BHS Softball: Saints end Aztecs season

BARSTOW • Nervous?

Yeah, Don Pollard, San Dimas High School softball coach, admitted it after the game. On the road, San Dimas was facing an up hill battle after Barstow senior shortstop Alyssa Maldonado blasted a home run into right field and gave Barstow a lead and momentum midway through their quarterfinal matchup.

Enough to derail the Saints for their third straight appearance in the CIF-Southern Section Division V semifinals?

No.

After being shutout for the first four innings, San Dimas rallied for a 6-1 win at Barstow High School in the quarterfinals and will face Village Christian, which beat San Jacinto 4-0, in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Maldonado gave the Aztecs a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning of a tight game. Just a pitch earlier she fouled a ball off in the same direction and San Dimas just missed catching it. The hit elevated the decibel level in the Aztecs dugout and around their home field, where approximately 200 fans watched the game.

However, it was short lived.

Barstow had held the powerful Saints lineup, that averages more than nine runs a game, to no runs and just two hits before the fifth inning. But following Maldonado’s blast, San Dimas sophomore shortstop Aleena Avalos led off the fifth inning with a double, the Saints’ first extra base hit of the game. Ariel Shore brought Avalos in to tie the game two batters later and eventually score the winning run. The Saints added another run in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh to finish off the Aztecs.

“You get that one run back and you are playing from ahead or from even, the pressure is off and we can play our game,” Pollard said. “I tried to get that one run back as fast as we could because that’s a softball game 1-0. You see so many 1-0 ball games. You get that one run back and the pressure’s off and the players feel a lot better.”

Any nerves Pollard had were likely soothed by pitcher Kortnie Clark who combined a blistering fastball with a sneaky change up to confuse the Aztecs and dominate the game. Clark racked up 15 strikeouts and never earned less than two strikeouts in an inning. Barstow coach Daron Banks and Maldonado said she was by far the fastest pitcher the Aztecs faced all season.

“We were just way behind on our bat swings,” Maldonado said. “We weren’t quick enough for it. We are used to fast pitching, but in our league, everyone else is slow.”

Freshman pitcher Hannah Ulibarri pitched a complete game with four strikeouts. She kept San Dimas hitless through the first two innings and battled out of jam with two runners on base in the third and fourth innings.

While the Aztecs have been a team that feeds off each other in terms of hitting throughout the year, the second wave never came after Maldonado’s homer. Nicole Ulivarri singled into center field later in the inning, but it turned out to be Barstow’s last hit of the season.
For the Aztecs, the loss ended a playoff run that most didn’t see coming. It was their first playoff appearance since 2006 and longest run in the playoffs since the 2004 squad lost in the championship game.

“Obviously it’s sad that we are not continuing the season but I’m definitely proud of the girls,” Banks said. “They worked hard and they never quit.

“We don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Coming into a season, from what I heard, there’s wasn’t very high expectations from people talk around town and others. We did a great job. We had a successful season.”

“A lot of people thought we couldn’t do it, but we did it,” Maldonado said. “We showed them, we proved to them that we could because we are a good team. We are a great team.”

San Dimas         000 031 2 — 6 8 1
Barstow             000 100 0 — 1 2 0

Clark and Hiroto; Ulibarri and Schreiner. WP — Clark. LP — Ulibarri. 2B — Avalos (S). 3B — Ramirez (S). HR — Maldonado (B).

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mpeters@desertdispatch.com