LINCOLN, CA – Menlo Softball made the road trip up to Folsom Lake College to face off Corban University and Westcliff on Friday. The day began with a 2-0 win over the Corban Warriors and was followed by a 7-2 sunset victory over the Westcliff Warriors. Menlo totaled 9 runs and 17 hits across the two games and only allowed 2 runs against. Oak Softball is right back at it on Saturday for another two-game series against Corban at 10am and Westcliff at 2pm.
Game 1: Menlo 2 - Corban 0
It was a tight matchup between Corban and Menlo but starting pitcher Brianna Gonzalez successfully pulled off the shutout for the win in game one. The senior is now 2-0 this season and went 7 innings pitched, 6 strikeouts, doubling her season total to 12, and 0 walks against the Warriors.
Menlo's first run of the game would come in the 3rd inning which began with a single to right field from Bella Cortez. The speedster then stole second to be in scoring position for Emma Medina at the plate. Medina traded places with Cortez with a double to left field for the Oaks first score of the day. The bats were hot carrying into the 5th inning when Maya Bivens-Sommerville tripled to right field to get on base. Back to back wild pitches hitting Oak batters put Alexandra Attard at second and Makayla Mentzer at first. Freshman Grace Tuiteleleapaga pinch hit for Lara Edeker and was able to put the ball in play to force a fielder's choice, scoring Shaya Raziorrou who was pinch running for Bivens-Sommerville. The score would remain 2-0 for the remainder of the game for the first Oak victory of the weekend.
Game 2: Menlo 7 - 2 Westcliff
Game one was only the beginning of Menlo's scoring fest of the day. The first score of game two came in the 1st inning when Makayla Mentzer had bases loaded after an Aliya Lubrin walk, Medina single, and Buvens-Sommerville walk. Mentzer hit it into center field for an RBI single to score Lubrin. A similar scenario arose in the 3rd inning when an error would load up the bases again with Lara Edeker up to bat. She took the walk to score Bivens-Sommerville and then Sofia Quintero was able to get the ball in play for a sacrifice groundout to make the score, 3-0.
The top of the 4th brought in another Oaks run after Maya Bivens-Sommerville batted Lubrin in and advanced Cortez to third. The Warriors were able to end the inning there but Menlo picked up right where they left off in the 5th with Jolena Velasquez and Lara Edeker both taking bases from walks. Bella Cortez once again hit a bomb out to center field for a 2 RBI double and increased the lead to 6-0. One more safety run in the 7th inning would be scored by Lubrin again off of a sacrifice fly from Emma Medina to comfortably win game two, 7-2.
This time around, senior right handed pitcher, Vivian Valencia, took control of the circle for the Oaks. Valencia went 7 innings pitched and totaled 4 strikeouts and 0 walks. It was a great outing by Oaks Softball today and hope to continue this momentum into the rest of the weekend!
Up Next…
Menlo faces off the Warriors of Corban and Westcliff one last time at Folsom Lake College on Saturday, February 10. First pitch against Corban is at 10am followed by 2pm first pitch against Westcliff.
