Redwood outlasts San Rafael in extras
Kessinger’s double scores Bello as Giants prevail in eight innings
Even after a dominant performance out of starter Sadie Leonard, the Redwood High softball team still needed an extra-innings rally to beat an up-and-coming San Rafael team on Wednesday.
Bulldogs starter Kelsey McNair had held the Giants in check for most of the afternoon but a pair of timely late hits ultimately proved to be the difference.
After a Morgan Bello single with one out in the bottom of the eighth, Mia Kessinger doubled down the left-field line to send her home and into the arms of waiting Giants teammates as they celebrated the 2-1 walk-off win over the Bulldogs at Redwood High.
“That’s what we needed,” said Redwood head coach Emily Atkinson. “There’s nothing else you can hope for right? You have your three, four, five batters up and it’s like ‘Alright, this is where we want to be.’
“She put it right in the right spot, hit that corner perfectly. Morgan, for a catcher, is very fast, so we were luckily able to get her to run like heck so we made it work.”
The clutch hits helped Leonard earn the win. She pitched all eight innings and struck out 12 with only one walk and two hits. She and McNair, a freshman, dueled for a majority of the sunny afternoon
in Larkspur. Through the first four innings, the two had yielded only one baserunner each and Leonard, after walking the first batter of the game, retired 12 straight batters through the fourth.
The Giants (2-0) finally broke through in the fifth. Kaela Sparler doubled to lead the inning off and then scored on an error two batters later to give Redwood a 1-0 lead.
San Rafael (1-2) had broken up Leonard’s no-hitter in the top of the frame on a Megan Murphy double but were still searching for their first run. They got in the top of the seventh with Redwood looking to close the game out. McNair drilled a hanging riseball from Leonard over the right-field wall to tie the score at 1-1.
“You always know when it leaves your hand,” Leonard said. “But she’s a great hitter and that was a great hit.”
It was also McNair’s first high school home run, which carried some extra emotions for San Rafael head coach Moose McNair, her dad.
“That was pretty cool,” he said, smiling. “As a dad, you’re real proud. It was odd, she struck out three times in a row and she rarely strikes out so that was a little surprising but I think it motivated her. That one was definitely out of here.”
Kelsey then went on to pitch a scoreless bottom of the seventh to send the game to extras. Leonard again shut the Bulldogs down in the eighth to set up the comeback from Bello and Kessinger in the bottom of the frame.
Those eighth-inning knocks were the only hits of the day for Bello and Kessinger, who both went 1 for 4. Kelsey McNair allowed six hits on the day, three of which came from the seventh inning on. She also struck out five and walked none in her 7.1 innings of work in the circle.
Her stellar outing on Wednesday comes on the heels of another strong performance earlier this week, in a close loss to Marin Catholic, the MCAL’s top team. She’s one of a handful of young players on San Rafael that have Moose McNair optimistic about this season and beyond.
“We feel like we’re a program on the rise,” Moose McNair said. “We just played the two best teams in the league in Redwood and Marin Catholic and we played with both of them but they both got us. So we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to get better.”
Redwood projects to be one of the top teams in the MCAL this year. The Giants return a vast majority of players from last year’s team that saw its season cut short after only six games.
“We were really strong last year and we have basically the same team this year so we were really excited going into this season,” Kessinger said. “We have a strong upperclassmen group and I think having that leadership is really important. Obviously, Sadie is really dominant on the mound, which is awesome. And we’re all super close, which really helps in the field because we all trust each other, so I think we’re going to be really good this season.”