Gilroy
– North Salinas was pitcher perfect for 3 2/3 innings
Thursday.
And yet gritty Patty Olvera and Gilroy dug in to keep the
Vikings off the scoreboard.
Gilroy – North Salinas was pitcher perfect for 3 2/3 innings Thursday.
And yet gritty Patty Olvera and Gilroy dug in to keep the Vikings off the scoreboard.
When the Mustangs finally had their opportunities offensively, they cashed in to earn a 4-0 Tri-County Athletic League win.
“They got that one opportunity and capitalized on it,” North Salinas coach Greg Sims said. “We were an inch from missing the big hit. That’s a good team we were playing.”
Gilroy (14-4 overall, 2-1 TCAL) couldn’t do anything against Dani Shipman for 3 2/3 innings. The Viking right-hander retired the first 11 hitters in order. GHS was a little shaky defensively and yet Olvera made the pitches when she needed them most and the Mustangs made the plays in tight situations.
The best example came in the sixth with Gilroy clinging to a 1-0 lead, compliments of Caitlyn Pierotti’s pinch-hit double to centerfield in the fifth. The Vikings (2-11, 0-2) loaded the bases with one out, an error by Amanda Tellez starting the inning. But Tellez came up with the play of the game when she made a diving catch to snare a foul ball. Olvera followed with her sixth strikeout.
“I tried to make up for the error,” Tellez said. “Sometimes we wait too late to get started. We need to stay relaxed and be patient. Sometimes we’re too anxious.”
The big inning Gilroy was waiting for happened in the sixth and, as usual, Jasmine Perez was in the middle of it. Yolanda Esquivel started it with a single. Lauryn Chris followed with an RBI double to left. Ashley Serrano grounded a single to right and stole second. An error allowed Chris to score and advanced Serrano to third. Perez hit her second double of the game, a shot off the left-field fence, to plate the third run of the inning and drive in her team-leading 26th run.
“Her pitches were inside and high,” said Perez, who broke up the perfect game with a two-out double in the fourth. “After the first hit I thought we would get to her. But it took a while. I am seeing the ball well and waiting for it.”
Meanwhile, Olvera has tossed 28 straight innings without allowing an earned run. The senior scattered nine hits and North Salinas stranded 10 base runners.
“Patty did a great job pitching,” GHS coach Catherine Hallada said. “She’d get herself in a hole and then battled back.
“These girls sometimes take time to wake up. When they do, they get it done.”
North Salinas 000 000 0 – 0 9 1
Gilroy 000 013 x – 4 8 3
Shipman and Espinoza; Olvera and Balanesi. 2B-GIL, Perez 2, Chris, Pierotti.
