San Benito freshman Samantha Puentes lined the game-winning RBI
single to center field, scoring Ali Ocampo from second base and
sending San Benito home with a 2-1 victory over Fremont and its
fifth straight Division I title on Saturday at PAL Stadium in San
Jose.
SAN JOSE
With the way things have gone in years past, late-in-the-game heroics is almost to be expected from the San Benito softball team — even when it appears little is going their way early on, and even when a sudden lift from a handful of freshmen would be completely unexpected.
But trailing No. 2 Fremont 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning during Saturday’s Central Coast Section Division I championship, the top-seeded Haybalers had recorded just one hit off Firebird pitcher Taylor DeSilva, and were staring at their last six outs.
“But we were just waiting for something to happen,” starting pitcher Paige Miguel said. “It’s always good to think that way, and we knew we were gonna come through.”
Indeed, and in a big way, too.
After Brittani Newman smacked a leadoff triple in the sixth, fellow freshman Samantha Puentes followed with the game-tying RBI triple just three batters later, then ripped the game-winning RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the eighth to send San Benito home with an improbable, come-from-behind 2-1 victory and its fifth straight Division I title on Saturday.
“I’m feeling great,” Puentes said after the game at PAL Stadium in San Jose. “In the past couple of games I had been in a slump, and I pulled through it. It’s all worth it after working so hard.”
Perhaps due to the nerves of competing in her first Division I playoff run, the starting second baseman was 2 of 6 with three strikeouts in her last two games, and hadn’t been able to rekindle the fast start to the regular season that made her the team’s hit leader for much of the year.
But while wet weather washed out a few of San Benito’s practices last week, the team did get in a much-needed workout on Friday, when Puentes and the rest of the Balers took cuts on off-speed pitches.
“Changeup,” Puentes said of her walk-off hit. “I was working on that all yesterday at practice, just trying to keep my hands back, and I did.
“But this is really good. It’s gonna be great next year, too.”
Yes, the future looks bright for the San Benito softball program, which boasted all of one senior on this year’s team, leading to lowered expectations entering this year.
But on Saturday in San Jose, the Balers tossed those expectations aside.
“Everyone thought we weren’t gonna do good,” Newman said. “They thought we were just another team. But we pulled it off.
“We just have fun.”
Added Miguel, who earned the win on Saturday, “No one expected us to do this. But we know we’re good enough. We work hard and we know we always have a chance.”
And for the last two years at least, San Benito’s chances have come in the form of a game-changing triple in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Trailing Gilroy by two last season in the Division I title game, San Benito first baseman Jessica Steigelman lifted a bases-clearing three-run triple to left field in the sixth and vaulted the Balers past the rival Mustangs, 4-3.
On Saturday, things didn’t appear as promising. While Puentes lined a single up the middle in the bottom of the first, San Benito (25-4) went hitless until the sixth as Fremont’s DeSilva retired the next 14 batters in order.
“When I got a scouting report on their pitcher, we kind of anticipated this type of a ball game, to where they’re gonna throw us off early in the game and we might have to struggle,” San Benito manager Scott Smith said. “But I was just telling the girls to stay positive and keep adjusting.
“And it was the younger kids who adjusted the quickest, and it was fun to watch.”
Newman’s triple to leadoff the sixth — just the second hit of the game for San Benito — went opposite field into right, while her next at-bat in the eighth was pulled to the left side for an infield single.
“It was a testament to how relaxed she was at the plate, and how confident,” Smith said. “That’s the difference right there.”
Although DeSilva nearly got out of the sixth-inning jam by retiring the next two batters, she didn’t have Puentes’ number all game — the freshman batting 3 of 4 with two RBI.
In her next at-bat in the eighth, after both Nicole Rianda and Mari Vallejo singled on, Puentes lined the game-winning RBI single to center field, scoring courtesy runner Ali Ocampo from second base.
“I’m always nervous because I’m afraid I’m gonna make a mistake,” Puentes said. “But it’s softball — you’re gonna make a mistake every once in a while.
“I just pulled through it and gave it all on the field.”
Smith called the win a total team effort after the game, after San Benito saw the efforts of courtesy runners and pinch-hitters, and even three innings from backup catcher Julie Morcate and reliever Megan Sabbatini.
Miguel (5.2IP, 8H, 2K, 1R) was actually in line for the loss when she left the game at the start of the sixth for Sabbatini, one inning after she allowed Fremont’s only run on an RBI single to Abby Dugan.
But after Sabbatini (2.1IP, 3H, 2K, 0R, 1BB) pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless softball, Miguel re-entered the game with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth, and got the next two Fremont batters to ground out.
Fremont (20-5), making its first appearance in a CCS final, stranded 12 runners on base, seven of whom were in scoring position.
“I was actually really nervous coming in here, but I have all the teammates I want and they gave me all the support I needed,” said Sabbatini, another freshman. “I was brought up (from junior varsity) at the end of the league season, and I was feeling good about our team. Our junior class is really strong and I believed we could win the championship.”
Said Miguel, “I knew Megan was gonna do it for us, and she did a good job. I’m really proud of her.
“But we’re a team, and we kept going and we came back.”
FREMONT — 000 010 00 — 1 11 0
SAN BENITO — 000 001 01 — 2 7 1
WP: P. Miguel
LP: T. DeSilva
