With two Monterey Bay League tilts remaining on the docket, the
first-year varsity program controls its destiny as the first CHS
team to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Kaslin Ettema is in the lineup for one reason – to get hits.
The sophomore designated player did just that, going 3-for 4. And with postseason aspirations on the line, fortunately the rest of the Christopher High softball team followed suit. It had no other choice.
Staring up at a seemingly deflating 5-0 deficit after the top of the first inning in a must-win game to preserve playoff possibility, the Cougars kept their composure, collected 12 hits and stormed all the way back to claim a 10-7 victory over Seaside on Tuesday in Gilroy.
“We knew this game was really important for us so we didn’t let (the deficit) get us down,” Ettema said. “We were really optimistic this time.”
Ettema was one of four Cougars with multiple hits in the comeback effort. Kayla Medrano, Mariza Rodriguez and Angelica Carrillo had two hits apiece.
Starting pitcher Aly Olvera, struggled out of the gates, leaving her fastball up and allowing the five first-inning runs. But the junior workhorse settled in the later innings, retiring 12 of the final 15 batters after the Cougars took the lead in the fourth.
“This probably, after the first inning, was the best she’s pitched all season,” Nabzeska said. “She started hitting her spots.”
With two Monterey Bay League tilts remaining on the docket, the first-year varsity program controls its destiny as the first CHS team to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs. At 14-9-1 overall and 7-3 in league, the Cougars are tied for second with Seaside. However, the Spartans still have to face the MBL’s top team, Monterey, while CHS has games against Pajaro Valley and Watsonville, which sit in fifth and seventh place, respectively.
“We have to win both of them,” said manager Larry Nabzeska, who added that he wants his players riled up down the stretch. “I don’t want them calm. I want them to do what they did today. I want them to continue to see the ball and hit the ball hard.”
With the 5-0 gap sitting in front of the Cougars like a brick wall, a slow and steady assent up and over the roadblock ensued.
“After the first inning I sat down and said ‘I don’t know if we can do this.’ I’m not of little faith, but how do we come back from a 5-0? Once we started hitting the ball in the second inning, it was boom, boom, boom. I felt like we came alive,” Nabzeska said.
Ettema led off the second inning with a base hit and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch to get the Cougars headed in the right direction.
Two straight singles from Medrano and Olvera – each advanced on an error during Olvera’s hit sequence – put runners on second and third with no out in the bottom of the third. Rodriguez, who went 2-for-4, produced one of her three RBI on the day with a sacrifice fly to left. Ettema, laced a triple down the right field line past the diving fielder allowing the speedy sophomore to sprint into third with a stand-up triple. Mariah Martinez chased home Ettema one batter later with a sharp single up the middle, leaving the Cougars down 5-4 through three.
“We knew that our hitting has been good the last couple of weeks,” Martinez said. “Even though we struggled, I think we knew that we could win it with our bats.”
After the Spartans countered with two in the top of the fourth to expand the advantage back to three tallies, 7-4, the Cougars struck for five in their half to complete the rousing rally.
A Carrillo single, Olivia Barajas sacrifice bunt, where Carrillo went from first base to third, and a Medrano RBI hit accounted for the first run of the inning. The next four came with two outs on RBI by Rodriguez, Ettema and Johnna Blank.
Rodriguez picked up her third RBI in the fifth to give the Cougars the three-run cushion late in the game.
“We knew that our defense had to be on it,” Martinez said about holding the lead. “We’ve been practicing keeping easy hands on the ball, so we just put our practice into play today.”
The Cougars are on the road for their final two league tilts, beginning Thursday at Pajaro Valley.
“I think we can (keep the momentum going),” Ettema said “We have so much potential on this team. We get down sometimes but we can get back up too.”
