WOLVES TAKE THE LOSS IN SHOWDOWN VS. CRUSHERS
Vintage pitcher fires no-hitter over seven innings
If Thursday's softball game was an episode of “Sesame Street,” the Cookie Monster would have ran out of the letter “K.”
Vintage High pitcher Raimy Gamsby fanned 16 batters in her seven-inning no-hitter over host American Canyon.
The Crushers (15-2, 9-1) nearly locked up the top spot in the Vine Valley Athletic League with the 4-0 victory as they took both meetings with the Wolves. American Canyon (17-6, 10-2) does not have any league games left and Vintage has two next week against Petaluma.
“You just try to work middle of the plate out,” Wolves head coach Roger Harris said about facing Gamsby. “She has great off-speed, she has great spin.
When we faced her the first time, she didn't throw a lot of rise balls and today she threw more. We have a hard time picking her up.”
Despite the final score, the Wolves trailed just 2-0 until the Crushers added two backbreaking insurance runs in the seventh inning.
American Canyon's senior second baseman Alexis Abalos, who made two excellent defensive plays in the first three innings, talked about the challenge of facing Gamsby.
“I think it's her rise ball but I think it's in our heads a little bit,” she said.
The Crushers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on a leadoff homer from Emily Vanderbilt against Wolves starting pitcher Jaida Fulcher. They made it 2-0 in the fifth when Gamsby singled to lead off the inning, and was replaced by courtesy runner Mia Griffith. Two batters later, Camila Barboza singled up the middle to score Griffith.
Fulcher was actually the only player to reach against Gamsby when she walked with one out in the third and her courtesy runner (Isabella Santiago) reached second on a wild pitch. Unfortunately for American Canyon, Gamsby struck out Alexandria Yra and Angelia Rodriguez to end the threat.
Maybe the closest American Canyon came to a base hit was a Delia Lobao bunt just before Fulcher's walk. Lobao was thrown out by half a step.
Despite the loss, Fulcher pitched well, keeping the game close as she scattered nine hits with four of those coming in the last two innings.
“She only gave up four hits for those first two runs,” Harris said. “As I told the girls, they were diving (for balls) more than I've seen them all year, which showed me that they wanted to keep her in the game.”
Despite the loss, American Canyon should receive a top seed for the upcoming North Coast Section Division II playoffs. Vintage is in Division I.
“Benicia, Livermore, Rancho Cotate, Petaluma, Casa Grande are all in D-II,” Harris said. “Going into this game, we were third. We may fall somewhere between four and six depending on what happens Friday (against Redwood).”
Avalos acknowledged that her team should still feel confident when the NCS playoffs begin.
“We know that we're a good team,” she said. “It doesn't all come down to league. I think we're going to bounce back.”