Lancers cruise to league victory Lancers cruise to league victory (May 06, 2005)

Two-hit shutout ends losing streak

By Scott Campbell

Needing a win to bolster its confidence with the West Catholic Athletic League girls softball playoffs just around the corner, St. Francis found Sacred Heart Cathedral a most welcome opponent. The Lancers, losers of four straight coming into this April 29 contest, dominated the Fightin' Irish in every phase of the game and emerged with a 9-0 victory.

As if playing in the brutal WCAL weren't enough of a challenge, St. Francis was forced to play this "home" game at Foothill College, as its previous diamond now serves as a parking lot for neighboring El Camino Hospital.

With a strong wind knocking down any balls hit to the outfield, the Lancers knew their earlier 22-1 shellacking of Sacred Heart Cathedral would be tough to duplicate. Instead, St. Francis turned to the old standbys of solid pitching and timely hitting to pick up this much-needed win.

Fightin' Irish shortstop Deirdre Spillane opened the game with a bloop single that fell just inside the rightfield foul line. After advancing to second base on a sacrifice, Spillane stole third to put her team in position to take the early lead.

But Lancers pitcher Kaitlin Murphy recovered to strike out the next two Fightin' Irish, the first of twelve consecutive batters she would retire. Sacred Heart Cathedral (4-8, 2-7 WCAL) managed just one more hit, a nearly identical blooper in the fifth.

Senior Easton Henrickson jump-started the St. Francis offense in the bottom of the second by stretching a hit to left field into a double as she eluded the waiting tag at second base.

"When I hit it, what came to mind was 'automatic double,' so I ran hard," said Henrickson, who finished 2-3 with two runs. "The girl had the ball before me. I just slid around her and got it."

Second baseman Sara Scannel put the Lancers up 1-0 by driving in Henrickson with a two-out single.

The next inning, St. Francis resumed where it left off as Sarah Kamenski dropped a bunt single down the third-base line and promptly stole second. Murphy helped her own cause by hammering an RBI-double to left and scoring on a Fightin' Irish throwing error.

The Lancers (12-10, 5-7 WCAL) pushed the score to 4-0 as they sandwiched singles by Henrickson and rightfielder Kimberly Benedetti around a dropped flyball by the Sacred Heart Cathedral centerfielder.

Meanwhile, Murphy (1-0) completely blanketed the Fightin' Irish offense, never allowing the ball to reach the outfield. The junior, a converted outfielder, took advantage of the Lancers' strong infield defense as she coaxed ground-ball after ground-ball out of the Sacred Heart Cathedral batters.

"We're mainly focused on defense and I think a lot of it is because we know that's what's going to win us the games," said Murphy, who struck out six and issued no walks. "Offense is going to help, but if we don't keep them from scoring, we don't have a chance."

After scoring a combined seven runs during its four-game skid, St. Francis found more than enough pop to pair with its error-free defense. The Lancers spread their twelve hits among ten different players, as coach Rob Piper emptied his bench.

"Everybody was hitting the ball, from the bottom of the order to the top of the order," said Piper. "We didn't hit the ball hard today, but we hit it consistently."

Lancers sophomore Lindsay O'Hearn put the finishing touches on the win by smoking a 2-RBI single in the sixth to make it 9-0 and then relieving Murphy to retire the Fightin' Irish in order in the seventh.

"We're all determined to win because we've gotten a lot closer as a team," said O'Hearn. "[This win] gives us a lot more confidence. It gives us more determination."

The Lancers made it two straight with a 7-0 shutout of winless Sacred Heart Prep the next day. Senior Mollie Hoo (6-2) recorded ten strikeouts and allowed no hits, while Kamenski had a home run among her four hits and scored three runs.

The victories continued the Lancers pattern of winning all the games against the teams below them in the WCAL standings. On the flip side, they have yet to defeat any of the four teams above them. With St. Francis locked into fifth place, it needs to find a way to reverse the latter trend quickly to have any hope of an extended run in the playoffs.

"We've been struggling, but anybody has a chance to win the playoffs," said Henrickson. "It's going to be a good show."

The Lancers face a first-round playoff game on May 10, visiting the fourth-place finisher. Entering the final week of league play, Valley Christian (7-2), Presentation (6-3) and Notre Dame-Belmont (7-4) were battling for the 2-4 seeds behind regular-season champion Mitty (10-1).

St. Francis completes its regular season by playing St. Ignatius at Mission Blue (Brisbane) on May 6.
E-mail Scott Campbell at sports@mv-voice.com

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