Turlock High’s Tyler Murphy helped the Bulldogs (2-3 CCC) overcome Golden Valley High (2-3 CCC) on Tuesday as he manned the mound for all seven innings. Murphy opened the game with five straight strike outs and ended the day with a total of 13 strike outs in the 4-1 victory over the Cougars.
“It was one of the best pitching games we had all year,” Turlock’s head coach Mark De La Motte said.
Turlock’s defense was strong from the start of Tuesday’s matchup. Three Golden Valley players stepped up to the plate and then stepped down and back to the dugout routinely. It was the Bulldog offense that struggled early on, leaving runners on bases at the end of innings and giving the Cougars easy outs. In the bottom of the first inning Turlock had its bases loaded but three straight outs kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
“We had a chance to break it open right off the bat but we couldn’t do it,” De La Motte said. “I know we’re going to play better. If we can keep pitching and play defense like we have we’ll start getting more runs.”
It took Turlock five innings before it scored a run, by that time Golden Valley already had a fourth inning run to its name. Once the Bulldogs found home plate, however, they kept returning and adding runs to the board. Turlock scored three of its runs in the fifth before scoring the final run in the sixth inning to seal the victory.
The Cumberland brothers accounted for three of Turlock’s RBIs with Ryan hitting two and Bret hitting one. Luis Mendez was responsible for the fourth Bulldog RBI.
“It was kind of a relief,” De La Motte said. “We’re working on improving. We’re only a third of the way through league and it looks like anybody can beat anybody, which is good news when you’re trying to catch up to people.”
Turlock currently sits in third place in the Central California Conference. The Bulldogs will play Golden Valley again on Thursday and the outcome will likely shake up the league standings once again.