Lady Dogs beat Acalanes in final road game

Bulldogs pitcher Briana Edwards threw four innings of shout out pitching in the Bulldogs’ 10-2 win over Acalanes on May 17, 2016. (MARK FIERNER / Martinez Tribune)
Bulldogs pitcher Briana Edwards threw four innings of shout out pitching in the Bulldogs’ 10-2 win over Acalanes on May 17, 2016. (MARK FIERNER / Martinez Tribune)
By GERARDO RECINOS
Martinez Tribune

For the sixth time in the seven years Paul Buccellato has been at the helm of the Alhambra softball program, the team has eclipsed the 20 win mark.

The Lady Bulldogs beat Acalanes 10-2 on a hot Tuesday afternoon, with sophomore Briana Edwards taking the assignment in the circle for Alhambra on May 17.

Edwards has featured recently due to an injury to Sam Whitworth, but the senior came in and threw an inning in the seventh and settled down to strike out the side after giving up a run.

Right off the bat Edwards had some breathing room in her second start in a row, and her second win in a row. She’s won six games this season, and three on Diablo Foothill Athletic League play.

They Bulldogs got their first run across on an error made by Acalanes’ second base man and a sacrifice fly by Cara DiMercurio. They were uncharacteristically held quiet in the first inning, and didn’t make much solid contact off of Acalanes starter Alex Grant-Hudd.

Still the righty was forced to throw over 120 pitches in her seven innings of work, and in the third inning she was made to work hard when Kimiko Zapanta sparked the lineup by scooting around the bases so fast both sets of fans were shocked to see it.

Sparacino added to her team-leading RBI total by singling in Zapanta before coming around to score herself on an error off the bat of DiMercurio.

Morgan Azevedo drove in the first of her two RBI’s on the day via sacrifice fly to score courtesy Aleija Lewis. Azevedo is one of six players who are hitting over .400 for the Dogs (.407).

The Dons managed to scratch across a run off of junior varsity call up Liz Gonzales, who was working hard due to an inconsistent strike zone by the umpire.

She walked one on the afternoon in her two innings of work, but only allowed a single hit and struck out two. Sophomore Kylie Berry drove in the only earned run off Alhambra pitching, but Gonzales bore down to get out of the jam by punching out the next hitter on three pitches.

Immediately after Gonzales came out of the game, Alhambra punched across two more runs on a two-run home run by Sparacino, who has already equaled her RBI total from last season (45) with one regular season left. Sparacino is threatening to close in on Kylee Perez’s 51-RBI season in 2013 when she too was a junior.

With the win the Bulldogs have nearly secured one of the best records in NCS, and almost certainly have secured a number one seed in the playoffs which are set to start May 24.

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