Gilroy
– On a windy Tuesday afternoon on Gavilan’s field, the Lady Rams
battled and almost upset West Valley College’s top-ranked women’s
softball team before falling 5-3.
Gilroy – On a windy Tuesday afternoon on Gavilan’s field, the Lady Rams battled and almost upset West Valley College’s top-ranked women’s softball team before falling 5-3.
West Valley, ranked No. 1 in Northern California and in the top five in the state, had its hands full with an inspired Gavilan team, which carried a 16-13 record into the game.
“We’ve played very good softball all year long,” said head coach Tim Kenworthy. “We’ve come out on the short end of some one-run ball games in the last couple of weeks, but we proved again today we can play with just about any team in the state on any given day.”
The Lady Rams went into the bottom of the seventh inning down 5-0, but as they have done on so many occasions this season, they rallied to score three runs. Gavilan wound up with one runner on and the winning run at the plate before West Valley ace Chelsey Barclay retired Justine McDonald on a pop-up to third to end the game.
Gavilan starter Destinee Powers kept the West Valley hitters off-balance most of the afternoon, giving up just two hits and two runs going into the fifth. But West Valley collected three more runs in the top of the fifth on three consecutive hits.
In the seventh-inning rally, Powers, hitting in the No. 9 spot, walked with one out. Kristina Pena then reached first on an error, advancing Powers to second. That brought up Katie Arao, who was already 1-2 on the day when she came to the plate. Arao clobbered a 3-2 fastball deep to right center field for a triple driving in Powers and Pena.
“She just crushed the ball, and I think the size of her smile, once she reached third, expressed how excited she was about the hit,” said Kenworthy. “We were all thrilled as she was.”
Arao scored when Kristine Miles’ grounder bounced off the glove of West Valley third baseman Kristen Fleury and into left field. Miles was then forced at second on clean-up hitter Courtney Colianna’s bouncer to short for the second out. After the McDonald pop-out, Gavilan found itself a few runs short but very much worthy of taking the field with a top-ranked team like West Valley.
“We played with great focus and poise today and I’m very proud of our gals,” said Kenworthy. “I think the ball’s gonna start bouncing our way again pretty soon.”
The Lady Rams next travel to Mission College for a 3pm game today. They have a double-header at home against Hartnell on Friday, with the first game scheduled for 1pm and the second for 3pm.
