Steele beats the rain, beats the Scotties

By Adam Paul
Updated: March 29, 2023

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEELE CANYON SOFTBALL

2023 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul

With the next set of heavy rains ready to hit across San Diego County over the next couple of days, outdoor events will be heavily affected. Thus,some games were moved up a day and one of those moving up was a crucial league opener.

Steele Canyon 10, Helix 8

LA MESA – In a wild contest that would go extra innings, the Steele Canyon Cougars would take the lead for good in the seventh due to an error that would spark the visiting Cougars to a 10-8 victory over the Helix Highlanders in Tuesday’s (Mar. 28) opening of Grossmont Hills League action for both squads.

Cougars slugger Jazmin Williams who has been on fire of late collected four hits on the day as she would go 4-for-6 and drive in a pair of runs and scored twice. Not only would she collect four hits but three of them would go for doubles.

She would lead off the game with a double and later come into score when Danika Lakin drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 1-0, Izabella Azevedo followed by being hit by a pitch which allowed Kamea Seunarine who earlier singled to trot home for the second run of the inning.

Later the Cougars would add to their lead when Marina Gonzalez drove in Ily Barclay and Hailey Trujillo followed with a sacrifice bunt to score Williams to make it 4-0.

Despite trailing in the bottom of the inning the Helix Highlanders finally were able to take advantage of opportunities and put up a six spot to take the lead.

LaNiah Broom after a Lauren Farace walk to lead things off would hit a ball to left field that was misplayed and would allow Farace to come around and score and Broom to advance to third base, the next batter Katelyn Woodland would ground out but Broom would race home for the second run. After a double by Kamilah Jones and a single by Tatiana Hernandez which would put runners at the corners the next batter, Kamryn Evans would put down a bunt and reach on an error to load the bases.

Still trailing by two with the bases full and only one out the Highlanders would really put the pressure on as they would work the count and draw consecutive run-scoring walks by Danette Munoz, Angel Riggins, and Clarissa Torres to take a 5-4 lead. They would add another run with two outs as Munoz would score on a passed ball.

Moving to the sixth inning the Cougars would rally to tie things up as Lakin would double in Gonzalez and later Trujillo would race home successfully on a wild pitch

But once again for the fourth time, the lead would change hands as Helix would push across a run in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-6 lead. Leadoff hitter Riggins would double to left field and would later tag up from third on a sacrifice fly to center by Broom.

Steele Canyon behind an RBI double by Williams that scored Gonzalez tied up the contest at 7-7.

Helix had an opportunity in the bottom half to score some runs as Hernandez singled with one out, a couple of batters Munoz drew a two-out walk which was followed by an intentional walk to Riggins but Gonzalez would dig in and strike out Torres to end the inning and send the contest to extras.

With the game going extras, the Cougars quickly went to work starting with a lead-off hit by Trujillo and a couple of batters later with one out Azevedo singling to left field. With runners on Freshman, Makenzie Meyer came to bat and would hit a ball that was misplayed and eventually allowing Trujillo to come around and score the go-ahead run to make it 8-7, after an intentional walk to try and induce a double play the next batter Barclay would lift a ball to left field deep enough for Azevedo to tag up and race home for the 9-7 lead. The Cougars would tally one more thanks to Williams who doubled for the third time scoring Meyer to extend the lead further to 10-7.

The Highlanders were down to their final outs but didn’t go down without a fight as Farace led off by doubling to left field, she would advance to third on a Broom ground ball out, and Woodland would be retired by Gonzalez for the second out. Still at third Farace was itching to score and she would get the opportunity due to a passed ball which made it 10-8 and Jones who was at the plate would double but she would be stranded to end the game.

Gonzalez for the Cougars would pick up the victory as she went the distance giving up eight runs on seven hits while striking out four.

On the other side, Woodland took the loss as she also went every inning. On the day she allowed ten runs on fourteen hits and struck out ten.

“Both Jazmin Williams and Hailey tore it up at the plate. Our Freshman pitcher (Marina Gonzalez) despite facing adversity really came thru in the clutch the last two innings when we really needed her.” Said Cougars head coach Kevin Pearlstein.

Steele Canyon is now 8-3, overall (1-0 GHL). Helix slipped to 8-4-1 (0-1 GHL).

Santana 12, Eastlake 2 (5 inn.)

CHULA VISTA – Big day at the plate for Emma Schneider who drove in four runs including a three-run blast in the fifth inning as the Santana Sultans easily handled the home team Eastlake Titans in tournament action on Tuesday (Mar. 28) afternoon.

The Sultans(8-1-1 overall) opened up the scoring in the top of the first thanks to Sara Spry scoring on a passed ball, Taylinn Warren would score on a wild pitch and Kaitlyn Ours would drive in Schneider via fielder’s choice to give them a 3-0 lead.

An RBI single by Warren who would later score on a wild pitch would extend the lead to 5-0 in the top of the second inning.

The Titans would get on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to pull within 5-2.

But the Sultans would really put the contest out of reach as they scored six runs in the fifth inning.

Vanessa Ryan doubled in a run, she would come into score on an error by the Titans. Later Schneider would hit the big blast scoring both Warren and Delanney Smith to cap the scoring.

Gracie Johnston would get the victory for the Sultans as she went five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out four.

Eastlake fell to 2-3-1.

San Marcos 5, Patrick Henry 3

DEL CERRO – The San Marcos Knights took advantage of early opportunities and would pull out the two-run victory over the Patrick Henry Patriots on Tuesday (Mar. 28) afternoon.

An error and a fielder’s choice would lead to the first couple of runs scored by the Knights in the top of the first to give them an early 2-0 lead.

Patrick Henry (3-5-1 overall) would tie the game up in the bottom of the second inning when Jenna Mallari singled to right field scoring Rachel Earner and on the same play Zoe Rutherford would come into score when the ball was misplayed.

With the score tied up at 2-2 the Knights would once again regain the lead thanks to a solo home run by Zara Wasserman in the top of the third inning.

They would later in the top of the fifth inning score another run with two outs thanks to Odette Velasco who laced one to left field.

Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning the Patriots would cut the lead to 4-3 thanks to McKenna Geiger who led off the inning by belting a solo home run to right field. Unfortunately, that would be the closest the Patriots would get as the Knights would score another run and hold the Patriots the rest of the way.

Sophia Sanchez for the Patriots would take the loss, she would go five and two-thirds innings in which she allowed four runs on six hits and struck out three, Geiger would come in and finish things out by going one and one-third of an inning giving up one run on four hits and striking out two.

For the Knights (4-2-1), Sydney Schwartz picked up the victory, she threw six innings giving up three runs on six hits and striking out six, Caylene Nguyen was credited with the save as she finished things out going an inning in which she allowed one hit and struck out one.