GILROY—Suzy Brookshire hit a three-run home run in the second inning off Gilroy ace Lauren Castro to lead San Benito to a 6-4 win over the Mustangs at Gilroy High.
It was a slow start for Castro, who gave up a double and two singles to the first three batters she faced in the first inning. But she grinded it out to get the next batter, Isha Gonzalez, to hit into a fielder’s choice and struck out the next two to end the inning. The Balers did, however, take a 1-0 lead after one.
“Gilroy is tough,” San Benito coach Scott Smith said, “They’ve got the best pitcher (Castro) in our league.”
Errors have been the Achilles’ heel of the Mustangs all season and this game was no different. Gilroy errors allowed San Benito to get on base in the second inning and set the stage for Brookshire’s three-run blast.
With Brittnee Rossi on first base, Chloe Cortez bunted to advance Rossi. Instead of taking the easier out, the Mustangs’ defense tried to get the out on second. The ball was a second too late, however, and the runners were safe. Castro would get her team in a better situation after striking out Baler’s pitcher Adriana Ibarra.
Unfortunately for Cortez and the Mustangs, it would get worse before it would get better.
Callie Heen managed an RBI-single and scored Rossi from second. Heen and Cortez stole second and third on the very next pitch, putting runners in scoring position for Brookshire. The Baler took a big swing and crushed the ball over the centerfield fence to put her team up 5-0.
“Defensively we gave them a couple of outs in the first inning,” Mustangs’ coach Julie Berggren said. “Lauren (Castro) is a fighter and she has a knack for making sure that she stays composed when things don’t go her way.”
Brookshire finished her night going a perfect 3 for 3 with five RBIs.
“I thought Lauren (Castro) threw a pretty good pitch. Suzy (Brookshire) squared it up. It was a pretty good swing,” Smith said.
Gilroy answered in the bottom of the second, scoring two runs to get within three.
With the bases loaded with no outs, Nicole Dan hit a grounder that scored Maddy Cox from third. Ibarra got another ground ball to put Gilroy on its’ last leg and looked like she would do the same with Jaci Granados. But the throw on Granados’ grounder made it difficult for the Baler first baseman to scoop up. The error allowed Adrianna Figone to score, cutting San Benito’s lead to 5-2.
Dan and Granados each went 1 for 3 with an RBI.
“(I) thought it was an excellent game. We fought hard, we never gave up, put the ball in play and tried our best,” Berggren said.
The Mustangs got two more runs in the third and cut San Benito’s lead to 5-4 thanks to Maria Sandoval’s two-RBI double. That’s all they’d be able to muster up, however, as Ibarra only gave up a single in the fifth and sixth innings.
Sandoval finished 1 for 2 with two RBIs.
Castro went the distance in the circle for Gilroy. She allowed six runs on 10 hits, struck out three and walked three.
“I thought we did so much better than we did last time we played against them,” Castro said. “We really kept our heads in the game and fought all the way ‘till the end.”
Ibarra pitched seven innings with two strikeouts, two walks, allowing five hits and four runs.
Gilroy (10-14 overall, 4-5 in league) will try to get back in the win column when it plays the Spirits at 4:30 p.m. May 5 at Notre Dame in Salinas.
San Benito hosts Notre Dame at 6 p.m. May 7 at Veteran’s Park.
