It came down to the last play, but Acalanes Softball Dons were on the wrong end of an 8-5 defeat to Las Lomas Varsity Knights on Thursday night.  Both teams battled in a competitive game that finally ended in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Acalanes Varsity Dons got on the board first in the 3rd inning when Hailey Stripling hit a towering solo homer over the massive right field fence and into the parking lot.  

Maya Shoenhair started the game on the rubber for the Dons and held the Knights scoreless for the first three innings.  Shoenhair would end up pitching 7 1/3 innings throwing 104 pitches with 72 for strikes and allowing just 2 earned runs. The Dons defense was strong early on with several great plays by Emmi Cronin at 2B, Stripling at SS, with Nicole Parlett at 1B and C Esa Orman behind the plate along with LF Lulu Levy, CF Emme Young and RF Sophia Alvarado securing the fly balls.

The Knights broke through and scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead and looked poised to close out the game.  However, the Dons battled back as they have in the early part of the season.  In the top of the 5th, the Dons manufactured a run, first a walk to Cronin, followed by a hard single from Young, then Stripling walked to load the bases. Orman then had a fantastic battle at the plate to draw a walk and get in the Dons their second run of the game to make it 4-2.   

Lana Cerejo then came in to pitch for the Dons to start the bottom of the 5th inning, and threw two great scoreless innings out of the bullpen to keep the Dons within reach heading into the 7th inning.

In the top of the 7th, Young got things going with another hard hit single to center, to bring up the tying run at the plate.  Stripling and Orman both were then both hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Then with two outs, and the Dons down to their last strike, the Dons scored 3 runs to take the lead on a single by Shoenhair to drive in Young, Stripling and pinch runner Lauren Foster who came flying all the way around from first to take a 5-4 lead!

In the bottom of the 7th, the Knights immediately got a runner in scoring position and were able to tie the game and put the winning run at 3rd with nobody out.  Shoenhair was then brought back into pitch.  The Dons were able to keep the score tied, with an incredible highlight play by 3B Avery Robb and Orman who teamed up to get an out at home to send the game to extra innings.     

Both teams continued to battle into darkness, the lights came on and the score stayed 5-5 until the bottom of the 10th, when the Knights were ultimately able to end the ultra competitive game.  Our softball Dons are looking forward to the rematch on May 4th.    

The Dons tallied six hits in the game with Young and Stripling collecting multiple hits for Acalanes Varsity Dons.