It was a long week for California High School softball. The team played Eldon on Tuesday, Iberia on Thursday and played in the Lake of the Ozark Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
In their first game against the Eldon Lady Mustangs, California found themselves trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the third inning. However, they got a lift with two RBI singles by center fielder Bayley Wood and shortstop Emily Burger to put California ahead 3-2.
After Eldon tied the game 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning, California catcher Ryleigh Roellig put the Lady Pintos back in front with a two-run home run to left field. Roellig's home run ignited the Lady Pintos, who added five more runs in the fifth inning in the midst of five straight singles. The Lady Pintos were able to hold on for an 11-5 victory. Every California hitter had at least one hit in the game.
California head coach Ashley Anderson said the win over Eldon was an important one for her team. California had come off an 8-3 loss to Eugene Lady Eagles the day before and were in need of a win to get themselves back on track.
"The story of our season so far has been how we can't get down after a loss. We've gotten behind early in most of our games, but we've just got to continue to fight. You have to score to win because we know they're going to put the ball in play," Anderson said. "We've got to have runners on to be able to produce. We did that today. Especially when Ryleigh hit the home run. She smoked it."
Two days later, California played host to the undefeated Iberia Lady Rangers. Iberia scored the first run of the game in the top of the first after an error by California's center fielder enabled a runner to score from second base. While Iberia's starting pitcher, Jaylyn Piggott, held the Lady Pintos to no runs and one hit in the first four innings.
In the top of the fifth, Iberia followed an opening strikeout with back-to-back singles, an RBI double, four consecutive walks, a two-run RBI double and two more singles for a seven-run inning. Now trailing 8-0, California was in dire need of a big inning of their own. However, Iberia only allowed two hits for the rest of the game. On their way to an 11-0 win over California.
Anderson and the Lady Pintos knew they were in for a big challenge against Iberia, who had outscored their opponents 31-3 during the season before the game. Anderson felt it was critical for California to get as many runners on base as possible to improve their odds. The lack of runners and Iberia's fifth inning explosions proved to be the biggest factors in Thursday's game.
"They are a good team. You can't take that away from them. Our goal in this game was to put ourselves in scoring position to hopefully drive in some runs. That's tough to do. Especially when they have a big inning," Anderson said. "You have to focus on the things you can control. That's why we wanted to focus on us putting runners on base. We put some balls in play, but we had a lot of strikeouts. I feel like defensively we are still making some mistakes, but we're starting to fine tune those. We're really fine tuning the rest of our game and I think it will be that way for a little bit. Hopefully in the middle of October, we are playing our best ball."
The next day, California hit the road again for their second tournament of the season at the Lake of the Ozarks. During their four-game appearance at the tournament on Friday and Saturday, California went 1-3 overall. They were defeated by Marshfield 14-4, Linn 13-2 and Fulton 6-3 in their first three games. However, they were able to win their last game of the tournament over North Point 10-9. California's record is now 3-8.
This week, California will host Southern Boone on Thursday and travel to North Callaway on Tuesday.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) Peyton Dunham went 2-4 while throwing a combined 30 strikeouts in six games for California last week.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) Shortstop Emily Burger hits an RBI single to left field to give California a 3-2 lead on Eldon on Sep. 10.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) First baseman Kylee Wright safely stand on second base after hitting an RBI double against Linn in the Lake of the Ozark Tournament.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) Third baseman Kinzie Haile hits an RBI single against Marshfield during the Lake of the Ozarks Tournament on Friday.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) Second baseman Laney Anderson makes a throw for an out against Iberia on Thursday.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) Kylee Wright makes an out at first base during California's game on Thursday against Iberia.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes) Center fielder Bailey Wood advances to third base against North Point in the Lake of the Ozarks Tournament on Saturday.