Gunn defeated host Palo Alto 3-2 in nine innings on Thursday in a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division softball game.
The vitory improved Gunn to 6-9 overall, 4-2 league.
The Vikings took an early lead in the bottom of the second inning, while Gunn failed to score until the top of the fifth. Sophomore pitcher Casey Glassford’s failed attempt to steal second base freed up junior shortstop Hannah Bundy’s path to steal home.
Viking coach George Marshall credits their early successes to a variety of things.
“The players gave one of their better efforts of the year,” he said. “Julia Saul pitched a really good game and our catcher Maddie Martinson was very solid behind the plate.”
In the third and fifth innings, Gunn loaded the bases, but failed to score.
However, the Titans battled back and took the lead. In the top of the fifth, senior pitcher Claire Klausner hit a single to left field. Sophomore second baseman Natalie Oda followed with a single past first base and into right field. Klausner and Oda proceeded to steal third and second, respectively.
Freshman catcher Katie Garvey then hit a double past second base and into center field, which gave the Titans a 2-1 lead.
Klausner continued her red-hot season, striking out 10 and only allowed one single and one double going into the seventh. However, in the bottom of the seventh, Klausner yielded three singles and a walk, and Paly tied the game 2-2, with junior Shannon Fee’s single driving Maya Padilla home.
“I think in the seventh inning I lost focus and got caught up in the rest of the game,” Klausner said. “After they scored the run to tie it, I really started focusing on each pitch.”
And focus she did. Following Padilla’s run, Klausner closed out the bottom of the seventh with two strikeouts.
The Titans had an irksome top of the eighth and the Vikings came tantalizingly close to taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth, with senior center field Anna Rizza stealing third. But again, Klausner closed it out, notching her 13th strikeout.
Still tied in the top of the ninth at 2-2, both teams felt the pressure. Sophomore third baseman Irish Chen hit a single into left field. Klausner then drew a walk.
With two out, Harvey hit a double to score Chen and give Gunn a 3-2 lead.
“Our freshman catcher (Gunn) did an outstanding job,” Gunn coach Matthew Maltz said. “She came up to bat when we needed her to hit, and she did just that.”
The Vikings were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, with Klausner ending it with her 14th strikeout as Gunn took out its cross-town rival.
“These girls came to battle,” Maltz said. "They battled when the pressure was on and stuck to their fundamentals. Everyone here contributed, and it was a great day.”
The Vikings are now 2-11 overall (0-7 SCVAL-DA). According to Marshall, the team can take lessons from this game and apply them to their future games.
“We need to bring the same effort and attitude we had in this game and we’ll be fine,” he said. “We were better at our pre-pitch preparations today than we have been, so if we continue to do that, we’ll be OK.”
Paly will face visiting Los Altos at 4 p.m. April 23.
