All of Pitman’s five runs came in one inning and starting pitcher Alexis Mettler tossed a complete game, allowed only one earned run and struck out 11 en route to a 5-2 win over Central California Conference foe Atwater High on Friday.
The win puts the Pride of Pitman in second place with a 5-3 CCC record just behind Merced High, who has been controlling the CCC thus far with an 8-0 showing.
“It was a complete game, I was worried about Thursday’s game, they were quieter, I thought they were either tired or really focused and luckily they have been very aggressive with the plate and did the same today,” Pitman head coach Joe Lewis said.
After Friday’s game the Pride have played 19 innings in two days, after a 12-inning matchup against Buhach Colony on Thursday, but the bats seemed to come alive with the short rest.
It was 0-0 until in the fourth when, finally, the offense awoke after back-to-back RBI singles came from Nicole Bailey and Skylar Taylor to put the Pride up 2-0.
Then, with one out and the bases loaded, Liz Segers hit a base clearing double to put her team up 5-0 and from there on starting pitcher Mettler did her job.
“The consecutive hits came later on, but we are swinging well now even after Thursday’s game, we are at least swinging the ball but we still need to tune the base running and mental things,” Lewis said.
Mettler allowed only three hits after tossing seven, tallying 17 innings pitched in two-days. Mettler was also 2-for-4 from the plate.
Taylor was 3-for-4 with an RBI while Bailey added on a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI.
Atwater’s runs would come in the bottom of the fifth, but after that Mettler buckled down and struck out five in a row to end the game.
“We need to keep playing the way we have, besides the base running, we have been doing all the other things well,” Lewis said. “We need to continue to work on the basics and do it all well to not only make playoffs, but make it deep and need to be well rounded all around.”
Next game for the Pride will be at home against Golden Valley on Tuesday with a starting time of 3:30 p.m.
