By Arden Nguyen & Charlyne Nguyen
The Lady Barons varsity softball team defeated Westminster High School’s Lions 7-3 in the first game of the season on Friday.
The Barons started off strong in the first inning, ending with a score of 2-0. Sophomore Abby Hasty made these first two runs.
“I thought the team played very well … we came out and hit in the first inning and took the dub [Editor’s note: “dub” is slang for the “w” inwin],” junior Brooke Bonny said.
In the second inning, the team did not score, but their strong fielding efforts prevented Westminster from making any runs.
However, Westminster picked up the pace, scoring a run in the third inning. The Barons bounced back in the fourth inning, rapidly scoring three runs in succession and bringing the score 5-1.
At the start of the fifth inning, Fountain Valley made a good pitching effort, but it wasn’t enough to deter Westminster from making their second home run. When the Barons switched to bat, they made impressive hits but were unable to score.
In the sixth inning, Westminster scored once again, making the score 5-3. But when the Barons switched to bat, senior CJ Garcia and junior Delanney Cancino both hit far enough to circle three bases. Strong batting brought the team their sixth run, and Hasty slid to home at the end of the sixth inning to earn them another.
The Barons were able to maintain their lead and prevent Westminster from having the chance to make any more runs in the seventh inning, finishing off with a final score of 7-3.
Garcia noted that a strong team effort was especially important in winning the game.
“I think overall we did a good job coming together as a team, especially since we have new freshmen … We all work together as a team and they put out a good performance,” Garcia said.
Captain senior Samara Ortega echoed Garcia’s sentiments.
“I honestly think the game went very well … The outcome was definitely not what I expected with winning, but we actually came together as a team and at the end, we scored the runs that we needed to score,” Ortega said.
