By Zander Sherry
On April 14, softball dominated their opponent in an away game against Newport Harbor High School, performing their fifth shutout of the season with a score of 9-0.
Pitching for all seven innings, freshman Courtney Kols limited the sailors to five hits and kept them from making any runs. The Barons made nine runs in 14 hits in a game that can be defined by strong and consistent offense. The girls continuously pushed their runners on the field and made enough advancements to allow some players, like sophomores Delaney Mondino and Mackenzie Butt, to each bring in three runs for the team.
“Our bats were alive and I think everybody hit,” head coach Richard Aldrich said. “They hit and ran the bases well, we kept our energy up in the dugout, they did everything they needed to do”
The first points of the game were in the second inning on an error, and the score raised to 2-0 by the third inning. At the same time, the Barons on defense crushed the Sailors’ chances of scoring. Several fly outs by sophomore Taylor Reynolds in the outfield along with ground outs at first base by Butt supported Kols’s stellar pitching.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, sophomore Marissa Sardinas ended the inning by making two consecutive outs, catching a fly ball, then quickly getting hold of a ground ball to ground out a runner at second base.
“She had key plays that could have been big hits for the other team if she didn’t make them,” Butt said.
While defense shined through in the beginning of the game, the offensive plays in the last two innings took home the Barons’ surefire victory.
Excitement picked up in the sixth inning; the girls were coming into it with two runs on the board. Sophomore Sam Estrada advanced to first with a hard line drive before moving to second when Mondino managed to get to first base. Once junior Veronica Moore hit the ball to right field, Estrada was able to run home and collect the third point in the game.
Once the next batter, Butt, advanced to first base, Estrada and Moore ran to home in one game, raising the score to 5-0 in one move. The Inning ended with Kols keeping the Sailors from scoring and the final inning started.
Scoring four new runs in the last inning, the Barons showed good hits from sophomore Kira Valesco, Moore and Butt. They were able to load the bases a couple of times, but the last four points were from RBI’s, happening one at a time.
“I was expecting to win,” Aldrich said. “As long as we can win the next three, then we’ll be the league champs. So that’s kind of what our goal was this year. Looks like we’re going to achieve it.”
With only a few more games in the season, the Barons’ next game will be at home against Laguna Beach, on Monday, April 18 at 3:15 p.m.
