The Varsity Softball team had their final league game at Las Lomas on Tuesday and with a win they would secure at least a tie for the league championship. Coming into the game, the team had won 10 of their last 11 games and looked to close out the regular season over the Knights who played the Dons close in an earlier matchup this year.
Early on in the game, it looked like the Knights had other plans on the day. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead through the first two innings powered by a strong lineup. However, the Dons woke up in the top of the third inning. Emme Young got things going with a single to right and then Avery Robb walked to bring up power hitting catcher, Esa Orman. After working a 3-1 count, Orman smashed a home run to left center field to ignite the Dons and tie the game with one swing of the bat.
Maya Shoenhair got the start for the Dons and got into the groove in the bottom half of the third. Shoenhair surrendered five hits and three runs (two earned) over five and ⅔ innings while Lana Cerejo appeared in relief for the Dons. In the bottom half of the third, two consecutive long fly balls to center that Young tracked down at the fence for the first outs of the inning and then a stellar play by 3B Santana Tamayo to end the inning and the momentum clearly shifted to the Dons.
Riley Zirkel led off the 4th with a walk, and Vanessa Choi followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt. Lauren Foster followed with a line drive single up the middle, and then Young was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Senior Captain Lulu Levy then came through with a clutch line drive single to score Zirkel to give the Dons their first lead of the game. Orman was then hit by a pitch to drive in a run, and Tamayo followed with a long sacrifice fly to bring home another run. Shoenhair then hit a single to score Levy to make it 7-3 Dons.
A quiet bottom half of the 4th followed with a fast 1, 2, 3 inning of three consecutive ground ball outs, and the Dons looked to add more in the top of the 5th.
Choi got it started with a single to left field. Choi was able to take second on a passed ball and advanced to third on a ground ball from Foster. Young then singled to score Choi, followed by another walk by Robb and Orman then singled to score Young. Tamayo crushed a double to left field to make it 10-3 Dons.
The Knights were not going to go away easily as they battled all the way back, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th and three more runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to tie the game 10-10. If the Dons were going to win this game, they needed to make it happen in the 7th inning.
Tamayo got it going with a single to left and Shoenhair followed with a line drive single to centerfield. Ella Greenfield then stepped into the box and crushed the first pitch down the left field line for a ground rule double as it bounced over the fence to get the Dons the lead back. Zirkel then scorched a double to left center that reached the wall to drive in two more to push the lead to 13-10.
The Dons tallied 15 hits in the game. Orman drove in five runs on two hits to lead the team with the big home run and a single in the 5th as the Shoenhair went 3-for-4 at the plate while Young, Choi, Tamayo collected multiple hits as Robb and Zirkel led the team with two bases on balls each. Young stole 2 bases as the Dons stole 4 in the game.
However, the tension was still in the air as the top of the lineup for the Knights was coming back to the plate in the bottom half of the final inning. A long fly out to Choi in left got the first out, but a single from the Knights got a runner on. Shoenhair induced a ground out to Greenfield at first for out number two. The dangerous #3 hitter for the Knights came up, but on the first pitch she hit an inside screwball on the ground to Tamayo, who calmly scooped it up and threw across the diamond for the final out and the Dons celebrated the victory which guarantees them at least a tie for the league championship.