Despite the distractions of being featured on a Bay Area high
school sports television show, then having thousands of dollars of
equipment stolen, the Live Oak High softball team kept its focus in
its Tri-County Athletic League opener against Salinas on Thursday.
And, it wasn
’t just their Sports Focus, the name of the TV show whose crew
came out to interview the Acorns last week. Led by ace pitcher
Juliette Bowers’ two-hit, eight-strikeout effort, LO rolled past
the visiting Cowboys 4-0 at Community Park. “It’s always nice to
get that first (league) win of the s
eason,” LO coach Barry McDonnell said. “Especially with
everything that’s gone on.”
Despite the distractions of being featured on a Bay Area high school sports television show, then having thousands of dollars of equipment stolen, the Live Oak High softball team kept its focus in its Tri-County Athletic League opener against Salinas on Thursday.
And, it wasn’t just their Sports Focus, the name of the TV show whose crew came out to interview the Acorns last week.
Led by ace pitcher Juliette Bowers’ two-hit, eight-strikeout effort, LO rolled past the visiting Cowboys 4-0 at Community Park.
“It’s always nice to get that first (league) win of the season,” LO coach Barry McDonnell said. “Especially with everything that’s gone on.”
LO (8-2 overall) got two hits and an RBI from Sarah Locarnini, and Brittney Ondich and Kelly McDonald added a double and an RBI each.
The Acorns, who played errorless ball and didn’t strikeout in the contest, scored a pair of runs in the first inning, all the support Bowers would need to secure the victory, then added single runs in the second and sixth inning.
The victory came a day after the team discovered that $5,000 worth of equipment had been stolen from a storage container at Community Park, the team’s off-campus home.
On a brighter note, the LO softball program is getting some well-deserved attention due to its fast start.
After interviewing the team earlier in the week, the Sports Focus TV crew returned to Morgan Hill to film the Acorns’ game on Thursday.
The segment is scheduled to air on Channel 36 on Sunday at 4pm. (The show was also supposed to air on Friday night.)
Next week, LO is scheduled to play at Notre Dame on Wednesday at 3:45pm. The game will be a duel between the TCAL’s top pitchers, LO’s Bowers and the Spirits’ Kim Reeder.
LO baseball
For the first time since beginning play in the West Coast Classic four years ago, the Live Oak High baseball team gave as good as it got against the highly regarded tourney’s top-notch competition. After dropping its first two tourney games, LO salvaged a pair of wins in its final two. The Acorns lost a tough 2-1 decision to Reno on Tuesday, a game that was played on the Acorns’ home field, then got whipped by Westlake 11-1 on Wednesday morning.
But LO came back with a hard-fought 6-5 win over Pittsburg later on Wednesday, then beat St. Francis of La Canada 6-3 on Thursday.
“We’re happy with our 2-2 finish, especially the way we rebounded from that (11-1) loss,” LO coach Mark Cummins said. “We’re looking forward to into league.”
LO (9-5 overall, 4-0 in league) hosts Palma on Wednesday at 3:30pm, then travels to Salinas to play the Chieftains on Friday.
LO boys volleyball
After two lackluster efforts in the first two games, the Live Oak High boys volleyball team rallied to force its match against visiting Gilroy to the tiebreaker on Wednesday. But the Acorns (2-3 in league, 6-6 overall) still lost a 25-14, 25-17, 29-31, 20-25, 15-6 decision to the Mustangs.
