GHS softball squad suffers 9-0 shellacking at hands of Notre
Dame
SALINAS – A lead-off homer by Notre Dame’s Lindsey Schutzler set the tone early Tuesday in the Gilroy High softball squad’s disastrous 9-0 road loss – which also saw Lady Spirits’ ace Kim Reeder toss a no-hitter.
“It just wasn’t a good day,” said second-year skipper Julie Berggren, following the lopsided affair that could not end soon enough. “(Reeder) just jammed us inside and we didn’t turn on it well enough, and we were just hitting ground balls to their infielders.”
After three straight one-run losses last week alone, the Lady Mustangs dropped even further in the T-CAL standings – now holding a 3-5 league mark with an April 24 road game on the horizon against front-runner North Salinas and the section’s top hurler Monica Abbott.
“I did not think it was going to be a blowout. They just hit the ball hard today,” said Berggren, whose young unit lost for the second time to Notre Dame this year. “Knowing we hung with great teams last week, I don’t think we went in not expecting to have a chance.”
Even with the lead-off homer by Schutzler – who will be teammates with Abbott at the University of Tennessee next year – Olvera got the Lady Mustangs out of the first frame behind by only one run. But Notre Dame added one run in the third inning and then exploded for a seven-run sixth inning.
“They are definitely the best hitting team we’ve faced. They hit everything today,” Berggren said. “I don’t think (Olvera) is tired. They were hitting everything. It didn’t matter what she threw and how well she threw it, they were going to hit it.”
The Gilroy bats struggled once again – and the solid defensive unit made three errors in the field to add fuel to the fire.
“We only had six strikeouts,” said Berggren, whose squad went hitless for the first time this season.
Before returning to league action, the Lady Mustangs have two tough non-league games ahead of them in the April 19 Watsonville Tournament against Westmont – which they beat 1-0 in the Tournament of Champions – and Carlmont – which beat them 8-0 in the same tournament in Morgan Hill.
“I think we’re going to do well in the tournament,” Berggren said. “Last time after we lost to Carlmont, we came back and beat Hollister the next game.”
Gilroy will be without the services of freshman outfielder Liz Ines – who is out six weeks with a shoulder injury – but that opens the door for hard-hitting freshman Kristen Campos.
“It’s exciting to see freshman play at that level,” said Berggren of her two freshman standouts.
