ATHERTON, CA – Menlo Softball hosted another doubleheader against Academy of Arts University as part of their season opening weekend. The Oaks split the series 2-2 after sweeping the Knights on Friday and dropping both Saturday games. The two teams kept it very competitive during both games but clutch hitting from Art U would aid them in their late inning victories.
Game 1: Menlo 2 - 4 Art U
The Oaks fell to an early 0-2 deficit going into the bottom of the third inning. 1st base Bella Cortez led off with a single up the middle followed by stealing 2nd. A textbook sacrifice bunt from centerfielder Aliya Lubrin would advance Cortez and set up Emma Medina for a scoring opportunity. Medina sacrifice flew out to center to bat Bella in for the Oaks first run of the day. The Urban Knights responded immediately with another two runs to go up 1-4.
Catcher Maya Bivens-Sommerville gave the Oaks some hope in the bottom of the 6th when she homered over the left field fence for the first time in her Menlo career. The energy was high but Menlo was unsuccessful in the comeback with the final result ending 2-4 in favor of Art u. The Oaks totaled 8 hits and 3 stolen bases, two from Cortez and one from Lubrin.
Madison Nelson started in the circle for Menlo and went 3.1 IP with a strikeout. Vivian Valencia came in and pitched for 3.2 innings and totaled two strikeouts.
Game 2: Menlo 5 - 8 Art U
Art U was able to read our pitchers well in the final game of the series after totaling 14 hits across the 7 innings. Scoring began early in the 1st inning when Art U went up 2-0 and the Oaks responded with 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Two walks would land Cortez and Bivens-Sommerville on base with Alexandra Attard up to bat. She was able to single through the left side for the RBI and no outs. A few pitches later, Makayla Mentzer hit hard down the left line for the go ahead 2-RBI double to score Attard and Bivens-Sommerville. One more score would come in the bottom of the 2nd when Emma Medina double down the left field line to bring Cortez home once again to make it 4-2. Art U came back and scored 3 runs in the top of the 4th to go ahead 4-5. Emma Medina had an incredible battle at the plate with 2 outs in the 4th with bases loaded. Medina's at-bat resulted in a game-tying RBI walk with just 2 innings remaining to get the job done. The Knight once again rallied in the 6th with exceptional hitting to eventually go up 8-5 to close out the game.
Four different pitchers saw the field today with Brianna Gonzalez starting. Gonzalez went 2.0 IP with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. Shelby White threw for an inning before Ayanna Rubio, who was given the loss, would come in for 2 IP and a strikeout. Vivian Valencia closed out the game adding two more strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched.
Up Next….
Oaks Softball will head to Rocklin, CA next weekend for a series between Corban University and Westcliff. Menlo will face the Corban Warriors at 12pm on Friday and Saturday, February 9 and 10 followed by games against Westcliff at 4pm on each day. Tune in using the links at Menloathletics.com!
