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Turlock softball beats Pitman ahead of season finale
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Turlock's Abbey Harrington pitches during the cross town rival game against Pitman Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs won 6-1 (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Turlock softball completed their sweep of Pitman after they beat the Pride 6-1 Tuesday afternoon. The Pride had their chance to get in the game, but weren’t able to take advantage of opportunities and left runners stranded on base. 

 “We started off slow, we left a few on bases in the early innings,” said Turlock head coach Mike Souza. “We took advantage of a couple of breaks and started hitting the ball in the gap and hitting the ball hard.”

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Pitman's Lacie Nycum beats the ball to 2nd base during the cross town rival game against Turlock Tuesday afternoon (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

After putting the Bulldogs away in the first, Pride looked to be in good position after they got two base runners in scoring position. They weren’t able to take advantage though, and Bulldog pitcher Abbey Harrington got a strikeout to end the inning.

“Abbey played well,” said Souza. “She struck out seven and walked one, she’s our center point.”

Bulldog Ayla Lacerda opened up the third with a double and Turlock made sure to take advantage. Third baseman Angie Valenzuela hit it into left field to bring in the first run of the game. 

It was a stalemate in the next couple of innings until the Bulldogs opened things up in the fifth. After getting two runners into scoring position, Natalie Sahlstrom brought in the runs to make the score 3-0.

The Pride didn’t lose their fight though and after getting a runner in scoring position in the sixth, they finally capitalized off a RBI double by Cadence Perry. The Pride were down by two with one inning to go.

The Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas and scored another run off of a sacrifice fly by Julie Hernandez. After some trouble in the bottom of the seventh, Harrington was able to put away the last batter of the game for the Bulldog victory.

The Bulldogs have a 10-4 record in league play and are headed to the playoffs with a second place finish after their game against Gregori on Thursday. The Pride are currently in fifth place with a record of 5-9 in league play, their final game is against Enochs on Thursday. 

“We’re going in the right direction right now,” said Souza. “I was worried after the tournament in Tracy. We started hitting the ball well again today and hopefully it carries over.”