GHS softball struggles to survive in 10-0 mercy-rule loss to
undefeated Notre Dame
GILROY – Third baseman Amanda Tellez, one of six freshmen starters for the Lady Mustangs softball team, was not scared when undefeated Notre Dame rolled into town for Tuesday’s T-CAL contest.
In fact, she was confident that her team – despite a six-game losing streak in league – had a legitimate chance of beating Notre Dame, which handed Gilroy a 9-2 loss the first time around. But Tellez also remembered scoring the last two runs in the seventh inning of that game off Lady Spirit ace hurler Kim Reeder.
“They are beatable,” Tellez said. “But everyone on the team has to think that. You have to have confidence.”
That holds true even when you are up against private powerhouse Notre Dame (19-0 overall, 7-0 in T-CAL), which is also ranked No. 4 in the entire state.
The Lady Mustangs, however, fell behind 3-0 after the first two innings and then had a disastrous third inning – giving up five runs and allowing Notre Dame to send 11 batters to the plate. It got even uglier when the Lady Spirits added two more unanswered runs in the fourth, leading to a 10-0 mercy rule loss for Gilroy at the end of five frames.
“It was a little embarrassing,” said head coach Julie Berggren, who lost by the 10-run rule for the first time since taking over three seasons ago. “I just hope that they’re angry enough after losing like this to make a good showing on Thursday. They can’t dwell on this. That doesn’t do any good.”
Gilroy (8-12 overall, 1-7 in T-CAL) – which will host North Salinas tomorrow at 4 p.m. – is also in serious danger of breaking a string of six straight post-season appearances.
“I think most of it was kind of mental. We made mental errors. We just made one error after another,” Tellez said. “Towards the end, we got relaxed and let go. I hoped we would try harder, maybe not to win, but to at least score some runs.”
Reeder, who went 1-for-2 at the plate with an RBI single in the first and a walk in the third, was unhittable in her five innings of work, allowing only two base runners. Freshman outfielder Patty Olvera walked in the second inning and freshman infielder Yolanda Esquivel got a free pass in the third inning.
“We’ve been trying to get them to come out here and have fun,” Berggren said. “But when you make an error, you have to shake it off and you can’t afford to make another one.”
The third inning was the most disheartening, as the Lady Spirits go the first three batters on base with a lead-off single and a two walks issued by sophomore hurler Sarah Villar, who exited one inning later after loading the bases up with no outs.
After Notre Dame scored on a bloop single to short centerfield to take a four-run lead in the third, Esquivel could not glove a hard shot to shortstop that took a nasty bounce and got past her. Villar got the next batter to ground to short, but Esquivel threw it away at first base to bring in two more runs.
Even wholesale defensive changes in the same inning could not stop the bleeding before an infield single to third base loaded the bases up again and a single to right field pushed the gap to 8-0. Gilroy moved Esquivel to her natural position at second base and put junior Kayla Aldridge in at shortstop. Sophomore Kristen Campos moved from second to centerfield, replacing junior Christina Hernandez, and freshman Erin Magill subbed in for junior Kendall Costa at first base.
In the fourth inning, Villar was replaced by Olvera on the hill and Villar took Olvera’s spot in left field. With the bases loaded, Aldridge made a heads-up play at shortstop, fielding a ball that deflected off Tellez’s glove and forced the runner out at third, although a run crossed the plate. After Olvera hit the next batter and allowed a run-scoring infield single, the reliever kept her composure, starting an inning-ending double play from the mound to home to first base.
The damage was already done and, with Gilroy failing to cut into the 10-run deficit, the game was called at the end of five innings.
“It just gets me motivated to come out the next game and not make any mental errors, and come out and practice hard,” Tellez said.
Reeder singled in a run in the first inning for Notre Dame, and the Lady Spirits got some help from Gilroy with two runs in the second inning. Following a one-out single, Costa could not squeeze a throw from Esquivel at short and a run scored. Then with two outs, Hernandez – despite a diving effort – could not get to a sharp liner to centerfield, allowing another run to cross home plate.
Gilroy put two runners on in the third inning when Aldridge reached on a past ball after striking out and Esquivel was walked. Senior catcher Bria DeLorenzo sacrificed them over, but Tellez’s flyout to left field turned into an inning-ending double play with Aldridge off the bag at third base.
