The varsity Dons completed a two-game season sweep of rivals Campo on Tuesday and Las Lomas on Thursday to capture their eighth straight win, pushing their impressive record to 8-1. According to Max Preps, they are the #20 overall ranked team in the San Francisco Metro, the #12 overall ranked team in the North Coast Section (NCS) and the #1 Division 3 ranked team in NCS. Way to go girls!!!
The Dons came out hitting as usual, as they jumped out to a big lead and eventually cruised to a 9-5 win over the Knights. After blanking Las Lomas in the first inning, super senior Emme Young led off for the girls with a walk before fellow super senior Esa Orman drilled a ball over the right field fence to give the squad an early 2-0 lead.
With two outs, junior pitcher Maya Shoenhair singled, followed by another single by fabulous-freshman catcher/first baseman June Natal to plate a run. That brought up sophomore shortstop Riley Zirkel, who promptly hammered the ball over the left fielder’s head and off the fence to knock in another run and push the Acalanes advantage to 4-0 after one inning
The girls finished their scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning with a run to increase their advantage to 9-1 after five frames. The Knights added a few late runs to make the game appear a bit closer than it was.
Junior hurler Maya Shoenhair started in the circle for Acalanes and recorded another complete game, going 7 innings with 7 hits, 7 walks and 4 strikeouts. She and catcher June Natal are working very well together so far this season.
Offensively the seniors led the way. Centerfielder Emme Young got on base three times with two walks, a hit and two runs scored. First baseman/catcher Esa Orman homered to knock in two runs, walked and scored two runs of her own. Second baseman Gabby Huerta doubled and scored a couple of runs, June Natal had two hits and a run batted in and Riley Zirkel finished with two hits, a walk and a run batted in. Riley had a nice week with five hits and some nice plays at short in both games.
Defensively the Dons continued to flash the leather. Senior Esa Orman has really anchored the young infield with her stellar play at first base. The outfield is loaded with speed with sophomore Vanessa Choi in left, defending league MVP Emme Young in center and fellow speedster junior Lauren Foster in right field. Two thirds of the world is covered by water. The other third is covered by these outfielders.
Left Fielder Vanessa Choi
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Center fielder Emme Young
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The girls get to take a breath this week during Spring Break before league play starts next Tuesday, at home, versus the Benicia Panthers. Acalanes softball is red hot! Swing by and root them on next week.
GO DONS!!!