On Friday afternoon the softball team beat the South San Francisco Warriors 13-5 to steal the PAL league title.
The Bears got rolling early offensively after senior outfielder Hannah Blunt hit a two-run home run in the first inning, giving M-A an early 2-1 lead. Their momentum continued into the second inning with junior Dani Koo hitting a home run of her own, contributing to a 7-2 lead. Koo and Blunt both played crucial parts in the Bears’ win, tallying four runs batted in each.
The M-A defense paved the way for the Bears’ dominance all game, with Dani and freshman Elise Koo pitching brilliantly all game, recording earned run averages of 2.33 and 3.5 respectively. Despite the Warriors knocking in two runs in the fourth inning, the Bears continued to keep their lead at a comfortable score of 10-4.
Senior Gigi Edwards also significantly contributed on offense, getting two hits in crucial moments of the game and keeping the pressure on South San Francisco’s defense.
After two more runs in the fifth inning for the Bears and another run for South San Francisco, Blunt hit her second home run of the day in the sixth inning. M-A also got valuable offensive contributions from some of their underclassmen, with Elise Koo and freshman Kylie Cox each having a run batted in. By the end of the seventh inning, the score read 13-5 in favor of M-A.
After the game, Dani Koo said, “It feels very rewarding to win the league because we have worked super hard throughout the season and we have worked together really well to get a lot of huge wins.”
Regarding the upcoming playoffs, Edwards said, “We have to go in with that ‘ready for anything’ mentality and just stay focused on our goal. If we can go into each game and hit well early in the game with minimal errors I think we’ll be fine.”
The Bears will find out their playoff opponent tonight and play their first CCS playoff game on Saturday.
