Panthers power up against Eagles
Panthers club four homers, two of them by Balmediano
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Benicia High softball team had to wait on the sidelines for quite some time as the players desperately wanted nothing more than to grab their gloves, cleats and caps and head to the yard.
Judging by Monday’s game, however, the Panthers’ bats wanted opposing balls to immediately leave the yard.
The Panthers (7-3, 5-2) launched four home runs against Clayton Valley Charter (6-5, 5-5) on the way to a 13-3 win in Diablo Athletic League play.
Two of the Benicia homers came from junior leadoff hitter Robynn Balmediano — one a grand slam. She finished with three hits and reached base four times.
“I think what worked for me was just seeing the ball and letting it travel,” Balmediano said. “I think the outside pitch is the easiest pitch I can hit. So I stayed confident in the box. I’ve struggled a little bit this year but this game I stepped on the pedal.”
Leading 2-0 in the first inning, Balmediano got her first homer of the game in the second inning with a grand slam the opposite way to left field. Ella Tuttle and Tayler Murphy had singled earlier in the inning.
“I just wanted to stay consistent. Hard line drive or hard ground ball to get the runners in,” Balmediano said.
Before Clayton Valley could regroup, Bailey Sample hit a tworun bomb to left field. Sample knew the ball was gone on contact as she did a flip of her bat just seconds after leaving the batter’s box. Lorenzza Marcacci, who singled earlier in the inning, scored on the homer.
“I liked the adjustments today,” Benicia head coach Kristin Grubbs said. “With a short season we struggled early on with our
hitting. We had a little bit of a lull last week but now we’re firing in. We changed our approach. We talked about going up their with a plan instead of just going up there to swing. All those things lead to success and we’re seeing that play out.”
The eight runs was more than enough for pitcher Braxton Brown, who went four innings and gave up two runs while allowing five hits and striking out two.
“I liked that she showed some maturity today,” Grubbs said. “She called me out and told me that she wanted to pitch a little different to certain batters. I liked that. She has great speed and good movement and sometimes her movement is too much, but it was great today.”
Up 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Balmediano homered again, this time a solo shot to almost the exact same place over the fence in left field to give the Panthers a seven-run lead. Benicia added three more runs in the frame, two of them coming on a homer by Hailey Weddington.
Clayton Valley added a run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 12-3, but when Sample singled in a run in the bottom half of the frame the Panthers had the victory.
“Understanding it takes every single one of them,” Grubbs said. “It’s not just one player or two players. We had a player like Robynn our leadoff hitter and she got on base every time. Hailey Weddington was having some struggles. But she took a pitch, see the ball and then she got one and drove it out. Knowing that from top to bottom everyone can contribute. That’s allowed us to have success in the past and will allow us to have success in the future.”