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Sports

St. Lucy's Softball Stays Alive in Sierra League With Win Over Ayala

Junior pitcher Danielle O'Toole continues to pitch well for the Regents as she records six strikeouts on Tuesday on her way to one-hitting the visiting Bulldogs.

After losing two straight games to league leading Chino Hills recently, the St. Lucy’s Priory High softball team has reeled off three straight wins to even its record at .500 and is back in contention in the tightly contested Sierra League, three games behind the Chino Hills Huskies with exactly that many games left to play in the season.

The Regents (11-11, 6-6) opened up a two game stand against Ayala (9-11, 6-6) with a 2-0 home win over the Bulldogs on Tuesday afternoon and benefited from another strong pitching performance by junior pitcher Danielle O’Toole.

 O’Toole has stepped up her game in the latter part of the season. She pitched a complete game for the Regents her last time out while helping St. Lucy’s complete a two game sweep of the Charter Oak Chargers.

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Against Ayala on Tuesday, she recorded six strikeouts and gave up only one hit against a team with a .448 slugging percentage coming into the game.

“That was the best game she’s pitched this season,” said Regents coach Ryan Nuveman following the game. “Both our catcher (Jasmine Sosa) and our pitcher were both grooving well, they really were on the same page today.”

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Nuveman has said that offensive consistency has been an element lacking in the Regents’ attack in his assessment of his team’s performances on the field up to this point in the season.

Case in point, in the bottom of the first inning, the Regents were unable to take advantage of an early scoring opportunity. St. Lucy’s had runners on first and second when junior Brandi Harkeness was hit by a pitch by Ayala pitcher Stevie Knapp to load the bases with nobody out.

The Bulldogs were able to get out of the inning when Knapp struck out two consecutive batters and then got Brianna Gomez to ground out at first to end the inning.

“Offensively, we stranded a lot of runners today,” said Nuveman, with eight total.

“We loaded the bases with nobody out, but we gotta get those runs across. We got a big timely hit but that’s not going to get it done every game against tough competition.”

The bottom half of the third inning proved to be the difference in the ball game as Gomez came through with a clutch at bat and the hit Nuveman alluded to.

After Harkness beat out a throw to secure a base running opportunity at first base, junior Laura Swan also got on base giving the Regents runners on first and second.

O’Toole then helped herself with a bunt to advance the runners before Gomez connected to score two runs. Even though Gomez was called out at second, she helped secure the only runs St. Lucy’s would need as the Regents climbed to a 2-0 advantage which they did never relinquished.

For their part, Ayala committed two errors on their way to their fourth straight loss and for the time being has slipped to fourth place in the standings behind St. Lucy’s, South Hills and Chino Hills.

“We played an excellent game defensively,” Nuveman said adding Sosa and O’Toole were the key to the win, but also pointing out the Regents can do better.

“It looks like they are communicating a lot better. As a coach you’re never satisfied, we would like our offense to be more timely.”

The Regents will face the Bulldogs again when they travel to Chino Hills on Thursday. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.  

 

BOX
1234567RHE Ayala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 St. Lucy's 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 6 1
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