With a one-run cushion following the first inning, Megan
Sabbatini cruised the rest of the way for San Benito on Tuesday in
San Jose, where the right-handed pitcher allowed just two hits, had
just three base runners, and retired a total of 11 Scots by way of
the K, as the top-seeded Haybalers silenced Carlmont for the second
time this season en route to a 5-0 victory in the Division I
semifinal round.
SAN JOSE
Just a sophomore, Megan Sabbatini understandably had butterflies before Tuesday’s Division I semifinal against Carlmont. After all, she was about to pitch the second most important game of her short career.
Yes, the second. Not the first.
“Last year in the finals was really nerve-racking,” said Sabbatini, who tossed 2.1 innings of scoreless relief during last season’s Central Coast Section championship game against Fremont. “This year I had a little more confidence. I knew I could shut them down.”
Butterflies be damned. To say pitching in last year’s title game was beneficial for the sophomore hurler may be an understatement.
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With a one-run cushion following the first inning, Sabbatini cruised the rest of the way for San Benito on Tuesday in San Jose, where the right-handed pitcher allowed just two hits, had just three base runners, and retired a total of 11 Scots by way of the K, as the top-seeded Haybalers silenced No. 5 Carlmont for the second time this season en route to a 5-0 victory in the Division I semifinal round.
And for the third time in four years, San Benito (28-1) will face a familiar foe in the CCS title game, No. 3 Gilroy (25-4). The year-end meeting has fared in San Benito’s favor each time, however, including two years ago, when many members of the current Balers’ squad hadn’t even entered high school just yet.
Sabbatini (7IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 11K) was one of them.
“I had butterflies in the beginning of the game,” she said.
That funny feeling eventually went away for the sophomore once San Benito found the scoreboard, though — all of one inning into the game following a Brittany Hoff RBI double to the left-center field gap that scored Samantha Puentes from first base in the home half of the first.
“After we started scoring runs and we had a little bit of a cushion, I felt even more confident in myself,” Sabbatini added. “I knew I had the defense behind me and I was throwing good pitches. I just needed to hit my spots.”
There’s something about 11 strikeouts that ensures Sabbatini did, in fact, hit her spots Tuesday.
“She did fantastic,” San Benito head coach Scott Smith said. “Her control was great. I was worried that early in the game if they started taking pitches, because that typically will sometimes make her nervous, but it didn’t. She just beared down.
“Her rise ball was incredible tonight. And getting up early in the count, first-pitch strikes, and then getting the ball out of the zone and they were swinging at it. Eleven strikeouts against Carlmont is pretty impressive. They’re a pretty good hitting team.”
The Scots’ offense hasn’t been silenced much at all this season, in fact. The Belmont school averaged nearly six runs per game this year, and had opened the Division I tournament last week with an 8-0 win against No. 12 Wilcox (11-17) and a shortened 14-3 victory over No. 4 Santa Teresa (23-5) in six innings.
Only three times has Carlmont (22-7) been shutout this season, and two of those instances now belong to the Balers. On March 12, behind a complete game one-hitter by Paige Miguel, San Benito defeated Carlmont 3-0 at the Circle of Champions tournament in Salinas.
On Tuesday in San Jose, though, Smith said he opted for Sabbatini, who is more of a strikeout pitcher, instead of Miguel, who is more of a groundball-out pitcher, simply because of the game’s late start time — 7 p.m.
“We figured a night game, with her velocity, it’s gonna be tough to pick up the ball,” Smith said. “Ultimately, I could have thrown either one of them, but it was just a matter of a 7 o’ clock start. And I just thought it played better for Megan to throw.”
The sophomore struck out four of the first six batters she faced, and didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning — an infield single. Neither of Sabbatini’s two hits allowed left the infield, in fact.
“But it was huge to get a lead early,” Smith said. “And I think that really helped Megan settle down on the mound, too.”
Another Baler sophomore, Samantha Puentes, was also a thorn in Carlmont’s side Tuesday. After she scored the game’s first run following Hoff’s RBI double off starter Danielle Giuliacci (4IP, 4H, 2R, 2BB, 3K), Puentes and Hoff did it again in the third inning.
A leadoff walk to open the frame, Puentes then stole second base before being knocked in by Hoff yet again. This time, the senior right fielder connected on an RBI single to center field to stake San Benito to a 2-0 lead.
“It’s routine,” Puentes said of her connection with Hoff. “If I get on, she’ll put it in play.”
The two seem to know their roles all too well, because again in the fifth inning, Puentes stood at third base when Hoff entered the box. Although the senior was unable to plate her sophomore teammate this time, however, after hitting a fielder’s choice to third base, Puentes helped out Hoff by drawing the third baseman’s throw back to the bag, allowing Hoff to reach first base safely.
The seemingly insignificant throw back to third base eventually paid off, too.
One batter later, and Jessica Vest roped a hard-hit grounder off the third baseman’s glove, scoring Puentes from third, while two batters later, Marissa Adame ripped the first pitch she saw off reliever Aurora Stottler (1IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K), scoring Hoff from second base.
“It seems when Samantha produces for us, the whole team just gains confidence,” Smith said. “And Brit, I don’t know how many times this year, probably 80 percent of the time, when Samantha gets on, Brit (Hoff) knocks her in. It’s just incredible.”
Puentes needed no help in the sixth, though. With a full count, the second baseman connected on an outside pitch to opposite field off reliever Rebecca Faulkner (1IP, 2H, 1R, 1K). The hard-hit ball fell just inside the left-field foul line and spun away from the left fielder, eventually rolling into foul territory and all the way to the corner of the park.
With Puentes’ speed, there was little chance for Carlmont. The sophomore sprinted around the bases and touched home plate standing up — an inside-the-park home run.
“I thought it was foul at first, but I just kept running,” Puentes said. “I always run hard on everything.”
Sizing up Gilroy, Smith said the Mustangs, who defeated No. 7 Leland by a 1-0 margin on Tuesday night, are playing with a lot of confidence right now, so expect a close ball game.
And why would anyone expect anything else? Although San Benito has two wins over Gilroy this season, they only defeated their rivals by a combined three runs.
“I know the two games we’ve played them this year were both close,” Smith said. “We’ve got a game plan to go against them and I’m sure they have one against us. It should be a good game.”
Said Puentes, “I wanted to play Gilroy because they’re our rivals. It makes you want to practice hard and succeed to win CCS.”
CRLM — 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
SANB — 101 021 X — 5 8 1
WP: M. Sabbatini
LP: D. Giuliacci
The Central Coast Section Division I Championship between No. 1 San Benito and No. 3 Gilroy will take place Saturday at PAL Stadium, located at 680 South 34th Street in San Jose. Game time has not been announced.
