Los Banos softball lets playoff lead slip away

Defense has been a source of pride for the Los Banos softball team.

With senior pitcher Brianna Flores happy to pitch to contact, the Tigers have had ample opportunity to shine in the field and have routinely risen to the occasion.

That trend didn’t continue Thursday night in the squad’s biggest game of the season. The normally stout Los Banos defense suffered breakdowns in pivotal moments that allowed No. 2 Casa Roble to rally for a 10-5 victory in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoff game at Arnaiz Softball Complex.

“We’ve hung our hat on playing great defense all year,” said Los Banos coach Dustin Caropreso, whose squad finished the year 14-14. “They scored four runs with two outs in the fifth inning, and that turned the game.

“You never want to have your worst defensive game in the last game of the season, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Flores got Los Banos on the board with a run-scoring single in the first, but a couple of errors and three hits allowed Casa Roble (17-7) to answer with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.

The Tigers seemed to settle in after that and went back on top with a three-run fourth inning.

Savanah Valenzuela tied the game with an RBI single. Kiara Azevedo helped put the Tigers in front when she misread the sign from Caropreso and surprised everyone with a two-strike bunt. In the confusion, no Ram covered first. Third baseman Jody Cova tried to stop her throw but could only manage to toss a low grounder over the empty bag allowing a run to score. Valenzuela went first to third on the play and came home on a second throwing error to make it 4-2.

Los Banos had the chance to turn it into a big inning with runners on second and third and just one out but couldn’t push across any more. It would cost the Tigers.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Casa Roble staged a decisive two-out rally. A wild pitch trimmed the lead to one and Cova tied the game with a single.

The Tigers could have stopped the damage there, but with runners on the corners third baseman Bri Cascia fielded a ground ball and initially looked home. By the time Cascia threw to first, the runner was safe and the inning continued. The Rams took advantage, adding one more run and building a 6-4 lead.

Casa Roble put the game away in the sixth with a sacrifice fly and a Cova three-run homer.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but I don’t like throwing in the rain,” Flores said. “I had trouble locating pitches when I needed to. I think if we could have gotten out of the fifth inning tied we would have been OK, but we got down once they got the lead.

“Our defense wasn’t as strong today as it usually is, and they took advantage of it.”

Baseball

Los Banos 6, El Dorado 3 in Lodi – Kevin Spencer’s two-run triple in the sixth inning proved the difference as the Tigers (17-8-1) knocked off the top seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Division IV.

Brevin Welch overcame eight walks to toss a complete game. No. 8 Los Banos will square off with No. 4 Placer in a best-of-three semifinal beginning Saturday at Tony Zupo Field.

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Los Banos softball lets playoff lead slip away."