncharacteristic of San Benito softball.
“We talked to them about how we’re not worried about winning, but how we want to improve every game,” San Benito manager Scott Smith said. “We weren’t running out balls hard. We didn’t play defense like we’re capable of. We just played like we were scared.
“I’d rather play a good game and lose 2-0 then win 6-2 and play like we did. Winning is a by-product of hard work and improvement. We’re six games into the season and that was the worst game we’ve played yet.”
Fresh off their tournament victory at the Annie Lynch Memorial Circle of Champions last weekend, the Lady Balers opened Thursday’s league opener with three errors in the first frame, leading to two North High runs and a 2-0 deficit.
Danielle Nieto lined Baler pitcher Danielle Acosta’s (6IP, 7H, 0ER, 2K) first offering into left field, while McKayla Dacpano’s bunt attempt resulted in a San Benito throwing error. With runners now on the corners, Dacpano’s attempt to steal second ended with the ball going into center field, scoring Nieto, while Rosa Perez’s routine grounder resulted in a fielding error that scored Dacpano.
“We’re gonna find ourselves working a lot harder in practice,” Smith said. “Six games into the year, I think it tells everybody we’re a long way from where we need to be.”
North High’s lead was short-lived, though. In fact, it was gone after the bottom half of the first.
Samantha Puentes singled to right field to start the inning, then stole second and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice from Mari Vallejo. Marissa Adame’s grounder then resulted in a fielding error, scoring Puentes, while Jessica Steigelman later followed with an RBI single to left that scored courtesy runner Aly Ocampo from second base.
Both teams remained quiet until the third inning when San Benito grabbed the lead for good after Jessica Vest belted an RBI triple to center field with two outs, scoring Vallejo from second base.
Vest rounded third and appeared to be heading home, but was held up at the last second. The junior shortstop would find her way home just a few pitches later, though, when teammate Jessica Steigelman trailed with a two-run homer down the left-field line — a liner that got past the left fielder and rolled all the way to the wall.
The Lady Balers tacked on a sixth run in the fourth when Paige Miguel punched a single up the middle that scored Brittany Newman from second base.
Miguel came into pitch the seventh inning, and allowed no hits while striking out two batters to close out the Vikings.
But while the hits were plentiful for San Benito — nine in all — the four errors are what seemed to worry Smith, among other things.
In the TCAL, and up against better teams like Notre Dame and Gilroy, games will be won or lost on pitching, defense and base running, the manager said.
“We had several kids that hit fly balls and didn’t run hard to first base,” Smith said. “It comes down to heart, and I’ve got to motivate them to play harder than they did today.”
The Lady Balers weren’t without heads-up defensive plays, though. In the fourth inning after starting pitcher Danielle Acosta allowed consecutive one-out hits, Vest turned a double play when she caught a liner off the bat of Natalie Martin, then threw to Puentes at second base to get a diving Alyssa Ayala.
Later in the game with North High’s Alicia Wallace at second base, Ayala hit a dribbler that found no-man’s land between first and second base. But Puentes managed to corral the loose ball and delivered a dart to the plate, where catcher Marissa Adame applied the tag on Wallace to end the threat.
San Benito (6-0, 1-0 TCAL) will look to tie-up the loose ends on Tuesday when it will visit Salinas at 4:30 p.m.
TEAM
NS — 200 000 0 — 2 7 3
SB — 203 100 X — 6 9 4
Read Tuesday’s edition of the Hollister Free Lance for a season preview of the San Benito softball team.
