Tuesday marked a critical Central California Conference softball matchup between second place Buhach Colony and third place Pitman High, with the winner able to cement themselves in that second place position in league heading into the final two contests of the season.
Pitman saw a three-run lead quickly slip away from them after BC rallied in the fourth, fifth and sixth to go up 7-3. The Pride retaliated to cut the lead to one in the middle of the seventh inning, only to see their hopes vanish after a minor mistake.
With two outs, Sally Acosta jacked an RBI single to drive in Regan Wolfley, but the game-tying run was called out in a pickle between third and home and the Thunder of BC pulled away with a big 7-6 win over the Pride of Pitman.
“It’s just mental errors that have killed us in a lot of close games, some of those fielding plays were mental errors,” Pitman head coach Joe Lewis said. “Our girls knew what to do, but second guessed themselves and by then it’s too late.”
Pitman has now dropped four straight, including six out of their last seven after winning six out of seven prior to that and still sit in third place, at 7-6.
It was another meltdown for the Pride who took a quick 2-0 lead heading into the second inning and tacked on the third run in the fourth to go up three-nil going into the bottom half of the fourth—where the Pride always seem to allow runs somehow.
In the bottom of the fourth, BC was able to take advantage of a sore Alexis Mettler as they rallied behind a Dyonne Vargas two-run double with no outs to cut the lead to 3-2.
With two on, Mettler got the final out on a pop out to end the threat but would be subbed out for Acosta for the remainder of the game.
“Fourth inning again, it’s like we have that Boston Red Sox jinx it’s a weird thing, I have never seen anything like it. It’s literally been the fourth inning where teams have came back,” Lewis said when asked about the fourth inning.
BC took the first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth, after a questionable call at home plate tied the game at three each when Allie Clarot scored, which was followed by an RBI sac-fly from Vargas to take the 4-3 lead.
Nothing came for the Pride in the fifth and sixth, but in the seventh the bats came alive as they scored three runs.
“It is one of those games where, once again, we went cold after scoring three runs early and didn’t start hitting until that last inning. You can’t do that against a good team,” said Lewis.
With the bases loaded—twice—the Pride tacked two runs after back-to-back RBI sacrifice flies from Hannah Martel and Nicole Bailey to cut the lead to 5-7 with the game-winning run up at the plate and two outs.
In a clutch situation, Acosta jacked up an RBI single that scored Wolfley and nearly Mettler, but she over pursued third base as she rounded it nearly halfway from there and home plate, but the throw from the outfield was good enough to give BC enough time to tag her out.
Pitman will next travel to Golden Valley to take on the Cougars at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
“We need to win those last two to keep that third seed and to see where we fall and must wait and see if we host a playoff game or go on the road,” said Lewis.
