Cougars rout Gilroy 13-2 to close out the regular season

Christopher’s offense took advantage of Gilroy’s defensive struggles to comfortably take the last game of the regular season 13-2 in five innings.
Christopher totaled 15 hits in the game with each batter contributing with at least a hit.
“We just wanted to put the pressure on them because it’s a rival game,” Christopher coach Julian Santiago said. “We just wanted to make our plays and make them make plays.”
The Cougars got the bats going early scoring four runs in the first inning. The first run came off Sarah Starks’ RBI triple to center field. The runner had reached on a single and advanced to second when the left fielder misplayed ground ball that got passed her. Starks then scored when Gilroy’s catcher tried to pick her off but the throw went by the third baseman.
With two outs, Christopher got two singles and Kalena Paredes got them home with a double. Off the bat the ball seem to be heading just left of the left fielder but the wind took over and redirect it towards the foul line.
Christopher would put the game away in the fourth with five more runs after they had scored one in the second and three in the third.
Haley Berube led off the inning with a single to left field. After a fly ball and a walk, Amanda Bombino got Berube across the home plate with a single to center field. Brianna Budelli loaded the bases when she hit the ball straight to the shortstop who raced to tag the runner at third, but as soon as she realized she could not catch up she threw to first base, but it was too late. Next, Antonia Martinez hit a grounder to the shortstop who threw home to prevent the run from scoring, but her throw was too high for the catcher to control. It bounced off her globe to the back stop allowing a second run to score. Three batters later, Kendall Irwin came up to bat with the bases loaded, but this time with two outs and hit a 2 RBI single to center field to get the last runs for the Cougars.
“Our bats were definitely here today and I think the experience was also good to prepare us for CCS,” pitcher Gabrielle Howard said.
After getting into an early 5-0 hole, the Mustangs responded in the third with Makenna Weiler’s one-out RBI triple. Still with one out, Liezl Clark was at bat with runners on the corners. She hit a groundball to third base and was thrown out at first base. As soon as the ball was on its way to first, Weiler took off for home, but the Cougar defense was alert and an accurate throw to home allowed the catcher to tag her out ending the inning.
Weiler was the only player with three hits and was a double shy of the cycle.
“I think we did a good job. They were the better team today,” Weiler said.
The Mustangs scored again in the fourth on Christina Chavez’s solo home run to left field. Gilroy continued to put up good at-bats and strung together two singles, but a double play and a fly ball ended the inning.
“Defensively we kept them in the innings a little too long,” Gilroy coach Bria DeLorenzo said. “Offensively we fought, we tried to scrape our way in, but we lost on the defensive half.”
Gilroy had eight hits in the game and stranded five runners while the defense committed six errors.
“I’m proud of the eleven girls that we have,” coach DeLorenzo said about the Mustang season. “We ended up with 12 wins which was the most wins we’ve had in four years. We are just going to keep building and keep going and keep fighting back.”