No seniors? No problem. The MacDonald Condors first-year varsity softball program delivered an impressive performance Wednesday, April 2. Despite no senior class, the Condors traveled into hostile Fremont Firebirds territory and doubled up the Firebirds to the tune of a 12-6 victory.
The Condors battled back from some early adversity as the team fell behind 3-1 after the first inning. Junior pitcher Ileyah Sanchez settled down on the mound, and her catcher Kyleena Stone delivered the biggest hit of the afternoon. Stone’s two-out, two-run double in the second pushed the Condors’ lead to 6-3.
“That first inning could have gotten out of hand and it has for us in the past, but I told these girls just get one out at a time,” remarked MacDonald Manager Daniel Sanchez. “I knew if we held them to three, we would have a chance and we did just that. Gotta give these girls credit, they hung in there.”
“The first inning, I was a little scared because I know some people on that team, I’ve played with them before,” acknowledged Sanchez. “Once I got those first three outs, I was able to settle in a lot more and my defense did really well behind me.”
“Her being able to let that first inning go was great,” chimed Stone on her batterymate’s effective short-term memory. “We know what we can do, and we know that wasn’t our best. So, we all kind of had that attitude and just kept pushing.”
It was a disappointing loss for Fremont, which was trying not to push workhorse pitcher Jiyah Caban, who had pitched a bunch of innings the previous week and is still nursing an injury from basketball season.
“I think as a team we got too comfortable with the two-run lead,” admitted Caban, who started at short, came into pitch in the second inning and didn’t switch back until the seventh. “I feel like we lost focus, which happens from time to time, but we should have kept our composure and make sure we don’t get too comfortable.”
The one Firebird who looked the right kind of comfortable the whole game was No. 3 hitter Natalie Kim. In the first inning, it was Kim’s single that knocked in a pair of runs. The senior also picked up another hit in the fifth.
“I think what really got away from us was the errors,” acknowledged Kim. “I think our team has a good amount of game knowledge for being a younger team, newer to the game. We just need some more practice on keeping it clean in the field.”
“Just errors, I think our team needs to find an identity,” remarked Firebirds Manager Hector Zuno. “Figure out who we are. It’s been a bit of a struggle for us this year. We did lose seven seniors from last year. So, you could say we are a little bit of a development team this year.”
The loss drops the Firebirds to a 1-4 mark in league, while the win for the Condors bumps the team record up to 1-2.
