Softball: Cal comes back to stun SRV

With first place in the East Bay Athletic League on the line, the California High softball team fought hard to come out on top against league rival San Ramon Valley on Friday.

Despite giving up five runs in the second inning, the Grizzlies came back with six runs in the top of the fourth, just enough of an edge for Cal to finish out the game with a 7-6 win.

In the first three innings, Cal was unable to get a man on base, shut down by great pitching from San Ramon senior Kylie Day. But in the fourth, the Wolves began to struggle on defense and Cal took advantage. Day hit two consecutive batters while the bases were loaded and with three of San Ramon's five errors in the same inning, the Grizzlies were able to bring in six runs.

"It was a complete team effort today," Cal coach Kristina Thorson said. "Everybody stepped it up when they needed to, especially to get runs on the board."

San Ramon coach Gabe Adami recognized that the Wolves' several errors no defense played a large role in the final score.

"We had a good first three innings, and then we played a poor last four innings," he said. "We made a lot of mistakes, and I don't think we were focused."

The Grizzlies had fallen behind in the second when, with the bases loaded, starting pitcher, freshman Kwyn Cooper, hit a batter and walked another. Cooper was replaced with freshman Andi Quilalang, who then gave up a base-clearing double to San Ramon sophomore Nicole Foley.

According to Thorson, Cal's star pitcher, junior Brittany Wright, didn't start because she had thrown the day before in the Grizzlies' 2-1 victory against Livermore. Thorson expressed confidence in the young pitchers.

"Andi (Quilalang) is really coming into her own this year and she's doing really well," she said. "Kwyn (Cooper) is getting more experience, but when she gets going, it's scary how good she can be."

Both Quilalang and Cooper were surprised at the pitching time they received in such an important game, but they felt privileged for receiving Thorson's confidence.

"It was a big deal for me personally because I felt like (Thorson) really believed in me," said Quilalang.

With Cal now at the top of the table in EBAL, they will be facing Carondelet on Tuesday, while the Wolves will be playing Monte Vista to try and regain first place.

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box score

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California (11-2, 5-1 EBAL) 000 601 0 — 7 4 0

San Ramon Valley (9-5, 4-2 EBAL) 050 001 0 — 6 2 5

Visitor: Niedzwecki (4-0-0), Catson (4-1-1), Fowler (4-1-2), Nisbit (4-1-0), Gomm (4-1-1), Duffy (3-1-0), Heller (1-0-0), Falzon (1-0-0), Mosser (3-1-0) Quilalang (3-1-0), Cooper (3-0-0), Totals 34-7-4.

Home: Liu (4-0-0), Pacioni (4-1-0), Bridges (4-1-0), Foley (4-0-2), Pavek (4-0-0), McDevitt (4-1-0), Day (4-1-0), Verdina (3-1-0), Chase (3-1-0), Totals 34-6-2.

Pitching

Visitor: Cooper 1 2/3 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 4 BB, 2 HB; Leon 4 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 5 K, 3 BB, 1 HB; Wright 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 0 HB

Home: Day 7 IP, 7 R, 5 ER, 4 H, 5 K, 1 BB, 2 HB

Batting

2B — Gomm (Cal), Foley (SRV); RBI — Foley 3 (SRV)