Prep softball: Redwood outlasts Archie Williams to stay in first

Redwood pitcher Stella Belluomini, coming off back-to-back no-hitters, fired three more innings without allowing a hit to start a pivotal MCAL softball game against Archie Williams on a warm afternoon in Larkspur.

Belluomini, however, settled for a three-hitter and a win Monday as the Giants scored the decisive run in the bottom of the sixth after the gritty Peregrine Falcons erased an early three-run deficit. The win kept Redwood (14-8, 10-3 MCAL) in a first-place tie with San Marin with one game to play.

The Redwood ace, who was in control most of the way, was betrayed by some spotty defense by her infielders.

Archie Williams (16-7, 8-5) scored two unearned runs in the fourth and another in the fifth, and finally tied the score at 4-4 when Kennedy Dunsing drove in her 18th run of the season on a hard hit sacrifice fly to right, scoring Paige Murphy from third base.

Redwood scored the winning run on a pair of errors. Gia Meyers opened the sixth by reaching on an infield error. Meyers then scored from first base when Belluomini’s hard ground ball single to left slipped under the left fielder’s glove and rolled to the fence.

Belluomini needed three outs in the seventh to ice the victory.

“I was telling myself before the last inning to just go out and throw strikes,” Belluomini said. “And what do I do? I start off with three straight balls.”

Redwood coach Emily Atkinson experienced a few anxious moments.

“That’s not what we wanted to do – walk the No. 9 hitter to get to the top of the order,” Atkinson said.

Belluomini took a deep breath and refocused.

“I knew I could come back on the count,” she said. “If there was any time to lockdown it was now.”

Three pitchers later, Belluomini whiffed Archie Williams’ No. 9 hitter on a called third strike.

Murphy, who entered the game hitting .569 and had stung a double to deep right in her previous at-bat, was due up next.

Murphy went first-pitch hunting and knocked a grounder to shortstop, which Meyers fielded cleanly and quickly threw a strike across the diamond for the second out.

Belluomini ended the game in style by notching her 10th strikeout.

“I think normally we play better defense than we did today,” Belluomini said. “I reminded the infielders before the last inning that we have to make the throws.”

Redwood put the pressure on early, scoring three runs in the first on run-scoring hits by Elle McElreath, Kait Christensen, and Hailey Carlton after Ava Brown led off the inning by drawing a walk.

Atkinson said her team’s spotty infield play was nearly a game-changer.

“A couple of errors really hurt us,” Atkinson said. “But this was a big win for us today because if we end up tied with Archie we win the tie-breaker based on head-to-head results.”

Around the county

• Savannah Reynolds and Leah Cronin delivered two-run singles in the top of the seventh to lift San Marin past Tam 7-3 on Monday. Arianna Mendoza had three hits and two RBIs. Reynolds and Cronin both had two hits. Taylor Testa pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and no earned runs. San Marin (15-6, 10-3) is tied for first place with Redwood. San Marin closes the season against Novato while Redwood plays Terra Linda on Wednesday. Redwood and San Marin split the season series. Zoe Pletcher, Elisa Cobb, and Melissa Ferrety had two hits for Tam (12-7, 6-7).
• Lana Wihlborg reached bases four times, drove in three runs, and scored four times to lead Marin Catholic to an 18-3 victory against Terra Linda on Monday. Bella Ferrety and Malliah Foster had three hits each for MC (13-5, 8-4). Morgan Carlson, Anna Held, and Ferrety had two RBIs apiece. Eleanor Johnson and Naomi Lewis had two hits each for TL (8-12, 2-11).
• Sophia Everett, Thomara Drummer, Gabby Rodriguez, and Kennedy Parker all had three hits as San Rafael piled up 20 of them in a 10-0 victory over Sonoma Valley on Monday. Drummer pitched a complete game, allowing six hits and striking out 12. Drummer, Rodriguez, Lila Kim, and Carla Lopez all had two RBIs each for San Rafael (13-10).