Traveling on Tuesday, April 26 for a non-league game at Liberty Ranch in Galt, the Escalon JV girls took a 4-3 loss.
Bella Strach went the distance, pitching all seven innings.
“They scored two in the first, one in the second, one in the seventh,” coach Malinda Walker said of the host Liberty Ranch team. “We scored one in the first inning, one in the second and one in the sixth.”
The young Lady Cougars battled but just couldn’t hold off the host team.
“It was a great day defensively for Priscilla Nowling at first base, with a diving catch for the second out in the first inning, three outs on the day. Also a great day for Grace Fitzgerald behind the plate with a pick off in the third inning,” Walker noted. “Offensively, Lauren Trejo’s double in the first inning followed by a Marissa Gonzalez single led to our first run of the game. Lexy Underwood hit a lead-off triple in the second inning followed by a single by Kiara Ancheta to score our second run in the second inning.”
The game was tied 3-3 going into the final inning but Liberty ranch scratched out the winning run in the bottom of the inning.
“They had a great hit,” Walker admitted. “It could have gone either way. It was a great game.”
Back to Trans-Valley League play on Friday at Hughson, the JV girls improved to 4-0 in TVL with a 20-3 win. Kylie DuBois pitched the first three innings, Bella Strach pitched the last one, the game going just four innings due to the 10-run rule.
Hughson scored single runs in the first, second and third; Escalon countered with two in the first, two in the second, six in the third and put the game away with a 10-run top of the fourth.
Strach went 4-for-6 with a single, a double, and two home runs, one of them a grand slam, accounting for a total of six RBIs on the day. Kiara Ancheta went 3-for-5 with drag singles. Marissa Gonzalez went 3-for-6 with two singles and a triple, driving in three runs.
“It was an amazing offensive day for us,” said Walker.
The JV girls will be in Ripon today, Wednesday, May 4 to take on the Lady Indians in league play and will be home to host Hughson in Friday afternoon action, May 6 at 4 p.m.
