Lady Mustang softball shut out in Hollister, 2-0
HOLLISTER – Getting runners on base has been few and far between for the Gilroy High softball squad this season. In Thursday’s 2-0 road loss to San Benito, the Lady Mustangs managed only two base-runners on back-to-back infield hits.
When runners do get on base and move into scoring position, the Lady Mustangs have still not been able to drive them home. In the team’s sixth straight league loss, Gilroy had only one opportunity to do so with runners at second and third.
But while the Lady Haybalers (5-2 in T-CAL) got the contact they needed to score a run in the first and third innings, the Lady Mustangs (1-6 in T-CAL) could not come up with the clutch hit in the fifth inning.
“They are very aggressive. They do the right thing at the right time. They are coached very well. They have a very solid defense. They should go far in Division I,” said Berggren of Hollister. “Not being able to produce any runs doesn’t help.”
This was the third time in league that the Lady Mustangs were held scoreless, not to mention another 1-0 loss to Fremont in the Mission City Invitational over the weekend.
“We work on our hitting every day. We do different drills,” said head coach Julie Berggren, whose squad is in danger of breaking a string of six consecutive playoff appearances. “We’ve mixed up the line-up. Some day we’re going to find the combinatin that works.”
Gilroy has a young team this year with only one senior and three juniors along with four sophomores and five freshmen. The defense has remained solid – even with the absence of starting shortstop Kayla Aldridge and first baseman Erin Magill in Thursday’s loss – but the bats have remained tame.
“Our defense has been solid. We only practiced one day with the defense (we used today) and we still changed it around a little bit,” Berggren said. “Hopefully, this will motivate them because we played with a limited squad and got close. We definitely had our opportunities.”
In the fifth inning, Gilroy put its first two runners on base with freshman Russhelle Preeshl singling to short and junior Kendall Costa legging out a base hit as the Hollister first baseman’s foot was off the bag.
“Kendall Costa got her first hit of the season today,” Berggren said. “It was great to see her hit the ball hard.”
After sophomore hurler Sarah Villar’s sacrifice bunt sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out, sophomore Sara Griffis flew out to right field and junior Christina Hernandez struck out looking. For the second straight game, Gilroy failed to score on Lady Haybalers’ ace Diana Hernandez.
“We hit her hard today,” Beggren said. “Sara (Griffis) hit he ball hard to right, but it just hung up.”
Griffis’ fly ball was not deep enough to score Preeshl from third base, and so went the only Gilroy scoring chance.
“They still have to come to our place to play again,” said Berggren, looking ahead to a May 4 home game against San Benito. “If we score two, three runs against any of these teams with our defense and pitching, we have a good chance to win.”
But the runs have not been coming.
The Lady Mustangs have scored two runs in their last three games and nine runs over the last 10 games. Gilroy is 8-10 overall and needs to bring its record to .500 or above to be considered for post-season play. Up next, the locals will take on Valley Christian in the Mission City Invitational on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Hollister, which boosted its overall mark to 16-4, only had two hits off Lady Mustang starter Sarah Villar, but the Lady Haybalers capitalized on their opportunities.
“We had good at-bats here. We just hit the ball right at them,” Hollister head coach Scott Smith said. “We went through a little valley for a while, but the girls have really got their confidence up right now.”
In the first inning, shortstop Jenny Maheu led off with a walk and was moved to second base on a bunt by teammate Julie Broyer. Hollister’s Kristen Archuleta knocked her in with a base hit.
The Balers scored their second run in the third inning. Broyer used her speed to lay down a bunt for a single, and Archuleta reached on an error. Then, teammate Hillary Williams laid down a sacrifice and Amy Baxter brought in the run with a fielder’s choice.
“We’re not quite where we want to be yet,” Smith said. “We’re playing better all-around than we have played all year, but we still haven’t peaked yet.”
