Girls’ Softball Central Union High suffers tough 3-0 loss
The Central Union High softball team resumed play in the Monte Vista Spring Classic with a home game at Emma Jones Field on Wednesday afternoon.
The Spring Classic is an ongoing tournament that began earlier this month and the Spartans opened tourney action with a 5-4 victory over High Tech San Diego in extra innings.
On Wednesday, the Spartans hosted the Christian Patriots. It was the second meeting so far this season between Central and Christian, with Wednesday’s matchup favoring the visitors 3-0.
Senior hurler Paola Verdugo and the Patriots’ Ashley Carter were locked in a close pitching battle through the first couple innings of the game until the Christian bats connected for a couple hits in the top of the third.
Carter helped herself connecting for a solo home run, with Elle Lindblad connecting for a single to center field that scored a Christian runner from second base.
Despite a few defensive miscues, Verdugo worked to close the top of the inning without giving up any more runs and kept the game close, with the Spartans down just 2-0.
While the Central batters worked to make contact with Carter’s pitches throughout the game, the ball seemed to always find its way into the path of a Patriot player.
In spite of Central’s visible frustration on offense, the Spartan defense settled down in the later innings of the game, with Verdugo maintaining her composure in the circle.
“(Paola) did what I’ve asked her to do all season,” said Chris Acosta, Spartan co-head coach with Marissa Guzman. “Get batters to hit ground balls that will allow the defense to make plays. Unfortunately (Wednesday) we couldn’t always do that.”
While the loss no doubt stings, the Spartans have a young team and Acosta acknowledged the need for his players to have shortterm memory as they are set to face a tough Brawley Union High team on Friday night.
“We tell them all the time that they need to have short-term memory not just when it comes to games, but sometimes after a pitch, a play or an at-bat,” Acosta said.
With the result the Spartans move to 7-5 overall and return to the field at 6:30 p.m. on Friday to face Brawley.