Archie Williams rides fast start to big victory against San Marin

Archie Williams and San Marin, the two feelgood stories of the early season in softball, squared off against each other on Monday night with the winner guaranteed to finish the night alone in second place through the first five games.

The Peregrine Falcons, who turned some heads last Monday with a 4-2 win against San Rafael, kept their positive momentum going by scoring six runs in the first two innings en route to a 7-3 road win against the Mustangs.

Archie Williams (6-3, 4-1 MCAL) hasn't made the MCAL playoffs since 2017 — when it was still known as Drake and was led by Sona Halajian, who played for Cal and now pitches for the University of Central Florida.

“It was really important,” Archie Williams pitcher Paige Murphy said of Monday's victory. “We had a really good week last week. We were 3-0 and we just kept our momentum building and this is the best we've played since I've been here.”

San Marin (4-5, 3-2) was also coming off a strong week with a win against Marin Catholic and an extrainnings loss to San Rafael.

Murphy, a junior, helped the Peregrine Falcons set the offense offensively before she even had an opportunity to step into the circle. Murphy led off the game with a single — one of her three hits — and came around to score as Kennedy Dunsing was ruled safe at first base following a dropped third strike during her at-bat.

Chase Unger scored on a wild pitch then Lydia Battaglia singled to put two runners on. A single by Amelia Richer and a sacrifice bunt by Emma Freed gave Murphy a four-run cushion to play with before she threw her first pitch.

“At the beginning of the season, we definitely struggled a little bit with our offense and so pitching in a game when you're up 4-0 versus like even 1-0, it's just completely different,” Murphy said. “You're allowed to have a bigger margin of error and it just gives you more comfort and you're feeling more confident. You're in a better mood because obviously you just scored four runs.”

Murphy's mood was about to improve again as she smashed a double off the center-field wall in the top of the second inning — missing a home run by a couple of feet. Dunsing drove her in with a single then Battaglia tripled into right field to give the Peregrine Falcons a quick 6-0 lead.

“Lydia in the four slot, hitting that ball down the right side and getting a triple, that was a huge at bat,” Archie Williams coach Joe Bell said. “That's, I believe, her fifth triple of the year so she's got a strong bat right now, too.”

San Marin pushed across a run in the bottom of the third on a pair of errors to make it 6-1. Murphy got her third hit of the game in the top of the fourth while at that point still throwing a no-hitter.

“I previously, in the past two years, haven't hit their pitcher (Brittany Casper) that well,” Murphy said. “Going into this game — I hit really well last week and I just have a lot of confidence. I knew I wasn't going to let her beat me and I had that mindset going into the at bats. Being the leadoff hitter, you start the momentum and set the tone for the game.”

Murphy lost her no-hitter in the fourth inning when Taylor Testa hit a one-out double. Murphy struck out the other three batters that inning and finished the game with 10 strikeouts.

Testa took over the pitching duties for San Marin for the top of the fifth and struck out five hitters over the next two innings to keep the Mustangs within striking distance. San Marin finally got to Murphy in the bottom of the seventh, getting a double from Savannah Reynolds, a single by Casper, and a double from Arianna Mendoza to pull within 7-3.

Bell intentionally walked San Marin leadoff hitter Lauren Fong to put the tying run into the on-deck circle with two outs.

Dunsing, Murphy's catcher, came up with the game-ending play, throwing out a San Marin runner at third.

“Usually whenever I bobble a ball or just drop one when I'm catching, I have a feeling that they're going to steal and that happened,” Dunsing said. “It's just automatic to throw it down but I'm always anticipating the steal. That one was really fun. I think it's the first girl that I've thrown out this year so far.”

The victory keeps Archie Williams a game behind first-place Redwood (5-0) in the standings. San Rafael, San Marin, and Marin Catholic are all 3-2. Archie Williams faces Marin Catholic on Wednesday while Redwood battles San Rafael.

“I'm just really proud of how we played, how much confidence we had going into this game with our hitting, our bats,” Murphy said. “I'm just really proud of this win and hopefully we can continue it on Wednesday.”