After all the rain, the Varsity Softball Dons finally got their season started with away games at Dougherty Valley and Antioch High School. After suffering from some first game jitters in a 12-2 loss at Dougherty Valley, the Dons bounced back with a huge 14-3 win to defeat Antioch to start the season at 1-1.
In the first game of the season the Dons had trouble keeping up with the Wildcats from Dougherty Valley. The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back. For the Dons, Santana Tamayo had an outstanding Acalanes debut with two hits in two at bats and driving in one run while holding down the hot corner at 3B. CF Emme Young had the other RBI while Esa Orman and Nicole Parlett both had 1 hit for the Dons. Vanessa Choi also made her Acalanes debut with 2 walks in 2 plate appearances and led the team with 2 stolen bases.
Defensively the Dons were solid, committing only one error, with a highlight double play turned in from 2B Avery Robb to SS Riley Zirkel to 1B Gabby Huerta.
Two days later, the Dons bounced back big time on Wednesday against Antioch as Esa Orman’s big day propelled the team to a huge victory. Orman drove in five runs on 3 hits with a triple in the 3rd inning, a single in the 4th and double in the 6th that cleared the bases for 3 RBIs.
Lana Cerejo got the start for the Dons and pitched a fantastic game allowing five hits and three runs over 4 ⅔ innings, striking out 2 and walking only 1 batter. Cerejo also got the Dons on the scoreboard first with an RBI single in the top of the second to drive in Tamayo.
The bats were on fire for the Dons, who collected 13 hits on the day. Young, Tamayo and Ella Greenfield all had 2 hit games while Parlett, Zirkel, and Maya Shoenhair each collected a hit in the game.
Once again, the defense was stellar and the infield with C Orman, 1B Shoenhair, 2B Robb, 3B Tamayo and SS Zirkel all made several outstanding plays including a 6-3-5 double play from Zirkel to Shoenhair to Tamayo to catch a runner trying to advance to third base. The outfield also played well with a highlight catch in RF by Lulu Levy to get the first out of the game for the Dons to set the tone defensively.
Shoenhair came in to pitch the final 1 ⅓ inning of zero run ball to shut down the Panthers allowing one hit, walking one and striking out one. In the final inning, 2B Robb made a great play on a hard hit ground ball and 1B Huerta finished the game with a running catch on dropping foul ball.
The Varsity Softball Dons play 2 home games this week on Tuesday, the 5th @ 4:00 vs. Deer Valley and Thursday, the 7th @ 3:30 vs. Mt Eden. Thursday’s game on March 7th will also have Ofi’s food truck as a fundraiser for the team, so come on out to support the team and get some great food.