The Palo Alto High School varsity softball team showed its hitting power with an 8-3 win over Division I team, the Los Altos Eagles on a sunny Thursday afternoon game.
The game was originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Paly field, but due to the confusion of the missing umpires, the game didn’t start until 4:15 p.m.
The game got off to a rough start for Paly, as sophomore pitcher Christie Cory couldn’t control the location of her pitches.
“She understands now that good hitting teams need to be pitched to in the lower/mid-thigh region,” head coach George Fangonilo said. “During the first inning all her pitches were up.”
After the first inning, Cory regained her composure and ended up striking out 12 of the Los Alto’s batters.
The game began in the top of the first with Los Altos catcher sophomore Teresa Villasenor singling past Paly sophomore second baseman Sisley Brewer. After a wild pitch that advanced Villasenor to second, senior Ashley Crum hit a single down the third baseline, scoring Villasenor. Los Altos eventually tacked on two more runs in the inning on hits by senior Jennifer Krug and freshman Emily Galli, making the score 3-0.
“I told my team that there was plenty of time left to play,” Fangonilo said. “Just play good defense and we’ll score runs.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Paly senior shortstop Kelli Fangonilo started the Lady Vikes off with a single up the middle. After two bad throws by the catcher and pitcher, Fangonilo advanced to third. When Brewer came up to bat, she hit a slow roller to third and Los Altos sophomore third baseman Carli Schwan made a bad throw to first, allowing Brewer to make it to second and allowing Fangonilo to score. The score was 3-1, Eagle’s lead. Up next was junior Brittany Stankovic, who doubled to center, scoring Brewer. Paly shortened the Eagle’s lead to 3-2.
After the first two batters in the top of the second inning made it on base, Cory calmed down and retired the next three, keeping the score 3-2, Los Altos lead.
However, in the bottom half of the inning, Fangonilo slammed a home run to left field on a 2-2 count, tying the score up. Paly ended up scoring another run in that inning. From that point on, Paly dominated the game.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Fangonilo stole home on a wild pitch, making the score 5-3, Paly.
After scoring another run in the fifth inning, making it 6-3, the Lady Vikes scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, solidifying their lead to 8-3 on a triple by Stankovic and a single by Brewer.
Stankovic went 3-4 with a single, double, and triple, an improvement in power from her Menlo-Atherton game where she hit only two singles.
“The very first game I was really nervous because it was my first varsity game,” Stankovic said. “After that game I told myself that there is nothing to be nervous about, so I came out today with a positive attitude ready to hit.”
Other key players in the game were Fangonilo (2-4 with a home run) and sophomore Nikki Remmel who had a triple.
“This whole team made me proud,” Coach Fangonilo said. “We were down three runs from the beginning and then we came back and kept our composure.”
The win against Los Altos brings the Lady Vikes’ record to 2-0. Paly’s next home game is their first league game on March 21 at 3:30 p.m against Cupertino.