Battling in the Bronco Classic
Softball takes one of four games in early collection of contests
Nick RedfieldTHE SANTA CLARAFebruary 26, 2015
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Santa Clara softball team competed in four games over three days this past weekend and finished with a record of 1-3.
The results started out positive for the team when they faced Seattle University on Friday night. Despite giving up four runs in the first inning, Santa Clara pitcher McCall James settled down and threw three consecutive innings without surrendering a run.
The Broncos then turned to junior Ciara Gonzales, who stepped in for the fourth and pitched three more scoreless innings.
Trailing 4-3 in the seventh and down to their final out, the Broncos had base runners on first and second.
“The amount of energy our team had -— it made it seem like anything was possible,” said Geenamarie Bonilla.
Junior Chiara Biagini would single to bring in the tying run, making it runners on first and second with Bonilla at bat. Bonilla then singled to left field clinching the 5-4 walk-off win for the Broncos.
“(We) showed a lot of fight to come back,” Bonilla said. “It was a complete team effort and we needed everyone to pull it off. To walk off under the lights during our home opener in front of all our friends and family was an amazing experience.”
The Broncos continued the Bronco Classic the next day with a double-header with games against the University of Illinois at Chicago and Seattle.
The first game with Illinois was a low-scoring pitching duel. The Broncos scored their first and only run in the first inning before Illinois pitcher Karissa Frazier threw six consecutive hitless innings.
Bronco pitcher Ciara Gonzales pitched a fantastic game as well, allowing only two runs on six hits in seven innings. But, Santa Clara went on to lose 2-1.
“Our defense, for the most part, was really solid,” said Gianetta France. “We have spent countless hours working on it and perfecting it so that when game time hits we can relax knowing we are going to give our all to get every ball.”
In the second game, Seattle avenged their previous loss as they bested the Broncos 6-4. Santa Clara found themselves down early and could not muster up enough offense to recover.
With a 1-2 record on the weekend, the Broncos played their final game on Sunday versus Idaho State University. The Bengals proved to be the dominant team as they scored with ease, winning 12-0.
“We are so much better than we played (Idaho State),” France said. “We could clean up errors that we usually don’t make and focus on adjusting to the pitcher.”
The team will play in the Santa Clara Invitational this weekend.
Contact Nick Redfield at nredfield@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.