SARATOGA — With only a few graduating seniors and a variety of critical freshmen and sophomores, the future looks shiny for the Notre Dame-Belmont softball team.
But the present belongs to Salinas-based Everett Alvarez, as the 3rd-seeded Eagles took down the fourth-seeded Tigers 3- in the Central Coastline Part Division I championship game at West Valley Higher education in Saratoga Saturday afternoon.
Even with the decline, the disparity involving the virtually-500 Notre Dame-Belmont review human body and the virtually 2,500-solid Alvarez population was not shed on NDB head coach Kelly McDonald.
“We’re a university with below 500 (students) in it. These are the 15 softball gamers in the school. … We’re competing versus substantial general public universities,” McDonald claimed. “We’ve gone way over and past (to make the Division I final).”
But NDB (19-2) was not just joyful to be there and the Tigers battled the Eagles to the ultimate out. They simply just could not square up Alvarez starting off pitcher, freshman Dani Amendola, who was breathtaking. Amendola notched the shutout, providing up just 4 hits.
Alvarez freshman pitcher Dani Amendola pitched a comprehensive-match shutout, holding NDB to just 4 hits while placing out 15.
But the eye-popping quantity was the 15 strikeouts she recorded. She experienced two strikeouts or much more in five of the 7 innings and she struck out the facet a few periods: the 2nd, third and seventh innings.
“She has a truly superior rise ball and was definitely spinny,” McDonald said. “We have only two travel-ball players, going versus some of the ideal pitchers in the portion. You just can’t hope them to make the adjustments.”
Amendola pounded the strike zone all activity long. How dominant was she? She had nearly as quite a few strikeouts (15) as pitches known as balls (16). She threw very first-pitch strikes to 18 of 25 batters faced.
NDB, on the other hand, countered Amendola with its possess freshman, Allison Lui. Though she did not have the strikeout quantities, she was just as powerful, throwing 6 shutout innings.
It was not quick. Lui found herself in difficulty in just about every single inning, scattering nine hits. But showing composure over and above her a long time, Lui bought out of the jams pretty much just about every time. Alvarez (24-3) had runners in scoring position in each and every inning but the fifth, but only cashed in those people foundation runners when.
“[Lui] is only a freshman … pitching only at a rec degree. This is her initially time [pitching] to better level gamers,” McDonald said. “They only barreled up the ball, two occasions?
“She did all we could have questioned of her.”
But she could not escape problems in the base of the fourth and that proved to be the distinction in the activity as the Eagles gathered 5 of their 9 hits in that inning by itself. With just one out, Shanae Figueroa and Crystal Vasquez had back again-to-back again singles right before Michelle Wallace blooped a solitary to shallow right-heart industry to load the bases. Kassidy Magdaleno adopted with an RBI bunt for a 1- lead. Eagles’ No. 9 hitter, Vianna Franco, had the large strike, a two-run double to still left that delivered all the scoring Amendola would need.
After two innings, Amendola was presently flirting with a best game, retiring the initially 6 batters she confronted, placing out 5 of them. NDB 3rd baseman Katie Johnson, on the other hand, broke up every thing top off the 3rd, as she jumped on a 1-2 pitch and smoked a double to the fence in remaining industry.
Amendola proceeded to strikeout the up coming three batters.
In the prime of the fifth, the Tigers set jointly their only respectable scoring threat. Dani DeMera led off the inning with a single to shallow correct for the 2nd hit of the game for the Tigers. She went to 2nd on an Olivia Semien sacrifice bunt and took third on Johnson’s 2nd strike of the working day to place runners on the corners.
Amendola answered by placing out the up coming two batters to conclude the menace. Semien legged out an infield strike with two outs in the best of the seventh for the Tigers ultimate strike of the recreation, but an Amendola strikeout gave the Eagles their initially-ever CCS title.
Regardless of the reduction, McDonald was happy of her group.
“We made it right here (to the championship sport) and did a excellent occupation (finding in this article),” McDonald said.