It was a 50-50 type of tournament for the Pitman varsity softball team when they took the field on Thursday and Friday at the Tracy Sports Complex as part of the Nor-Cal Easter Classic.
Competing in the gold bracket, same as Turlock High, the Pride's approach was different, but they still managed to come out of the second day with two wins and a 2-2 record.
“In flashes we played really well, but we weren't consistent enough to string it together in back to back games,” said Pitman head coach Joe Lewis. “And we fielded and hit well in the wins and in the losses there were a lot of errors and not hitting the ball well at all, it was like two different teams.”
Pitman opened up the tourney on Thursday with an 11-1, mercy-rule win over Waterford that was highlighted by an Alanah Laupua home-run, the first of two in the tourney.
Holland Henson was 2 for 2 with a pair of RBI and Morgan Aguiniga was 2 for 4.
Denae Finney started that first game and went five innings, allowing just a single run in the fourth.
Pitman rolled into the second game against Los Banos with confidence but after a poor defensive effort from the Pride, which committed six errors, LB was able to take advantage, cruising to a 10-3 romping.
Already with a loss in the tourney, Pitman bounced right back with an early morning matchup on Friday against Enochs.
Again, the defensive woes carried over from the last game as the Pride went on to commit eight errors for that game, allowing eight unearned.
Pitman went up 3-0 then after third the errors began to pile up.
Four errors were committed in the third, including three in a row.
Enochs last two runs were unearned and the Pride fell 9-3.
Finally, in the later game, Pitman found their mojo and went off on Escalon for 12 runs scored total.
The game was highlighted by Laupua's home-run and five RBI on a 3 for 3 day. Laupua was just a triple away from hitting for the cycle after hitting a single, a double and a home-run.
Finney also had a great offensive game, batting 3 for 4 with four RBI, two singles and a double.
Lehua DeLeon reached base safely in 4 of her 5 at-bats, scoring four runs in the process.
Laupua also pitched the entire six innings, striking out a pair and allowing just five earned runs.
“That last game they felt better about themselves but they know what they are capable of,” said Lewis. “And when you play four games and it was inconsistent then we are jumping back into league, well we need to learn to be more consistent.”
Escalon went up early in the first with a 4-0 lead.
Pitman's Laupua then hit her three-run shot to make it 4-3.
Escalon held on to the lead until the third inning after Pitman tied it 5-5 after the offense strung together five consecutive hits in that half of the inning.
Pitman went on to score nine runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings combined.
The Pride will continue CCC play at home against Turlock at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
