Saturday's softball doubleheader - the "Battle of the Vikings" - between West Valley and visiting Diablo Valley was more than simply a 6-5, 16-8 sweep for WVC. The two teams combined for 41 hits, 35 runs, 12 errors, nine double plays, eight stolen bases and four home runs in more than four hours of playing time. The capacity crowd at the WVC Softball Complex saw West Valley improve its record to 5-3 and Diablo Valley drop its first games of the year to fall to 5-2.
GAME TWO RECAP
West Valley bats erupted for 18 hits and 14 RBI in their 16-8 six-inning win over Diablo Valley. After Julianna Pichardo's RBI double staked DVC to a 1-0 1st-inning lead, West Valley countered with three runs in the home half of the 1st. Alexandra Pussich took the first pitch she saw from DVC starter Sita Manoa over the center-field fence for a solo HR. WVC took advantage of two DVC errors to put two more runs on the board for a 3-1 lead after one.
West Valley sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-hit, seven-run third inning. Samantha Fletes opened the inning with a double; she would single nine batters later. Reina Maldonado and Jessell Lewis each hit two-run singles, and Pussich had an RBI-single in the frame. But, the 10-1 lead wouldn't last an inning.
DVC struck for seven of its own in the top of the 4th, highlighted by a solo HR from Kathryn Cassin and a three-run blast by Elvia Alvarado. West Valley, now up by only two at 10-8, needed to respond.
A three-hit, three-run fourth was just the answer they sought. Malia Pula led things off with a single and a theft of second. She would score on a Courtney Coombs' fielder's choice two batters later. Walker singled to drive in Coombs and then scored herself on a Lewis single.
DVC could muster only a pair of meaningless singles off Lewis, who replaced WVC starter Maldonado in the 5th. West Valley, meanwhile, put up two more runs in the sixth to send the crowd home early. Back-to-back singles by Lewis and Fletes opened the inning. Siobhan Taylor knocked them in with a two-run double and then scored the mercy-rule run a Coombs single to right.
Lewis finished with four hits, three RBI and three runs scored in five at-bats, while Taylor was 3-4 with four RBI. Fletes went 3-4 with a 2B and an RBI and Pussich was 2-5 with two RBI and that first-inning solo HR. Maldonado picked up the win in the circle. For DVC, Manoa absorbed the loss, giving up 13 runs on 17 hits. Julianna Pichardo paced the DVC offense with a pair of hits and an RBI in three AB's.