Gavilan softball loses lead in final inning, falls to MPC 5-3
Tuesday
GILROY
It was a regular-season finale the Gavilan College softball team would like to forget. Luckily, the Rams will be able to do just that in the regional playoffs.
Grasping to a 3-2 lead going into the seventh inning Tuesday against visiting Monterey Peninsula College, Gavilan allowed three runs in the top half as the Lobos stole a 5-3 victory in the final inning.
“That’s something we’ve been working on all year, is our heart, and they weren’t happy that we lost,” Gavilan manager Nikki Dequin said. “They were upset and they weren’t happy to lose to a team they had beaten before.
“But at least we are going to the playoffs. We have a few more games (to play).”
With a 10-5 record in the Coast Conference South, 14-24 overall, the Rams finish the regular season in second place behind San Jose City College (14-1 CC South). Gavilan will now await its playoff seed, which is expected to be announced on Friday. Due to its second-place standing, though, the Rams will likely be on the road in the first round of the playoffs.
At home in Gilroy on Tuesday, however, the Rams couldn’t stave off MPC, despite a one-run lead heading into the final inning.
After the Lobos grabbed a 2-0 edge in the third, Gavilan answered right back in the home half of the fourth with three runs.
Angelica Galindo led off the inning with a single, and with two outs, Ashley Gamboa and Danielle Payne both singled on to load the bases for pitcher Melinda Ortiz, who tied the game with a two-run single.
Zoa Lopez then followed with a ball in play that resulted in a throwing error and supplied the Rams with a 3-2 lead.
However, MPC’s three-hit, three-run performance in the seventh was the difference in the end.
“We outhit them,” Dequin said. “We just didn’t get the hits at the right time.
“They got the hits at the right time when they needed it.”
Ortiz threw a complete game, but allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits. She struck out three and walked four.
Gavilan committed four errors in the field.
The Rams’ trip to the playoffs marks the second straight year the Gilroy college has qualified toward the postseason, while it’s just the second time in the last 25 years that Gavilan has advanced past the regular season.
MPC – 002 000 3 – 5 5 2
GAV – 000 300 0 – 3 8 4
