Vintage’s monster second inning leads them past Pittsburg in playoff opener
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s certainly a way to make a statement when you not only score seven runs in an inning but also push five of them across with two outs.
That’s what the No. 3 seed Vintage softball team did in the second inning as they routed No. 14 Pittsburg, 10-0, in the first round of the CIF North Coast Section Division 1 playoff.
Vintage (20-3) erupted in the second inning where they scored an astounding seven times. The first two runs came in on a double by Angie Rubalcava down the left-field line that brought in Raimy Gamsby who singled and Brianna Allen who reached on a bunt single.
What was more impressive about that inning was that the Crushers were able to push across five runs all with two outs. Shelby Morse drive in a pair of runs with a line-drive single that went over the head of the center fielder bringing in Ava Raines who walked and Rubalcava who doubled prior. A Vanderbilt double brought in Chaddock who once again served as Morse’s courtesy runner. A single by Devin Viruet brought in Vanderbilt. The final run came when Gamsby roped a double off the wall in left field to bring in Viruet.
“I believe we had five runs with two outs, which is pretty impressive.” Vintage first-year manager Megan Lopez recalled. “It’s that don’t roll over, don’t give up mentality.”
The Crushers opened up the one-sided scoring right away. Morse doubled into the right-center gap and then was pinch ran for by courtesy runner Ryann Chaddock who moved to third when Emily Vanderbilt reached on an error. The lone run of the inning came in when Vanderbilt swiped second and drew a throw that allowed Chaddock to come home.
Vintage pushed across one more in the third when Audrey Manley singled and brought in Raines who doubled and got to third on a Taylor Lauritsen double.
The game ended in the sixth when Vanderbilt roped a solo home run that cleared the batting cages on the nearby baseball field. It was her seventh long ball of the season.
“Cool moment for her to end the game on that,” Lopez continued.
With the bat in her hands, Morse was just as deadly. After all, she was 2-for-4 with a double, single, and two RBIs.
“My approach today was just working the base hits,” Morse explained of her day with the bat. “I know sometimes that when we get in the highest situations I tried to jack it or something like that. So those two at-bats I was just working on just trying to stay through my extension.”
Others leading the way for Vintage with the bat in their hand were Raines (1-for-2), Gamsby (2-for-3 double, run scored, RBI), Vanderbilt (2-for-4 home run, double, two runs, two RBIs), Rubalcava (1-for-3 walk, run, two RBIs), Viruet (1-for-3 run, RBI), and Manley (1-for-3 RBI).
In the circle, Morse was just masterful by allowing only two hits. She also struck out 10 and walked just three on a very efficient 88 pitches on her way to the winning decision.
“I think everything was working,” Morse said of her pitching. “I think coach (Michelle) Hobbs did a great job calling as usual. I will say I felt like we got a little tight there for a few innings. But other than that, I think everything was working well.”
Though it may come as a surprise, this is also the first playoff win for the seniors. They were ousted in the opening round in 2019 and there were no playoffs in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
“I think it’s actually pretty good,” Morse said of picking up the first playoff victory in her career. “It was really nice to see that our first time coming out we can do so well, too. I remember my freshman year, I was talking to Raimy about it in practice, we didn’t know what it was, we didn’t know there were brackets, we didn’t really know anything about playoffs. So this year, we’re paying attention to the schools we’re playing. There’s like rankings and that type of stuff. So it’s cool for us to come out with a high seed and do so well.”
It was also the first win for Lopez in her first time out in the playoffs.
As the third seed, the Crushers will once again be home either Friday or Saturday against the winner of No. 11 Castro Valley and No. 6 seed California-San Ramon that will take place on Wednesday at 5. You can view the full bracket here.
