Dos Palos softball digs deep in a win over Coalinga

The Dos Palos softball team hasn’t been pushed much recently.

Not every one of the Broncos’ current 18-game winning streak has been a rout, but DP has been so dominant in all phases of the game during the run, it’s participated in less than a handful tight ballgames since mid March.

It made Friday afternoon’s 6-4 victory over Coalinga all the sweeter for coach Irene Barrantes, as her squad was forced to fight until the very last out against a game Coalinga squad. The pair of West Sierra League heavyweights went back and forth with one another, battling through 15- to 20-mile-per-hour winds.

“It’s always good to have good competition this late in the season, because it forces our girls to rise,” Barrantes said. “I thought we were mentally tough in every situation. We never looked nervous. We always knew ‘If it’s hit to me, I’m coming here.’ Janessa (Jasso) struggled there a little bit, but I thought everyone else responded with a very good just overall performance both offensively and defensively.”

On an afternoon with no shortage of twists in the plot, the game was ultimately decided in the sixth inning.

The Broncos (20-2-1, 5-0 WSL) entered the frame clinging to a 4-2 lead, but the Horned Toads (16-6, 3-3 WSL) quickly put the tying runs in scoring position with back-to-back singles and cleanup hitter Linnay Wilson (3 for 3, 2B, 2 RBI) at the plate. Barrantes opted to put Wilson on with an intentional walk, loading the bases with no outs.

The gamble paid off as Jasso answered by inducing a pair of pop ups in the infield before escaping the jam unscathed by fielding her position on a bunt attempt.

“This was the most hits (nine) anybody has gotten off of Janessa all season, but I felt like she stayed calm in those big situations,” Barrantes said. “We hadn’t gotten Linnay out all game, so I chose to put her on. It’s the first time we’ve done an intentional walk. Janessa is probably not happy with me, but she didn’t let it bother her and worked her way out of it.”

Like any good team, Dos Palos seized on the momentum of the escape and tacked on two big insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning.

With a runner on second and two down, Rieana Reed bounced a comebacker off of Wilson’s glove in the circle. Reed beat the throw to first and Carolyn Cota came all the way home from second on the play. Teya Vincent (4 for 4, HR, 2 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI) doubled in Reed to make it 6-2.

“We just had the momentum to keep it going,” said Vincent, who went 7 for 7 with two home runs, four runs and four RBI in a pair of wins this week. “We’re a good team, so we know how to pick each other up. We just had it in us today, I guess.”

The Broncos had no idea just how crucial those runs would be.

Brooke Johnson trimmed the lead to 6-3 with a run-scoring single into left center in the seventh inning, but got caught thinking about stretching it into a double and was eventually tagged out while trying to make it back to first. It looked like the Coalinga rally my die there, but a two-out error on a nasty infield hop opened the door right back up.

Ava Wojewoda followed with a single and Wilson doubled in another run to make it 6-4 and put the tying runs in scoring position. The moment of tension didn’t last long as Jasso induced a fly out to right field to end it.

The sophomore hurler got plenty of offensive support in the victory.

Eryka Rodriguez opened the scoring for DP with a sacrifice fly in the first. Then, after briefly falling behind thanks to a pair of unearned runs in the third, Vincent tied the game back up with a solo home run into the teeth of the wind in the bottom half of the inning. Payton Paz (2 for 2) put the Broncos in front for good with an RBI single later in the inning.

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 9:20 PM with the headline "Dos Palos softball digs deep in a win over Coalinga."