Photo by Kirk Barron
Pierce High shortstop Alison Ornbaun throws to first base during the Bears' 15-4 loss Thursday against Esparto in Arbuckle.
Most Viewed Stories
Miscues costly in Lady Bears loss
Friday, Mar 2 2012, 11:19 am
Costly errors by the Pierce High softball team led to several big innings for visiting Esparto during the Bears' 15-4 loss Thursday in Arbuckle.
Despite the errors, the Bears (1-1) showed flashes of potential at the plate and in the field.
"I think this was a good game because, like I told the girls, they kind of lost it all together as a team so it was nice because we saw what we need to work on," Pierce coach Jennifer Barham said.
Of the 15 runs Esparto (1-1) scored against starting pitcher Aloysa Anderson just six were earned. Anderson struggled with her control at times, walking eight and hitting five batters, but was forced to do damage control on five errors.
Anderson, a junior, pitched fewer than 16 innings last season but put in a lot of work in the off-season as she took over as the team's ace, Barham said.
"I was glad that even when she was making mistakes, mentally she could get herself back into it. Last year that was kind of a problem but she's been working on that so I was happy with her performance," Barham said.
Anderson's growth in the pitchers circle isn't lost on her teammates. Senior captain Alison Ornbaun said she is impressed with how well Anderson has pitched so far this year after spending much of the last two seasons on the bench.
Ornbaun's optimism extends beyond Anderson's improvement to the defense behind her which has a wealth of experience.
"I think we'll do a lot better than we did last year. We only have one new freshman so it's just a whole bunch of people again from last year and we're already doing a lot better than we have," Ornbaun said.
Esparto sent nine batters to the plate in the top of the first inning but managed just three runs. Ornbaun led off the bottom half of the first with a sharply hit double to deep center field and Nikki Herrera drove her in with a single. Herrera advanced to third on an error and Angel Clark put a RBI single into right field.
Spartans starting pitcher Sarah Harmon settled down and shut the Bears down until the sixth inning. Pierce trailed 12-2 by that point despite allowing just four earned runs.
Ornbaun once again got the Pierce offense going with a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth and Clark added her second RBI of the game with a groundout to the left side of the infield.
Pierce added one more run in the bottom of the seventh after Haleigh Shadinger reached on a fielder's choice and came around to score after back-to-back singles by Sierra Schloesser and Ellen Hansen.
The Bears finished with seven hits while Esparto connected for 10. Brenna Harmon tripled and collected three hits, Janelle Oakham added two hits and four RBIs, and Jennifer Oakham went 2-for-4 with three runs scored for Esparto.
Both Harmon and Anderson struck out three but the Spartans defense made just one error and Pierce made five.
"We definitely have a lot of potential, we've really stepped it up from last year I feel. I know we haven't really had to start back at the basics, we've kind of been able to continue on, which in the past years I've had to start over with the new girls," Barham said.
Pierce returns to action at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday against Biggs in Arbuckle.
CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com
Despite the errors, the Bears (1-1) showed flashes of potential at the plate and in the field.
"I think this was a good game because, like I told the girls, they kind of lost it all together as a team so it was nice because we saw what we need to work on," Pierce coach Jennifer Barham said.
Of the 15 runs Esparto (1-1) scored against starting pitcher Aloysa Anderson just six were earned. Anderson struggled with her control at times, walking eight and hitting five batters, but was forced to do damage control on five errors.
Anderson, a junior, pitched fewer than 16 innings last season but put in a lot of work in the off-season as she took over as the team's ace, Barham said.
"I was glad that even when she was making mistakes, mentally she could get herself back into it. Last year that was kind of a problem but she's been working on that so I was happy with her performance," Barham said.
Anderson's growth in the pitchers circle isn't lost on her teammates. Senior captain Alison Ornbaun said she is impressed with how well Anderson has pitched so far this year after spending much of the last two seasons on the bench.
Ornbaun's optimism extends beyond Anderson's improvement to the defense behind her which has a wealth of experience.
"I think we'll do a lot better than we did last year. We only have one new freshman so it's just a whole bunch of people again from last year and we're already doing a lot better than we have," Ornbaun said.
Esparto sent nine batters to the plate in the top of the first inning but managed just three runs. Ornbaun led off the bottom half of the first with a sharply hit double to deep center field and Nikki Herrera drove her in with a single. Herrera advanced to third on an error and Angel Clark put a RBI single into right field.
Spartans starting pitcher Sarah Harmon settled down and shut the Bears down until the sixth inning. Pierce trailed 12-2 by that point despite allowing just four earned runs.
Ornbaun once again got the Pierce offense going with a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth and Clark added her second RBI of the game with a groundout to the left side of the infield.
Pierce added one more run in the bottom of the seventh after Haleigh Shadinger reached on a fielder's choice and came around to score after back-to-back singles by Sierra Schloesser and Ellen Hansen.
The Bears finished with seven hits while Esparto connected for 10. Brenna Harmon tripled and collected three hits, Janelle Oakham added two hits and four RBIs, and Jennifer Oakham went 2-for-4 with three runs scored for Esparto.
Both Harmon and Anderson struck out three but the Spartans defense made just one error and Pierce made five.
"We definitely have a lot of potential, we've really stepped it up from last year I feel. I know we haven't really had to start back at the basics, we've kind of been able to continue on, which in the past years I've had to start over with the new girls," Barham said.
Pierce returns to action at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday against Biggs in Arbuckle.
CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com
