Dramatic finish, convincing wins on Saturday East menu

By Adam Paul
Updated: April 10, 2021

EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul

HILLTOP TOURNAMENT

EL CAPITAN 2 (5-1), OTAY RANCH 1 (7-1)

LAKESIDE (4-10-21) – In softball the term key hits is often used to describe coming up in the clutch in situations and that is exactly what Freshman Dom Garcia (1-1, RBI) did on Saturday as her hit in the bottom off the seventh gave them the victory.

Early on the Otay Ranch Mustangs would take an early 1-0 lead on a base hit by Maya Loper which allowed Jaeden Inguito to race home.

With the pitching not giving anything up on either side it looked like the early run scored by the Mustangs would hold up.

But the Vaqueros pulled a Lee Corso famous saying of not so fast my friends moment in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Leadoff hitter Katy Hicks (1-3, R, 2B) took a 1-0 count and raked the very next offering for a lined double to left field, she would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brooke Horn.

With only one out and Hicks on third base up stepped Maddie Taylor (2-3, R, RBI, SB) who up to this point had the only hit on the day for El Capitan,

On the very first pitch she saw, Taylor would rope a single to left field bringing in Hicks to tie the game at 1-1.

El Capitan was back in business. For the Vaqueros, Coach Joe Cota would make the decision to bring in Garcia to pinch hit for Alyssa Fierro.

Still only one out and Taylor on first base the Vaqueros looked for more and would get it as Taylor would take off and successfully swipe second base. After working the count to a full one Garcia after the Taylor steal would take the next offering and lace a ground ball that would get thru the infield to right field and Taylor who picked up the wheels raced around third and would successfully score on the throw to win the game.

For the Mustangs, Maya Loper who took the hard luck loss in her 6 1/3 innings of work only gave up 2 runs (both earned) on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 8.

El Capitan pitcher Brooke Horn matched Roper on the day as she garnered the victory in which tossed 7 innings while only giving up the 1 run on 7 hits while fanning 4 on the day

The win by the Vaqueros is their second in a row and also snaps the Mustangs 7 game winning streak to start the season.

STEELE CANYON 18 (5-4), VISTA 0 (0-2) 5 INNINGS

SPRING VALLEY (4-10-21) – On the day the Steele Canyon Cougars pounded out 20 hits in a convincing victory over the Panthers on Saturday.

Offensively for the Cougars, five batters would collect multiple hits including Zitlally Rodriguez, Kassandra Jaggard, Madi Villaescusa, Marley Rimoldi and Isabella Smith.

Pitching wise on the day Davina Moya would limit the Panthers to a single hit in the top of the fifth inning.

Steele Canyon would really explode and take advantage of their opportunities in the bottom of the first inning as they would score ten runs to lead 10-0.

Tayler Thomas had an RBI double, Iryana Oliver drove in a run, Emma Shellstrom singled in a run, Rodriguez drove in a run, Isabella Smith had an RBI single and Breanna Perez drove in a run.

They would tack on five more runs in the bottom of the second inning which included six hits and a couple of runs scored on an error by Vista.

On the day for the Cougars, Rodriguez went 4-4 with a run scored and drove in a pair of runs, Breanna Perez also drove in a pair of runs along with Marley Rimoldi who also went 2-2 and scored twice.

In the win, Moya went all 5 innings in which she walked 1 and struck out 3 allowing only the 1 hit on the day.

SANTANA 4 (5-3), GROSSMONT 2 (3-2)

LA MESA (4-10-21) – Early on the Santana Sultans would push across three runs and allow for those to hold up despite the efforts of the Foothillers late in the game.

A two-run double by Kassidy Harper March allowing both Taylin Warren and Sammi Sullivan and later in the inning Hailey Oceguera doubled in Jordyn Beatty would give the Sultans a 3-0 lead.

Santana would again threaten in the top of the third inning as leadoff hitter Warren doubled to center which was followed by a base hit by Joey Barkhimer advancing Warren to third base. But both would be stranded as Caitlyn Potts would strike out the next three batters to end the threat and inning.

The Foothillers would finally get on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Katelynn Parent drew a bases loaded walk to score Jade Daley to make it 3-1. Grossmont almost scored earlier as Kimmy Bond singled to lead things off but later she would be thrown out at the plate trying to score on a fielder’s choice.

Later in the top of the sixth inning the Sultans would tack on another run when Sullivan grounded into a fielder’s choice that allowed Hailey Phillips to score making it 4-1.

Things would look really good for Grossmont in the bottom of the seventh with one out as Alison Murphy, Faith Sandoval and Natalie Emery all drew consecutive walks to load the bases. A couple of batters later with two outs Daley would be hit by a pitch which brought home Murphy to cut the deficit to 4-2 but Barkhimer would retire the next batter to end the game and preserve the win.

In the loss for Grossmont, Potts went all 7 innings in which she gave up 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 4 and striking out 3.

For the Sultans, Barkhimer got the complete game win as she tossed 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits while walking 7 and striking out 9 on the day.