On the road for action this week, the Escalon varsity softball girls won one and lost one … and also had one game canceled due to weather.
They faced off first with Linden on Tuesday, Feb. 27 and had to go extra innings but took a 7-6 win in eight innings against the Lady Lions.
Chardae Hoskins went six-and-a-third innings, allowing six runs, four of them earned, while striking out 13. Bella Strach came on in relief in the seventh and pitched one-and-two-thirds innings, getting the win.
Escalon got single runs in the second, fifth and seventh inning, adding three in the third. Linden countered with a run in the first, three in the fifth and then tied it with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, knocking Hoskins out of the circle.
Strach shut the host team down after they tied the game in the seventh and Escalon got the go ahead run in the top of the eighth.
“Sage Davis came up and hit a solo shot over the centerfield fence,” head coach Art Brooks said of taking the lead. “Then Bella closed it out in the bottom of the inning for the win.”
Escalon had its hitting shoes on during the day, as Strach hit a two-run homer in the third inning, Molly Brown launched a solo shot in the fifth and Davis knocked out the game winner in the eighth.
For the game, Hoskins was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, Hannah Boyd was 2-for-2 with an RBI, Hailie Webster was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Malia Babasa had a pair of hits. Morgan Reider also contributed a hit on the day.
On Wednesday, the team traveled to Manteca to face off with East Union. It was a short, but tough, road trip.
“They scored seven runs in the first two innings and we could never recover,” said Brooks.
The final score was 8-1 in favor of East Union, Escalon’s only run coming in the second inning on a home run by Strach. Hoskins, who got the start on the mound, went 2-for-3 but the Lady Cougars managed just three hits on the day.
“It was a rough day on the mound, in the field and at the plate,” Brooks said.
Strach again came on in relief of Hoskins in the game, but East Union just had too much firepower for Escalon to overcome.
A scheduled Thursday trip to Bret Harte was canceled due to inclement weather.
This coming week, the varsity girls will play in the Rainbow Fields Tournament, starting off with a game against Madera on Thursday, March 8 at 1:45 p.m. and then they face East Union at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
Saturday action for the girls is scheduled at 3 p.m. against Gregori and then 4:45 p.m. against Turlock.
JUNIOR VARSITY
With new head coach Jordon Costa leading the team, the JV Lady Cougars took the field for two games this week, winning them both.
At Linden, they crafted a 15-4 win.
“We just outhit them, basically,” Costa said.
Big hitter on the day for the squad was Brooke Campbell.
At East Union on Wednesday, the JV girls won by an 11-9 final.
“It was a good game up until the end,” Costa said, with the teams knotted in a low-scoring contest until each side allowed the other a breakout inning.
For Escalon, they scored the majority of their runs in the seventh inning, in their final at bat.
“Lupe Tapia had an RBI, Brooke Campbell had an RBI and Mya Scott had an RBI,” said Costa.
The JV girls also have games scheduled in the Rainbow Fields Tournament on both Thursday and Saturday. They are slated to play Downey at noon on Thursday and Madera at 6:45 p.m., followed by contests with Turlock at 2:55 p.m. Saturday and Gregori at 4:15 p.m.
