6-run 4th powers Centennial by Stockdale
On Tuesday, host Stockdale capitalized on a few Centennial miscues and rallied from a four-run deficit to post a much-needed South Yosemite River League softball victory.
Forty-eight hours later, the Golden Hawks returned the favor, making the most of the visiting Mustangs’ indecision in the field to score six, two-out runs to fuel an 8-3 victory.
“That’s a common place if you’re going to have indecision in the infield,” said sixth-year Centennial coach Joe McIrvin. “That ball’s kind of hit into no-man’s land there and fortunately for us, they were unable to make that play. (Just) like as happened to us the other day against them, if you give a good team enough outs, it opens up.”
The game was tied at 2 with two outs and Madison Cabrera at third base when Jayden Holland hit a chopper in between the pitcher’s circle and first base. Addison Ochoa fielded the ball cleanly, but hesitated for a moment and wound up holding the ball as Cabrera raced home with the go-ahead run.
“I think it’s a play that we should have made and still made an out,” said 16-year Stockdale coach Amanda Hockett. “I think we just let the pressure get to us a little bit and we buckled under the pressure. As a team, we just need to focus a little better and finish the plays.”
The Golden Hawks (16-5, 4-2) followed with four straight hits, capped by a two-run home run to leftfield by Emma Rocha that appeared to bounce off the glove of Stockdale left fielder Kailey Dahl and over the fence.
Adriana Casallas had a two-run single in the inning and finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs. She also drove in two runs with a single in the third inning that gave her team a 2-1 lead.
“We were just looking to play like us all day,” McIrvin said. “We didn’t want to jump ahead and talk about (the) final (score) or how many runs we needed. We wanted to look like we play. That was our focus at practice (on Wednesday), we’ve been talking about it all week. We actually thought we got closer to playing
that way against Stockdale the other day. It was just a couple of mishaps that changed the whole thing.”
Stockdale opened the scoring in the third inning when No. 9 hitter Jovie Riley was hit by a Cabrera pitch with two outs.
After Riley stole second, Aamya Harrison followed with a run-scoring single.
Centennial countered in the bottom of the third when Lundyn Harrison and Mackenzie Johnson, who combined for five hits, reached safely with one out and Casallas chased them home with a base hit for a 2-1 advantage.
The Mustangs (5-9-1, 2-4) knotted the score with a run in the top of the fourth when Jillian Sanchez doubled, and two outs later, scored on a single by Lacey Lara. Sanchez finished 2 for 4 along with
Kaitlyn Urbano, who drove in a run with a single in the fifth.
“I feel like our team has found what Stockdale softball’s always been about with the energy level and the attitude amongst the team,” said Hockett, whose team scored six straight runs to rally past Centennial on Tuesday. “So I feel like we’ve kind of turned a corner and I think things are going to continue to get better. We still may lose some games here and there, but I think as a whole our team has bought in and are more together as a team.”
Cabrera notched the win, scattering seven hits and three earned runs, striking out nine and walking three.
“For us, it’s just a matter of, everybody in this sport can hit the ball, throw the ball and catch the
ball,” McIrvin said. “So what are you going to do differently? And it’s what happens between the ears that I think this group is generally really, really good about making adjustments with pitchers. If you go back to the beginning of the season with us, it’s generally around the second trip through the lineup where we’re solving the puzzle a little bit and we come alive.”
Centennial had won 11 of its last 12 games before losing at first-place Frontier 2-1 last Thursday. The Golden Hawks led 1-0 heading to the fifth before the Titans rallied for the win. The loss was followed by another to Stockdale, which overcame an early 4-0 deficit.
“I think everybody here embraced the bricks in the path that those last games ended up being for us so we could get back to knowing we’ve gotta push, every inning, every at-bat, every out, everyday,” McIrvin said. And I think they responded well today.”
Moving forward, McIrvin is determined to not look ahead and is hoping to have his team playing its best baseball when playoffs start in five weeks.
It’s important,” said McIrvin of the win over Stockdale. “I think the girls take everyone seriously, but they really take the games with Stockdale seriously. And it meant a lot to them. But you have to go one game at a time and I think that’s the approach we’re trying to make sure everybody stays with.
“It’s hard not to look ahead, but you cannot. It’s a humbling game. You play poorly and anyone can beat you. So from here on out, it’s a nameless, faceless opponent. Play everybody like they’re Stockdale. And hopefully we can do that.”