Lady Bulldogs beat down by 19th-ranked Sheldon-Sacramento

By GERARDO RECINOS
Martinez Tribune

Earlier this season, Alhambra’s girls lost their first home game in over four years.

Now they’ve lost their second.

Sheldon-Sacramento were no slouches. The Huskies dropped a ton of runs in a strong hitting display, downing the Lady Bulldog softball team 10-4 on Wednesday afternoon.

The May 3, 2017 loss came as a shock to those who have probably only seen Alhambra lose maybe one or twice over the last six years. But when you look at the pedigree of the visiting opponent, it’s not as unexpected.

Sheldon was ranked 19th in the nation by MaxPreps, whereas the Bulldogs were number 66.

As a ball club, the Huskies hit .389 on the season before they arrived in Martinez, and it didn’t take very long for them to break out the bats and show what they could do.

Four hitters in, Sheldon had their first lead.

Strangely, the Bulldogs could possibly have gotten out of the inning with minimal damage, but they were caught napping.

Pitcher Brianna Edwards was caught trying to make a play at third base on a ground ball back up the middle off the bat of UCLA-bound junior Shea Moreno.

Instead of having a runner on third with two outs, the Bulldogs had to deal with two runners on. And as an intelligent base runner, Moreno advanced to second as the dejected infielders weren’t watching her.

Freshman Sam Oliver only needed one pitch to make Edwards pay. The freshman lefty went the opposite way before depositing the first offerring from Edwards on the walkway over the left-field wall for a three-run home run.

Alhambra struggled to answer.

Only Kaylee Pond managed to get anything going for the Bulldogs, but even then, only the freshman right fielder managed to score off the Sheldon starter.

Pond scored on a double off the bat of Karlee Sparacino, but neither Regan Silva or Maci Shepherd could drive in the runners that were stranded on second and third.

Alhambra got one run, the Sheldon Huskies got five in reaction.

Leadoff hitter Maci Fines sparked the Huskies, and a string of four consecutive extra base hits put the Bulldogs in a position to nearly be mercy-ruled.

The Bulldogs were backed up against a wall and in an unusual position. But they did at least manage to keep some of their credibility up as one of the best team’s in the section.

Junior Lindsey Osmer doubled to spark the rally, and Miranda Nilson reached on an infield single. The duo were driven in by the freshman Pond, who was one of the loan bright spots in an otherwise bleak day.

The right fielder was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI’s from the nine-spot in the lineup for Alhambra.

With the rally, it seemed like there might still be a shot for Alhambra to make a late run.

However Sheldon handed the ball off to hard-throwing lefty, senior Talia Miles.

The Deleware State University bound senior only allowed a single hit (to Pond) while striking out six hitters in her three innings of work to shut the door for Sheldon.

About Gerardo Recinos

Gerardo Recinos is a journalist currently living in Concord, Calif. He is a recent graduate of San Francisco State University, with a degree in Journalism (History minor). Gerardo covers sports throughout Martinez and Pleasant Hill. It's his lifelong mission to get people in the U.S. to stop calling football "soccer," and to call American football "handegg."

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