The lady Vikes scored early and often in their drubbing of the Abraham Lincoln High School Mustangs on their way to an easy win. Their record improved to 5-3 after the win on Friday afternoon at Paly.

Coach Bill Laskey stressed the importance of getting an early lead, saying, “The biggest thing is to get early runs, thats what we try to do. The whole thing revolves around early runs. If you get early runs your pitcher relaxes and you infield relaxes.”

Mackenzie Glassford (`17) started the game for the Vikings and set the tone early by pitching around an error in the opening frame to put up a scoreless inning. Glassford would pitch six dominant innings for a complete game shutout, allowing just two hits and no walks while notching six strikeouts.

Coach Laskey noted how helpful it is to have a pitcher like Glassford.

“[Glassford] is an outstanding pitcher. She hits her spots and we get a lot of ground balls out of her. She is not overpowering, but she hits spots and the defense has to pick her up,” Laskey said.

In the bottom half of the first the Vikings’ first two hitters were put down before Glassford hit a triple down the left-field line. Nothing came of it however, as the next batter flied out to center field.

After a 1-2-3 top of the second, Paly came up to bat again. After the leadoff hitter flied out right fielder Autumn Macareno (`15) drew a walk and would advance to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch. Maggie Renteria (`17) knocked her home on an RBI single to open the scoring, then advanced to second on a throwing error. Up next came second baseman Jessie Kim (`16), who hit a bunt single that scored Renteria, the first of four hits and three RBI for Kim. The next two batters were retired to end the inning, but not before Paly had grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Kim, hitting in the eighth spot, contributed a lot to the offense by sparking rallies and driving in runs. Eight of the nine players reached base safely.

Coach Laskey mentioned the importance of the bottom half of the order, saying, “It’s the bottom of the order that has to generate some hits and get things movin’.”

After another blank frame for Lincoln, the Vikings got back to scoring runs. After a leadoff single by catcher Maddie Martinson (`16) M. Glassford in another run on her second three-bagger of the game. Casey Glassford (`15) brought her home on a sacrifice fly to stretch Paly’s lead to four runs. After a single and an error Kim hit an RBI infield single to make the score 5-0. The third inning would end with no further scoring.

After Glassford set down the first batter of the fourth inning the Mustangs finally cracked the hit column with a single. The next batter followed with another hit, and Lincoln had the beginnings of a rally. However, M. Glassford would quell their bats by setting down the next two batters. The Vikes wouldn’t score in the fourth despite collecting two more hits.

Neither team could manage to push across a run in the fifth, but no worries for the Vikings. After Lincoln hung up another goose-egg in the top of the sixth, Paly put an end to the game. They rallied to bring home five runs, the fifth coming on a Kim single and ending the game by mercy rule with a score of 10-0.

While the Vikings’ bats were hot, the difference was made in the field. Lincoln High gifted Paly five errors and several costly wild pitches, while Paly only committed two errors.

“When our defense is good, were on top. When our defense struggles, then we struggle,” Coach Laskey said.