Late rally pushes Vintage past Sonoma Valley in home-opener
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Softball is super competitive in the Vine Valley Athletic League.
That means winning one-run games will be key to winning the league title.
The Vintage softball team was able to accomplish winning a one-run game in their home opener against Sonoma Valley by a score of 2-1.
“I think winning the first home game says a lot about the want to come out for a win,” Vintage junior pitcher Shelby Morse said. “I think the girls are just super excited to be out again. I mean our first game was exciting, but as you can see I think our energy throughout the entire game was really up. We were really loud. I think being at home again for the first time in 13 or 14 months it’ kind of surreal because we didn’t think this would happen.”
“It just sets the tone for the rest of the season,” Vintage junior pitcher Raimy Gamsby added. “We know we can come back and we know we can rally back.”
The Crushers (2-0 overall, 2-0 VVAL) pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth with two outs. It all started when Brianna Allen singled and then scored on an Emily Vanderbilt double into the left-center gap. The go-ahead run was scored when Taylor Lauritsen singled, advanced to second on the throw, and then was able to get to third on a throwing error.
“A lot of heart,” Vintage manager Robert Poppe said of the two-run rally in the sixth. “We had just talked to the girls. That was everybody’s third time through the lineup. How to start making adjustments and the girls started talking to each other about the pitches they were seeing, and I think that helped. As we all know, hitting is contagious. It just takes one girl and the confidence goes up.”
“I think for us, it kind of just takes the first hit,” Morse explained. “Once we get our good hit, we kind of get it going. But I think for us if we get a good hit, we need to back it up with another good hit. So I think it’s kind of a wake-up call for some of us. I know Emily Vanderbilt kind of had a wake-up call, and that she did a great job, super proud of her. If we start early, it would be better. But in the bottom of the sixth, there’s a little bit more motivation. I say that it’s just got to get the execution down. “
“Just stringing together hits to score runs,” Gamsby added. “There’s probably a little bit of second game jitters. It’s a lot of people’s first time playing at all or on varsity. It shows that we can do it. We have the grit to do it.”
Sonoma Valley (1-2, 0-2 VVAL) played their only run in the top of the fifth when Sophie Jenks walked and scored on a Taylor Owen single.
Gamsby started the game for Vintage and went four shutout innings on 69 total pitches. She struck out 11 and walked one as well.
Morse got the win in relief. In three innings of work, she struck out five and walked one on 38 pitches. She also allowed only one run on the day.
“I would say Poppe’s pitch calling was pretty good,” Morse said of her good day in the circle. “That walk was I think a little bit more my error. My rise ball was a bit too high. But I would say that I think for me, the pitch calling was really good. Poppe did a great job.”
“We’ve got to learn not to rely on them so much,” Poppe explained due to the fact that Gamsby and Morse recorded 16 of the 21 outs in the game. “We’ve got to have defense and we’ve got to have (some) offense. If we’re just going to live off of pitching, it’s going to be a long season. But Raimy and Shelby are very dependable. They put in their work. They’re very dependable. But the rest of the team has to help out.”
Both teams will be back in action again on Thursday. Sonoma Valley will host American Canyon at 4 pm. Meanwhile, Vintage will face another Napa County foe when they go north on Highway 29 to face St. Helena at 6 pm.
In other VVAL softball action Tuesday, Petaluma beat Napa 13-2 and American Canyon beat Casa Grande 6-2.
