Sports

Softball: Tologs Rally Past Mayfield

Flintridge Sacred Heart comes back from six-run deficit behind Alex Eaton and Alanna Pires' strong play.

Alanna Pires dug into the batter’s box in the top of the seventh inning, needing just one more hit to complete Flintridge Sacred Heart’s rally from a six-run deficit Tuesday afternoon.

And just like she did throughout the game against Mayfield, Pires delivered the big hit for the Tologs, sending a line drive past the diving Cubs third baseman to plate Alyssa Conti and tie the game at six.

Junior infielder Lauren Torres followed with an RBI single of her own to give the Tologs a one-run lead, and FSHA tacked on one more insurance run en route to an 8-6 win at Brookside Park.

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“I’m really proud of them, they came back from six down,” Tologs coach Kirk Nishiyama said. “It shows that we have a lot of heart, we didn’t give up.”

The Tologs fell behind early as the Cubs jumped on FSHA starter MacKenzie Lyng in the bottom of the first. Mayfield senior catcher Kaitlin Fitzpatrick drove in Lauren Armenta with an RBI single, and Katherine Clancy scored on a wild pitch to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

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Throughout the inning, Lyng struggled with her command in the circle, oftentimes skipping balls past her catcher and all the way to the backstop. Lyng’s misfortune continued in the bottom of the third as she gave up a leadoff single and then walked two consecutive batters to load the bases for Clancy.

Clancy then proceeded to crush an opposite field triple over the right fielder’s head to score three runs and extend Mayfield’s lead to 5-0. That hit from Clancy also served as a knockout punch to Lyng’s day in the circle. In came Alex Eaton out of the bullpen, and her steady pitching helped turn things around for FSHA (4-5).

Aside from one error that yielded Mayfield’s final run, Eaton kept the Cubs (3-5) off-balance at the plate, giving up one hit and striking out five in four innings.

“Alex has been lights out for us,” Nishiyama said. “She really came in and did a great job for us.”

Mayfield’s success left the Cubs’ players befuddled and their coach struggling to come up with a reason for why her team’s offense went stagnant halfway through the game.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Mayfield coach Jennifer Moulden said. “I really feel she was an easier pitch to hit than the first one. Somehow she was keeping us off balance though, I don’t know what she was doing.”

While the Tologs benefited from an unexpected pitching boost, Mayfield’s starter wore down in the middle innings.

Clancy began the game with five strikeouts in the first three frames, but the Tologs changed up their approach in the fourth inning, and their patience at the plate paid off in the top of the fourth. Pires led off the inning with a triple and then scored on a throwing error from Clancy. The Tologs went on to score three more runs in the inning (two of which came via an RBI single from Conti and an RBI double from Kelly Trueblood) to make it a 6-4 game.

“The girls finally had a plan at the plate, made her pitch … and started putting the ball in play, and that was our plan,” Nishiyama said. “If we could put the ball in play, make their defense work, we thought we had a good chance of winning.”

Pires went 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored to lead the Tologs.

“She’s our captain, she’s the glue,” Nishiyama said. “She’s been a four-year starter for us. She’s first-team All-Mission league.”

“We had a talk at the beginning of the year about being a No. 3 hitter — just about her approach at the plate  — and she’s really taken that at heart,” he added. “Every pitch, every at-bat, she’s got a good idea of the strike zone. She doesn’t give up pitches, and she battles.”


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