Bishop Diego and Santa Barbara split a softball doubleheader on Saturday, with Santa Barbara winning 3-2 in the first game and Bishop Diego avenging their loss in the second, beating Dons 5-2.
Down 2-1 in the fifth, Santa Barbara’s Jazmin Maya struckout, but not before Bishop Diego’s catcher miss handled the pitch, bringing Maya to third. Ariana Leos brought Maya home with a ground ball to tie the game at two.
With the game tied at two in the bottom of the sixth, Santa Barbara managed to score the eventual winning run with a Antonio Becerra hit just over the shortstop’s head to bring Sheila Lopez home.
Bishop Diego had runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, but were never able to capatilize with a run.
Santa Barbara was on the losing side in the second game, scoring one of their two runs in the first inning from Angela Biancone off a wild pitch. Dons scored their only other run in the sixth with a single by Talia Quevedo to bring home Angela Biancone.
Yanette Luna and Angela Biancone singled with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th to bring the tying run to the plate, but ballard struck out Leos to end the game.
“I was really proud of our defense today. Talia Quevedo had multiple ‘web gem’ plays at shortstop. Shai Rodriguez had her best game of the season at 3rd and our outfielders ran down everything in the outfield,” said Dons coach Alex Sheldon
Madison Ballard pitched complete games for Bishop Diego, 14 innings combined. She gathered 12 strikeouts and allowed thirteen hits
“Our hitting was still off, but I give a lot of credit to Madison Ballard. She pitched all 14 innings and seemed to get better as the day went on,” said Sheldon
Santa Barbara moved to 5-10 overall with the split
Bishop Diego’s next game is at San Marcos on Wednesday. Santa Barbara plays Buena on Tuesday.
Game 1: SB 3 BD 2
BD 020 000 0 2 3 3
SB 010 011 x 3 6 2
Ballard and Everson; Balderas and Shelia Lopez. W-Balderas (4-4) L-Ballard
2b – Sb – Leos
Game 2: BD 5 SB 2
BD 030 001 1 5 11 1
SB 100 001 0 2 7 0
Ballard and Everson; Vargas and Lopez. W-Ballard, L-Vargas(0-1)
2b – BD – Sleep; – SB – Biancone
HR – BD – Duley (solo – 2nd), Van Wyder (2 RBI – 2nd)
