Patriots’ Sanchez mows ’em down

By Adam Paul
Updated: April 15, 2022

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul

DEL CERRO (4-15-22) – Quite a day for Patrick Henry (5-8-1, 1-1 CWL) starting pitcher Sophia Sanchez who allowed no runs in the 8-0 victory over the visiting team Mission Bay (8-6, 1-1 CWL) in City Western League on Friday afternoon.

Pitching wasn’t the only portion that clicked for the Patriots as their bats scattered nine hits on the day and scored multiple runs in three innings.

Offensively the Patriots got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning when Olivia Gigante led off the inning with a solo homer over the center-field fence to give them a 1-0 lead. The home run was her fourth of the season since making a return to the lineup a couple of weeks ago.

They would tack on another pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to extend the lead to 3-0. Leading off the inning Kaiah Altmeyer who would single to right field, she would come around to score when Savannah Sutton hit a ball that was misplayed. Coming into run for Sutton was Brooke Taylor who would come into score on a ground ball out by Gigante.

Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning and leading 3-0 the Patriots were not done offensively as Altmeyer would double in Lily Glenn and would advance to third on a wild pitch and come into score when Sutton hit a ground ball out to make it 5-0.

Leading 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning the Patriots would go on to score three more times to round out their scoring.

Starting the offense in the inning was McKenna Gieger who led off with a base hit, a couple of batters later Chloe Wilson would also single advancing Gieger to second base. Now with runners on first and second and one out, Josi Alvarado came in to bat and she would drive in Gieger and advance Maura Evans who came into run for Wilson. The final pair of runs for the Patriots would come courtesy of Altmeyer who would rope double scoring both Evans and Alvarado.

Sanchez with the eight-run lead would retire the Mission Bay batters in order in the top of the seventh to end the game.

In doing so she would pick up the victory as she allowed six hits and zero runs over seven innings, striking out five on the day.

Hilltop 3, Santana 2

CHULA VISTA (4-15-22) – With the game all knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning the hitting prowess of Elijah Medina would come thru as she came up with the game-winning clutch hit to knock off the visiting Santana Sultans (8-10) 3-2 in non-league play on Friday afternoon.

Before all the late runs scored by both teams, the pitching for both teams was matching each other inning for innings but that didn’t mean there were not many opportunities for either team.

The Hilltop Lancers (9-11) would have a golden opportunity to put some runs on the board in the bottom of the second as Vivica Sandoval singled with two outs, the next batter Keilana Garalde would draw a walk, and Vega would follow with a base hit to load the bases. However, Aurelia Dawson would retire the next batter to end the threat.

A couple of innings later in the top of the fourth inning, the Sultans would have a crack as Kassidy Harper drew a one-out walk which was followed by a single by Madison Jordan. Unfortunately, both would be stranded as the Lancers would get out of the inning by retiring the next two batters.

But the Sultans would finally strike gold in the top of the sixth inning as Jordan Beatty led off with a base hit followed by Harper singling advancing Beatty to second base. A couple of batters later the bases would be loaded thanks to Haley Oceguera reaching on an error which was followed up by a two-run double to left field scoring both Harper and Madison Jordan to give the Sultans the lead 2-0.

Hilltop would answer in the bottom of the inning as they took advantage of an error by the Sultans to cut the deficit to 2-1.

They also would have the last say in the bottom of the seventh inning as Alexyia Reyes led off with a single, she would advance to third on the base hit by Vega and would score when she successfully stole home which tied the score 2-2.

Dawson would take the loss for the Sultans as she allowed three runs on ten hits over six innings of work while walking three and striking out two.

For the Lancers it was Yasmine Clark who would garner the victory as she allowed two runs on nine hits over seven innings while walking three and striking out five on the day.