Softball took on the Castilleja Gators this afternoon in a tight, non-league, game, with only one run scored in the fifth inning for the Vikings.

The first inning opened with the Vikings not allowing anyone one base. Pitcher Julia Saul (’14) struck out the second batter. With the Vikings up to bat, Hannah Bundy (’14) was walked and made it to second after a bunt by Tori DeStefano (’14). No more hits were made by the Vikings, and the inning ended tied.

The second, third and fourth innings passed with both teams pitching well and getting outs quickly. The fourth inning ended with the score still tied at 0-0.

The Vikings felt they had to change the way that they were approaching the game mentally.

“[Coming into the game] we knew we would have to play hard, but we thought it would be easy. So we had the wrong mentality. It was difficult to adjust,” Kabria Dame (’15) said. “We had to think that we were losing, and play like we had to come back and win.”

At the top of the fifth inning, Saul had two strikeouts. For the last out, Mackenzie Glassford (’17) tagged the Castilleja runner trying to steal second. The Vikings went up to bat.

Maddie Martinson (’16) started the Vikings off strong with a double to left field. Adrianna Rositas (’15) went in as a pinch runner for Martinson. Dame bunted the ball and Rositas ran to third while Dame was out. Emma Noroian (’14) hit a high ball to center field where it was caught, but after tagging up at third, Rositas was able to score. Shannon Fee (’14) kept up the Vikings’s success with a base hit, but Autumn Macareno (’15) got out at first on the next play. The Vikings led 1-0 at the end of the inning.

Castilleja did not get on base in the sixth inning. Glassford got a base hit for the Vikings with one out, but the next two batters were not able to get hits.

The Vikings held off Castilleja in the seventh inning, and ended the game 1-0.

“I thought we did decent today,” Bundy said. “Our hitting didn’t really come through as much. Especially last game, we had a lot better hitting than we did. We have a game tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll step it up.”

Coach Bill Laskey also sees that the team needs to hit better than they did today.

“We didn’t hit, there’s no doubt about that,” Laskey said. “I’m not pleased with our hitting coming out of a break; we had a three day break. They just didn’t hit the ball well. That’s pretty much the only thing I’m negative on.”

He will work with the team on specifics in order to improve their hitting.

“I think we just need to be more aggressive with our swings,” Laskey said. “We’re swinging at balls that aren’t strikes, then when they get a good pitch, they take it.”

Despite the teams’ hitting not being very strong, Saul’s pitching and the team’s defense were positively noted today. Saul allowed only one walk and had 10 strikeouts.

“Julia pitched a great game, she had a decent amount of strikeouts, and our defense did really well today, so either than our hitting I thought we played pretty well,” Bundy said.

The Vikings play tomorrow in a league game at Lynbrook at 4 p.m.