West County high school softball teams are nearing the home stretch in Sonoma County League play this month with one common goal – finishing strong.
Analy and El Molino are coming off a busy week of SCL action, with the defending champion Lady Tigers notching wins over El Molino (17-0) and Healdsburg (15-1) while the Lions also fell to Petaluma (11-1) before rebounding to beat Piner (6-5).
At the time of this writing Analy (9-9-1 overall) was tied for second place in the SCL standings with Sonoma Valley at 6-1, two back in the win column of first-place Petaluma (8-1). This week, the Tigers will take on Petaluma in a critical May 2 (after press time) meeting in Sebastopol, followed by home games against Piner (May 4) and Sonoma Valley (May 5). All games start at 4 p.m.
The Lions (2-5, 5-13) were set to resume league play at home on May 2 against Piner (4 p.m.) before taking on Healdsburg in back-to-back road and home dates on May 4 (7 p.m.) and May 5 (4 p.m.).
Tigers retain bragging rights
Analy traveled to face home-standing El Molino in the second of two meetings on April 25, looking to complete a season sweep. The Tigers did just that, pushing across a combined 11 runs in the first two frames to give pitcher Nicole Mearns (5 IP, 5 hits, 5 Ks) more than enough run support en route to a five-inning, 17-0 win.
Pacing the Analy attack were Chloe Hadrich (3 for 4, 2B, 3B, 3 runs, 3 RBIs), Claire Nelson (3 for 4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs), Gemma Gonzalez (2 for 2, 2B, 3 RBIs), Cameron Cardoza (2 for 2, run, RBI), Mearns (2 for 4, RBI), Emma Castleberry (2 for 2, run, 2 RBIs), Makayla Kraemer (1 for 4, run), Marissa Ramirez (1 for 2, 2 runs, RBI), Kahealani Lua (1 for 5, run), Gianna Bianchi (1 for 1, 2 runs, 2 RBIs), Peyton Bratton (1 for 1, run) and Emily Dreyer (1 for 1, 2 runs).
El Mo pitcher Erika Olson pitched the first couple of innings before giving way to Jessica Van Rillaer in relief. Leading the Lions hitting corps were Kristine Daniels (2 for 3), Risa Scott-Smith (1 for 2), Lily Krauss (1 for 2) and Mel Deleon (1 for 2).
