Senior center fielder Mariah Phillips stole home in the fifth inning against Mountain View on a wild pitch. The Vikings scored three runs in the same inning from wild pitches by the Spartans.
– Hannah Kim
Palo Alto High School softball (2-2) won what head coach Tim Anderson considered its greatest game yet after crushing Mountain View High School today, 6-0.
“We played super solid,” senior pitcher Grace Stafford said.
Anderson said that the team was really happy with its performance after a heart breaking loss at Wilcox High School last Tuesday when the Vikings fell 6-8.
While neither the Vikings nor the Spartans scored any runs in the first three innings, the Vikings took the game when they made their first run in the fourth inning and five more in the last two innings, ending the game.
“We took our time scoring,” Anderson said. “Mountain View played well, they had solid pitching.”
The three runs that the Vikings scored in the fifth inning were from wild pitches. Sophomore outfielder Anna Rizza had an RBI in the fourth inning, and Stafford brought in a double RBI in the sixth inning.
“We were really good defensively at the beginning of the game and as the game went on, we got into the game offensively also,” Stafford said.
Anderson praised Stafford for her pitching throughout the whole game when she let the Spartans only take one hit.
Anderson also gave credit to senior shortstop Gracie Marshall who made an impressive play when she advanced two bases to score a run when the catcher lost control of the ball.
“I had a hitting slump but I made up for it with my aggressiveness on the base pads,” Marshall said.
The Vikings’ next league game will be next Wednesday at home against Aragon High School.