ELLIOT SOFTBALL CRUISES
Tabitha Lang grounded out in her first trip into the batter’s box.
But the Elliot Christian High softball player made plenty of noise in her next four trips to the plate.
The Eagles senior third baseman hit for the cycle in Tuesday’s Central California Athletic Alliance home game against Brookside Christian. Those hits contributed toward Elliot’s a 23-1 win over the Knights. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Elliot (2-2 in the CCAA, 6-3-1) and Brookside (0-5 in the CCAA) were tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Then the Eagles’ Sara Burns and Lexie Juelch drew back-to-back walks off Knights pitcher Jessica Freeman. Sophia Butler knocked her teammates in with a double to centerfield that gave Elliot a 3-1 lead.
More walks were issued to the Eagles’ Tayton McCorisin, Made Sepp and Charis Guerzo. Then Lang belted the ball that flew deep into left field that cleared the bases for a 6-1 advantage. Elliot had 16 batters at the plate to score nine times and a 10-1 lead.
“She’s a kid who’s really worked hard in her game,” said Elliot coach Mike Pontius of Lang. “She loves the game. Hard work is paying off. She’s a senior who’s not checking out.”
In the bottom of the third inning, Lang sent another pitch deep to left field for a solo home run. That upped the Eagles’ lead to 11-1. The Eagles scored nine more runs for a 19-1 lead. That included Lang doubling to left field for two hits in the inning.
“When I’m hitting, I don’t pay attention to what I hit before,” Lang said. “We had a really good offense today.”
Lang’s hits highlighted by Eagles’ offense that included eight hits; a triple by Juelch, double by Burns and singles from Butler, McCortsin, winning pitcher Annabelle Sepp and Grace Robles.
In her final appearance in the box in the bottom of the fourth frame, Lang singled in between the Brookside third baseman and shortstop for completion of the cycle. Other hits in the fourth inning for the Eagles, who had three, were also singles off the bats of Robles and Butler.
For the game, Elliot finished with 17 hits. Behind Lang in hitting were Butler going 4-for-4 that included a double and scored four times, and Robles, McCortsin and Sepp having two hits each. Brookside had only two hits, one each by Zhane Lewis and Davianna Aguilera.
In the circle, Sepp tossed four innings. She gave up two hits, struck out seven and walked none. Robles pitched the final inning that saw her strike out all three Brookside batters she faced.