Los Banos softball wins battle of unbeatens with Ceres

The Los Banos High School softball team didn’t look very good the first time through its batting order.

The Tigers started producing some hard-hit outs their second time seeing Ceres pitcher Callie Nunes on Tuesday afternoon.

But the third time through the order, Los Banos had her timing down. With two outs, Dustin Caropreso’s squad batted around in the top of the sixth inning, scoring six runs and rallying to defeat the Bulldogs 6-4 in a battle of Western Athletic Conference unbeatens.

The Tigers’ victory adds an extra layer of anticipation going into Thursday’s crosstown showdown with Pacheco, as first place will be on the line.

“We had a rough week last week,” Caropreso said. “We played seven games in seven days, and against some good teams. There were close games, but we just couldn’t seem to produce the timely hits when we needed them.

“We knew it was coming. We just kept telling the girls to stick with it, and we saw the results today.”

It was a dramatic turnaround after Ceres (11-4, 3-1 WAC) dominated through five innings. The Bulldogs’ big bats went to work in the first inning, crushing three quick hits to start the game and scoring two runs.

Back-to-back errors to open the third gave Ceres another run, and Nicole Bates made it 4-0 with a no-doubt solo home run to dead center field in the fourth.

Los Banos (6-9, 4-0 WAC) did little to chip away at the lead. The Tigers had just two hits off Nunes through five innings and struck out seven times. Still, the strikeouts started to diminish as the game went on, and Emily LoneTree’s line-drive double play to end the fifth signaled a changing of the tide.

Los Banos put it all together in the sixth, rallying after two quick outs. Mel Silva worked a walk and Ali Waltman and Brianna Flores followed with back-to-back doubles to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Erika Rodriguez kept the rally going with a single and Savanah Valenzuela followed with a walk to load the bases. Kylee Cardoza tied the score with a two-run, opposite-field single. Courtesy runner Jenny Garcia scored on a wild pitch to put Los Banos up for the first time, and LoneTree tripled in a big insurance run with a slicing ball to right to make it 6-4.

“That was a big spot,” Cardoza said. “I was definitely nervous. I was just looking for the first thing down the middle that I could hit.

“We felt like the pressure was all on them, so as soon as we tied it up, I knew we were going to win it.”

Flores was a big reason for that. After getting roughed up a bit in the first, the Los Banos senior made some adjustments in the circle and held Ceres to three hits the rest of the way. Improved play by the Tigers’ defense helped her cause, including a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch at the warning track by left fielder Kailyn Neves to open the bottom of the seventh.

“This was a total team effort,” Caropreso said. “All 12 girls contributed. Heck, the game-winning run was on a great read on a wild pitch by a courtesy runner. Now we have to get ready for Thursday.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2015 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Los Banos softball wins battle of unbeatens with Ceres."