Lady Mustang softball team adjusts after 9-1 loss to N.
Salinas
GILROY – The Lady Mustang softball team was back on the diamond Wednesday, trying to refocus after suffering a disheartening 9-1 road loss to North Salinas one day prior.
“We’re trying to forget about yesterday for the most part,” head coach Julie Berggren said. “There were a few little things we learned in the game that we can take with us for the rest of the season.”
Most importantly, the league shellacking has jump-started a more serious attitude at practices. The Gilroy High coaching staff wants more focus and more intensity on a daily basis, and that starts with the team’s two captains, senior catcher Bria DeLorenzo and junior shortstop Kayla Aldridge.
“It’s a wake-up call – for the older girls, too. We need them to be leaders,” said Berggren, who has only one senior along with a slew of freshmen and sophomore starters. “As a coaching staff, we have to remember we are a young team and you have to teach the younger players different than the older ones.”
Berggren, along with assistant coaches Frank Reyes and Byron Bunten, do want a repeat performance of Tuesday’s mistake-filled contest at North Salinas.
“Errors in the field. Base hits. Balls not fielded cleanly,” said Berggren, rattling off a list of things that went wrong against the Lady Vikings. “If one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong.”
The Lady Mustangs took a short-lived one-run lead in the top of the second inning when freshman Ruschelle Preeshl drove in pinch runner Marissa Nowakowski on a hit-and-run with runners on first and second.
Senior catcher Bria DeLorenzo reached on an error to lead off the inning and was replaced on the base paths by Nowakowski. Sophomore Kristen Campos then laid down a sacrifice bunt that turned into a base hit when Nowakowski beat the throw to second. But when Nowakowski came around to score, Campos was gunned down trying to reach third base. The next two Lady Mustangs were retired to end the early rally.
North Salinas responded with one run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score and then surged into the lead with a six-run bottom of the third. The Lady Vikings connected for six hits, including a triple that ended junior hurler Christina Hernandez’s day, and Gilroy committed two errors in the field.
The Lady Mustangs could not find the answer at the plate, managing only two hits, Preeshl’s RBI single up the middle and DeLorenzo’s seventh-inning base knock.
“As a coaching staff, we need to realize we have to help them be focused at all times. Young minds drift easily,” Berggren said. “If they have a slow practice, it’s hard to just turn it on for a game. The older girls can just flip a switch.”
Gilroy will be on its home diamond today at 3:30 p.m. with neighboring rival Live Oak coming into town to complete the first round of league games.
“Everyone in our league has a chance at making the playoffs, not just first place is going to go,” said Berggren, whose squad is 1-3 in T-CAL this season.
The Lady Mustangs have been without the services of ace pitcher Sarah VIllar, who suffered a deep bone bruise after taking a line drive off the shin in Friday’s loss to Notre Dame. Hernandez started Tuesday’s game in her absence, and freshman Patty Olvera finished the contest from the third inning on.
“(Villar) was back running today. Hopefully, she’ll be ready to go tomorrow,” Berggren said. “If not we also have a tournament next weekend and we’re really looking at that, too. We want to make sure she’ll be able to go the distance for us in that tournament.”
Gilroy will compete in the Mission City Invite, starting on April 9, and hopes to pick up some key wins over ranked teams in the section.
