Play at the plate ends Sobrato’s season in 2-1 loss to Westmont

Sobrato went from agony to elation back to agony all in the span of 30 seconds.
Ally Nodohara hit a Popfly with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the bases loaded trailing Westmont 2-0. The Warriors’ center fielder charged the ball and had it in her glove, but she couldn’t hang on to it.
Then the Bulldogs were off to the races.
Morgan Martinelli scored from third and Kayla Rooney charged around the bag to score from second.
Westmont’s centerfielder got the ball in from just feet out of the infield and Rooney was gunned down by five feet at the plate to end the game.
With that, Sobrato’s season ended with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Westmont.
The Warriors now will face the No. 18-ranked team in the nation by Maxpreps.com in Pioneer on Saturday.
Sobrato finishes the season 18-8 overall after winning the Santa Teresa Division for the second year in a row.
Coach Fred Cisneroz said before the start of the game, he wasn’t impressed with the strength of the outfielders’ arms and he said he wanted to run on those arms whenever he got the chance.
He also said on the final play, he was telling his players to take off on the swing with two outs and two strikes on Nodohara.
So with those two things in mind, he was sending Rooney no matter what.
“That was in my head throughout the game that I am going to run on those outfielders,” Cisneroz said. “But with two outs and two strikes, we are running on the swing. Once the ball is pitched, they’re getting their leads and once they see the girl swinging, they’re going.
“I told her, I need her to get a big jump and you’re scoring on a hit. Wherever the outfielder is playing, I was sending her no matter what. … My mind was already made up I was sending her on the hit.”
Cisneroz said the throw from the outfield was also perfect combined with a slower jump from Rooney on the swing. Still, he had no regrets.
“You never want to end a game with an out at home plate or an out at third; you never want to end an inning like that,” Cisneroz said. “Would I do it again? Yes I would do it again. We’re down 2-1 and my next batter had struggled a little bit at the plate, so I had to send her.”
To that point, Sobrato was struggling to figure out Westmont pitcher Chelsea Skipper, who had allowed just three hits through six innings.
“She had a little bit of speed on her, but I think our problem was we were chasing bad pitches and popping the ball up instead of keeping it on the ground,” Cisneroz said. “Out here with the wind, you want to hit everything top of the ball and drive it.”
Cisneroz sad the ball started to flatten out in the seventh inning, allowing the Bulldogs to get on top of it and start driving balls through in the infield.
The Bulldogs’ best chance came in the fourth inning when Katrina Jepsen led off the inning with an infield single and she went to second when a throw from short skipped passed the first baseman.
Sammi Torres followed two batters later, reaching safely when the shortstop booted the ball to put runners on first and second.
After an infield fly, the two runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, but Westmont got out of the inning with a ground ball to third.
By contrast, Sobrato’s two mistakes turned into runs for Westmont.
In the second inning, an error at third and an error by the second baseman on a sacrifice bunt turned into two runs when Westmont’s Sarah Palerno and Elizabeth Cruickshank singled to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
“We started the season with errors and we ended the season with errors,” Cisneroz said. “I told the girls, we kind of beat ourselves out there. That team didn’t really beat. We were the better team.”
That was all the Warriors could get, but it was all they needed.
Meanwhile, Torres worked out of trouble the whole game.
Outside of the second inning, Westmont had two runners on in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but Torres go out of it each time.
In the sixth, Westmont put two runners on with one out and executed a double steal to put runners in scoring position.
Torres then induced a groundball to third and Cruickshank, who was standing a third at the time, started to take off for home. That forced Martinelli to throw home and gunned down the runner in a run down.
Meanwhile, the trail runners advanced to second and third with two outs.
Torres, however, got out of the inning when she got Skipper to lineout to third.
Torres finished the game going seven innings, giving up two unearned runs on six hits and two walks.
“She kept her composure and settled down and didn’t let the errors affect her,” Cisneroz said. “That’s maturity. That’s what you expect from a senior.”
Skipper, meanwhile, went seven, giving up an unearned run on six hits no walks and seven strikeouts.
Rooney had the lone two hit day, going 2-3 for the Bulldogs.
Martinelli scored the lone run, going 1-3.
Sobrato will now have the summer off before gearing up for moving up to the Mt. Hamilton Division next year.