PETALUMA, Calif. - In an early-season matchup on Friday, the visiting Cardinal Newman softball team came away with a 6-1 victory at St. Vincent de Paul.
“I thought they did a good job because we gave up a run in that first inning and did not get down on ourselves,” Cardinal Newman head coach Bill Vreeland said. “It took a minute for them to get the offense going and get the bats swinging.”
After a slow offensive start for the Cardinals, they broke the game open with five runs in the top of the fourth. An RBI single from sophomore Chirstell Mccormick and a sac fly from Francesca Hart gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead and senior Paytin Salfi extended the lead to 5-1 with a three-run home run over the left-field wall. In all, the Cardinals sent eight batters to the plate, scoring five runs on three hits.
The Cardinals however, got off to a slow start not scoring in the first three innings, leaving a total of five runners stranded. That was due in large part to St. Vincent de Paul senior pitcher Sophia Skubic, who started off well, striking out five and only walking one.
The Mustangs took an early 1-0 lead on an RBI double from senior catcher Maddy Delamontanya in the first inning. She ended up with two hits on the day. After that they sputtered offensively, only putting up two hits in the final six innings and no runs to show for it.
They also struggled defensively, committing three errors, one of which occurred at the start of the top of the fourth that kicked off the Cardinals rally. This was on the heels of the game Thursday, when St. Vincent de Paul committed just one error.
From the second inning on, freshman pitcher Callie Howard held the Mustangs scoreless, as she ended the game only giving up four hits, one earned run, no walks, and six strikeouts.
Entering the sixth, the Cardinals had a four-run lead before Salfi stretched it to five with an RBI single, scoring junior Sophia Esposti. Salfi went 4-4, with one RBI to help lead her team to victory.
After two more hits for the Mustangs in the sixth inning, the Cardinals retained the lead all the way through, closing out with a three-up, three-down seventh inning.
This win improves the Cardinals overall record to 1-1, following a previous 12-3 loss to the Petaluma Trojans. They will look for another victory Monday at Justin Siena at 3:30 pm.
With only having three seniors, Vreeland hopes that these tough non-league games early in the season will help gain experience for his team.
“We're a very young team, we have players that don't have a lot of innings,” Vreeland said. “We have a huge learning curve ahead of us.”
Following the defeat, the Mustangs dropped to 1-1, after an impressive 4-2 victory over West County on Thursday. Their next game will be next Tuesday at St. Helena at 4 pm.
