Benicia no-hits St. Pat’s in DAL meeting
Three-run third inning propels Panthers over St. Pat’s in DAL meeting
It’s not for sentimentality reasons, but Benicia High righty Braxton Brown sports number double-zero.
That was fitting on Thursday afternoon against visiting St. PatrickSt. Vincent.
Brown threw seven no-hit innings and the Panthers beat the Bruins 4-0 in the second Diablo Athletic League meeting between the two neighboring schools.
The sophomore struck out seven and allowed three walks and two hit batsman in a game that was 0-0 heading to the bottom of the third. Brown connected for a solo homer to start the sixth to give her team some breathing room.
“I knew we could get away with just a few runs. I would have liked a few more but she was dealing in the circle,” Panthers head coach Kristin Grubbs said. “My defense was phenomenal behind her.”
St. Pat’s (5-5) played much cleaner in the second meeting after getting 10-run-ruled in the first. The Bruins sometimes hurt themselves with miscues in the field but the defense was on point this time.
“We’re playing much better,” Bruins co-head coach Rich Gigliotti said. “It’s tough against the top four teams in this league. They’re all really well coached, they’re all really deep and it’s tough to hang with them.”
Benicia (5-3) finally broke through in the third against St. Pat’s starting pitcher Angelina Orellana, who shut out Northgate earlier in the week. Ella Tuttle singled to left, Taylor Murphy walked and was replaced on the bases by courtesy runner Breana Gomez.
Lorenzza Marcacci, one of Benicia’s top hitters, followed with a two
run single to center to score Tuttle and Gomez. With one out, Kaydence Kinder’s infield single scored Marcacci. St. Pat’s shortstop Daniella Ontiveros made a nice stop in the hole to prevent the ball from going into the outfield.
Despite the 3-0 deficit, the Bruins threatened in the top of the sixth as Kaleena Yra walked and Raenah Duran was hit with a pitch. That brought ex-Panther catcher Alicia Campbell to the plate. Brown struck Campbell out looking, although the pitch appeared to be low and inside.
“If you would have said, ‘Well, you’re down 3-0 but you get Lici up in the too of the sixth?’ Well I would have taken it,” Gigliotti said. “I’ll take that matchup every time.”
Grubbs said she wouldn’t use the word “worried” about the matchup against Campbell but she knew that the catcher could change the complexion of the game. Grubbs said one of the keys against a hitter like Campbell is to change the hitter’s eyesight, keeping it high and low to keep her off balance.
“We know where her strengths are and we talked about if you miss a pitch, it could go out,” Grubbs said.
Brown’s solo homer led off the bottom of the sixth. Yra, St. Pat’s center fielder, crashed through the wall on the play, and Brown initially stopped at second.
“I thought it bounced over,” Brown admitted.
Brown then retired St. Pat’s 1-2-3 in the seventh to wrap up the win.
Grubbs said she considers St. Pat’s a rival, especially this year with the Bruins in the DAL temporarily.
“It’s weird because I come from Napa where you have you have two high schools and you have that internal competitiveness,” she said. “We haven’t really played them a whole lot, but this season? Yes. If someone asked me what our rival game is, I would say St. Pat’s. It’s really cool to have these kids who have played with each other forever, to play against each other this year.”
Brown said the players view St. Pat’s as a rival as well.
“I really haven’t had a whole season yet but since they’re close in distance, I think so,” she said. “We know more players there than any other school.”