In sports, it can be hard to start off a game with a boom. Today, the Paly softball team did just that as they worked together flawlessly in the first inning to shock the Terra Nova Tigers with seven unanswered runs.The Lady Vikes went on to win their second game of the season against the out-of-league opponent, 9-0.Pitcher and team captain Julia Saul (’14) started the game for the Vikings and held the Tigers to no hits in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, the first three batters made it on base, and after Maya Padilla (’13) was walked, the Vikes took a 1-0 lead.
Saul, the next batter up, then made her own statement by blasting a ball into center field and bringing in all three girls on base as she made her way to second. The scoring was not over yet, as one girl stole home after a wild pitch, another walk brought a Viking home, and Casey Glassford (’15) sacrificed an out to put the Lady Vikes up by seven going into the second inning.
In the second inning, Terra Nova stayed scoreless, while Shannon Fee (’14) hit a line drive for the Vikings, bringing in Maddie Martinson (’16) for the eighth run of the game. Continuous defense from the front line of Tori Destefano (’14), Hannah Bundy (’14), Glassford and Padilla kept Terra Nova wondering how they could get on base.
“The other pitcher and I both played well and we had really solid defense backing us up the entire game,” Saul said. “Last season we had a terrible record because we would lose due to errors, but this hasn’t been a problem for us at all this season.”
Terra Nova got its first hit in the top of the third inning, but was unable to capitalize on it.
For the Vikings, Maddy Jones (’15) hit a walk-off double and was able to make it home after DeStefano hit one up in the air for a sacrificed out. After three innings, the scoreboard read 9-0 in favor of the Vikes. The next inning was slow for both teams as no runs were scored, but each team defended well. In the top of the fifth, coach George Marshall subbed Glassford in for Saul. Glassford proved to be effective for the rest of the game, throwing five strikeouts and allowing no hits to finish up the shutout that Saul started.
The Vikings started to struggle with batting as the game went on, and only had one more hit, which occurred in the fifth. The next couple innings were mostly defensive and no runs were scored for either team as the top of the seventh came to an end. DeStefano recognized that the team would need to improve on this for future games.
“I think we played well overall as a team today, but our hitting could have been better as the game went on,” DeStefano said.
Saul agreed with DeStefano stating how practice tomorrow will be different to prepare for the game against Sequoia on Thursday.
“We had trouble hitting later in the game because of a new pitcher they put in, who had a good rise ball,” Saul said. “During practice tomorrow before our game on Thursday, we will most likely be working on hitting pitches high in the zone and discipline ourselves against pitchers with movement like that.”
The Lady Vikes look to continue their undefeated season when they face the Ravens of Sequoia High School on Thursday at 4 p.m.
