Results tagged “El Rancho Dons girls softball” from Yucaipa Now

By Bob Otto / Staff Photographer

YUCAIPA - Slower pitchers tend to give the Lady Thunderbird hitters trouble. And for five innings, right-hander Katherine Flores of the El Rancho Dons of Pico Rivera (13-13) had Yucaipa out in front of her slow drop and change up, but in the sixth the slow stuff didn't fool Yucaipa anymore and they erupted for four runs to defeat the Dons, 6-3, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division II Playoffs at home on Thursday.

"The off speed slower pitches kill us," said Yucaipa Head Coach, Dave Kivett. "They have a hard time sitting back and waiting for the ball to get in their zone, but they made the adjustment and stayed within themselves and then we started hitting the ball."

Yucaipa (22-8) held a slim, 2-1, lead heading into the sixth - on the strength of shortstop Megan Allen's bat. The #4 four hitter in the lineup gave Yucaipa a 1-0 lead in the first inning by lacing a single to center-field to score Shelby Vanderwall, who led off the inning with a double. And then in the fifth her rocket into the shortstop-third base hole chased home Vanderwall again with the second run.

Yucaipa held on to that slim 2-1 advantage thanks to the solid pitching of Jessica English. The senior right-hander with an explosive rise ball came on in the third to relieve starter Tracy Hampton with two outs and El Rancho threatening with runners on first and third.

But English blew away Kristina Hernandez with a letter-high inside riser to escape the inning.

"Their pitcher (English) did a great job and had us swinging under her rise ball," said El Rancho Head Coach, Stephanie Senteno-Tapia. "Our biggest problem was we left too many on base when we had the chance to take the lead. "

YUCAIPA - The Lady Thunderbirds softball team drew a first round home game on Thursday in the CIF Southern Section Division II Playoffs against the El Rancho Dons of Pico Rivera, the second place team out of the six-team Del Rio League. The Dons finished 8-2 in league, 13-12 overall.

A look at El Rancho's record reveals the Dons started the season slow with a 1-8 record, but came on strong at the end with an 11-2 record. The Dons are led by freshman pitcher Katherine Flores who has a 9-3 record with a 1.39 ERA.

Yucaipa comes into the playoffs with a 21-3 record overall, 11-3 in the Citrus Belt League where they finished second behind Redlands. The Lady T-Birds are led by senior pitchers Jessica English (10-5 record, 1.88 ERA, 134 strikeouts in 104 innings) and Tracy Hampton (10-3 record, 2.16 ERA, 75 strikeouts in 81 innings).

In the hitting department, Megan Allen was one of the Citrus Belt League's dominant players with a .444 batting average (#3) and 33 RBI's (#1) along with Ali Reykdal at .387 BA, and 20 RBI's; Katie Olinger, .332 BA, and 16 RBI's; and Payton Wood, .346 BA, 13 RBI's.

Game time is 3:15 p.m. at the Yucaipa High School softball field.