Hollister – Make no mistake about it. The San Benito softball team knows it has a bear of a challenge when it meets Carlmont in the Central Coast Section semifinals tonight.
“It’ll be the biggest challenge we’ve had this year and probably the biggest challenge some of these kids have ever had.”
No. 2 Carlmont lives and dies by the performance of its ace, Ashley Chinn. And the Scots are living a life of luxury. Sitting at 29-1 on the season, Carlmont enters the game on a five-game winning streak. And the Scots haven’t allowed a single run in that streak.
With Chinn (27-1) leading the way, Carlmont has recorded 23 shutouts on the year.
After playing in a Tri-County Athletic League that lacked the dominant pitchers of recent seasons, Smith said the great unknown is how his Lady ‘Balers (27-3) will match up against Chinn.
“How fast can we adjust to what she’s trying to do?” asked the San Benito coach. “Is she throwing strikes early in the count? Is she stretching the zone early?”
Asked what she thought was the key to touching the Scots for some runs, ‘Balers third baseman Jacqueline Clayton said, “Just making contact and getting it through. Or errors by the defense.”
After smoking TCAL rival Gilroy 7-0 in Saturday’s quarterfinals, the ‘Balers enter the semis on a roll, but they are still mindful of the fact that they need a peak performance tonight.
“We have confidence, but we know there’s always room to improve … to get to that next level,” San Benito left fielder Audra Brown said after Monday’s practice. “If we want to win, we’re going to have to step up our game.”
The No. 3 Lady ‘Balers enter the semifinals on a five-game winning streak of their own, backed by the strong pitching of freshman Marissa Ibarra. But even though his team has outscored those five opponents by a combined score of 41-0, Smith knows better than to expect more of the same tonight.
“We feel like we’re going to have to get a single and then get a double,” said Smith, who believes San Benito will struggle to piece together four-hit rallies against Chinn. “We’re probably going to play small ball early and then wait for the big hit.”
Smith continued: “If we pitch like we can and if we play great defense like we have late in the year, I think we’ll be within a run late in the game. … If we hold ’em tight the first three innings, we’ll be in great shape.”
Carlmont has added motivation after being knocked out in its first game in last year’s playoffs. The Scots, then a No. 1 seed, fell 1-0 to North Salinas. Carlmont has won a CCS title in three of the past five seasons. The Scots defeated No. 10 Piedmont Hills 7-0 on Saturday.
Despite his opponent’s pedigree, Smith said the Scots will have their hands full with the Lady ‘Balers as well.
“Carlmont hasn’t faced a team like ours all year,” the San Benito coach said. “It’s unfortunate us and Carlmont can’t meet in the championship game instead of here. I feel like the two best teams in Division I are meeting (tonight).”
The San Benito–Carlmont contest starts at 7pm at San Jose’s PAL Stadium.
