Prep softball: San Marin hands Redwood its first league loss

After starting the MCAL softball season with one win in three games, the defending league champions needed to make a bit of a statement on Wednesday.

San Marin did just that, shaking off some early-season struggles at the plate to take down previously unbeaten Redwood 10-0 in Larkspur.

“This is a big win for us,” San Marin coach Samantha Tong said. “We’ve had some tough, tough early losses — ones where we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot, honestly. We’ve been working hard at trying to play our own game and keep competing the way that we know how.”

All three of San Marin’s MCAL games so far this season had been one-run games – a 2-1 victory against San Rafael, a 2-1 loss to Terra Linda, and a 3-2 loss to Marin Catholic.

San Marin (5-2, 2-2 MCAL) made the most of its first hit of the game, a one-out, two-run single by Lauren Fong in the third inning. Tessa Christian and Avery Bishop were on base after drawing walks.

Savannah Reynolds followed with a single to set the stage for a potentially big inning then Amanda Postel hit a ball toward shortstop during the ensuing at-bat.

Redwood (7-6, 3-1) appeared to turn an inning-ending double play but the umpire ruled that Fong, running from second base, had interfered with the defender on the play.

“They said the runner interfered with the defender so that rule is you have to to let the defender have a path to the ball,” Tong said. “However, they didn’t make contact so I thought that it should have been clean. It’s a tough angle and it’s a judgement call.”

The ball was ruled dead which extended the inning and left runners on first and second for Taylor Testa, who promptly hit a double into center field for a 4-0 lead.

“Our score was 2-0 at that point,” Testa said. “We’ve played Redwood close every single time we’ve played them so I understood this was a big at-bat. I knew what to expect from their pitcher and I capitalized on it.”

Testa, San Marin’s starting pitcher, finally had a sizable lead to protect in league play this season and did just that, allowing three hits over five innings with one strikeout and one walk.

While Testa had no issue with her command despite pitching with a blustering wind blowing in throughout the game, Redwood’s pitchers both struggled with their command.

Starter Stella Belluomini, who struck out the side in the second inning, left the game after issuing her fifth walk in the top of the fourth inning. Lily Cox came on in relief but gave up a single by Arianna Mendoza sandwiched between a pair of walks to load the bases.

Bishop drew another walk to make it 5-0, bringing up San Marin’s big hitters with an opportunity to blow the game open.

“Seeing (Cox) pitch a lot of balls, I went up with the mentality that I was going to be more selective, but  still went up with the mindset that I was going to hit the ball as hard I as I can,” said Fong, who hit a sacrifice fly to deep right to extend the lead to 6-0.

Reynolds singled to make it 7-0 then Postel walked to re-load the bases. Testa was hit by the first pitch she saw to make it 8-0.

San Marin got its ninth and 10th runs on what eventually went down as a double play. Leah Cronin flied out to center field then Reynolds came home to make it 9-0. The throw to home plate got away, allowing Postel to score. Redwood completed the double play by getting Olivia Maffei out at home.

Redwood threatened to extend the game in the bottom of the fifth inning after Cox led off with a single. Fong turned a double play then Testa induced a groundout to Mendoza at third to end the game. Redwood was mercy ruled for the first time since an 11-1 loss to Del Oro on March, 12, 2022.

Around the county

• Ava Lee scored the winning run in the bottom of the third inning as Tam High won a 1-0 pitchers duel with San Rafael on Wednesday. Eden Clark struck out nine and walked one to get the win for Tam (6-1, 2-1). San Rafael ace Thomara Drummer was also outstanding, with 11 strikeouts and one walk. Clark, who was 2 for 3, drove in Lee for the game’s only score. Lee and Annica Harris both singled for Tam, which managed just four hits against Drummer. Larissa Baltazar, Drummer and Kennedy Parker each had one hit for the Bulldogs (2-8, 0-4).
• Sam Singer homered and doubled twice as Archie Williams sped past host Terra Linda, 15-2 in five inning, to beat the rain on Wednesday. Singer had four RBIs and scored three times. Parker Conrad was 3 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Avery Rose was 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs for the Falcons (9-2, 4-0), the last unbeaten team in MCAL play. Sofia Gonzalez drove in both runs for TL (8-1, 2-1), which sustained its first loss of the season.
• Marin Catholic scored eight runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 18-1 rout of Novato (2-9, 0-4 MCAL) in five innings on Wednesday. The Wildcats’ Morgan Carlson broke out her big bat during a 4-for-5 day, with two triples, a double, three RBIs, and three runs scored. Selena Peña doubled twice, and Anna Held and Bella Ferrety both doubled and tripled as they combined for six RBIs for Marin Catholic (5-3, 2-2). Junior Sofia Long had a pair of hits and drove in Allie Tubach for the Hornets (2-9, 0-4).