The St. Patrick-St. Vincent High varsity softball team remained perfect in the Tri-County Athletic League after a 10-4 victory over visiting Pinole Valley on Wednesday.
SPSV pitcher Taya de Alba scattered 10 hits to get the win as the Lady Bruins improved to 18-2 overall and 7-0 in the TCAL’s Rock Division, one game ahead of Salesian for first place.
“We’re in a pretty good position to get the No. 1 seed for the league playoffs,” said SPSV coach Rich Gigliotti.
The Lady Bruins wasted little time scoring against Pinole Valley (3-10, 1-5 TCAL). Zaria Meshack led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and freshman Neenah Pangelinan followed with a towering two-run homer to left.
“She crushed it,” Gigliotti said of Pangelinan’s home run.
SPSV added two more runs in the first inning and scored three times in the third inning thanks to a double steal that saw Pinole Valley throw the ball away to center field.
“We just hit all across the lineup and kept pushing runs across,” Gigliotti said.
The Lady Bruins appeared to be in control up 7-0 when Pinole Valley suddenly mounted a rally. A series of bunt singles and bloop hits led to four runs in the top of the third, trimming SPSV’s lead to three runs.
“They dinked and doinked on us,” Gigliotti said. “They earned it, but they weren’t going to score four runs every inning by bunting. But they played well against us. It’s really my fault because we haven’t worked very much on bunt defense. No one’s been bunting against us and we weren’t sharp with it.”
The Lady Bruins didn’t panic. SPSV scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to extend the lead, and de Alba didn’t allow another run the rest of the day.
SPSV catcher Nicci Barker was injured during a collision at the plate but should be available for SPSV’s next game, which isn’t until April 30 against Salesian.
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