Paloma softball team scores 11-0 win over Rancho

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Paloma Valley High softball team won its second to last league game Monday afternoon at home against Rancho Verde. The game ended after five innings, with a score of 11-0.

Jaylin Haacker was in the circle for the Wildcats and started the game off with three quick outs, to the tune of two groundouts and a swinging strikeout.

The 11 runs started after leadoff hitter Brooklyn Berni singled to second base on a hard ground ball. She stole second on the next at-bat, then third on a wild pitch on the next. She was in perfect position to score as Emma Lesieur singled to center field and brought Berni home. Lesiur scored two batters later on a fielder’s choice.

Haacker brought her team back to the plate quickly when she threw a flyout, groundout and strikeout against the opposition in the second.

The real rally then started after the bases were loaded and Adrianna Ron hit a line drive single that racked up two RBI’s. Lesieur followed suit with a single RBI on a hard grounder to center field. Then freshman Lynda Guerra took the plate with one runner on and hit a homer over the left field fence—one she said she knew was gone when it touched her bat.

“It felt good,” Guerra said. “I knew, and it felt good to do that today for my team.”

Guerra’s home run put her team up 8-0 with two outs in the inning. But the Wildcats weren’t done yet.

Just three batters later, Malaina Lantaigne hit a line-drive single with two runners on and brought the score to 10 before the last out of the inning.

Haacker threw six straight outs in the next two innings and the Wildcats got their final run in the fourth on a groundout with the bases loaded, when Ashleigh Pyle scored on Haacker’s grounder.

It wasn’t until the top of the fifth that Rancho Verde got their only hit of the game with a hard grounder down the third base line. But they failed to capitalize on the hit and ended the game after that inning due to the mercy rule.

“It feels good to show up for my team,” Haacker said of her near-perfect game, which consisted of five innings pitched, two strikeouts and no walks. She pitched 39 strikes on 54 total pitches.

Offensively, seven of the nine players in the Paloma lineup had at least one hit, and no strikeouts, with three walks.

“We hit great today and that’s been a struggle for a lot of the season,” said head coach William Nelson. “The last two games, though, we’ve come out real strong.”

The Wildcats will play their last home game of the season Thursday night at home versus Lakeside and Guerra said she looks forward to more than just that game, as a freshman on a growing team.

“I know we’ve had previous years that we weren’t the best team, but this year we are way better than we’ve been,” said Guerra. “Next year we definitely have a chance to be even better. This year is amazing and we’re all so connected, so people should see us as a team that can come back.”

“In the beginning of this season it was rough, but now we are all so bonded and it’s helped us so much on the field,” added Haacker.

The Wildcats have a record of 6-10 on the season going into Thursday’s game.