Sam Torres and Morgan Martinelli had a combined five hits with four RBIs and three runs scored to help propel the Sobrato softball team past Oak Grove 7-5 and into a three-way tie for first.
The Bulldogs improve to 6-2 in Santa Teresa Division play thanks in large part to Martinelli going 3-4 with a two-run homerun and needing a triple to complete the cycle.
Sobrato combined for 10 hits, including Ally Nadohara going 2-2 with three runs scored and two walks.
“We talked to the girls before the game that it was going to take a team effort to win this game with them (Oak Grove) being 6-1,” said coach Fred Cisneroz. “The girls definitely stepped up with situational hitting with runners on.”
The Bulldogs dropped Oak Grove out of sole possession of first place into a three-way tie that also includes Prospect.
Sobrato has five to play, including against Prospect on Tuesday in San Jose.
Should the Bulldogs win that game, their road to at least a share of the Santa Teresa crown becomes easier. After Prospect, Sobrato doesn’t play a team with a winning record and outscored their remaining three opponents 37-13 in previous meetings. Results for their game against Willow Glen weren’t posted.
“Today was a big win for us and now we can focus on Prospect,” Cisneroz said. “If we get a big win from them, we can just take it one game at a time.”
Prospect and Oak Grove still have to play each other one more time, which could easily settle paint a clear picture of who will win the league title by the end of next week.
The Bulldogs atoned for a loss earlier this season to Oak Grove thanks to timely hitting from the middle of the order, who drove in five of the seven runs.
After Torres and Martinelli’s two RBIs each, Kayla Rooney in the six spot came through with an RBI when she reached on an error that brought Torres home.
Rooney also stole home on a delayed steal when Julie Camacho took off for second in the third with Rooney standing on third.
Meanwhile, the early offense allowed Megan Perron to not have to be perfect in the circle.
“We kept asking her after every inning how she was felling and she kept saying, ‘I feel good, I feel good,’” Cisneroz said. “We were ready to bring in Kasey or Sam, but Megan is an athlete. She’s one of those players who will run through a wall. … She’s pretty strong mentally and she’s always ready to go.”
Although she got through four innings will minimal damage, she wasn’t as crisp in the latter innings, which allowed the Eagles to inch back into the game.
However, Perron still scattered seven hits, giving up two earned runs out of the five scored. Those two runs, however, came off of solo blasts in the fourth and seventh innings.
Perron still was extremely effective, however, as she struck out seven.
In the seventh after Lauren Innerst led off with a solo blast to left field, Perron rallied to get the next three batters out in order, including capping things off with a comebacker to end the game.
Sobrato got rolling in the first inning when Nadohara walked to lead off the inning.
But after the next two hitters struck out, Torres drove Nadohara home with a single setting Martinelli’s two-run blast to put Sobrato up 3-1.
The Bulldogs made it 4-1 when Nadohara hit a ground ball into shallow center field for a single. But the fielder booted the ball, allowing the leadoff hitter to go to third on the two-base error.
On the very next play, Skylar Millard reached on an error at short to drive in Nadohara.
Sobrato got two more in the third when Torres scored on a ground ball to third hit by Rooney, who reached safely when the fielder threw the ball away and eventually scored on the stolen base.
Oak Grove cut the lead to 6-2 in the fourth thanks to a homerun by Daylene Misaalefua to lead off the inning.
Sobrato answered in the bottom half of the inning when Torres singled to score Nadohara, who reached on a single to lead off the inning.
A pair of errors in the fifth directly led to two more runs for the Eagles, cutting the deficit to 7-4.
Sobrato travels to Prospect Tuesday for a 4 p.m. game.
