By Josh Lowden
(West Covina) – President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Those words could describe the Monrovia play as they scored five runs on only six hits in a 5-2 victory over La Salle Friday Afternoon in the Charter Oak Tournament.
Freshman center fielder Elise McCarthy was the first Ladycat to get on base, by bunting beautifully and using her speed to get to first base. On the next pitch, Kelly Williams hit a grounder to the second baseman who committed an error which allowed Williams to advance to first.
With runners on first and second, Schae Simpson stepped to the plate. Leading the team in batting efficiency, Simpson took a pitch to right field allowing McCarthy to motor in from second and sending Williams to third.
Looking not to give up any more runs, Lancer Pitcher Rachel Albright led in the count to Samantha Saucedo 0-2 only to have Saucedo battle to a full count before grounding to first allowing Williams to score.
Simpson scored the third run of the inning after a passed ball for the third run of the inning.
“We just took advantage of everything out there and scored some runs,” said Head Coach Randy Medina.
La Salle not able to buy a break throughout the tournament began a rally during its bottom-half of the inning.
Sterling Shuster and Stephanie Ferri each singled with two-outs. Madison Worley came to the plate with a single to center field that struck Shuster in the foot to stop the rally with the final out.
Freshman pitcher Emmy Orozco quieted the Lancer bats the next two innings to keep the score 3-0.
“Our bats were very silent today,” La Salle head coach Rich Diaz said. “We didn’t hit well as a team.”
Monrovia extended its lead in the fourth inning, with Nikki Guzman starting the rally with a hard hit single to center field. Sara Castillo then followed with a single to right field allowing Stephanie Garcia to score after coming in as a pinch-runner for Guzman. Castillo advanced to second on the throw home.
Shelbi Zernickow, brought in to run for Garcia at second, moved to third on Shellee Parker’s seeing-eye single. Lindsay Arnett brought Zernickow home on a grounder to first to give the Ladycats a 5-0 lead.
With Adrienne Guerra replacing Orozco in the circle, La Salle finally struck.
Summer Taylor advanced to first on a hit by pitch on Guerra’s second pitch. Beverly Valerio replaced Taylor as a pinch runner and scored after a passed ball and error from Williams. The error by Williams came after Albright hit a foul ball that Williams caught in highlight-reel fashion up against the fence.
“We can compete with any team,” said Medina. “Just as long as we don’t commit errors.”
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