The Lady Vikes cruised to a 5-0 victory against Lynbrook as senior pitcher Julia Saul threw a complete game one-hitter. Along with scoring runs offensively, the Vikings had three up and three down in six of their seven innings.

In the first inning the Vikings strong defense showed as all three of Lynbrooks first batters were non-threatening and their hits were easily fielded. Stepping up to the plate the Vikings first two batters Kabria Dame (‘15) and Maddie Martinson (‘16) both make contact but are both thrown out at first. Hoping to rally with two outs, Casey Glassford (‘15) drives it into left field for a double and to get the Vikings momentum going. Following Glassford, Saul hits a ground ball to the short-stop who overthrows first allowing Glassford to come home for Paly’s first point on the board.

Going into the second leading the game Paly continued to hold Lynbrook with a catch in right field by Autumn Macareno (‘15) for the first out of the inning. To be followed by the next two batters being thrown out at first by catcher Martinson (‘16) after dropping the third strike and on a retrieval of a ground ball by Saul.

Despite solid defense, the 2nd inning brought no add to the Vikings lead, leaving them still ahead 1-0 going into the 3rd. The team continued to hold Lynbrook with a jumping catch by first baseman Emma Noroian (‘14) and two strikeouts by Saul for the Vikings three outs.

“Our defense was very strong and definitely at a peak but our hitting was not as strong as we would have liked,” said Saul.

Following the outstanding defensive performance, Martinson hits a ground ball right down the middle to get on base. Glassford gets her second hit of the day and gets a solid single. Hoping to continue the rally Saul steps up to the plate to be struck out, making it one out with runners on first and second.

Hannah Bundy (‘14) and Noroian are both walked making the score 2-0 with Shannon Fee (‘14) up to the plate. Fee hits a fly ball to left field which is caught, but earns the Vikings another run increasing their lead to 3-0.

Moving into the 4th inning Lynbrook gets their first hit of the game in the gap between 2nd and right field. The next batters bunt is recovered by third baseman Teddie Stewart (‘17) and gives the Vikings one out. With a runner on second the team gets two consecutive outs by Martinson throwing it to first and Bundy making a play at short-stop. In the bottom of the 4th the Vikings continue to dominate as they start the inning at the top of their line up. After all of their first three batters get on base the Vikings capitalized by taking advantage of an error by Lynbrook and scoring another run making it 4-0, to be followed by Glassford stealing home to make the lead 5-0 going into the 5th.

With Saul fielding two balls and Martinson throwing out a runner after dropping the third strike. Offensively the Vikings made contact but were unable to add to their score. Making the team come out of the 5th no runs earned for or against. The top of the 6th ended with two strikeouts by Saul, a fly ball to left field caught by Dame. The Vikings keep their lead, but do not increase it, unable to hit Glassford home after her bomb to right field earning her a  triple.

In the 7th the Vikings continued to hold Lynbrook until the very end of the game. With Saul throwing a player out at first and a double play that went from Bundy to Glassford for the out at second and then to Norian for the final out of the game at first.

“Having a win for our first league game was definitely big,” said Saul of starting their season off with a victory.

The Vikings will play their second league game on Thursday against Mountain View at 4:00 p.m. at Mountain View High School.